Previously published on the author’s personal blog. A few days ago, my husband killed a small mouse which had been living in our kitchen for some time (possibly a year, if it’s the same one). He meant to trap it and release it but in a moment of panic he killed it (while apologising to […]

This week, I came across the video “Things not to do in the masjid” in my Facebook feed. The two guys behind the video, Americans of Afghani background Shukran and Roshan under the moniker SRBRosEntertainment, acted out 18 different scenarios with another actor. The video is clearly a hit, with over 960,000 views to date. […]

When I was 19 years old and just exiting from the rebellious teenage years, I stepped out of the house with my hijabi sister. I was newly de-jabbed (the first tentative attempt of many), and feeling awkward and – for lack of a better description – naked. My neighbour happened to step out at the […]

“How is your situation with attending the mosque?” begins a video by Kuwaiti preacher Mishary Al-Kharaz, before he introduces us to his “friend in Yemen”. The video shows Kamal, a young man with a “handicap”, as he enters a mosque, prays sitting on a chair and then goes up to the second floor after the […]

I’ve always been fascinated by how certain symbols function as gender markers in the societies I’ve known. Little hijabs for little girls is one example, while a non-Muslim friend of mine dresses her also sparsely coiffed infant in frilly pink dresses because people keep thinking she’s a little boy. It can be so uncomfortable for […]

My son is already almost six months old, but I haven’t fully absorbed the fact that I’m a mother to someone. I always found it funny when people said mak orang (lit. “someone’s mother”) in Malay, but this time it’s me they’re talking about. Don’t get me wrong: I love my son and I love […]

Originally published at Aquila Style. Qatar has revived a modesty campaign dating from 2012, when it was known as “One of us” and originally started by a group of Qatari women.[i] Due to be relaunched on 20 June 2014 – just in time for Ramadan – as “Reflect your respect”, the campaign is targeting public spaces with […]

This post was originally published at Aquila Style. Stories of gender-based violence, especially in times of conflict, is nothing new. But what pulled me towards this book was the geopolitical situation and demographic of conflict: the Khmer Rouge regime (also known as Democratic Kampuchea) of 1975-1979, and women of the targeted minority group of Cham […]

This post was originally published at Aquila Style. The liberal feminist organisation Femen and its members’ naked breasts have had their media run. Now a more modest sort of uncovering is happening, this time in Iranian social media. Last month, London-based Iranian journalist Masih Alinejad started a movement on Facebook and Twitter, translated as “My Stealth Freedom”, to highlight the […]

An article in the Jakarta Post last week followed the latest developments on a pesantren (Islamic boarding school) for transgender people in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Although it is called a boarding school, the Pondok Pesantren Waria Al-Fatah functions more like a religious school where students can learn classical religious subjects like fiqh and Qur’an recitation, as […]