Summayyah Meehan’s article for the Khaleej Times starts out like this: “The headscarf, or hijab, is just a small piece of fabric but the controversy that often surrounds it is immeasurable. Muslim women who wear the hijab are often socially stigmatised, in non-Muslim and sometimes even Muslim countries, as being mindless drones who are under […]

Yesterday’s issue of the New York Times featured a look at romance among the youth of Saudi Arabia. It’s not the first time the Times has addressed this topic. The Western media has an intense fascination when it comes to Saudi Arabia and romance, if Valentine’s Day coverage is any clue. Yesterday’s coverage includes separate […]

The Birmingham Posts’ Roshan Doug recently blogged about a frustrating experience he had at a retail outlet. Many of us could relate as many of us have been in similar situations. Therefore, I understood much of his frustration throughout the post until…… The clerk he was dealing with was a Muslim woman in a hijab. […]

This was written by Susan, and was originally published at Humble Musing. Apparently being a pop singer in the Arab world is enough to tag you with the adjective “raunchy” (Also here, and again here). Haifa Wehbe is supposed to perform in Bahrain around Labor Day, and the Parliament is considering whether to forbid her […]

We at Muslimah Media Watch seem to get asked a lot, “Well, what would make you happy?” Personally, being a young idealist, part-time cynic, and a lady who is just plain uppity, complaining is what really makes me happy. And when it comes to the portrayals of Muslim women in worldwide media, there is no […]

This was written by Maytha, originally published at KABOBfest. Why does every Western representation, photo-essay, primetime special feature on Muslims in America exclusively focus on the muhajabat when portraying the American Muslim woman experience? Time magazine’s online photo-essay “Muslim in America” features 16 pics of “ordinary” Muslim activity in New York. Ironically, I have a […]

There’s a trend in the Americas. Latina* women are getting tired of Catholicism. They’re sick of being called “mamacita” in the streets. They don’t want to deal anymore with the chauvinistic pigs otherwise known as Latino men. So they’re throwing away their tank tops and their statues of the Virgin Mary and pulling on the […]

Social experiments can be so much fun. And apparently journalists seem to agree. A few months ago we reported on one such experiment by Danielle Crittenden. She donned the abaya and niqab to live a day in the life of a niqabi Muslim woman. Well, we’ve come across another similar experiment, this time in Sudbury, […]

Ammar from Little Mosque on the Prairie said “Muslims around the world are known for their sense of humour.” Unfortunately the sarcasm of this comment escapes no one because, in fact, Muslims are not known for their sense of humour. Quite the opposite. However, recent years have seen efforts to change this image. Muslim comedians […]

I recently came across what I thought of as a beautiful poem, entitled I Am Woman – Celebrate Me, written by Canadian Muslim feminist and activist, Raheel Raza. Addressing issues of sexism, racism, and misogyny among others, this poem was written by Raza and presented to WOMANVOICE, on Dec 6, 2004 to celebrate the International […]