Friday Links — October 10, 2008 October 10, 2008
Posted by Fatemeh in Links.Tags: Muslim women, News
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- A female fan jumps onstage and kisses Tamer Hosni during a concert in Kuwait, shutting down the concert early and outraging Kuwaiti parliament members.
- Eid celebrations in a Cairo suburb were marred after several women were sexually assaulted.
- A woman and her husband are harassed by three members of the Saudi Commission for the Promotion of Vice and Virtue.
- Iran plans to begin manufacturing and selling cars designed specifically for women. They’ll have “soft, feminine colours.” (rolling eyes) More from the BBC.
- Iraqi women are reluctant to run for local elections for fear of violence directed at them or their families. Via DeenPort. More from Yahoo! News. Via Progressive Muslima News.
- MidEast Youth’s Esra’a gives her take on the Saudi cleric’s ruling that women should only show one eye, and Myrtus weighs in, too.
- The Tehran City Council passed a bill that would pay the debts of 2,000 female prisoners.
- Female imams have a large role in China’s Muslim population.
- A Saudi journalists’ treatment on a blog answers her questions as to why Muslim women are treated badly.
- After a pregnant woman died in an Egyptian police raid, crowds of Egyptians attack police. May Allah give her peace. Via Arabisto. More from Al Arabiya and Middle East Online.
- The United Nation’s Children Fund is undertaking research to figure out the causes of India’s high maternal mortality rate.
- More than 20 women in Sudan were arrested and allegedly beaten because their pants were “tight”. The president shut down the police crackdown, releasing all women arrested. More from Reuters. Via Jezebel. More from the BBC and Middle East Online.
- An Iranian girls’ volleyball team participated in Asian Youth Girl’s Volleyball Championship in Manilla, Philippines.
- Dr. Qanta Ahmed speaks with Voice of America on her book and life in Saudi Arabia. PopMatters reviews her book.
- The Modesto Bee profiles an American Muslim woman who’s proud to be both.
- Another story on “Islamic sportswear.”
- Achelois writes her opinion on Islamic feminism (and why it’s not going to get us anywhere): part 1 and part 2
- Pakistan’s ambassador to the U.S. demands that they hand over Dr. Aafia Siddiqui.
- The first ever Women’s Islamic Football Tournament will be held in Tehran from Oct. 5 – 15. Photos of Iran’s Malavan Women’s Soccer team.
- Women in the Gaza Strip are warned to cover their hair.
- In Afghanistan’s Bamian provence, women are quietly gaining rights. There’s a nifty movie, too.
- Time looks at Iranian women’s taxis and their economic impact on Iranian women.
- A sexual harassment law is being drafted in Saudi Arabia by the Ministry of Labor and the Shoura council.
- Another conservative non-Muslim woman wears a headscarf for a day and thinks Muslim women get treated a little too nicely.
- Iran imprisons Kurdish feminist Negin Sheikholeslami without charges.
- Asharq Alawsat gives the Muslim Brotherhood’s stance on women’s rights.
- Aaminah Hernández has started the Winter Scarf Project, which will donate winter scarves to the homeless.
Al Jazeera interviews the Nigerian man with 86 wives, speaking also with his wives and gaging the community’s reaction:
- A woman who converted to Islam is injured after her brother opened fire on her and her family, killing her husband and injuring her daughter.
- The Feminist School reports on the one-year anniversary of Dr. Zahra Bani Yaghoub’s death in custody.
- CNN profiles female Kurdish fighters who “won’t stand for male dominance.”
- Three Iranian feminist protesters have been sent to solitary confinement, reports the Committee to Support Widespread Hunger Strike by Kurdish Political Prisoners and Civil Rights Activists. Via WLUML.
- Themina Kader gave a lecture on contemporary female Muslim artists at the University of Arkansas.
- Health care and medicine for Afghan mothers is still lacking. Via Progressive Muslima News.
- Arab News looks at temporary marriages in Saudi Arabia. Stilettos in the Sand… gives her opinion. Via Global Voices Online.
- Nushin Arbabzadah and Massoumeh Torfeh give their opinions on why talks with the Taliban won’t work.
- A woman and her daughters look for financial support but don’t find it from the government.
- Mohammed Al-Ubaydli writes about the lessons he’ll teach his daughters to improve their chances at success. Via Global Voices Online.
