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May 02, 2008
Funny, She Doesn't Look Bahraini
Bahrain's possible new ambassador to the US has interesting demographics. Not all that amazing if one is familiar with the region outside of stereotypes and post-1948 tensions. Still the background of the former legislator(-tress?), if legislating is what the Shura Council does, might cause some to be unduly surprised.
MANAMA, Bahrain - The only Jewish woman lawmaker in Bahrain is a candidate to become this Persian Gulf kingdom's ambassador to Washington. . . . Huda Nono, a legislator in the Shura Council, said she was among people being considered for the post and referred further queries to the foreign ministry. . . .If Nono was appointed, Bahrain would be the first Arab country to send a high-level Jewish diplomat to Washington. . . . Nono is the first Jewish woman in the Shura Council, a 40-seat body appointed by the king that also has a Christian among its 11 female legislators. . . . Nono replaced her cousin Ibrahim Nono, who held the Shura Council seat for four years.
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 05:33 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
December 27, 2007
Sindhs of the father: Benazir Bhutto dead thread (open)
Benazir Bhutto, ex-Pakistani prime minister, is now an ex-person. Have at the whole set of issues in this open thread, o dear readers. Others of the Aqoul team may post more detailed entries on this most unpleasant passing of the daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto. (BTW, I don't know who those people are who say 'why do Muslims never go out in the streets venting their anger when al-Qaeda or other extremists* do a terrorist act?') Well, clearly, they sometimes do.
Continue reading "Sindhs of the father: Benazir Bhutto dead thread (open)"
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 06:22 PM | Comments (20) | TrackBack
December 01, 2007
Spank me, I've been a bad girl
Marjorie, an expatriate blogger in Qatar who often tackles social and religious issues, brought my attention to that country's first survey of violence against women. Not only had nearly two-thirds of women polled been beaten, over two in five believed they deserved it.
Continue reading "Spank me, I've been a bad girl"
Posted by dubaiwalla at 10:41 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack
November 27, 2007
Hirsi Ali: Ideological Chameleon
First, I curse SP for pointing out this latest interview with the infuriating headline: Ayaan Hirsi Ali: My life under a fatwa. Boys and girls, we've been over this before. A fatwa is not an ummah-wide execution order, it is a ruling issued by an Islamic scholar in response to a specific legal question. I wrote about this distinction almost two years ago, when Wafa Sultan told the New York Times that Dr. Ibrahim al-Khouli had issued a "fatwa" when he called her an atheist during a TV interview.
Listen, you credulous glurge-sucking Western journalists, just because some idiot Ayatollah lobbed one at Rushdie almost two decades ago doesn't make every random statement by a Muslim (scholar or fanatic) a fatwa. Nor is a fatwa binding across the universe (else a lot of Muslim women with plucked eyebrows are going to hell). Of course, the f-word does score a lot of publicity amongst the chattering classes, which is why every faux reformer wants one.
But let's get on to the actual article, shall we?
Continue reading "Hirsi Ali: Ideological Chameleon"
Posted by eerie at 09:44 AM | Comments (31) | TrackBack
November 24, 2007
Not in my name
This short entry to denounce the recent verdict againt a victim of rape in Saudi Arabia. Ibn Kafka also has an excellent post about this (in French).
Saudi Arabia claims that it applies Islamic law. In doing so, this medieval country is tarnishing - again - my identity as an Arab and as a Muslim.
If you are like me, sick and tired of this Tartuffesque regime, let it be known how much you want it to change. Not to the equally retarded bigots, but to their influential friends.
Posted by Shaheen at 06:09 PM | Comments (30) | TrackBack
September 07, 2007
F**kin' Alif, Dude! Arabic School Opens in Brooklyn
The Khalil Gibran International Academy school has opened in New York, part of the public education system. Being a wacko libertarian, I have my reservations even about public schooling as a general concept, but allowing it to be a virtue and necessity, still what advantage is it to have a specialized school devoted to Arabic culture and language for kids in Brooklyn USA? Folks, there does exist a private education option for establishing such things, if felt needed. This has a Euro feel of separateness to it, combined with the related US cult of the Great God Diversity. But I thought we yanks had passed on the "separate but equal" thing in public schools. Naturally, of course, the Daniel Pipes squadrons of haters-of-all-things-even-appearing-Muslimish-and-socially-acceptable made an unbelievably laughably weird xenophobic stink over it (Pipes: "learning Arabic in-and-of-itself promotes an Islamic outlook"). They even got the first chosen principal fired for correctly explaining that intifada in Arabic means a shaking-off, thereby apparently establishing that a school that teaches the Arabic language should most definitely not teach it accurately.
