In the article “Domestic violence is more than just physical abuse” published in Malay language newspaper Berita Harian on December 1, 2017, the executive director of local ulama (religious scholar) organisation Pergas, Mohd Yusri Yuhbi Mohd Yusof, looks at several aspects of abuse and neglect in Muslim families: financial, psychological and emotional, physical, sexual and […]

*A note on Malay naming conventions: President Halimah is being called “President Yacob” is Anglophone media outlets. From a Malay perspective this is is odd because “Yacob” is  her father’s name and not a family name. Therefore, it is more appropriate to use Madam Halimah or President Halimah. Click here for more information on Malay naming […]

Last month on Aug 9, a gay man and a transgender woman from Singapore were arrested in a mall in Abu Dhabi just a day after they arrived for a photoshoot and networking. For the charges of ‘wearing women’s clothes’ and ‘outrageous acts in public’, according to court documents, the two were sentenced to a […]

Malaysia recently concluded its fifth peaceful democratic protest last month to call for a ‘cleaner’ electoral system in the country. Organised by the Coalition for Clean and Fair Elections (Bersih, or ‘clean’ in the Malay language), the rally aimed to raise awareness of systemic corruption in government institutions and of the current polling process. Most […]

Editor’s note: This is the first of two MMW reviews of the book Muslim Mothering: Global Histories, Theories, and Practices. This article looks at chapters 4, 10, and 11 from Muslim mothering: Global histories, theories, and practices (2016), edited by Margaret Aziza Pappano and Dana M. Olwan. I chose to look at these three chapters […]

When I was young, Eid was all about the new clothes, small gifts of money and eating cookies. ‘Suffering’ through the days of fasting, staying up late the night before Eid, eating breakfast together as a family and getting ready to visit relatives early in the morning. As a young adult, I discovered the beauty […]

In a way, it’s a Ramadan like countless others. I am spending most of it in my home country, Singapore, with average daylight times that, over thirty days, vary by only ten minutes. Breastfeeding my two-year-old son has dwindled to a handful of comfort-seeking times a day, so I am able to fast with a […]

A few days ago, Malaysian online news platform Malay Mail Online reported on how some married Muslim men in Malaysia are using “halal speed dating” to find a second wife. Halal Speed Dating (HSD) is a matchmaking platform for Muslims, co-founded by Malaysian couple Munirah Tunai Shamsidi and Zuhri Yuhyi. Together they run matchmaking events […]

Trigger Warning: This post contains discussion of underage rape and of transophobia Four months ago, the Singaporean newspaper The Straits Times ran a few articles on a case involving Malay Muslim transgender man Zunika Ahmad, 39. He had been charged with 20 counts of sexually penetrating a girl, a minor who was between the age of 13 […]

One of the biggest problems that Muslim women face today is the need to deconstruct and reconstruct narratives of ourselves in the media. (That’s why Muslimah Media Watch exists, amirite?) A recent interview of  Professor Jackie Ying, a Chinese Muslim scientist in Singapore, by a Singaporean Malay language news channel shows that this need can […]