- France bans immigrant Muslims who cover their faces from state-sponsored French language classes. Via Islam in Europe.
- IRQO seeks donations for a young Iranian woman seeking asylum in Sweden.
- Ijtema profiles Rafia Hussain Kamel’s calligraphy work.
- Yassir Harib wonders why some Gulf men walk separately from their wives and children.
- On Muslim women and the headscarf in Finland. Via Hijab Style.
- MidEast Youth exposes forced child prostitution in Lebanon.
- HijabMan looks at Lena Khan’s work for Obama.
- Menassat profiles Gaza’s first female sportscaster, Nelly al-Masri.
- The Feminist School looks at news in women’s activism over the last week.
- A woman and three children were among those killed in a U.S. strike in Pakistan. May Allah give them peace. Via TalkIslam.
- Payvand News interviews Iranian women’s activist Azadeh Faramarziha.
- An Indonesian Islamic women’s school allows transvestites to attend.
- epiphanies gives her take on the Jewel of Madina controversy and has an interesting discussion on African women and western feminism.
- A CEDAW follow-up report on Kyrgyzstan.
- Unconfirmed reports say that a female suicide bomber killed nine and wounded 29 people outside a courthouse in Diyala, Iraq. May Allah give the victims peace.
- Kamangir translates an open letter to Mahmoud Ahmedinejad by Iranian journalist Masih Alinejad.
- Speaking of open letters, Crypto-Muslim writes a great one to Mohja Kahf for her “Sermon” piece in The Washington Post.
- Two-year-old Tangena Hussain is missing, and police have arrested her mother’s boyfriend in connection with another crime and dug up a backyard in search of her. May Allah keep her safe.
- HijabStyle gives us a rundown on Dubai Fashion Week.
- Malalai Joya, one kick-ass, outspoken Afghan lady, speaks to The Nation.
- A female qazi has presided over another marriage in India.
- The Norwegian Police Joint Union says no to headscarves.
Referring to the wife and husband manhandled by the “Virtue” cops…Im wondering if a marriage certificate was ever produced to give authority to the claim that they had married 4 years previously?
Concerning the Christian brother that saw fit to send his sister(or rather her husband) to her judgement sooner rather than later because she converted to Islam….”Nice” to know its not only Muslim brothers that feel the need to uphold family honor in such a violent way.
Have our parliaments run out of things to feel outraged over?
“Filipino hairdressers are turning our children gay, therefore we must deport them and monitor students”
“Nancy Ajram is coming to town? Grab your pickets!”
On another note, the beating of “immodest” women in Sudan occurs very often, although incidents have reduced since the peace accord was signed.
Police would patrol the streets and lash (yes, lash!) or alternatively beat women with a stick…all in public.
Re: The woman and her husband being harrased by Saudi moral police.
This is why religion should be kept out of government. You give religious power to morons IN power and you get opportunities for major abuses. No state should legislate morality (aside from instances of human rights abuses – murder, rape etc).
Re: Conservative woman wearing hijab
What?? Is she basically saying that xenophobia is an exaggerated problem? That racism is a minimal problem? Ugh! What a clueless moron!
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Lol at Tamer Hosny and the Iranian cars! Couldn’t she find a better singer to kiss?!?
It’s rather off-topic, but I thought some readers might be interested:
After the success of Noor, it was only natural that even more Turkish soaps would be dubbed to Arabic. Interestingly though, one of them deals with “honour” killings. The first episode was just aired today, and I only caught 10 minutes of it, but it seems to center around a young village girl who fell pregnant outside of marriage, leaving her family with a tough decision to make.
I dislike soaps, but my interest is definitely raised. I wonder what effect it would have and the discussions it would create, particularly in Jordan, Syria and Egypt.
Hmm…as I was writing this, an ad for an Egyptian series that deals with forced/child marriage was aired.
@Sobia, i think the problem is when the govt makes an “official religion” (or rather an official interpretation), which is exactly what the “morality police” are.
Because for example in Australia we have public decency laws that mean that well you can’t go around naked. but it doesn’t mean that police hassle people who dress too….”lightly”.
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“This is why religion should be kept out of government. You give religious power to morons IN power and you get opportunities for major abuses. No state should legislate morality (aside from instances of human rights abuses – murder, rape etc).”
Sobia, how can you maintain such a distinction?
