This week I interviewed Yasmin Choudhury, winner of the Entrepreneur of the Year at the British Muslim Awards for her social entrepreneurship business, Lovedesh. Waking up early to talk to me on a Saturday morning, Yasmin was full of energy, despite the time. She jumped straight in with the background on how Lovedesh started. During […]

This post is written by guest contributor, Sarabi N. Eventide (@SarabiNEventide) Ansarullah Bangla Team (ABT), the extremist group in Bangladesh responsible for the deaths of numerous secular and liberal bloggers, is once again attempting to dictate what is and is not acceptable in Bengali media. In its most recent move, the group issued a threat to media companies employing women […]

I am not going to lie, I started reading Without Shame with some skepticism – and I have to confess that skepticism stemmed at least in part from the author’s background and previous writing. Katherine Russell is a non-Muslim, white Western writer with a background in poetry and love stories. In 2006 she published a […]

I have been hearing about Taslima Nasrin from the time I was a child. The Muslim Bangla woman was accused of writing blasphemous anecdotes about Islam in her 1993 novel  Lajja, which drew a number of protests, including at least one group calling for her death and offering a reward; Lajja was banned in Bangladesh […]

Taking the title of “Best Documentary Short Film 2012” in the third Mumbai International Queer Film Festival is the telling documentary, “Amra Ki Etoi Bhinno.” The KASHISH – Mumbai International Queer Film Festival, an annual event held in Mumbai, India since 2010, screens films related to gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, and queer issues India and […]

Around 4,000 academics, scholars and activists gathered from March 16-18th at Pace University’s annual Left Forum conference. As a recent Occupy activist, I was ecstatic to come across a conference that centers on issues of capitalism and imperialism, along with panels that focus on the importance of feminist discourse to envision an alternative world. The […]

Salam waleykum, readers! Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to put together Friday Links for this week because I’ve been traveling and have some serious jet lag. But here’s a great article instead! Try not to be too disappointed, mkay? Friday Links should return next Friday, enshallah. This was written by Bina D’Costa and originally appeared […]

Muslimah Media Watch thanks Thabet for the tip. In Thursday, October 23rd’s edition of The Independent, journalist Johann Hari asked the question “Dare we stand up for Muslim women?” Hari (pictured below right), a young British journalist with left leanings and who has defended Muslims against the fear mongering of Canadian right-wing writer Mark Steyn, […]