- A proposed retail ban on hejabs causes some serious uproar, agreement, and outright refusal. In response, The Brisbane Times puts forth an “educational” article about hejab, a Muslim woman tries to explain the differences between headcoverings, and anti-discrimination groups advocate against the ban.
- The Queens Tribune profiles ICNA’s Temporary Housing for Women program.
- The Deccan Herald gives us the tale of Shah Bano.
- On the marriage choices Yemeni women may have to make.
- Organica ponders the treatment of women without headscarves.
- More on Rachida Dati and French Muslim women. And another story about her influence on maternity leave. Via ifeminists.
- Muslim women in Hyderabad, India, join together to help at-risk youths.
- Jizan, Saudi Arabia, will begin the establishment of a girls’ protection house.
- Muslim and Jewish women hold interfaith clubs for peace and speak out about Gaza. More from Voice of America and SF Gate.
- Interreligious marriages between Muslims and Russian Orthodox Christians are received differently by both groups.
- Hijab Style profiles Aida Begić, a Bosnian film director.
- Aafke has an interesting (and funny) take on men and hejab. Via Achelois.
- Hijabtrendz interviews Brooke Samad, the designer behind Maraboo fashions.
- Two sisters’ death sentences have been withdrawn: they will be freed from prison, alhamdulillah.
- According to the United Nation Children Fund, eight women die every day in Yemen due to pregnancy and childbirth complications.
- France has its first Muslim women’s magazine. Via Hijabtrendz.
- The Saudi Human Rights Commission is taking steps to end marriages involving minors. More here and here. Meanwhile, Feministe takes on the Saudi cleric who’s down with child marriages.
- Hospital workers in Odense, Denmark, don’t want headscarves on hospital premises.
- Women’s eNews examines a book club in Mumbai.
- Paula Lerner’s photography documents the lives of Afghan women.
- Pedestrian lauds Jackie Salloum’s Slingshot Hip Hop.
- Shari’a police in Nigeria block a planned rally by women to protest treatment of divorced women. Via ProgressiveIslam.
- Two teenage sisters go to the police after their father and uncle attempt to marry them to men they don’t want.
- Saudi Jeans writes an open letter to Amna Fatani, who is attempting to protect heritage sites for Saudi Arabia.
- Crypto-Muslim shares some thoughts about Dr. Mattson’s giving a prayer at Obama’s inauguration.
- Muslim and Jewish women in the U.K. protest against the media’s self-censorship of the Gaza crisis.
- MR Zine interviews Islah Jad, a professor at Bir Zeit University in the West Bank.
- On Pomegranates and Myrrh, a film about interreligious love in Palestine.
- Saudi women aged 18 years and older will be allowed to apply for government land grants soon.
- The Taleban in Pakistan’s Swat valley have banned school for girls and threatened terrible repercussions for girls caught attending schools. More from The Independent. Since this threat, militants have blown up closed girls’ schools.
- A new project that aims to revive traditional Turkish toys will also employ a large number of housewives as toy manufacturers.
- A beautiful love story blooms in a San Francisco mosque.
- The first National Conference of Yemeni Businesswomen will be held the last week of January.
- The Saudi Gazette examines domestic violence in the kingdom.
- A Moroccan film about how the headscarf fits in some women’s lives has whipped up controversy before its release.
- The International Parliamentary Union has praised the Arab Women’s Media Strategy launched by Shaikha Fatima of the U.A.E.
- The number of Yemeni citizens who married people from abroad rose last year.
- Saudi women will organize a boycott of lingerie stores that refuse to employ women. More from The Muslim News.
- A young girl travels halfway across the world on an interesting journey. Romantic? Impetuous? Downright stupid? You decide.
- Hurriyet Daily News profiles Şafak Pavey, a woman whose disability has enabled her to put challenges in perspective.
- Five Algerian women and their children have been repatriated to Algeria from Gaza.
- The casting of a Bollywood actress to play a Kashmiri women’s leader Asiya Andrabi irks Andrabi, who’s filing a lawsuit. Via ProgressiveIslam.
