It was after my marriage that I decided to wear a hijab in public. Like most others who are evolving on their hijab journey, I had my fears – my biggest one being that it was going to make me look horrendous. After all my hair was my best feature. To help me on my […]

This post was written by guest contributor Deonna Kelli Sayed. Media technology and the Muslim world are interesting collaborators.  Cassette tape propagation of Ayatollah Khomeini’s sermons provided important precursors for the Iranian Revolution. Likewise, Facebook and Twitter offered political leverage in the Arab Spring developments. For observers, social media, in particular, is potentially changing the […]

This post was written by guest contributor Sya. At the beginning of Ramadan this year, a KONY2012-like video started making rounds on social media. It gave a twist to the white saviour trope with a dash of neo-colonial religio-cultural imperialism and condescension. I’m referring to #SaveMaryam, an initiative from Mercy Mission Worldwide to raise awareness […]

Editor’s Note: Please join me in welcoming Anike, MMW’s newest contributor!  You may know her better from her blog as “cosmic yoruba.”  We’re thrilled to have Anike join the MMW team. It is still quite rare to come across depictions of Muslim women in “mainstream” Ghanaian or Nigerian media. (By “mainstream”, I am referring to […]

Last week, Samya covered the TEDxMogadishu talks for MMW.  As Samya wrote, “TEDx Mogadishu is not just a meeting of creative minds to gather and share their views on the welfare of the people in Somalia; it is also an opportunity for outsiders to change their perceptions about developments in that country, especially as they […]

This post was written by guest contributor Arwa Aburawa. Back in December 2011, gender-based violence hit the headlines in the Arab world when soldiers brutally attacked a hijab-wearing Egyptian protester. Following the incident, there was widespread outrage that a woman would be treated in such a violent manner. And rightly so. However, it got me […]

“Love  Marriage and Fairytales” is a somewhat misleading title to a popular Muslim Youtube video, trending in various social media circles, having gone “Muslim-viral,” as my fellow MMW contributor Sana Saeed calls it.  This video (according to information discerned from the Youtube account) is an attempt to highlight the most frequent and problematic issues facing […]

The new “Bad Girls” music video by M.I.A. has been circulating over the past week or so.  For those who haven’t seen it, it’s posted below, and here’s one description from a  LA Times blog post: Set to M.I.A.’s Punjabi-laced chill-banger, “Bad Girls” is a lady gangsta fantasy but one that plays off very real […]

As 2011 draws to a close, we at MMW are looking back at our year of posts.  For those who missed posts earlier in the year, or for those who want to look back through some of the things we wrote about, we’ll be going through some of those through the rest of this week.  […]

Editor’s note: When Azra forwarded us this article, everyone had something to say.  Below are thoughts from several MMW contributors. Azra: I saw this post from The Atlantic come up in my twitter feed, and was intrigued. And then I saw the video and read Max Fisher’s thoughts. My intrigue turned to disappointment. [See the […]