Female Muslim Comedian Aizzah Fatimah in Demand...
One of the last things many people might expect a Muslim Pakistani-American woman to do when she takes the stage is crack a joke, openly talk about smoking weed, or say that she is gay. Conversations about South Asian women in America are more usually limited to topics like early marriages, abuse and oppression. If the woman happens to be Muslim, fundamentalism and terrorism are often added to the narrative. As Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie summed it up: “The problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete.” A bunch of young Muslim Pakistani-American women, however, are now completing that picture. Not only are they pushing the boundaries on how desi Muslim...
Muslim Women Have Healthier Self-Image...
The hijab, or headscarf, is often portrayed in the West as a symbol of victimization—and by many Muslims as a badge of religious and cultural identity. In Europe, anti-hijab sentiment has reached fever pitch in recent years. In China, the government went so far as to offer reward money for turning in women wearing headscarves. In the Canadian province of Quebec, a leading opposition nationalist party wanted to ban the headscarf and all other religious symbols for public workers. The move failed but nearly 70% of Quebec’s citizens supported it. Lost in the often vitriolic debate, however, are the voices of Muslim women. A new study, conducted by researchers at the University of Westminster in the UK and...
Muslim Teen Girls Highly Confident
It was the 16-year-old girl wearing a hijab, who spoke about feminism at Glastonbury, who first took my breath away. In front of thousands of muddy concert goers, she noted she was probably the only overtly Muslim person present. She spoke about living in a world where the odds are still stacked against women. Those same odds are even more heavily stacked against Muslim women: employment discrimination, Islamophobia, social stereotyping and cultural expectations add to the challenges they face. Like their peers, these young Muslim women are very much the selfie generation. Fashion, consumerism and online communities play a powerful role in their lives. And while feminism is undergoing a digitally-driven revival – faith is increasingly unfashionable, at...
MuslimGirl Founder Says Islam Is Feminist...
NEW YORK (WOMENSENEWS)–At only 22 years old, Amani al-Khatahtbeh is the editor in chief of her own online publication, MuslimGirl.net. The magazine “was launched from the bedroom of a high school girl that was fed up with the misleading misconceptions surrounding Islam,” reads the website. A New Jersey native, al-Khatahtbeh now lives in Washington, D.C., where she is a media relations specialist at the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. She describes herself as “a human and civil rights activist and public speaker.” Her areas of focus include media, race, gender and politics. This interview, for Women’s History Month, is part of a series that taps activists from the 1960s through today to showcase the diversity of those involved. It was...
Jews, Muslims Unite for Peaceful Cause...
They held hands. They shared a meal. They laughed and joked. And for a few hours Sunday in Nashville, more than 200 members of the Temple Congregation Ohabai Sholom and members of the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro shed the perception that Jews and Muslims — locked in decades of bitter strife — can only be enemies. Yet it was outrage that drew the groups together. After hearing the heated public opposition to the Murfreesboro mosque, Temple Rabbi Mark Schiftan reached out to ICM Imam Ossama Bahloul and organized a trip late last year to see the mosque and learn more about Islam. On Sunday, Bahloul and three busloads of ICM members returned the favor, giving Schiftan and Bahloul...
Muslims Help Repair Buddhist Temple Damaged By Volcano...
CENTRAL JAVA – Dozens of Muslim students in Central Java’s Magelang have participated in cleaning the world’s largest Buddhist temple that had been distorted with volcanic ash earlier this month. “Around 50 students from our boarding school spent their Friday holiday to clean Borobodur Temple of the Keluds ash together with other volunteers,” Muhammad Dimyadi, a teacher from the boarding school, told Republika Online on Saturday, February 22. Muslim students from the Mistakhurrohman Islamic boarding school have joined hands with hundreds volunteers who came to clean Borobudur Temple. Students’ effort was part of a voluntary campaign to remove the volcanic ash caused by the eruption of Mount Kelud on February 13, promoting authorities to close the temple and...
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