Friday Links | January 24, 2014

Last updated on: January 23, 2014 at 11:49 pm By anneke

Russian authorities are hunting for potential female suicide bombers in and around Sochi; security forces say that they have killed potential “black widow” Zaira Alieva during an operation on Saturday, which left seven dead. The Olympic Games are scheduled to start on February 7. It is estimated that one in nine Pakistani women will have breast cancer during her lifetime, but conservative values and cultural taboos make fighting the disease extremely challenging. The Burma/Myanmar government has denied that a Buddhist... Read more

The Women that Need Saving: A Reflection on Lila Abu-Lughod’s “Do Muslim Women Need Saving?”

Last updated on: January 20, 2014 at 2:01 am By eren

My mother belongs to the Zapotec region of Tehuantepec in Oaxaca, Mexico. She is one of the few among my relatives who identifies as “indigenous.” Colonialism in Mexico, and perhaps in many countries in Latin America, was different in that one of the successes of the colonial era was the creation of the caste system and its everlasting effects on indigenous populations. Despite the fact that 200 years have passed since Mexican independence from Spain, I grew up with nationalist... Read more

Friday Links | January 17, 2014

Last updated on: January 16, 2014 at 11:55 am By anneke

Human Rights Watch has spoken out about the discriminatory rules imposed on women by certain Syrian armed opposition groups. After young Australian couple had been killed in Syria earlier this week, many stories have been coming up about Amira Karroum, the woman involved, stressing her “recent” shift to a more “radical” Islam and her alleged verbal abuse of the neighbours. Syrian women have requested a large role during the peace negotiations expected to start next week. The BBC shares the story of Spozhmai, the Afghan... Read more

One-Dimensional Hijab Stories

Last updated on: January 14, 2014 at 4:19 pm By afia

In a previous post, I talked a little about the 99 Hijab Stories book and why the idea of the book made me squirm. I don’t know how succesful the book has been, but it certainly has generated enough hype that a few months later an Indonesian TV channel announced that it would air (*drumroll*) a TV show “inspired by the book”. The basic idea of the show is pretty much similar to the book: hijab-wearing public figures will be... Read more

Am I Dressed Appropriately? Or Why That’s None of Your Business

Last updated on: January 14, 2014 at 7:47 pm By shireen

Last Wednesday, social media was abuzz with the published findings of a recent study conducted in the “Muslim world” (Tunisia, Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey). The initial study was done by University of Michigan and looked at religious tolerance and secularism in Tunisia in comparison with six other nations. Although the initial poll covered a multitude of questions regarding political and religious situations in the Middle East, the focus of the poll, as presented by Pew Research... Read more

Bones of the #Mipsterz Debacle

Last updated on: January 13, 2014 at 3:31 pm By shireen

The beginning of December brought a season of joy and cheer. For Muslims in the United States and Canada, it also brought some of the most heated and intense debates on social media about Islam and identity, community, critique, critique of critiques, slut-shaming, and who may (not) speak for, to, about (un)veiled Muslim women regarding fashion, art, videography, music, and make-up artistry. Cue the most overused hashtag of 2013 known to Muslims in social media: #Mipsterz and the ‘Somewhere In... Read more

Friday Links | January 10, 2014

Last updated on: January 9, 2014 at 2:46 pm By anneke

Thousands of people, predominantly women and children, in the Central African Republic are fleeing the violence to seek refuge in Chad, a country many of them have never been to, but are believed to have originated from. On Sunday a young Afghan girl wearing a suicide vest was detained in Afghanistan, as she tried to carry out an attack on the border police. The girl stated during the investigation that she was forced to wear the vest by her brother,... Read more

Entrenching Stigma: Malaysia’s Cross-Dressing Law

Last updated on: January 8, 2014 at 10:59 am By syahirah

2013 ended with another decision, somewhere in the world, to entrench the persecution and ostracisation of a minority group. I’m referring to a new syariah law introduced by the Pahang Islamic Religious and Malay Customs Council (MUIP) in early December 2013, which would imprison for a maximum of one year or fine up to RM1000 (USD 304) a man who dresses like a woman, or a woman who dresses like a man. The deputy director of the Pahang Islamic Religious Department... Read more

The Men We Should Not Marry

Last updated on: January 6, 2014 at 9:29 am By eren

A few days ago a fellow Facebook friend of Indian descent posted “10 reasons why you should not marry a Pakistani man”. Articles like this are not uncommon, since attitudes towards marrying certain types of men are not uncommon. In all cultures, religions and groups, there are assumptions about the best or worst marriage partners which often rely on a bunch of stereotypes that are not necessarily helpful or useful when engaging in partner-seeking. Image accompanying the article.- Via The... Read more

Honor Diaries: A Real Conversation on Women’s Rights or a Scratch on the Surface?

Last updated on: January 13, 2015 at 12:13 pm By samya

In April 2011, Faleh Hassan Almaleki, an Iraqi immigrant to the United States, was sentenced to 34.5 years in prison for killing his 20 year-old daughter for becoming “too westernized.” The case was deemed an “honor killing” because the daughter, according to the dad, dishonored the whole family. This story is one of many presented by the film Honor Diaries, a recently launched film project directed by Micah Smith, and produced by Paula Kweskin, Heidi Basch-Harod and Alex Traiman. The... Read more