Friday Links | June 24, 2011

Last updated on: June 24, 2011 at 12:00 am By fatemeh

A nine-year- old Peshwari girl was forced to wear suicide vest. An Indonesian woman was put to death by decapitation in Saudi Arabia this week. Her daughter plans to press charges, while Indonesia wonders whether or not its citizens are so well protected abroad. Meanwhile, another maid is murdered in Saudi Arabia. May Allah give them peace and justice. Kenyan Islamic groups clash over appointment of female qadis. You can’t wear hijab as a soccer referee in Quebec: another consequence... Read more

The Light in Her Eyes: An Eye-Opening Documentary

Last updated on: June 23, 2011 at 12:00 am By diana

I stepped into a cozy loft, decorated minimally with Moroccan style tapestry and into an experience I won’t easily forget. The Light in Her Eyes, a documentary film following the story of Houda al-Habash, the founder and teacher of an all girls’ Qur’an school in Damascus, Syria, sparked my interest about a year ago where, in a similar intimate gathering, I was first able to see the footage gathered. I must admit I was skeptical, even after meeting the charming... Read more

Saudi Women Set Their Sights on the Right to Vote

Last updated on: June 22, 2011 at 12:00 am By emanhashim

Last March, Saudi authorities stated that half the seats in the municipal council in the next September 2011 run would be elected, rather than selected by the monarch himself as usual. But when they implemented elections, they neglected to include women’s votes. When asked why, the kingdom’s electoral commission mentioned it was because of logistic-related difficulties in sex-segregated election stations, the same reason that was previously used back in 2005. Almost six years have passed and nothing has changed, proving... Read more

Bhutto: A One-Sided Look at a Complicated Woman

Last updated on: June 21, 2011 at 12:00 am By Azra

BHUTTO is the definitive documentary that chronicles the life of one of the most complex and fascinating characters of our time. Hers is an epic tale of Shakespearean dimension. It’s the story of the first woman in history to lead a Muslim nation: Pakistan. –Synopsis from the film’s website Duane Baughman and Johnny O’Hara’s 2010 documentary Bhutto, which recently aired on PBS’s Independent Lens in the United States, attempts to portray the “Shakespearean” life of Pakistani leader Benazir Bhutto in... Read more

The Media’s Chickens Come Home to Roost with the Amina Hoax

Last updated on: June 20, 2011 at 12:00 am By Guest Contributor

This was written by B. Full disclosure: Last month I wrote a piece for MMW about the new ‘blog heroine’, Amina Abdullah. The thrust of my piece was my discomfort at her being promoted by the Western media as such a central figure in the Syrian uprising. However, the planned posting date coinciding with Amina’s kidnapping and the story was spiked on grounds of taste. Of course, we now know that Amina was now an entirely fictional figure. Opprobrium has... Read more

Friday Links | June 17, 2011

Last updated on: June 17, 2011 at 12:00 am By Krista

An interview with Maryam Kershevarz about the film she directed, Circumstance, a fictional story about a relationship between two high school girls in Tehran. Farzaneh Milani reflects on driving bans and activism in Saudi Arabia. More on that here and here. A new film called Tales of the Waria looks at transgendered women in Indonesia. Lebanon’s government has a new all-male cabinet, which is totally okay with at least one MP, because “we welcome their opinions, my house is full of... Read more

That Post Where Maureen Dowd Got Ripped a New One

Last updated on: June 16, 2011 at 12:00 am By fatemeh

Maureen Dowd has opinions, everybody! And she is gracious enough to share them with us little people. When she heard about the June 17 campaign to drive that Saudi women are mounting on Facebook, the first thing Dowd did was call up her friend Prince Alwaleed bin Talal bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, who is “a pillar of modernity in the medieval kingdom.” In fact, that’s exactly how she opens the piece—it’s very important that we know she has connections. And it’s... Read more

Why Did Tom MacMaster Choose to be “A Gay Girl” Blogging from Damascus?

Last updated on: June 15, 2011 at 12:00 am By samya

So the whole thing turned out to be a hoax. Throughout the last few weeks, I have been a regular reader of the blog “A Gay Girl in Damascus,” especially during the current unrest in Syria. As Sara wrote in her post, “A Gay Girl in Damascus Tells It Like It Is,” the presumed author of the blog, Amina Abdullah, “is being celebrated as the unlikely voice of Syrian revolution.” The blogger wrote about the daily frustrations she faced as... Read more

A Conversation on the Speaking in God’s Name Conference, Part II

Last updated on: June 14, 2011 at 12:00 am By Sara Yasin

Yesterday, we began a roundtable discussion with women who attended “Speaking in God’s name: Re-examining Gender in Islam”in London. Today, we’ll finish the conversation with Eleanor Kilory of Women Living Under Muslim Laws, Word Play of Word Play Blog, Basma Al Mutlaq of Saudi Amber, and Faeeza Vaid of Muslim Women’s Network UK. Sara: One of the most interesting speakers for me was Dr. Chris Allen, a British academic that researches Islamophobia as well as anti-Muslim hate crimes. Dr. Allen... Read more

A Conversation on the Speaking in God’s Name Conference, Part I

Last updated on: June 13, 2011 at 12:00 am By Sara Yasin

Last weekend, I attended a conference entitled “Speaking in God’s name: Re-examining Gender in Islam”in London. Organized by Inspire, a Muslim women’s consultancy that aims to inspire and empower Muslim women. The purpose of the conference was to have a conversation about re-negotiating how we understand gender in Islam. The conference featured some big names, such as Amina Wadud, Ziba Mir-Hosseini, and Dr. Khalid Abou El Fadl, and Mukhtar Mai. The conference also launched the start of a new organization... Read more