Okay, I’ll admit it. When I first heard the title, my immediate reaction was to roll my eyes. “Not again!” I thought. “Not another book with sad kohl-rimmed eyes peeping out from under a black niqab on the cover and which talks about a poor/ downtrodden/ oppressed (add your own adjectives) Muslim woman who is beaten/ kidnapped/ stoned (ditto).” But boy, was I wrong. I heard about Love in a Headscarf: Muslim Woman Seeks the One from its author, Shelina Zahra Janmohamed,... Read more
Two women, Khuloud Faqih and Asmahan Wuheidi, have become judges in Islamic courts in the West Bank. This is such a great milestone, not only for Palestinian women, but for Muslim women, too. We often have our ability to be judges questioned because we’re seen as too emotional and irrational to be judges. This bias was evidenced by a quote in the Associated Press article, from a woman no less: “I’d like to see her, but I think that men do this job... Read more
This was written by Cycads and originally appeared on her blog. So there was this American guy, Jake, who sat with Gareth and me at lunch last Saturday and was telling us how much he wanted to go to Malaysia because it’s apparently a great place to meet women, and claimed that the country is chockfull of hot-bodied beauties. He also didn’t waste time to explain that the reasons behind his quest was down to his general lack of luck... Read more
A few weeks ago, we featured a story in our Friday links about the introduction of Muslim dolls in the U.K., created to teach Muslim children about Islam. Sounds like a great idea at first, until I saw what this picture of the dolls and realized the disturbing racial implications. The main problem comes in the name of these dolls. The dolls are called Desi Dolls. “Desi” is the term used to refer to anyone of South Asian descent – Indian,... Read more
Salam waleykum, readers. Last week, we brought you daily updates on the Muslim community’s response to Aasiya Hassan’s murder. This week, we’re bringing you our own thoughts on the coverage surrounding the case. Media coverage around Aasiya Hassan’s murder has been slow but steady in its speculation. Much of it has been Islamophobic, throwing around sound bytes from unqualified spokespeople (looking in Brigitte Gabriel’s direction), making assumptions about Islamic law, and generalizing about the Muslim community. Faith: The media coverage... Read more
MuslimMatters has a four-part post on child molestation in the Muslim community. Parts one, two, and three have been published. In Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, a group of women gathered this week for “Musawah,” a global movement to promote justice and equality in the Muslim family unite. Coverage here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here. Valentine Moghadam asks Payvand, “Where are Iran’s women workers?“ Menassat discusses the T&A in Egyptian films. Many female Saudi graduates leave the country... Read more
CNN recently featured a story of a social science experiment conducted by Dr. Akbar Ahmed, professor and chair of Islamic Studies at American University in Washington. …[t]he project that’s been dubbed Journey into America…is an offshoot of a 2006 endeavor that took him, and a few of those traveling with him now… into the Muslim world abroad. That initial trip involving visits to mosques, madrassas (religious schools) and private homes from Syria to Indonesia became the basis of Ahmed’s book,... Read more
The results of a new study on Arab women in Dearborn, Mich., have been released. The study revealed that women who wear “traditional clothing” (code word for hijab) are prone to lower levels of vitamin D because of less exposure to sunlight. Two articles on the study (here and here) read like, “Oh noes! Those poor hijabis who get no sunlight will get so sick!” This recent study is just the latest in a line of studies on hijabis in... Read more
Muslimah Media Watch thanks Faisal Kutty for the tip. This was written by both Krista and Sobia. Before we start, we want to take a minute to remember and honour Aqsa Parvez as a person and not just as a topic of debate. A lot of the writing about her – whether by people who use her story to fuel Islamophobia, or people who are trying to stand up against the resulting misrepresentation of Muslims – ends up overlooking the... Read more
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