State Department Dining, Muslimah Style

I recently accepted an invitation to attend a dinner at the State Department hosted by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in honor of the holy month of Ramadan. The dinner itself, which takes place on Tuesday, September 7, is a formal iftar—the meal eaten every evening after sunset when Muslims break the fast during the [...]

Banning the Veil, Loving the Face?

In visible opposition to these concepts of French femininity, shrouded women question their “reality” by refusing to participate at the visual level in French culture being “there” and “not there” at the same time. With “French” beauty constantly and consistently constructed to exclude migrant identities and notions of beauty perhaps a visible simulation of exclusion is necessary to start a debate on the question of whether all Frenchwomen’s faces are equally beloved.

Urgent Action Needed: Iranian Woman at Risk of Imminent Execution

Urgent action is needed to help Zainab Jalalian, an Iranian political prisoner who may be executed at any moment. She was sentenced to death in November 2009 on charges of mohareb, the Islamic offense of waging war against God, because of her membership in the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK), a separatist organization that is illegal [...]

Are Honor Killings in Canada a “Muslim” Issue?

The killers of 16-year-old Aqsa Pervez were convicted last week. Mohammad Pervez and Waqas Ahmed, Aqsa’s father and brother, were sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole for 18 years by a jury in Ontario, Canada. Aqsa was killed after being picked up by her brother from her school bus stop. DNA [...]

Meet One Kick-Ass Saudi Woman

Still, even as I pity these moronic “morality” cops, I can’t help but want to beat the crap out of them too.

Defending Pakistani-American Men–But At What Cost to Women?

Since his arrest, every aspect of Faisal Shahzad’s life has been dissected and deconstructed.  The close-range, smiling picture of the Times Square bomber’s face continues to be splashed across American screens even a week after his arrest. His seeming normalcy and unobtrusive suburban life is highlighted to insinuate the terrorist potential of any seemingly normal [...]

Voting in Iraq From Afar

As I walked up to the security screening zone, ready to be searched before entering the voting area, I noticed the excitement and buzz of my fellow Iraqis as they prepared to vote three weekends ago. I particularly noticed the strong presence of women at the polls, some wearing hijab, others not. This wasn’t Baghdad, though; I was in Pleasanton, [...]

Islam’s First Feminist

Countless Muslim women around the world today are standing up and demanding their rights to freedom and equality under both secular and Islamic law. These feminist jihadists can be found in every corner of the globe. From France to Afghanistan to Sudan, brave Muslimahs are refusing to be told what they can and cannot do, [...]

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