This was written by Sahar and originally published at Nuseiba. The third International Congress on Islamic feminism is underway in Barcelona. Muslim women from around the world have gathered to discuss the pressing issue of women in Islam and the Muslim world. Events like these and the debate which ensues – both from women and […]

A U.A.E.-based newspaper, The National, published a story yesterday about increasing numbers of Saudi women entering the workplace (read here). While this isn’t the first story written about Saudi women in the workforce, it is one of the best written ones I’ve seen. There is no presumption of Western superiority in regards to women in […]

I wrote a few weeks ago about the effect of a fictional white character’s Muslim identity on possible constructions and understandings of Islam and Muslim; this week I want to look at a couple non-fictional women in similar positions. On Open Salon, a network of bloggers, this weekend’s top story was written by Sara O’Connell, […]

Ghada El-Tawil (pictured below) is an Egyptian anchorwoman who just recently returned to television. Six years ago, she was pulled from television after she began wearing a headscarf. The BBC has published a new story about El-Tawil in which she discusses her legal battle, why she wears hijab, and the struggles for Egyptian hijabis in […]

Like last week’s article on Britain’s apparent condemnation of the entire system of Islamic law, it was the ridiculous headline of this article that got me first. “Al-Azhar backs women’s right to beat husbands“? Hardly. Scholars from al-Azhar University in Cairo have affirmed that a woman who is being abused has a right to fight […]

Muslimah Media Watch thanks Thabet for the tip. In Thursday, October 23rd’s edition of The Independent, journalist Johann Hari asked the question “Dare we stand up for Muslim women?” Hari (pictured below right), a young British journalist with left leanings and who has defended Muslims against the fear mongering of Canadian right-wing writer Mark Steyn, […]

Egyptian women have something to celebrate: yesterday the first man in Egyptian history was sentenced to jail for sexual harassment. And not just any sentence: three years in jail with hard labor in addition to an LE 5,001 fine (approximately $1,000). An unexpected, but very welcome sentence. 27-year-old filmmaker Noha Rushdie Saleh was groped last […]

When I started to read a recent NPR story about an Iraqi woman married to an American sergeant, I had to double check to make sure that I was actually reading a news story and not a piece of Orientalist fiction. “From The Iraq War, A Troubled Romance In America” is filled with so many […]

A few months ago, my mother gave me the CD of a Muslimah who she saw rapping at a masjid in Philadelphia. The CD is titled Muslimas with Attitude and the artist is Miss Undastood (link to her MySpace page here). She’s still a relatively new rapper who has released a few mixed-track CDs. Listening […]

This was written by Amal Awad and originally published in The Sydney Morning Herald. As I spot one veiled cliche after another in the bookshop, I realise that when it comes to Muslims in print, if kidnapped children and enslavement were the flavour of the ’80s and ’90s, honour killings are the leitmotif of the […]