This post was written by guest contributor Nasia Ullas (@mrsmumshad). I live in Kerala, the only state in India which boasts a 100% literacy rate, which I often think comes with its boons and banes. We Malayalees are all too opinionated, go on strikes at the drop of a hat, and discuss politics way too […]

This post was written by guest contributor Sya. At the beginning of Ramadan this year, a KONY2012-like video started making rounds on social media. It gave a twist to the white saviour trope with a dash of neo-colonial religio-cultural imperialism and condescension. I’m referring to #SaveMaryam, an initiative from Mercy Mission Worldwide to raise awareness […]

Alaa Morely, the Syrian woman who stated in an interview on Syrian television in June this year that she had fabricated news reports for Al-Jazeera, has fled to Turkey, where she tells about her forced confession. A New Zealand museum will ban men from watching a documentary featuring unveiled Muslim women, as per request of the […]

“I don’t think there’s ever been a time in my life when I wanted to pray. My mom always made me think that as Muslims, we should. But as soon as I stopped caring about what Mom thought, I stopped praying altogether. But today—right now—I really want to pray.” (Rebels by Accident, p. 150) Rebels […]

I first heard about the film The Source via a Mark Kermode film review. Put simply, it is a story set in a remote North African village (the country is not named in the film). The village depends on income from visiting tourists and the there is little work for men there, unless they move […]

About two weeks ago, my bulging eyes nearly met my falling jaw when I came across a flood of tweets in my feed about the Saudi Industrial Property Authority, “MODON,” building an all-woman city to boost the country’s economy and productivity all while ensuring that no one gets a hickey from the opposite sex in […]

In exploring the intersection of digital life and Islam over the last couple of years I’ve come across a number of projects and articles examining Muslims and the metaverse, from virtual hajj tours and Islamic sacred spaces in Second Life to academic articles on the concept of “e-hijab,” which the author describes as Muslim women […]

Somali runner Samia Yusuf Omar, who competed in the 2008 Olympics for her country, has drowned off the coast of Italy earlier this year. According to an earlier profile by Al Jazeera, Samia had been looking for a trainer in Ethiopia to compete at the London Olympics, but had met a lot of obstacles and resistance. Italian newspapers suggest that she […]

Since the anti-burqa law (or whatever you want to call it, I can’t anymore) was passed in France, women with “full cover” can be cited for non-compliance, and can be stopped for identity checks.  We all remember the story of the polygamous butcher and his many niqab-clad wives gleefully committing welfare fraud.  One of his wives […]

Now that Ramadan is over, I can get it out of my mind and scream hard on how women were portrayed in the Egyptian TV throughout the whole month. Women are seen as sex objects: there’s no better way to put it than this cliché; it is as simple, as shallow, and as degrading as […]