- Some military families in the U.S. launch an item drive to benefit Iraqi women and children.
- Young women are the U.A.E.’s business future.
- A Turkish court comes down hard on family members who assisted in the honor killing of a young girl. Uh, ’bout time.
- Iran’s first lady asks for help from Egypt for Gazans.
- Nashwa Al Ruwaini aims to tackle Arab stereotypes.
- Turkey’s Religious Affairs Directorate has put together a female sufi chorus.
- An interesting book aims to meld Palestinian and Jewish identities together for a young girl.
- The U.A.E. plans to set up entertainment centers for women, with a focus on sports facilities, within the next two years.
- After an acid attack on a young woman, Pakistan’s Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting warns that her attackers will be brought to justice. Enshallah.
- Yeşim Ustaoğlu’s movie Pandora’nın Kutusu (Pandora’s Box) has received wide international acclaim, and will run in Turkish theaters soon.
- Kuwaitis express unhappiness with rising wedding costs.
- A happy story about a Bahraini woman’s chance to attend Obama’s inauguration after working hard to campaign for him.
- News Blaze profiles the Sidab Women’s Sewing Group of Oman.
- A Bahraini woman with no means of support has allegedly been refused help by the Labour and Housing ministries.
- Births delivered in hospitals in the eastern Anatolia region are increasing.
- Monireh Hashemi, an Afghan playwright and actress, continues to write and act despite opposition. The Times of India loves her so much, they wrote another article about her.
- A cleric in Australia raises national ire when he states that wife-beating is Islamically permissible. O RLY? More from the BBC, The Muslim News, and IslamOnline.
- Somalian businesswomen continue to meet and support each other in war-torn Mogadishu.
- Pakistan’s child and maternal mortality rates are among the highest in South Asia.
- A Saudi woman has lodged a complaint with a human rights group, accusing a Madina judge of favoritism.
- A girl’s father threatens her and she’s the one being accused of less-than-good intentions. Via ProgressiveIslam.
- Pakistani author Muneeza Shamsie speaks on Pakistani women’s writings.
- More on the Iraqi quota law for women in elections. And more still.
- The Times of India reports that more Pakistani women are being trained in terrorist camps along with men.
- A bridal show in Abu Dhabi took place this week.
- Spain has recruited 16,000 Moroccan women to work as seasonal laborers in agriculture.
- Saudi Jeans highlights a short film about domestic violence by a Saudi film student.
- A Maltese-Palestinian woman gathers aid and leaves to offer help in Gaza.
- Port Sudan women’s development associations receive loans from Oxfam to build their communities and economy.
- A writer for the Saudi Gazette discusses sexual harassment of women, including hypotheses about causes and solutions.
- Canada’s decision to legalize gay marriage may pave the way for polygamy to be legal as well: two polygynous men are taking their case to Canadian courts. Via ifeminists.
- The murders of three Turkish women illustrate that “falling in love can justify honor killings in some communities.”
- A woman whose mother has been detained in jail for eight years lobbies the Saudi Human Rights Commission to release her.
- A look at why the controversy surrounding The Jewel of Medina wasn’t as big a deal as everyone thought.
- Clerics in Saudi Arabia oppose “modernist” fatwas, such as those in support of female imams or assisted reproductive technology.
- I discuss why a Portugese cardinal’s statements warnings against marrying Muslim men are offensive to both Muslim men and women.
- A Saudi woman dies in a car crash in Bahrain. May Allah give her peace.
- A man who was blackmailing a young woman has been arrested.
- Kamin Mohammadi reminisces on her childhood in Iran.
- MuslimMatters reviews From Somalia, With Love, by Na’ima B. Robert. Via DeenPort.
- Ozrah Jafari becomes Afghanistan’s first female mayor!
- IslamOnline examines the cooperation among Liberian women of different faiths to end violence in the country.
- Iranian women’s rights activists Nasrin Sotoudeh and Jelveh Javaheri have been summoned to court.