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 12:47 AM | Comments (15) | TrackBack
August 25, 2007
Syria's Consideration: A Realistic Travelogue in A Surprising Place
I must say something nice about the Washington Times, which normally has MENA-related fare along the lines of FoxNews and this type of swill. I saw this story a short time back of a travel-writer's visit to Syria in the dead-wood version, but not online. Now I see it is online. Amazingly, the writer actually seems to have taken note of the place and reported it and experienced what normal travelers there would notice, although one might find it too saccharine for its non-comments on the ubiquitous Leader & Family photos, or the pervasive poverty. Still, entitled sincerely and without guile The Kindness of Syrians, it is well done and refreshingly rooted in relevant reality; excerpts for you link-avoiders below the break. (Elsewhere on deeper questions of wealth and poverty, AbuFares has this to say; more on that at another time. Now back to the W. Times.)
Continue reading "Syria's Consideration: A Realistic Travelogue in A Surprising Place"
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 09:49 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 05, 2007
Honor Off Her: Fadlallah Fatwas Honor-Killing Out of {Shia} Islam
The practice of hyperpatriarchal societies of murdering suspect sexually-impure females, known as honor killing, and prevalent in the MENA region, in the ME far more than the NA parts, has been ruled unIslamic by Grand Ayatollah Fadlallah, Lebanon's leading Shiite Muslim figure. (This has appears to me a bit underreported, though to their semi-credit the story is noted by the creepshow bigots at Jihadwatch who then go on to argue that a fatwa against honor killings isn't really a fatwa against honor killings, because well, you know, it, um, well , it, anyway it makes sense to ignorant hate-spewers who claim to "get it" about Muslims, unlike us poor "dhimmis".) The fatwa, as some coverage notes but others in comments report differently, is not replicated much in Sunni circles to date. An analogy may be to southern American Christians who accomodated race-segregation even when some religious were not in favor, out of fear of public prejudice in favor of the practice. In any event, the fatwa's a cool thing, and it did not require the efforts of Irshad Manji. As far as I can tell, no comment by Ayaan Hirsi Ali on this, possibly because it doesn't compute?
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 09:48 PM | Comments (37) | TrackBack
July 19, 2007
The Muslim Sartorialist
Ever heard of the Sartorialist? It's basically a photo blog done by a guy with a keen eye for fashion. He photographs people in trendy European and North American cities and adds little blurbs about why he thinks the outfits are interesting.
Now, I've always taken note of fashionable Muslim girls around me. They are masters of layering, texture and coordination. Whether it's at the mall, a pretentious cafe or even my gym (where one stylish muhajabat routinely schools me on the treadmill), these ladies are not held back by their headscarves. Unfortunately, most of the photos you find on news sites are of women wearing frumpy hijabs, dowdy overcoats and ominous-looking ninja getups (as Lounsbury likes to call them). Western media is inundated with photos of shapeless baby-blue Afghan burkas and Saudi niqabs, so it's hardly surprising that most non-Muslims think this style of dress is ubiquitous.
Continue reading "The Muslim Sartorialist"
Posted by eerie at 02:02 PM | Comments (40) | TrackBack
July 16, 2007
Next, We'll be Pledging Allegiance To Vishnu
They're taking over. Now it's the Hindus. First the Muslims will force my daughter to wear a burka, which I just learned is a Nazi symbol, now if it weren't for the voices of the intrepid zealots of the gospel heard in this video, soon the guy pictured here would take over, and the Senate cafeteria will have to remove hamburgers from next to the freedom fries. Even scarier, he looks like he might be the Pope (oops, wrong century's xeonphobia).
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 07:34 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
July 12, 2007
Tunisia & Women's Rights: Real Developments?
I turn this issue over to a better-informed readership. A Globalist article argues that Tunisia provides a real regional model for a legislative and public policy system that would protect the rights and hopes of women in home and professional life, and do so consistent with religious sentiment and scholarship. "What really sets Tunisia apart from other Arab countries and most majority-Muslim states," Andrea Barron writes, "are its policies on marriage, divorce, child support, abortion, honor crimes and domestic violence. After all, what does it matter if a woman can attend university, own her own business and run for political office if she cannot choose her own husband and be free from violence perpetrated by her own family members?" So, are the benefits in Tunisian women's legal rights genuinely real; if so, have they been a cause or the effect of social changes? And where does the, ahem, not quite freedom-loving/democratic nature of the Ben Ali government fit in to all this, if at all?
