Friday Links — May 30, 2008

* Alya Alvi looks at the state of Kashmiri women.

* Malaysia’s The Star features a laudable article on rape having nothing to do with women’s attire.

* A Bosnian Serb police officer is sentenced for war crimes, among them rape of Muslim women.

* The president of the Association of Muslim Intellectuals in Italy warns against the creation of a “uniform” for Muslim women.

* The New Nation argues that Bangladeshi women need their own bank.

* A debate about polygamy in Malaysia gets heated.

* The latest show of a famous Turkish Islamic clothing company creates a splash.

* Ali Eteraz thinks about the deceptiveness of the argument “Muslim women must liberate
themselves.”

* A Saudi woman and her family face deportation from the U.S. because she has filed a domestic abuse report against her husband. May Allah protect her. Via In the Making.

* Muslim women are fired for refusing to wear uniforms that they believe are too revealing
at a Minnesota, U.S.-based company.

* Kazakhstan entertains legalizing polygamy.

* Denmark’s plans to hold a “Miss Headscarf” beauty contest for Muslim women are criticized by the country’s Islamic Faith Society.

* Turkey’s Directorate of Religious Affairs sparks controversy by telling women what to do.
Literally: their website published a long list of dos and don’ts.

* The Khaleej Times explores a workshop for female artists at Abu Dhabi’s Zayed University.

* The New York Times profiles Malika El Aroud, a Belgian Muslim woman who claims she is a holy warrior and uses the internet to spread her message.

* Tala al Ramahi criticizes Western feminists’ inability to see past the headscarf when it comes to Muslim women.

* German regulations often put Muslim women at a heightened risk for domestic violence instead of protecting them.

* The Washington Post looks at issues Muslims face surrounding marriage in the U.S.

* Muslim women in India have the potential to bring out an education revolution, according to the president of the Delhi-based Maulana Azad Foundation in India.

* Noor Javed looks at polygamy in the west.

* Iran passes a bill that entitles female victims of road accidents to equal “blood money” as
male victims.

* A seven-year-old British Muslim girl dies of starvation. May Allah give her peace. Via Islamify.

* Iran cracks down on women’s rights activists webpages by blocking them. Via Feministing.

* A Canadian Muslim woman tells of her experience with polygamy.

* Al Arabiya’s Samar Fatany looks at the difference for what Saudi women ask for and what they get.

* ArabComment gives us some statistics on female employment in Jordan.

* Improvisations dissects a campaign led by Australian clergy against a woman teaching a course on Muslim women in literature.

* In response to a Brussels school planning to ban the headscarf, Belgian Muslims hold a protest campaign.

* Half Date gives information on a benefit drive for Muslim women.

* Shelina Zahra Janmohamed conducts her own austere wardrobe experiment to illustrate
how modesty (among other things) is defined through outward appearance.

* AlterNet explores Muslim matchmaking on the web.