I was travelling today, so I did not fast. I considered fasting anyway, because I wanted to be part of the community, at least virtually – my Whatsapp right now is a constant scroll of friends and family checking in with each other, asking what everyone is having for iftar, sending both cheesy and/or moving […]

Happy new year to all our readers from all of us at Muslimah Media Watch!

  Ramadan is almost over, and as ever, I find myself wondering, how did that happen? Time does pass slower when you’re fasting, but it is the hours that slow down – especially during the long summer afternoons. The days seem to fly past. And today I looked at the schedule tacked onto the fridge […]

Ramadan Kareem from Muslimah Media Watch to all our readers. However you choose to observe this month, may your Ramadan be full of blessings, love and peace, and bring your spirit healing and rejuvenation. As always, we will be taking a break from media analysis and discussion of representations to focus on our experiences of […]

Jasmine Falling is the debut novel of British Palestinian writer (and MMW Contributor!) Shereen Malherbe. It is a tale of self-discovery and finding belonging, set mostly during ten action-charged days in Jerusalem, where Jasmine travels to find her missing father after her mother’s death.  I spoke with Shereen about the inspiration for the novel, the […]

Leila Aboulela’s The Kindness of Enemies, her fifth novel, explores the complexities of loyalty, religion and of nationalism, and the human yearning for belonging. The story is structured as two parallel narratives, a third person historical narrative set during the 19th century Caucasian war, and a contemporary narrative narrated in first person by Natasha Wilson, […]

Tasnim: Ever since the news broke about the Dolce and Gabbana abayas, I’ve heard this debut line described as everything from a “smart move” to an exploitative one, from a “cultural breakthrough” to “cultural appropriation.” What are your feelings about it? Afia: Being a modest fashion industry analyst, I have mixed feelings. On one hand, […]

Engy Abdelkader raises questions about when Muslim women are celebrated, pointing out that “Muslim women are often celebrated as courageous when pushing back against legal, social and cultural norms within their faith communities.” But what about other situations, such as protesting racism, or fighting to be allowed to wear a long skirt in school? ModMarkit, is a pop-up […]

Islam and the Future of Tolerance is a dialogue about the possibilities of reforming Islam between Sam Harris, neuroscientist and New Atheist, (one of the Four Horsemen of the Non-Apocalypse), and Maajid Nawaz, a former Islamist turned reformist. As the book details, the idea for this discussion began in the wake of an Intelligence Squared […]

Crossposted on Arab Hyphen Dégradé, a film by Palestinian twin brothers Tarzan and Arab Abou Nasser, forces the viewer into a claustrophobic situation and cranks up the tension to an almost unbearable degree.  The title (which refers to a layered haircut but also evokes the word degradation) is an apt one, as the film uses the enclosed […]