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 11:21 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
June 24, 2007
Foregoing their Commission? Saudi Virtue/Vice Cops on Trial
D'apres this Washington Post story, it seems that the Saudi Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, the morality cops, are on trial. Some of Saudi's finest face charges for brutality, including killing, of suspects detained for, I don't know, flirting, willful shimmying, being within six meters of unbearded non-familial genitals, or whatever it is they arrest folks for. But whatever may be the foibles and popularity of enforcement of extremely conservative mores, there does seem to be a popular line in the sand (MENA stereotype imagery, sorry) being drawn against arbitrariness and in favor of due process. Procedural due process is a good thing in itself. {Note to the over-self-righteous: Of course, (adopting superior cultural tone here), we never have such things here as "vice squads", general alcohol bans, or police killing old ladies in places where consenting informed adults are merely alleged to be consuming or distributing a vice-inducing product.}
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 02:20 PM | Comments (6) | TrackBack
June 18, 2007
Ayaan Anti-Hirsute Ali: Son of Deuteronomy of Gath
Monty Python's Life of Brian meets real life as this woman gets to speak in public as if she knows what she is talking about. Saracen-slayer Ayaan Hirsi Ali was speaking at the National Press Club and I accidentally heard it on the radio. At first I didn't know who it was until a stream of simple-minded inanities about Islam versus the West narrowed it down fast. No transcript available, only memory, but I had to belly-laugh and nearly spew as she explained Islam's rigidly came from the fact that it takes its Scriptures as literal and divinely authored unlike, um, Christianity. In the Christian Scriptures, she explained, the books are not fixed as being written by God, but are said to be written "by people . . . like Paul . . . and Deuteronomy." (That's exactly what I heard, folks.) What an expert guide for us on religion and progress! O, why did I have to be a Monty Python fan?
Continue reading "Ayaan Anti-Hirsute Ali: Son of Deuteronomy of Gath"
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 11:30 PM | Comments (15) | TrackBack
April 04, 2007
On Citizenship and Marriage
As the number of foreigners living in the Gulf has increased, so have the number of marriages between Gulf citizens and expatriates. Foreign women who marry Gulf citizens have relatively little legal trouble in these patriarchal societies. But women from the Gulf who marry foreigners find that their husbands cannot acquire their nationality, and that their children are not citizens in the countries where they have been born and raised.
Continue reading "On Citizenship and Marriage"
Posted by dubaiwalla at 08:37 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
February 18, 2007
Eunuchs & Islam, or Andrew Sullivan's Gullibility
Possibly alone among my fellow authors, I have a soft-spot for the moderately incoherent Andrew Sullivan, despite his fundamental gullibility and superficiality so common to editorialists, illiteracy in science and economics, and tendency to dip into the well of accidental bigotry with respect to race and non-Western things. His general philosophy is close enough to my own that I generally read around the inanities.
Today, in amusing myself reading the blog I stumbled across this in which in typical editorialist fashion he regurgitates some utterly idiotic bigotry from a reader, without bothering to fact check, who claimed:
The Koranic reference to "slaves not attracted to women" is not meant to be interpreted as gay people, but rather to eunuchs. Just another traditional practice from the folks who brought us 9/11.
Charming. Even more charming that he quotes it as a "correction" to his almost as rubbish-quality "reflecting" on Arab sexuality and women.
Continue reading "Eunuchs & Islam, or Andrew Sullivan's Gullibility"
Posted by The Lounsbury at 10:29 AM | Comments (72) | TrackBack
January 23, 2007
Female Saudi student vs. FrontPageMag jihadist
I would've never thought that I'd ever call my readers' attention toward a piece in FrontPageMag, but hey, if The Eagles can make hell freeze over ...
The interview is from Feb '06 but I don't think it has lost any value. I found it particularly interesting how Moudhy al-Rashid did not let herself be baited by the interviewer's harping on the usual tropes. Certainly her own positions are worthy of debate and she herself stated that she doesn't see them as finalized, but she is certainly representative of a broader group of young women in KSA (and other MENA countries).
Continue reading "Female Saudi student vs. FrontPageMag jihadist"
Posted by MSK at 11:34 PM | Comments (14) | TrackBack
December 27, 2006
You Can't Be Syria's? Ambassador Blogging
The envoy to USA from Syria apparenlty maintains a personal blog. I'll leave it to our distinguished readership to assess the value or lack thereof, and the deeper sociopolitical meaning. In the meantime, I kind of enjoyed his linking to this survey by Sami Moubayed of Syrian women's rights activities (which, I would note, apparently did indeed exist before the Levantine Boadicea of You Tube, Wafa Sultan, so bravely invented them from -- where was it? -- California, circa 2005.)
