MMW thanks Salma for the tip! Just like Qur’an recitation, devotional music is often designated the realm of men. Women’s voices are often thought to be too erotic to sing or perform religious content — they sway men to sinful thoughts when they should be focusing on God. But some women have broken from behind […]

MMW thanks Carmen for the tip! This is a t-shirt from ThreadPit.com’s online clothing store: The caption for the shirt reads: “The desert has many hot things. Unfortunately, in Southwestern Asia it’s mostly limited to roads, recently discharged firearms, and bombed out pre-fab metal buildings.” I hate racism/sexism that poses as irony. File this under […]

All our hearts ached for the victims of the devastating tsunami a few of years ago. One of the worst natural disasters in recent history. Many people asked why such a horrible thing would happen. How could so many innocent lives be taken like that? Who knows why things like this happen. Who knows God’s […]

MEMRI has a YouTube video entitled “Iranian Police Enforces ‘Islamic Dress Code’ on Women.” As an aside, I’m kind of impressed by the use of quotation marks, because MEMRI videos (whether posted by the news organization itself or reposted by individual users) tend towards inflammatory Islamophobic phrases. The video shows the so-called “hijab police.” A […]

AKI reported last week that the result of Pakistan’s elections will boost counter-terrorism efforts. This was the sole picture posted along with their story. What do Pakistani elections and counter-terrorism efforts that have to do with niqabis? There isn’t anything in the story about women or women who wear niqab. Does AKI think that niqab […]

MMW thanks Forsoothsayer for the tip! The New York Times’ has a section for more in-depth analysis of news stories, entitled “The Lede” and authored by Mike Nizza. On February 19, 2008, writer Nadim Audi talked to some Egyptian university students about their ideas and their reaction to the Times’ earlier piece about frustrated Egyptian […]

Qatar’s Gulf Times published three different articles in its February 15, 2008 “Islam” section that have an unsettling theme: telling women how to act. The first article, by Fatima Barakatullah, is titled “Reviving Our Sense of Gheerah,” and has run in several other outlets that are specific to conservative Islamic interpretations. For any readers unfamiliar […]

The secret life of the Middle Eastern Muslim woman is a hot topic. In bookstores around the world, books line the shelves displaying covers of teasing confessionals — desert princesses, seductive eyes lined with makeup behind a niqab, life when related to a terrorist, the disturbing details of what Muslims do to their women. These […]

When I read the Daily Mail article from the UK entitled I was forced to marry my cousin – it’s normal in my culture, but SO WRONG all I could say was ugh! Why? Let me explain. The article describes the experiences of a Pakistani-British woman, Khaleda, who was forced to marry her father’s cousin, […]

This sloppy article from CNN talks about how Saudi Arabia overreacts to Valentine’s Day every year and bans all things red in an attempt to quash any plans Saudis have to celebrate the holiday. The Saudi government considers Valentine’s Day to be un-Islamic and thus bans roses, teddy bears, and anything Valentine-related. So the article […]