This post originally appeared in New Canadian Media. The recent decision in Canada by the Federal Court of Appeal that ruled in favour of Zunera Ishaq, who challenged the ban on the niqab at Canadian citizenship ceremonies, has resurrected a non-issue into an election topic. During last week’s French language leaders’ debate and in the political commentary that […]

A few weeks ago, I was meeting a friend of a friend for the first time. Now usually, my name gets transformed into Tamsin, or Tasmeem, or Tasmeen (the last two have quite unfortunate meanings in Arabic). In this case, the person I was introducing myself to said “Oh, like that creepy ISI woman.” I […]

Following Malak Kazan’s lawsuit, the Police Department has announced that it will be implementing a new policy for women who wear a religious headscarf In case you haven’t had enough, here is another story on Muslim women fashion bloggers breaking stereotypes  The BBC asks how  London’s young Muslims view the 7/7 attacks, interviewing a group […]

Dear Mona, Some of my fellow Muslimah Media Watch writers put together a roundtable about their thoughts on your book, and as I read it, I decided to explore some of their ideas and thoughts further. This review in the form of a letter stems from the need to address not only the book itself, […]

Warner Bros. Studios officials allegedly told two Muslim women wearing headscarves they could not sit in the front row of ‘The Real’ because they should not be seen on camera. Unveiled is a play that focuses on the struggles of five Muslim women learning to live in the post 9/11 world. It will be presented […]

          Last month Canadian social media went wild with covering puns and jabs at the extraordinarily Islamophobic leader of the government, Prime Minister Harper. The Harper Government are challenging a ruling by the Supreme Court of Canada that allows Ms. Zunera Ishaq to wear her niqab at her Canadian Citizenship ceremony. […]

Before I go right into this post, I think I should make some things clear. This is not a post about the “moral” or religious side of sex work. In fact, very much the opposite. It is rather an analysis of how sex work is depicted in intersection with Muslim identity and traditionally Muslim garments […]

In an interview with the Huffington Post, Amani Al-Khatahtbeh, CEO of Muslimgirl.net, explains how Muslim women are ‘spoken over by the public’ and their voices ‘ignored.’ In a rare protest in Afghanistan’s male-dominated society, female rights activists in Kabul carry coffin of a woman beaten to death for allegedly burning Quran to graveyard. A Muslim […]

Various papers have been covering Canada’s niqab controversy after Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper  said that the niqab is rooted in “anti-women” culture, with some Muslim women responding, saying they choose to wear the niqab out of religious obligation. Germany’s Constitutional Court has lifted a ban on female Muslim teachers wearing headscarves.  The Telegraph writes about hip-hop hijabis. In relation to […]

The French “niqab” ban (burqa ban, whatever ban…call it what you will) of October 2010 has not faded away from the public consciousness in France at all. What I had originally hoped was just right-wing propaganda has turned out to be, since its entry into force in April 2011, part and parcel of a unique […]