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 02:46 AM | Comments (7) | TrackBack
December 19, 2006
Another Woman Put In Her Place in Saudi Arabia?
Oh, wait, sorry. It's not Saudi Arabia. Culture shock for an American female visitor:
A woman...reported a vicious attack by an ad-hoc "modesty patrol" on a...bus last month...[She says] she was slapped, kicked, punched and pushed by a group of men who demanded that she sit in the back of the bus with the other women...She rode the bus daily to...pray at sunrise...Women usually sit in the back, while men sit in the front, as a matter of custom.
Where's Rosa Parks when you need her?
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 09:11 PM | Comments (21) | TrackBack
October 26, 2006
Sheikh Hilali, Imported Imams and the Cultural Divide
Since I'm sick and daytime television is unbearable, thought I might write a bit about the emerging controversy around Sheikh Hilali, an Australian imam who recently made some rather provocative observations about women during a speech on marital relations and adultery.
The story is splattered across the front page of The Australian, which offers an mp3 version of the speech, along with an edited English transcript (which I'm sure only captures the boring parts).
Currently, the primary media hook seems to be that Hilali compared unveiled women to meat that gets snatched up by cats because it is left outside, uncovered. This is clearly drawn from the one-page English transcript noted above, which contains little substance save for the frankly bizarre and crude remarks about cats, meat and fridges (and some gratuitous mudslinging at People of the Book).
Continue reading "Sheikh Hilali, Imported Imams and the Cultural Divide"
Posted by eerie at 11:45 AM | Comments (33) | TrackBack
June 21, 2006
Anger as Analysis: Part III
[Editor's Note: A warm welcome to Shaheen, our newest contributor]
I don't want to beat a dead horse, but I thought it would be interesting to have a French/Maghrebi take on our series of articles about media-savvy Muslim women hailed as reformers by Western media. France's Muslim reformist hero is Fadela Amara, a French feminist of North African descent.
Continue reading "Anger as Analysis: Part III"
Posted by Shaheen at 08:59 PM | Comments (22) | TrackBack
June 18, 2006
Somalia: Islamic Courts & Women's Progress
A quick note on a interesting arty in The Washington Post on the role of women in backing The Islamic Courts movement that seems to be well on its way to taking power in Somalia and displacing the "secular" warlords.
If there is one item that most at once irritates and amuses me about Western and American commentary specifically is the weird gullibility in the usage of "secular" versus "Islamist" - although in a sense it is relavatory of why secularism has or is failing in the MENA region and many parts of the Islamic world - where "secular" seems to mean "any corrupt bunch of idiots presently in power who are not overtly and ostentatiously 'Islamist' in political orientation."
If this is the "secularism" being offered, and indeed backed by the West and America specifically, does anyone think it should be suprising that, whatever bitter individuals like Hirsi Ali Magaan say for the consumption of the fearful Westerner, secularism is losing ground?
Posted by The Lounsbury at 04:36 PM | Comments (15) | TrackBack
June 14, 2006
MyGreenCard.com
Using MySpace.com, a young Jericho, West Bank gentleman managed to win the affections of an American girl, aged 16, and invite her over to be married. But before the young lady finished her unapproved journey to Israel-slash-Palestine-slash-Holy Land-slash-West Bank-slash-Judea&Samaria, she was intercepted by US authorities in Amman, Jordan, and returned to sender. Her parents had stopped her. Now, the story of this Internet romance suggests, in a bit uncommon form with the unusual youth of this girl, a too-prevalent reality among intercultural adults in a similar situation where the active ingredient, at least for one, is sadly not an Arabian Nights romance, but an all-too-common hidden-agenda romance of a certain piece of non-erotic laminated paper.
Continue reading "MyGreenCard.com"
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 09:27 PM | Comments (28) | TrackBack
June 06, 2006
Corner on Niqab: Saudi Women Face Off on Veiling
(The title pun was nearly "Sartorial Spleen Tour", so don't complain) Faiza Ambah, a few days back in the Washington Post, provided a profile of Saudi women, including professionals, who are emphatic in their preference for the unusually high restrictiveness -- even by conservative Muslim standards -- in the dress code mandated in their country.
