Ha Ana Za! looks at the survival and growth of Islamic feminism. South Africa’s The Times speaks with Fatima Hassam, who is fighting for inheritance rights for multiple wives. The U.S.’s Condoleezza Rice initiates the “One Woman Initiative,” which is a fund that aims to empower Muslim women around the world through funding education and […]

The BBC has a slide show that examines the Western Saharah independence on its 35th anniversary. The slide show is an interesting one, but troublesomely without context: we have no idea when these pictures are taken or by whom. Anyway, the real point of this post. The picture below (like all the others) appeared with […]

A few days ago, I caught an Intelligence Squared U.S. debate on the radio. The series evaluates a claim through Oxford-style debate. The resolution was “Islam is dominated by radicals.” The wording of the issue is flawed, as participant Reza Aslan (against) pointed out in his opening speech, and the supporting team’s attempts to clarify […]

Written by Ebtihal Mubarak, originally published on Arab News. JEDDAH, 19 May 2008 — For 25 days supporters and friends of Saudi blogger Hadeel Alhodaif have waited anxiously, hoping that she would emerge from the coma she fell into unexpectedly. But on Friday these hopes died as the 25-year-old writer and social critic — known […]

A few weeks ago, Slate highlighted Iran as a topic for cartoonists. I didn’t look at all 290 cartoons (I got to 203, though!), which lampooned several years of Iran’s place in the headlines. The general consensus among cartoonists is that there are four topics which make up Iran: Ahmedinejad, nuclear issues, angry-looking mullahs, and […]

Hip hop was created in the ’70s as a means for disillusioned Black and Latino youth to express their grievances and anger at the racism and neglect of the system. Today, although not always used for those political purposes, there does remain a strong segment of the hip hop population which uses this form of […]

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 […]

Muslimah Media Watch thanks Safiya for the tip. Asia Alfasi is a talented manga artist in the U.K. The BBC covered a talent competition she’d won (barikallah!), but managed to irritate me through mislabeling Ms. Alfasi’s drawings and misuse of the word “Arabian.” Ms. Alfasi won a competition given by the International Manga and Anime […]

Yesterday, PBS aired a special called Stand Up: Muslim American Comics Come of Age. Maysoon Zayid and Tissa Hami are two Muslim women comics profiled in the documentary, and Muslimah Media Watch was lucky enough to get interviews via email with them both. Muslimah Media Watch: Salaam waleykum. I want to say first that it’s […]

In an effort to curb Malaysian women used in drug trafficking, the Malaysian Foreign Ministry has proposed that all women traveling out of the country alone have a letter from parents or employers. And, unsurprisingly, this pisses off women. Via Feministing. The National Newspaper looks at the evolution of abaya styles. A Tunisian family sues […]