Now that president Saleh has agreed to step down, this could be the moment to ban child marriage in Yemen, Nadya Khalife argues. But the unrest and instability has put the whole issue of child marriage on back burner, according to a report by Human Rights Watch. Last week, the Egyptian unrest has been in the news, and the picture of a woman, ripped of her clothes and showing a blue bra, has been making headlines. Rights watchdogs say that... Read more
Recently, the “Goatmilk” blog hosted a debate, with the resolution: Islam is Incompatible with Feminism. Speaking for the motion was Mohamad Tabbaa, and opposing it was Katrina Daly Thompson. Not surprisingly, several MMW writers had something to say in response. The reactions of Syma, Nicole, and Eren are shared here in two parts. You can find Part One here. Eren: Tabbaa talks about feminism but fails to make it clear that feminism is not a monolithic body, and arguably, is... Read more
Recently, the “Goatmilk” blog hosted a debate, with the resolution: Islam is Incompatible with Feminism. Speaking for the motion was Mohamad Tabbaa, and opposing it was Katrina Daly Thompson. Not surprisingly, several MMW writers had something to say in response. The reactions of Syma, Nicole, and Eren are shared here in two parts. Syma: I took the liberty of mapping out Tabbaa’s argument as to why Islam and feminism are incompatible, and it certainly seems like a straw-man argument when... Read more
When an act of bigotry or prejudice occurs, it is often accompanied by an insidious denial that an act of bigotry is even occurring. You would think that cancelling advertising during the reality television show All-American Muslim because showing Muslims as ordinary people apparently equals doom to the US – as the company Lowe’s (and others) did – could not be seen as anything other than horribly Islamophobic. Wrong! Come with me, to a place where reason and facts are... Read more
“Can a Syrian woman run for the post of the President of Syria? Yes she can.” This interrogative statement and answer captured my attention as I was watching The Light in Her Eyes, a film that premiered at the 8th edition of the Dubai International Film Festival this December. The film, which documents the story of Houda Al-Habash, a Syrian female teacher of Islamic subjects at a girls’ school, made me ask a lot of questions, the most important of... Read more
“It’s a matter of principle.” Women have to uncover their faces during the Canadian citizenship ceremony, according to an announcement from the Canadian Minister of Citzenship and Immigration last Monday. Conclusions from a conference on Saudi women, by a male speaker (of course): “Do not look at Muslim women through Western prism!” A major city in Western China has started a campaign against the hijab/Islamic dress and beard, according to a message on its website. The message has vanished soon... Read more
Robin Wright’s Rock the Casbah Rage and Rebellion Across the Islamic World describes what Wright calls “the counter-jihad, which is unfolding in the wider Islamic bloc of fifty-seven countries as well as among Muslim minorities worldwide.” A decade after 9/11, Wright argues that “the Islamic world is now in the throes of a counterjihad” which “will define the next decade as thoroughly as the extremists dominated the last one.” According to Wright, this change is driven by three factors: the... Read more
Women in the Egyptian revolution have been a great source of international attention and appreciation. It is when women participate that you truly can call it a “people’s” revolution. When the news started to come out about the elections for the Revolutionary Parliament, everyone looked closely for women’s participation; women candidates, women voters, women section in each party program, and women finally winning seats in the parliament. With the general fear from the dominance of the so-called Islamic parties affecting... Read more
Almost a year ago, for my very first MMW post, I wrote about Sura al-Shawk, a professional Swiss basketball player from Luzern who was forced to choose between wearing her headscarf and playing professional basketball due to the supposed “uniform” regulations of the local and national basketball associations, both affiliated with FIBA, the International Basketball Federation. Last March, after my original article was published, the regional courts in Luzern ruled that al-Shawk must go through all possible appeals processes with the... Read more
On November 15, 2011, a number of Canadian Muslim leaders and organizations issued a press release condemning domestic violence and honor killings. This press release was backed up by over 50 Muslim organizations, and the Canadian Council of Imams called on imams around Canada to dedicate a khutba on December 9 to issues of domestic violence (you can watch a video of some of the December 9 coverage here). Yet, to some extent, the sudden attention to domestic violence and... Read more
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