Friday Links | April 29, 2011

• A Turkish opinion poll revealed that the overwhelming majority of Turks are in favor of allowing women wearing headscarves to serve as Parliament members.

• Women in Bangladesh use the W.A.S.H. program to learn how to stay healthy.

• The Philippine Muslim Women Council has appealed to the public to help protect and preserve Lake Lanao.

• The Montreal Gazette profiles Lebanese-Canadian activist Elsy Fneiche.

• MuslimMatters highlights the problem of sexual harassment in Muslim communities.

• A Brazilian judge says a former police inspector must do nearly two years of community service for verbally abusing a woman wearing a hijab in Rio de Janeiro.

• Female badminton players in Pakistan will not adopt new regulations introduced by the World Badminton Federation that make it mandatory for them to wear skirts.

• Women in Bahrain have launched new initiatives to tackle sectarian tensions.

• A teacher in Azerbaijan was fired for wearing a headscarf.

• Leila Ahmed writes about the resurgence of the headscarf for Foreign Policy. Her new book is reviewed for The Wall Street Journal.

• Pakistan will soon recognize a third gender on its identity cards.

• Recently released Guantánamo files paint Dr. Aafia Siddiqui as a top al-Qaida operative.

• An Indian scholar has uncovered a tradition of female Muslim scholars dating back to the 7th century.

• The National looks at the backlash against Shanna Bukhari.

If we’ve missed any news about Muslim women from this week, feel free to leave links in the comments!