I was just going to leave it at that question, but I’m listening to a boring lecture about contract frustration and wanted to make some further points…
I think you’re confusing the role that religion can plays within government and how it can structure government, and the way in which the political elites interpret the rights and obligations set out in the Qu’ran.
And my point above was that what, you’re saying to governments “Please, don’t follow your own morality, instead we’re going to shove our own liberal secular interpretation of human rights in your face and force you to comply” ? Islam itself presents an ideological framework in which to base all social and political life. Such a framework sits extremely uneasily with Western liberal secular conceptions of government and state.
It also doesn’t really make much sense, especially considering you wrote a favourable review of Mojha Kahf’s article last week; who claims the rights she listed as ones being granted by Islam, rather than those rights being inalienable human rights granted by her government.
The rights that Islam gave are quite intuitive if one values human rights.
I did not say laws cannot be inspired by religion, as many morals are regardless of religion, but to specifically have Islamic laws is very dangerous. Very rarely have Muslims, or any religion, been able to implement “Islamic” laws. After all, Islamic laws are all a matter of interpretation. Very few rules (murder is haram) are clear-cut. So implementing Islamic laws then becomes very relative. The laws will depend on who interprets them.
And although non-religious laws are often up for re-interpretation the main difference between those and religious laws, is that religious laws cannot be questioned. If one does question them then their Islamicness is questioned and doubted. “How dare you question this law?? It is made by God!” Non-religious laws cannot be defended in this manner so can be questioned.
Once you bring God into the picture then you can use Him to control and subjugate people very easily.
And as far as implementing women’s rights – Saudi Arabia, Iran, Pakistan all have Islamic laws. And their women’s rights records are deplorable. They use Islam to oppress women and justify this oppression through Islamic laws!
State and mosque should be separate.
And the distinction between what can be legislated and not – what harms others and infringes upon their rights is what needs to be legislated. Therefore, who someone sleeps with or who they hang out in a park with, does not harm anyone. And it does not harm the morality of others either. That is why there are distinctions here. A couple can walk around here and show public affection. But a line is drawn at having sex in public. This is seen as offensive to others, mainly children (therefore harmful to them). However, even then people are usually given warnings as opposed to punished. I can understand in Muslim countries if showing public affection is not allowed but to just be out with someone of the opposite sex does not harm anyone. Not even from an Islamic perspective.
Similarly, walking around completely naked is not allowed as this is considered to be offensive, again mainly to children and thus harmful. However, in places like Ontario, where I live, women can walk around topless if they want. This is allowed.
I pretty much agree with you’re saying Sobia. I don’t follow a specific religion, but personally I wouldn’t want the government to use my religious beliefs to infringe upon the rights of others. As well as using my religious beliefs for their own personal gain. But enough about that. ;)
But in all honesty, I think the issue with the morality police in Saudi Arabia is it seems they don’t have anything better to do than to harass people. I’ve been reading stories about the morality police, and they bother people for some of the stupidest things. Don’t they have anything better to do? I mean, really?
@ Kawthar: those sound terribly interesting; maybe you’ld like to do a review of them for us? ;) Or someone who would?
Gender-specific cars is absolutely absurd. Men never need to go shopping or take their children anywhere? Also, it’s not that great environmentally either — encouraging people to have individual cars catered to personal needs instead of sharing within a family. But at least the article didn’t say at the end — did you notice? — “By the way, women in Saudi Arabia can’t drive at all!”
Other comments:
— All France is doing is isolating the women it wants to make “more French,” in the end just polarizing people with hatred on both sides
— “Transvestites” in Indonesia: Might some of these people actually be transgendered, as opposed to transvestites?
— Did anyone notice the caption for the Gaza story? “Veiled Palestinian women. (Not related to story.)” Did some editor fail to read the parentheses and change the picture, or does the publication want to highlight the fact it’s just using the picture for decoration?
— Tamer Hosni kiss: Sigh. Can’t they just get over it?
Sorry, yet another comment:
What’s with the picture accompanying the “Egypt Christian shoots his Muslim sister” story? An angry, scary-looking brown man who is NOT the subject of the story. Perfect.
religion should be part of law to the exact extent that democratic elections permit them to – while having a constitution in place that protects the fundamental rights and freedoms, particularly those of minorities. sounds simple enough…sigh.
melinda, so right. why are journalists LAME.
does no one care that tamer hosny has only one eyebrow??