This post was written by Guest Contributor Saffiyya Mohammed. Saffiyya tweets at @saffiyyam. Living in the Caribbean has its perks; and believe it or not, it also has its drawbacks. With our colonial past, it’s become a melting pot for people over the world, with societies comprised of African, Indian, Chinese, Middle Eastern, European and Indigenous peoples. […]

Trigger warning: mention of sexual harassment/abuse, violence against children, Islamophobia and gendered violence. The video in question has not been linked. On November 9th, a video of girl’s hijab being ripped off in class began circulating around internet. Apparently, the young woman’s teacher posted the video on his Snapchat account, though she later denied posting […]

This has been my first Ramadan without hijab since 1997. After wearing hijab for close to twenty years, last year, sometime in August, I finally started leaving the house every day without covering my hair. I say “sometime” because removing it was a gradual process. At some point that summer, when the last distant cousin […]

When the current school year started a couple of months ago here in Egypt, some students were surprisingly excited about it. For Nada, a 7th grade student, this school year would bring its own surprises, as she was repeatedly asked by the school administration to wear the school uniform “properly” – that is, to wear […]

In the UK, Sadiq Khan, the first Muslim MP for Labour, is campaigning to be the mayor of London. In recent news, comments from an interview with him stated, ‘Questions need to be asked about why Muslim women wear hijabs’. Now at first glance, I thought this must have been quoted wrong. After all, being […]

Radical Islam is invading Paris’s elite political science universities; or at least that’s what opponents of Hijab Day would have everyone believe. On Wednesday, April 20th, students at Sciences-Po organized a hijab day. Salaam Sciences-Po, the Islamic reflection group behind the event, invited people to don headscarves in opposition of Islamophobia. While Hijab Day has […]

Earlier this month, the appearance of Indonesia’s first halal-certified hijab, sold and promoted by Indonesian fashion company Zoya, provoked equal parts protest and support. According to the certification given by the Indonesian Ulama Council (MUI), Zoya’s hijabs are ‘halal’ because the fabrics are produced with the use of only plant-based emulsifiers, and not those made […]

When I first heard about the solidarity movements happening mainly in the US; the interfaith meeting in Utah,‘Walk a Mile in Hijab’ initiative at a Chicago high school, the Christian professor at Wheaton College, I wasn’t sure how I felt about it. I kept thinking it’s a nice gesture but was it necessary?  Weren’t there […]

The growing use of social media in recent years provides opportunities for Muslim women to speak truth to preconceptions. Wired lists 5 women quashing preconceptions about Islam on social media (including MMW’s own Sana Saeed). A group of Saskatoon Muslim women in Canada is trying to break through stereotypes by inviting other women to meet them, and […]

“Definitions belong to the definers, not the defined.” -Toni Morrison, Beloved Awhile back, a friend and colleague said something about me I wasn’t sure how to take: “Heba,” she said, “in some ways you shatter everything that I thought I knew about Muslim women; in other ways, you absolutely embody stereotypes I have.” I smiled, […]