The Science of Beating a Dead Horse: The Christian Science Monitor’s Hijab Series

Last updated on: December 17, 2009 at 12:00 am By Sara Yasin

Recently, The Christian Science Monitor published a series of articles centered around the hijab. While I appreciated the valiant effort to offer some insight into the discourse around the hijab and the lives of Muslim women, it ultimately left me frustrated. The articles treat the headscarf as the heart of women’s issues in Islam. Centering on the practice of veiling makes it appear central to women’s issues and ultimately glosses over the realities and depths of the problems that Muslim... Read more

Divorce, Egyptian Style: Divorcee Radio Breaks Stereotypes

Last updated on: December 16, 2009 at 12:00 am By emanhashim

“When security disappears in married life, and serenity is not accessible, then it is time to do the thing most despised by Allah.” With these words, Mahasen Saber opens her blog, I want a divorce , and then later her online radio station, Divorce Radio. Saber was married for three years and spent a great part of them in the courts in an attempt to get her divorce. She refused the advice of some of her friends to get a... Read more

Muslim Women Reformers: Inspiring Voices Against Oppression

Last updated on: December 15, 2009 at 12:00 am By Guest Contributor

This was written by Lisa Rand and originally published by Feminist Review. Ida Lichter’s Muslim Women Reformers ambitiously highlights the work of Muslim women around the globe involving an array of interrelated issues, including lack of gender equity in education and the workplace, domestic violence, human trafficking, biased family law practices, and rape with impunity. Many of these problems stem from the socioeconomic inequality experienced globally by women of all backgrounds, and problems that transcend class and religious boundaries. In... Read more

Burqa Shades: Preserving Tradition or Profitting Off of it?

Last updated on: December 14, 2009 at 12:00 am By Guest Contributor

This was written by Sara Elghobashy and originally appeared at elan. It seems that everywhere you turn there is a burqa product hitting the market. From the Wine Bottle Burqa to the Bluetooth Burqa, Burqa Barbie to the Laptop Burqa, the fascination with covering just won’t go away. But if you haven’t gotten your fix just yet, let me introduce you to the burqa shades. The brain child of Dubai-based consulting firm, Fitch, the burqa shades, or “bq” for short,... Read more

Friday Links — December 11, 2009

Last updated on: December 11, 2009 at 12:00 am By fatemeh

Mariam Sobh, the woman behind Hijabtrendz, was featured in Turkey’s Zaman. A supermarket in the U.K. has apologized after it forced a woman to remove her headscarf to enter the store. Jordan jails a man for 15 years because he murdered his daughter. May Allah give her peace and justice. ProgressiveIslam criticizes the USA Today’s article on honor killing. WorldFocus examines self-immolations in Afghanistan. Lama Suleiman was elected as the first female deputy chairperson of the board of directors of... Read more

The Tide is Turning for Opinions on Abortion in Egypt

Last updated on: December 10, 2009 at 10:06 am By emanhashim

Egyptian society has been fighting over abortion for over 10 years. Abortion is still illegal in the country, but there have been many moves to legalize abortion pregnancies that are the result of rape. So after all this fighting, why is there still no result? In a 1998 action that was described as “revolutionary appeal” by the international women’s right watch, Egypt’s former Grand Mufti Shaikh Nasr Farid Wasel approved abortions for rape survivors before 120 days of pregnancy. In... Read more

“I [No Longer] Wear the Veil”: An Interview with Documentary Producer Natasha Ivisic

Last updated on: December 10, 2009 at 12:00 am By Krista

The CBC Radio show C’est la vie, an English-language show about “life in French-speaking Canada,” recently interviewed Natasha Ivisic, a woman from the Montreal area who has produced a documentary called Je porte le voile, or “I wear the veil.” The podcast of the show can be found here (look for the November 29, 2009 episode), and this particular episode was described on the show’s website as follows: Natasha was born and raised a Catholic in Montreal. But when she... Read more

Ricci Worries, Wonders About us Poor Muslim Women

Last updated on: December 9, 2009 at 12:05 am By Sara Yasin

Reading Claudia Ricci’s scatterbrained piece in The Huffington Post about text message divorcing was not only infuriating, but also a reminder of many of the things, which I hate about attitudes towards women’s issues in the Middle East. The article opens with a snarky line about men being able to marry four women, and then moving to Ricci’s disgust with a man being able to divorce his wife through text messages. Ricci then discusses the advocacy work of the Saudi... Read more

Making an Egg-xample of Baroness Warsi

Last updated on: December 9, 2009 at 12:00 am By ayaan

The U.K.’s Conservative Shadow Minister for Community Cohesion Baroness Sayeeda Warsi was pelted with eggs last week while in Luton to give a talk about the war in Afghanistan. Upon attempting to enter into a debate with a group of men heckling her and claiming that “this woman does not represent Islam”, she was talked over and ignored. While the egg-throwing is garnering a lot of publicity, the men Warsi attempted to engage in debate deny responsibility, or as the... Read more

Pasha’s Perfection: Mother of the Believers

Last updated on: December 8, 2009 at 12:00 am By safiyyah

During Ramadan, my bedside novel happened to be Mother of the Believers by Kamran Pasha. It’s a work of fiction about the youngest and most beloved wife of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). Pasha has brought to life the story of A’isha, one of Islam’s most controversial and enigmatic characters. Only the right amount of poetic license, coupled with a lot of accuracy and consistency, can make historical fiction a success, as Mother of the Believers is. It is important to note... Read more