Alicia wrote last week about female members of the British police force wearing burqas and headscarves to try to better understand the Muslim community. Well, it seems like it’s “dress like a Muslim” month in Britain, because the Daily Mail’s Liz Jones has just written about her own experience wearing a burqa for a week. It’s not pretty. Before I start, I’ll just say that, while I’m skeptical of any attempt to wear hijab in order to better comprehend (hijab-wearing)... Read more
Some articles are fairly subtle in their Islamophobia, others less so. Judy Bachrach’s article “Twice Branded: Western Women, Muslim Lands,” starts off badly and then to proceeds to elicit gasps with its sheer awfulness. It even cites Not Without My Daughter as an accurate depiction of life for most Muslim women. Yes, really. The title itself states how difficult it is to be a white woman in a Muslim (read: non-white) place. Grab an onion, folks, it’s time to cry... Read more
More on Lubna al-Hussein and the Trouser Fiasco: here, here, and resulting social issue unrest here. In Nigeria, Hauwa Ibrahim fights Shariah with Shariah. The wife of Daniel P. Boyd, who is currently charged by the U.S. in a terror plot, defends her family and denounces her treatment by U.S. marshals. More on France’s negligible burqa findings. KABOBfest follows up on the Burqa Ban. Nuseiba revisits the Stolen documentary. The Dawn gets into the Great Veil Debate. Zainah Anwar discusses... Read more
This post was written by Farah Banihali and originally appeared at AltMuslimah and Nuseiba. Last month Melbourne was host to “Forever Barbie” – an exhibition which “celebrates 50 years of a pop culture icon.” I’ve had my fair share of Barbie dolls when I was younger, but an exhibition? Since when did Barbie become an appropriate “cultural” artifact to celebrate? The critiques against Barbie are well known: she is a commodity that has come to define femininity and symbolize and... Read more
This past week a woman was murdered in an apparent honor killing in the Gaza Strip. She was beaten by her father who thought she was having an affair. May Allah have mercy on the soul and forgive the sins of the woman, named Fadia, and may there also be justice for her death. Unfortunately, CNN’s coverage of Fadia’s murder was a big FAIL. The first reason was the picture accompanying the piece. The article didn’t even need a picture,... Read more
Oh, this is just hilarious. Three female police officers were ordered to dress up as Muslim women for the day just to see what it felt like. They wore traditional burkhas as part of a scheme designed to help police interact better with the Islamic community. It’s like going to a fancy dress party, because, you know, Muslim women dress up all funny and weird! But, boy, them Muslims are really nasty, too! That’s what the British police force is... Read more
Salam waleykum, readers! Are you a Muslim woman who sees stuff about Muslim women in the media, on billboards, on commercials, or in movies, and thinks to herself, “WTH?!” You might be just what we’re looking for! MMW is looking for more writers, and we’re searching far and wide! We want great bloggers/writers, who love to analyze and critique both local and international media representations of Muslim women. Specifically, we’d love more contributors from Europe and the Middle East. But,... Read more
The BBC looks at the women who clear Sudanesse minefields. The New York Times tells the story of Assiya Rafiq, may Allah give her justice. Mukhtar Mai is helping her in her fight. South Africa’s Muslim Marriage bill is under threat. Iran’s silly ban on Golshifteh Farahani’s movies has been lifted. Muslim women in Ghana attend a two-day workshop on the importance of blending religious and secular education for their children. Female Saudi students in Boston, Mass., take part in... Read more
Last weekend, my husband and I made the six hour drive to the coastal city of Durban, to attend a series of lectures and seminars by Professor Tariq Ramadan. In an earlier post, I reviewed Ramadan’s latest book, Radical Reform. I certainly appreciate Ramadan’s work, and feels he is one of the very few contemporary egalitarian Islamic scholars. One evening of the conference was dedicated especially to women’s issues, as the rather simplistic poster advertisement points out. “To work or... Read more
They say that money is the root of all evil. At times, I couldn’t agree more. But now I hear that alcohol consumption is the “mother of all sins”. I’m not going into detail about which sins are worse, but more on the earthly consequences of such sins as defined by the male religious elite. Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno from Singapore had apparently committed the “mother of all sins” last week and now faces a sentence by the Shariah court... Read more
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