Yasmeen Maxamuud’s Nomad Diaries

Last updated on: July 12, 2010 at 12:00 am By Azra

In Yasmeen Maxamuud’s novel, Nomad Diaries, Maxamuud tells the story of an upper-class Somali woman, Nadifo, who comes to Minneapolis as a refugee in the mid-1990s during a time of civil unrest in Somalia. Maxamuud highlights the challenges Somali women face as they transition to life in America as the story follows Nadifo and her family’s life. Maxamuud tackles a range of complex issues the women of the book face: interpersonal relationships (including polygamy, marital infidelity, abuse, and rape), generational differences,... Read more

Friday Links — July 9, 2010

Last updated on: July 9, 2010 at 12:00 am By fatemeh

The Arab Times interviews Dr. Naif Mohammed Al-Ajmy about the “phenomenon” of divorce in Kuwait. Hillary Clinton’s longtime aide Huma Abedin is marrying Representative Anthony Weiner. A council in Britain has been slammed for blacking out the windows of a glass-paneled swimming pool in order to protect the modesty of Muslim women. The Express Tribune examines recent examples of the Pakistani judicial system’s bias against women. The Guardian examines female genital cutting in Kurdish Iraq. More in ILLUME. On the... Read more

Unveil FAIL: The Backlash Against Fariba Davoodi, Part II

Last updated on: July 8, 2010 at 12:00 am By Guest Contributor

This post was written by Sara Khorshid Doost. You can read Part I here. The reactions to Davoodi’s “de-jabbing” have not been as much as you’d expect. There are the usual suspects, those who praise Davoodi for the courage to free herself from the chains of the veil, some while expressing their general dislike for religion. Those who pity her, insult her, express their dismay and disbelief at a women who’s gone astray and has sunk so low. Most prominent... Read more

Unveil FAIL: The Backlash Against Fariba Davoodi, Part I

Last updated on: July 7, 2010 at 12:00 am By Guest Contributor

This post was written by Sara Khorshid Doost. Fariba Davoodi Mohajer is an Iranian women’s rights activist. She moved to the United States a few years ago after things got tough for her in Iran. Recently, she has decided to no longer wear hijab. Most notable among Iranian media reactions is a surprising interview with the Parazit (“Static”) program on the Persian Voice of America (VOA) channel. The Persian VOA is a news channel and mostly involves analysis of current... Read more

Missionary Rhetoric: A Cry of Need from Lands of Darkness

Last updated on: July 6, 2010 at 12:00 am By tasnim

When Margaret Atwood wrote The Handmaid’s Tale, a feminist dystopia set in a world run by a totalitarian theocracy, she said that she hadn’t “invented anything,” but taken her inspiration from fundamentalist Christianity in the United States, and the Islamic Revolution in Iran, among other things. In the context of the war on Afghanistan, Mary Adams wrote in World Literature Today that there is a need to “reread The Handmaid’s Tale after the Taliban:” For those of us who read... Read more

On the Radio: Nisaa FM

Last updated on: July 5, 2010 at 12:00 am By diana

This June, one of the first all-women radio stations in the Arab world was launched from the most unlikely of places, the West Bank. Appropriately titled NISAA FM, (nisaa means “woman” in Arabic) this station is by women, for women. Maysoun Odeh, founder and manager of NISAA FM, describes the aims of the station: “NISAA FM motivates women through success stories and interaction, while at the same time creating employment, particularly for women. We also plan to introduce training on... Read more

New MMW Contributor!

Last updated on: July 3, 2010 at 12:00 am By sarahaji

Salam, everyone! My name is Sara, and I’m a recent graduate of The University of Texas at Austin. My family is of Indian descent, but my parents and grandparents all lived and grew up largely in East Africa, and I was born in Toronto, Canada. I lived in the Ivory Coast for a few years and spent high school and college in Texas. This mix of experiences and cultures has made me intellectually curious about the process of identity-formation, particularly... Read more

Friday Links — July 2, 2010

Last updated on: July 2, 2010 at 12:00 am By fatemeh

Afshan Azad’s father and brother have been charged with attempting to murder her. The Independent profiles Muslim fashion designers. Syria bans school teachers from wearing niqab in the classroom. CNN examines fashion at a Malaysian Qur’an reading competition. A Nigerian Muslim women’s group has said that the political environment in the country is not conducive for women to participate in politics. Check out elan magazine’s profile of Muslim women’s blogs, including MMW! During the King of Saudi Arabia’s visit to... Read more

How to Cheat on Your Exams: Hi-Tech Hijab!

Last updated on: July 1, 2010 at 12:00 am By nicole

June is exam time in North Africa. With some amusement, I read a link forwarded to me from an Algerian website about young women using their Bluetooths and hijab to cheat on their baccalaureate exams. A quick Google search proved this was a pan-Maghreb thing, as Moroccan and Tunisian media has written on the subject. In North African countries, the results of one’s baccalaureate exams are key to scoring increasingly scarce university places, both at home and abroad. So the... Read more

There’s “Muslim,” and Then There’s “Muslim-Born”…

Last updated on: June 30, 2010 at 12:00 am By Krista

The Independent recently published an article by Jerome Taylor, titled “First woman to lead Friday prayers in the UK,” talking about the mixed-congregation Friday prayers that Canadian Raheel Raza was to lead the following day. I read it, feeling confused: didn’t Amina Wadud do this already? Well, yes, she did. The beginning of the article clarifies that Raza is the first Muslim-born woman to do so: A Canadian author will become the first Muslim-born woman to lead a mixed-gender British... Read more