UPDATE (6/10): Jennifer on Henley's blog has some related thoughts ("Modest Invisibility") on an overlapping subject, inspired by devout Egyptian woman Magda Amer's explanations of women's clothing choice and standards.
Continue reading "Corner on Niqab: Saudi Women Face Off on Veiling"
Posted by Matthew Hogan at 11:09 AM | Comments (48) | TrackBack
June 05, 2006
Anger as Analysis: Part II
Moorishgirl’s recent article in The Nation and a followup comment by our man Whitaker have compelled me to revisit the issue of telegenic female Islam critics and continue our Anger as Analysis series. My first installment focused on Irshad Manji and her inability to examine Islam objectively due to negative childhood experiences in her minority Twelver community (Uganda and Canada). Part II is a reflection on Ayaan Hirsi Ali and her controversial approach to critiquing Islam and its adherents.
Continue reading "Anger as Analysis: Part II"
Posted by eerie at 10:09 PM | Comments (112) | TrackBack
May 23, 2006
Anger as Analysis: Part I
Irshad Manji, Wafa Sultan and Ayaan Hirsi Ali.
Why am I always picking on them?
Ostensibly, we have much in common. We are women born into faiths and cultures where gender inequality is widespread and can manifest itself in terrible ways. If anything, I should be able to relate to women who distance themselves from normative Islam (or renounce it altogether) and maintain a deep appreciation for the individualism, plurality and relative freedom found in Western societies.
Instead, I am appalled at how casually they draw conclusions about an entire religion based on narrow personal experience and the substitution of angry rhetoric for serious examination.
Continue reading "Anger as Analysis: Part I"
Posted by eerie at 09:14 PM | Comments (24) | TrackBack
May 17, 2006
Ayaan and Lessons on the Blog Whankosphere
Some sad lessons pop up once in a while in "blogging" (I do hate the term), among the the written confirmation of the facile idiocy that passes for commentary online, above all "far away" things. The utterly idiotic, wrong-headed ignorant whanking about the supposedly "Islamic immigrant" "intefada" that popped up during the French minority riots last year. This largely among American commentators with fuck all of an any information about France, the socio-religious profile of "immigrants" (3rd generation French born 'immigrants') hysterically shrieking on about an Islamic radical 'intefada' (hello Andrew Sullivan et al -none of whom by the way ever corrected or retracted their... well distortions and outright lies).
Continue reading "Ayaan and Lessons on the Blog Whankosphere"
Posted by The Lounsbury at 10:56 PM | Comments (20) | TrackBack
May 04, 2006
Banking Services in KSA: A Rant - Part II
[See Women's Banking Services in KSA: A Rant - Part I]
I walked out, made my way round the corner and through the glass automatic doors of the men's banking halls upon which about one hundred employees, customers and floor staff looked up and fell silent.
At this early stage I should mention that the banking sector in Saudi Arabia has been subjected to the most comprehensive Saudisation process where only a few employees, and those only in the higher more strategic echelons, are non-Saudi. Since I had walked into a run of the mill retail branch, every single man who was looking at me was Saudi and in full white thobe and head dress, a daunting sight for any female.
Continue reading "Banking Services in KSA: A Rant - Part II"
Posted by bint ash-shaitan at 05:06 PM | Comments (20) | TrackBack
February 25, 2006
Customary Marriage and Paternity Testing Laws in Egypt
A recent landmark case regarding paternity testing in Egypt has brought the issue of customary marriage and the backwardness of Egyptian paternity legislation into the spotlight.
The reason the case caught the attention of so many is that it involved the young son of a famous Egyptian acting couple. Sumia al-Ulfi and Farouq el-Fishawi are now estranged but their son Ahmed upon reaching his early twenties was propelled into the limelight due to his parentage and good looks. The twist that made the case even more explosive is the fact that Ahmed, just as his acting career was taking off, rejected his Westernised background and career and instead embraced the principles of Islam, becoming the poster boy for the Amr Khaled (popular noveau trendy preacher) generation and the campaign to call Muslim youth back to their roots.
Continue reading "Customary Marriage and Paternity Testing Laws in Egypt"
Posted by bint ash-shaitan at 01:00 AM | Comments (19) | TrackBack
January 25, 2006
Maghreb & Islamic Liberalism: Superficialities & Hope for a Liberalising State, Islamic Feminism, etc
Returning to commentary, although forewarning this is post chemo and may lack a certain clarity:
Via Daniel Drezner's post on That's some interesting Islam in Morocco, I found this article from Der Spiegel on Morocco - one of my favourite countries in the MENA region - discussing Mohammed VI's efforts to modernise the socio-political culture:
The Quiet Revolution: Morocco's King Aims To Build a Modern Islamic Democracy
by Helene Zuber.
