Salaams and Eid Mubarak to all of our readers! For those of you celebrating, I hope you are having a wonderful time, and send Eid greetings on behalf of the MMW team. Instead of the usual calligraphy images that we often post for Eid, I thought I would share this picture of the gorgeous autumn colours here. May your Eid day be as beautiful and filled with sunshine, wherever you are. Read more
It’s that time of year again: the weather is getting cooler, the leaves are changing colour, my students are stressed about midterm season… and for the past couple weeks, the Pink Hijab Day invitations have been popping up in my newsfeed. Pink Hijab Day is an annual event, taking place in October each year (this year’s was actually yesterday in most places). According to the Global Pink Hijab Day 2012 Facebook event, the event “was intended to remove stereotypes of... Read more
Nathan Lean’s book The Islamophobia Industry: How the Right Manufactures Fear of Muslims is a look at the pernicious ways in which anti-Muslim sentiment is fostered, both in the US and to a smaller extent in Europe. Although MMW is primarily focused on Muslim women in the media and their issues, I chose to review this book anyway because it lends context to the issues that affect us. In recent months, I have been told that Islamophobia doesn’t exist (and... Read more
After graduating and finding myself sub-employed in the world of retail, I have had the opportunity to closely explore the cosmetics industry. While in university I acquired my Makeup Artistry certification from a recognized school in Canada because I enjoyed colour and makeup so much. Since I was a child I enjoyed playing with my mom’s cosmetics, and I used to long for the day that I would be allowed to wear lipsticks and eye shadows. Yet, after working so... Read more
My daughter Ivy devours bananas. She can finish off half a banana in minutes and screams if you take it away from her before she’s done. In fact, at five months old she has already tasted bagels, figs and chicken – stuffing anything within reach on my plate into her mouth. At birth, my other daughter Eryn absolutely refused to nurse, and I spent the first 48 hours of her life desperately feeding her a mixture of colostrum and water... Read more
This week important progress has been made in securing peace on the island of Mindanao, the Philippines, by the signing of a blueprint of the final peace contract. After over 40 years of violence and over 150,000 dead, fears have been easing in the region, which for one woman led to the end of the 4pm curfew her family had set for her most of her life. To promote peace and religious understanding at the eve of the signing, last... Read more
Discussions on LGBTQ inclusion in Muslim communities are one of those things that make my blood boil because in my community, as in some others, Muslims who support same-sex unions and condemn homophobia tend to be disregarded. For many Muslims, the recognition of Muslims who may identify as queer or trans poses a challenge to many of our communities, either for our theological, cultural or political reasons. For me, speaking about LGBTQ Muslims has brought along a lot of contention... Read more
At the beginning of the month, PBS aired a four-hour film version of Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn’s book, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression Into Opportunity for Women Worldwide in the United States. I read the book when it first came out in 2010 and examined its portrayal of female genital mutilation in Senegal for Muslimah Media Watch then. The documentary was heavily promoted by my local public radio and TV stations. Naturally, I made sure to have it turned... Read more
I have noticed a trend on Facebook of pages created and maintained by male religious teachers in the Malay-speaking communities of Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. CahayaIslam (“Light of Islam”) and Lukisan Dakwah Islam (“Islamic Drawings for Da’wah”) are two pages most intriguing to me for two reasons: because they create and share cartoons that are drawn in the style of manga, which is popularly associated with comic books cheaply available to children and youth; and because they circumvent the rule in many forms of orthodox Islam against representations... Read more
Of late, Pakistan’s foreign minister, Hina Rabbani Khar, has become the unfortunate target of tabloid headlines here in the sub-continent (and beyond, I expect, as the story continues to go viral). According to an “expose” in the Weekly Blitz (a Bangladeshi tabloid), Pakistan’s top diplomat is allegedly embroiled in a passionate affair with Bilawal Zardari Bhutto, the 24-year-old scion of the Bhutto dynasty. His father is Pakistan’s current President, Asif Ali Zardari, and his mother is slain, two-time former prime... Read more
Muslimah Media Watch
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