With articles in Der Spiegel, Rue89, The Telegraph, and a YouTube video in recent weeks, the two self-described web-activists called Niqabitch are making a splash in the French (and European) media landscape. As they said themselves in the Rue89 article, throwing on a burqa in protest of France’s burqa ban would be “too simple.” They […]

A Map of Home by Randa Jarrar is a book that does not fall into a category easily. A Map of Home provides the vivid portrait of a girl, who is Muslim, who is Palestinian and Egyptian and Greek and from Kuwait and born in America, who fulfills her parents’ expectations and dashes them fiercely. […]

emel discusses the differences between the French and Syrian niqab bans. More on the French niqab ban from The American Muslim. Sakineh Ashtiani’s son begs for a global ban on stoning. The Australian has the latest on her case. Tehran hospital fires nurses for “improper Islamic covering.” A planned kite-flying in support of Afghan women’s […]

A political ad that portrays a pensioner hobbling forward for a share of the national budget only to be overtaken by a crowd of burqa-clad women pushing baby carriages has been rejected by a Swedish TV channel on the grounds that it promotes religious hatred. The campaign ad for the far-right Sweden Democrats (SD) party […]

Once again, everybody is entitled to speak on behalf of Muslim women except themselves. A few days ago, El Mundo reported that this year’s Comisión Islámica de España (Islamic Commission of Spain) did not include any women in their board. The Commission plays an important role in lobbying with the Spanish government in anything regarding […]

The headlines are hard to ignore: “Muslim Cabdriver Stabbed in New York Bias Attack;” “Vandalism at Madera mosque one of several incidents under investigation by Justice Department;” “Obama Weighs in as Plan to Burn Quran Sparks Debate.” These are just to name a few stories of hate that seem to be a part of the […]

In July, two women in France were asked to leave a holiday camp because of an attempt to swim while wearing burqinis, because of “hygiene” issues. While such an incident occurred last summer, this time around it comes hot on the heels of the ban on the burqa and niqab. The PBS program, To The […]

Tajik women who dress in hijab and niqab face pressure from authorities. Hijab revival in the Maghreb region: fashion, religion or strategy? In Mangalore, India, allowing Muslim women to offer prayers inside the Noor Masjid in Hampanakatta got ugly. Our guest post about Marie Claire is featured in Mother Jones. In the Netherlands, the National […]

Contrary to the common assumption that only Muslim women are victims of gender violence, some organizations acknowledge the fact that gender violence is not restricted to one religion, ethnicity or nationality. According to El País, gender violence is very prominent in Spain. This resulted in the approval of the Law against Gender Violence on 2004. […]

I’ve been working on a curriculum project involving novels and memoirs about Muslim women, so the next few posts from me will probably be focusing on some of the books I’ve come across, even if none of them were published especially recently.  So, for those of you who like following our posts about literature (some […]