Last month, Egyptian journalist Dalia Rabie had an enlightening experience when she was banned from joining her own birthday party at one of Cairo’s fancy restaurants, L’Aubergine. Rabie relates that the guy standing on the door who stopped her asked her if the fact that she is – unfortunately – wearing hijab was mentioned prior […]

Last month marked a positive milestone in Pakistan’s civil rights legislations. Transgendered citizens, known as hijra or eunuchs, were allowed for the first time identify themselves as transgendered when registering to vote. The new legislation came after a much debated constitutional case in 2008 regarding the humiliation and ill treatment of transgendered persons in Pakistan.  […]

Have you ever dreamed of being a hijabi in couture, strutting the runway in the fashion metropolises of Milan, New York or Paris without having to unravel that scarf you hold dear?  Well, maybe you haven’t, but if you have, you’re in luck: thanks to Muslim fashion designer, Nailah Lymus, your dream may be in […]

When your everyday news consists of the purported collapse of your government and a small but unfortunate obsession with treating the ill with fake drugs at a major regional cardiology institute, it seems that very few things will actually cause you to upchuck any remaining disgust floating around in your metaphorically ulcer-ridden stomach. Fortunately for […]

A few days ago, Lubna Shaikh posted this calligraphic collage craft idea for children on Suhaibwebb.com, in honor of the remembrance of the birth of the Prophet. Lubna writes that there is a need to “seek creative ways of imparting the knowledge of our deen” to children, to help them cultivate a personal connection with […]

Veena Malik is a Pakistani actress with a special flair for controversy. She first made major headlines after confronting a Mullah who accused her of inappropriate and vulgar behavior while participating on the Indian reality show ‘Bigg Boss.’ Her confrontation was praised by many, as she took a stand against general double-standards thrown at men […]

The Crescent Directive was, for me, a fun but perplexing read.  The concept is simple and noble: it gives guidelines for American Muslims on how to lay a groundwork for action in our communities in order to improve our image in America. Written by Khurram Dara, the book starts out with looking at how Islam […]

Miriam Cooke has described her use of “Muslimwoman” in one word as a reference to embracing and performing a singular gendered and religious identity, a way of reflecting the intertwining of gender and religion and describing this erasure of diversity. In 2008, in her essay on deploying this term, Cooke explained: The neologism Muslimwoman draws […]

Editor’s Note: As previous RIS-themed posts have noted (see our post from 2008, two posts from 2009, and two posts from the 2011 Convention), the lack of women scholars is a persistent problem at the Reviving the Islamic Spirit events.  Here, Sumaya, a guest contributor to MMW, outlines some of the reasons that this is […]

Yesterday, we posted Sharrae’s analysis of gender issues at the 2011 Reviving the Islamic Spirit Convention.  Although I wasn’t able to attend the Convention, I did make it to the Knowledge Retreat, a six-day series of classes with several of the RIS scholars.  There is much to say about the Retreat, but one moment in […]