“More Islamic than the Islamists”: Claiming the Female Body for a Nation

Last updated on: May 6, 2012 at 11:22 pm By eren

In the past few weeks, Chechnya has been in international news after the president of the independent republic, Ramzan Kadyrov, made few remarks supporting and justifying honor killings. After years of war in the region, including the First and Second Chechen wars, Chechnya has undergone a challenging road to reconstruction. Although it seems that Kadyrov’s alliance with the Kremlin has appeased Russian-Chechen relations, occasional bombings and clashes between federal troops and separatist militants are still common. In addition, Kadyrov has... Read more

Friday Links | May 4, 2012

Last updated on: May 4, 2012 at 11:16 am By anneke

Chechnya’s president has openly spoken out in support of honour killings, which leaves Chechen women in fear. Chechnya’s president is known for wanting to make Chechnya “more Islamic than the Islamists.” The Rohingyas are a Muslim ethnic group in Burma/Myanmar, and many of them have fled the country to neighbouring Bangladesh, where they often live in extreme poverty and desperate conditions. IRIN features an interview with Jaheda Begum, a female refugee who daily worries about feeding her family and the future... Read more

In the Name of Honour: The Free Aafia Siddiqui Campaign in South Africa

Last updated on: May 3, 2012 at 10:47 am By safiyyah

Earlier this year, South African Muslim media was abuzz with the story of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, an American-educated Pakistani cognitive neuroscientist who was convicted and sentenced to 86 years in prison for assault with intent to murder her U.S. interrogators in Afghanistan. The media campaign served to raise awareness about Siddiqui’s alleged abuse at the hands of the U.S justice system, and to assert her complete innocence. Her story is a difficult one, spanning the vastness of two continents and... Read more

Imran Khan on Women

Last updated on: May 1, 2012 at 5:14 pm By merium

With general elections expected in May 2013, Imran Khan’s political party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) or Pakistan Movement for Justice is said to be gaining momentum, if its massive October 2011 political rally is any indicator. Buoyed by popular support from an empowered youth demographic (36 million people in Pakistan are between 15-24 years old) and women from varying cross sections of society, many Pakistanis are excited about the impending political change that Khan and PTI represent. Khan falls into the... Read more

Responsibility as Representatives: A Need for Honest Reflection

Last updated on: April 30, 2012 at 10:42 pm By sharrae

In our roundtable on the Foreign Policy “sex issue” I spoke about the responsibility one has when representing, speaking or acting on behalf of one’s own community. Among other reactions to that issue, Mona Eltahawy’s article garnered various responses from Arab women, expressing their disapproval of Eltahawy’s claim to speak on behalf of Arab women. Wherever one stands, I think the issue does raise questions on what it means for Muslims, or those who identify as being in connection with... Read more

Some Issues with Foreign Policy’s Sex Issue: Part Two (MMW Responds)

Last updated on: April 30, 2012 at 2:18 pm By Krista

The recent Foreign Policy issue focused on sex drew a number of responses around the internet. Earlier today, we posted a round-up of some of the other blog posts and articles that were written about the issue; here, Sharrae, Azra, Tasnim, Nicole and I discuss our many thoughts on the issue as a whole and on Mona Eltahawy’s article. (more…) Read more

Some Issues with Foreign Policy’s “Sex Issue”: Part One

Last updated on: April 30, 2012 at 12:06 am By Krista

So I’m sure that pretty much everyone has, by now, seen Foreign Policy magazine’s recent “Sex Issue,” which looks at issues related to gender, sex, and politics in various countries. The article that’s gotten the most attention is Mona Eltahawy’s piece “Why Do They Hate Us?,” in which Eltahawy writes about the many forms of violence against women in Arab countries. We’ve got some responses from several MMW writers coming, today and tomorrow, but to start off, here’s a roundup... Read more

Friday Links | April 27, 2012

Last updated on: April 26, 2012 at 10:38 pm By anneke

From April 19 to April 24, the Association of Women’s Rights in Development (AWID) organised a forum in Istanbul, Turkey on the theme of transforming economic power. Women activists from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region in particular spoke about the ongoing struggle to enshrine women’s rights into new constitutions and increase female participation in new political systems. Many Arab women are worried about the increasing influence of conservative Islam in post-revolution countries, and the effect this will have on women... Read more

Influential Woman: Fatou Bensouda

Last updated on: April 26, 2012 at 11:02 am By Lara Alamad

Muslim women were well represented in the Time Magazine list of the 100 Most Influential People in the World this year. Samya wrote yesterday about three of the women, Samira Ibrahim, Manal al-Sharif and Maryam Durani, who are portrayed as women fighting against oppression and in wider media coverage are clearly identified as Muslim women, coming from “Muslim countries.” However the faith of Fatou Bensouda, who will take over as Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) this June,... Read more

What it Means to be One of the 100 Most Influential People in the World

Last updated on: March 15, 2018 at 12:15 pm By samya

I spent the last weekend in Istanbul, having decided with my husband to escape the hectic daily news cycles of cosmopolitan Dubai, bustling with all kinds of events. It was meant to be a time for relaxation, to enjoy the beautiful natural scenery and the delicious Turkish cuisine. But my obsession with how international media are representing transitions in the Arab region seems to be insatiable. Time Magazine’s feature on the 100 most influential people in the world might be... Read more