- Afghan migrants in Iran have little awareness of HIV.
- Kobra Najjar’s sentence has been converted to 100 lashes from stoning.
- Bahraini women’s rights activist Ghada Jamshir is the target of a continual harassment campaign.
- WLUML covers Halal TV.
- Iranian poet Simin Behbahani wins the Simone de Beauvoir prize for Women’s Freedome. More here. And here.
Tags: Muslim women, News
Ah… a small point on the “controversy” of The Jewel of Medina. I just recently finished reading it and will be writing a review for Feminist Review, as well as a longer critique for my own Book Lover’s Paradise blog.
The book really was as bad, frankly even WORSE, than I and everyone expected. It disrespected more than just A’ishah too… it was very unfavorable towards all the early Muslims.
Further, this argument that Jones’ keeps making that her intentions are good, to empower Muslim women, to show Islam in a good light… if you read the book you realize that she is flat out lying. There is nothing about the book that is even accurate, much less flattering to Islam in any way. She doesn’t even have the decency to capitalize the word “Islam”, and frankly that says a lot to me, because I have never read a book where any other religion or sect of a religion (Mormon, Quaker, for examples) was not capitalized; it shows a lack of respect and minimizing of it to do this.
The reason the “uproar” died down is very simple: Muslims saw through the story and decided not to waste their money on the book. Yes, as the author of the article you link said, it is not as readily available for mass consumption as a cartoon, or even a movie for which you see commercials and previews everywhere. People would have to go out of their way to get a copy of the book, and Muslims are smart enough to not bother.
The letter I received from the publisher with my review copy stated something about how the only reason people are criticizing it is because they are assuming the wrong things and haven’t had a chance to read it. Well, I read it. All the criticism is correct, and light-handed even. The book is much much worse than we expected, and it’s crappy writing on top of it.
In response to Fatemeh’s article about the Cardinal’s statement on intermarriage…
I, too, find this statement very offensive. But I just found it a little odd that you brought this up considering that most standard interpretations of shari’a prohibit the marriage between a Muslim woman and a non-Muslim man, and for reasons that I also find very offensive (maybe because I’m a product of such a marriage…)
The cardinal’s words should be condemned, but are you willing to condemn such Muslim prohibitions as well?
And please don’t say that it was just how the Cardinal justified such concerns that was offensive. The way most Muslim scholars explain why a Muslim man can marry a non-Muslim woman but not vice versa is also quite sexist.
@ Rochelle: On this prohibition of Muslim women marrying non-Muslim men: I agree that it’s bunk. Those who are religious will be faithful to God no matter who they’re married to, and I think that intermarriage could serve as a type of dawah. But I don’t want to get into a religious discussion here: in my post, I was responding the Cardinal’s statements, which specifically warned non-Muslim women against marrying Muslim men. That’s why I didn’t bring up the issue of Muslim women marrying non-Muslim men.
@ Aaminah: How did I miss your review? I’ll have to add it to next week’s links.
Fatemeh, it isn’t up yet. You haven’t missed it. :) Actually, it isn’t even completely written (though it’s complete in my head) because it is supposed to be a comparison between Jewel and Kamran Pasha’s Mother of the Believers, which I haven’t yet received. I’ll make sure to let you know when it’s up. :)
About the “A young girl travels halfway across the world on an interesting journey. Romantic? Impetuous? Downright stupid? You decide.” article …
I hope the best for them, my hubby is Turkish/Kurdish mixed, and I’m American so when I see a couple like us who got married young (although I was 19 not 15 like she was) it’s really sweet … and it’s almost 10 years later and we’re still married, alhamdullilah.
@ Aaminah: Phew. Thanks! ;)
Dati is stepping down?! I know she hasn’t confirmed it yet, but dayum!
Are we ever going to see a Friday list that doesnt include some form of abuse or out right murder of girls or women in the Muslim world…sigh?
My heart just gets heavier and heavier as I go down the list expecting to see just such an article…and so far Im never “disappointed”.