I was excited when the book Does My Head Look Big in This? came out a few years ago (see Melinda’s MMW review of it here.) In that book, author Randa Abdel-Fattah tells the story of Amal, a young Australian Muslim woman who decides to wear hijab and navigates the challenges of expressing her identity […]

Salam waleykum, readers, and happy International Women’s Day! For more info, you can go to the IWD website, which lists IWD events by country and has a cool photo gallery of past IWD events.

The Independent reports on how activists are working to end female genital cutting in African countries. Women who give birth in U.A.E. jails may soon be able to keep their children with them for the duration of their sentence. Saudi poet Ayda al-Jahani is leading in Millions Poet. Women’s rights groups in Turkey voice concern […]

There’s a new Moroccan movie out that, on the surface, seems to tackle the issue of pre-marital sex in the country. They’re a dime a dozen these days, but this one is stirring up controversy like crazy. Why? I’ll give you a hint: The name of the movie is Amours Voilées,  Hijab al-hob, which translates […]

Gallup released a new study on Monday examining American Muslims. Some of the results: Muslims are highly educated. More so than most of the American population. Muslims are only second to Jews in educational attainment. American Muslims are an incredibly diverse group comprised of 35% African Americans, 28% whites, 18% Asians and 1% Latinos. American […]

This piece was written by both Sobia and Krista After getting all of that sarcasm out of our systems two weeks ago, we decided it might be useful to put together a list of actual guidelines for writing about Muslims.  Of course, this is mostly just wishful thinking, because if reporters actually seemed willing to […]

All week, all I and my Arab and Arab-friendly friends (fellow Near Eastern studies graduates) have been talking about is Arabesque: Arts of the Arab World, being held at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.  It is the largest congregation of Arab artists ever. As a new Washington, D.C. resident, my status as an expatriate […]

Last Thursday, I went to the launch of AQSAZINE, a project that describes itself as “a grassroots publication open to 16-35 year old women and trans people who self-identify as Muslim.”  The theme of this first issue is “resistance & self defense,” and it includes poetry, rants, articles and artwork on themes including war, occupation, […]

The Hijablog gives her thoughts on situation in Norway regarding the police forces’ rescinding of the allowance of headscarves on the force. More on the story at the Gulf Times, Islam in Europe,  and The Norway Post. An Oklahoma woman who wasn’t allowed to renew her driver’s license because of her headscarf was finally allowed […]

This was originally written by Megan and published on Jezebel. Sally Quinn just got back from a Brookings Institute conference in Doha and, judging by her appearance on MSNBC talking about the status of women in the Middle East, she didn’t apparently learn much. Quinn peddles so many offensive stereotypes about Middle Eastern countries, the […]