The Muslims of India Reborn

Last updated on: April 9, 2009 at 12:00 am By sobia

For an extended analysis of India Reborn see Muslim Lookout. CBC TV recently played a four-part documentary on India called India Reborn. The series was well-done and diverse, demonstrating India to be a paradox of a country. From filthy, filthy rich people to the dirt poor, India is a country of all colors, figuratively and literally. India also has the second largest Muslim population in the world, with the largest being Indonesia. Yet, Muslims are still a relatively small minority... Read more

Random WTF – Financial Times Edition

Last updated on: April 8, 2009 at 12:00 am By fatemeh

Last Friday, the Financial Times covered the “richest race meeting in the world”, the 2009 Dubai World Cup. What do you think might best illustrate a story about horse racing in Dubai? Two Arab women in abayas contrasted with a white girl in a short dress. Of course! This is really just a preview of what’s to come, because the Financial Times’ Robin Oakley can’t seem to get enough of those abaya-wearin’ ladies: when describing the atmosphere, s/he states: “Women... Read more

“Just look at our women!” Or, how to use female bodies to prove your point

Last updated on: April 7, 2009 at 12:00 am By Krista

Check out Muslim Lookout for an expanded version of this post. Be prepared for some major eye-rolling in this article from the Calgary Herald. In it, Mahfooz Kanwar praises Canadian Immigration Minister Jason Kenney (see here for why this is a bad idea), and berates Canadians that he perceives as not having “assimilated” enough. I could talk about Kanwar’s narrow definitions of “Canadian” identity and values, or his call for all immigrants to be unquestioningly patriotic and un-dividedly loyal to... Read more

Al Huda – Guidance for a disunited community?

Last updated on: April 6, 2009 at 12:00 am By safiyyah

Her confidence overshadowed the edginess in her voice, when she proclaimed, live, on a very orthodox community radio station, “I want this magazine to represent ALL Muslims, regardless of their socio-political affiliations.” This might seem insignificant at first glance, but let me put it in perspective. The South African Muslim community is one beset by many problems, amongst them racism, classicism, sectarianism and of course, sexism. For a Muslim women (gasp) to say that she wishes to bridge these gaps of... Read more

Friday Links — April 3, 2009

Last updated on: April 3, 2009 at 12:00 am By fatemeh

Arabian Business profiles the world’s most powerful Arab women, many of whom are Muslim. In Nigeria, the Federation of Muslim Women’s Association in Nigeria meet with medical experts to determine how to improve adolescent health. A Saudi women’s conference stressed the “role of the family in reinforcing intellectual security,” whatever that is. The 12 members of the One Million Signatures Campaign who were arrested in January have been transferred to Evin prison. Yemeni artist Hoyda al Kibsi speaks about her... Read more

The Hole Story: Sexual Abuse in a “Strict Muslim” Household

Last updated on: April 2, 2009 at 12:00 am By ethar

“Sexual Abuse in Islamic Society” is the title of a recently published BBC article.* Right away, I knew it wasn’t going to be a good story (and by “good”, I mean objective, balanced, etc.). “Islamic society,” says the title, not an Islamic society, whatever that is. There is so much wrong with this BBC story and it’s upsetting on so many levels, it’s hard to know where to start. Here’s the story: Fatima, who is 26, was raised in a... Read more

Blast from the Past: Dissecting Alison Moyet’s “Love Resurrection”

Last updated on: April 2, 2009 at 12:00 am By alicia

As we all know, pop culture can’t get enough of the mysterious ‘Orient’ and its ubiquitous exotic women. The ’80s New Romanticism movement is a case in point. Known for its exaggerated and often outrageous attitudes to fashion and music, the movement inspired pop musicians to take on faraway locations to shoot their videos: Duran Duran’s “Hungry like the wolf” (in Sri Lanka) and “Rio” (in Antigua) are some fine examples. Following in their footsteps is Alison Moyet’s desert nomad... Read more

Hard Times in Gaza: the BBC looks at Domestic Violence in Gaza Strip

Last updated on: April 1, 2009 at 12:00 am By faith

Krista recently did an analysis of a BBC profile of Egyptian women’s participation in mosques and saw the BBC profile as an example of how to cover Muslim women. The BBC has done another profile, this time of Gazan women dealing with domestic violence. I think the BBC has once again demonstrated how to cover Muslim women. With the exception of a few ethnocentric flubs, like telling us the women are in headscarves (uh, we could tell from the pictures)... Read more

WAM! Conference Recap

Last updated on: March 31, 2009 at 12:00 am By fatemeh

Salam waleykum, readers! I’m back from the Women, Action & Media! conference in Boston. It was a great conference, with a convergence of female activists, filmmakers, bloggers, writers, and media makers of all kinds. It was positive, enlightening, and educational. Reflecting about the “Inside/Outside” theme past my previous thoughts, the conference as a whole was a mix of both things. As a Muslim woman, I felt somewhat outside the conference’s main audience, which was mostly white and non-Muslim. But during... Read more

New contributor in town!

Last updated on: March 30, 2009 at 3:35 pm By alicia

Salam and apa khabar everybody, I am now officially part of MMW! Regular readers may already know me as Cycads and have come across some of my articles here. For those who haven’t spotted a pattern, I write mostly about the struggles of Malaysian Muslim women, but from a feminist perspective. Now that I’ve said the F-word, let me just say that I don’t think it matters whether or not we as Muslim women identify ourselves as feminists, as long... Read more