I recently came across this video by UNICEF Nigeria about a community’s difficulty in getting all of their children vaccinated against polio. Polio mainly affects children under the age of five, where it can cause muscle weakness, irreversible paralysis, and death. This video recounts the story of a small settlement called Hawan Dawaki in the […]

This post was originally posted at wood turtle’s blog. The day my friend took off hijab was disappointing. While everyone was offering congratulations on the new look, I couldn’t help wonder if my friend was having a crisis of faith. And when I asked if everything was okay, I learned a secret truth that sent me […]

 “When I sleep, I dream like a Hazara” (The Honey Thief, p. 6). The Honey Thief is a successful collaboration between authors Najaf Mazari and Robert Hillman, featuring a host of interesting characters and places from Mazari’s native Afghanistan.  Winner of the 2005 Australian National Biography Award, Hillman came on board initially to  co-author Mazari’s […]

Rehana Kausar and Sobia Kamar are the first Muslim lesbians united in a civil ceremony in the UK; both women are from Pakistan and have applied for political asylum, claiming that they fear for their lives upon a return to Pakistan. A leading human rights advocate for Thai Muslims has said that the Thai government is […]

When I was a teenager, my dad and I used to enjoy looking at the graffiti painted all over Mexico City. While my dad was a critic of the graffiti that was just scribbles and swear words and obscene signs, we enjoyed those graffitos that were not only truly artistic but also political. Graffiti was, […]

In Part 1 of this post, I introduced to you activist, artist and documentary filmmaker Red Summer. She along with the women in her upcoming film Al Nisa: Muslim Women in Atlanta’s Gay Mecca have been creating intentional spaces of community for Black Lesbian Muslims, where they can share and connect without negotiating the multiple […]

Oppression works in strategic ways. When we think of who is the oppressor and who is the oppressed, as Muslim women in “the West” we often automatically think about the white liberal feminist who speaks on the behalf of “Third World” women, women of colour and Muslim women. However, what about the level of social […]

Mainstream media often incites rebuttals from Muslim women defending themselves against vapid stereotypes and negative portrayals. Ostensibly, these include “We are not oppressed,” ”We play sports,” “We are educated and have choices,” “We have agency and support those who do not,” and so on and so forth.  Muslim women writing about inspiring feats of Muslim […]

For more than 20 years there has been a continuous stream of bad news where Somalia is concerned with images of war, famine and piracy. Now with Al Shabaaab driven out of Mogadishu, and the Somali Transitional Government and African Union in control of the capital, Somalia seems to have joined the Africa Rising tide, […]

The Afghan parliament has failed to pass an important women’s law which would ban violence against women, as many members of parliament deem this particular law to be “un-Islamic.” Two women made the news this week conquering Mount Everest: Samina Baig is the first Pakistani woman to do so and Saudi Raha Moharrak was the first female […]