Compare, by the way, to this article from almost six years ago:
New Hope, Old Frustrations - Morocco: the point of change
by the ever Left Ramonet.
An interesting, but rather flawed article I would say.
Posted by The Lounsbury at 07:06 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
January 03, 2006
Saudi Arabia, Lesbianism and Other Coping Mechan-'isms'
As my own season of migration to the land of Saud approaches and the prospect of interacting with several overeducated, intelligent and caged women looms, the inevitable concern of culture shock all over again rears its ugly head. In a recent conversation with a Professor of English literature teaching at King Saud University, I was told that she overheard the head of department and her members of staff (all advanced literature degree holders from reputable Western universities) bragging about how they would not recognise male members of family and male in-laws in the street. The conversation ran along the lines of, 'I have thirteen male cousins and other than in pictures, I have not seen them in real life, moreover, because they have never seen me, even in pictures, they wouldn't recognise me if I bumped right into them shopping without my veil'. 'Oh that's nothing, my sister has been married for twenty years and her husband believes that pictures are haraam and so I have NEVER seen him.' This exchange was then followed by pats on the back and self congratulation. The system has worked. How proud they were of their ability to fuse education and moral, social integrity!
And off they trotted to teach other females about John Donne, TS Eliot and Jane Austen.
Continue reading "Saudi Arabia, Lesbianism and Other Coping Mechan-'isms'"
Posted by Meph at 04:33 PM | Comments (11) | TrackBack
December 23, 2005
As a side reference: Bin Laden Niece as a Leb Pop Tart
It may not be approp for 'Aqoul at the moment, so I refer you here to my somewhat sordid commentary.
Posted by The Lounsbury at 04:22 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
December 07, 2005
Hymen Reconstruction, Circumcision and Sexual Promiscuity
The hymen reconstruction industry in North Africa has flourished recently. Following a fatwa dispatched a few years ago by Al Azhar in Egypt that reconstructions were allowed in the case of rape, the recent developments in surgery and the rise in pre-marital sexual activity, females of marriage age have sought the quick fix in order to keep their reputations (and necks) intact.
Continue reading "Hymen Reconstruction, Circumcision and Sexual Promiscuity"
Posted by Meph at 04:15 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
October 01, 2005
Irshad Manji Left Guilt and Likoudnik Agitprop
Although this is an immensely tardy comment, I must thank eerie for the reference to The Globe & Mail letter from Tarek Fateh, which drew my attention to Irshad Manj's odd statement or claim regarding Muslim guilt in regards to the Holocaust. I confess I know Irshad (a fine name I may add) only by the few articles on her book & her articles and interviews. Rather simply, her book isn't available to me in this non-anglo environment.
Continue reading "Irshad Manji Left Guilt and Likoudnik Agitprop"
Posted by The Lounsbury at 03:07 PM | Comments (10) | TrackBack
September 28, 2005
Sexy Arab Abaya Women, Assumptions: US Public Diplomacy in KSA
Returning to a subject more or less dear to 'Aqoul, women in the Arab world, for a moment, I wanted to draw attention to this intriguing article from the visit by US public diplomacy director Karen Hughes to Saudi Arabia: Saudi Women Have Message for U.S. Envoy
Let me first say little in the article was surprising to me (including Ms. Hughes surprise that the "Sisters" did not look at their cultural heritage and mores in the same light as she expected), but it is a useful one for reflexion. Thus some comments on the article:
Update: The Financial Times also has this story. Better done actually.
Continue reading "Sexy Arab Abaya Women, Assumptions: US Public Diplomacy in KSA"
Posted by The Lounsbury at 09:25 AM | Comments (26) | TrackBack
September 23, 2005
"Honor" in the West Bank
I was emailed this from Marthame & Elizabeth Sanders of SaltFilms.net, about a "honor"-related piece of mob violence in the village of Taybeh in the West Bank. I'm going to quote shamelessly:
What Happened in Taybeh?
September 21, 2005
Marthame & Elizabeth Sanders
The small town of Taybeh, located a few miles outside of Ramallah, was recently attacked by a mob from the neighboring town of Deir Jarir. The report below is based on news accounts and conversations we have had with friends in Taybeh, eyewitnesses to the event in question.
For ten years, a Muslim woman named Hiyam from the village of Deir Jarir had been working at a sewing shop in Taybeh owned by a Christian man named Mahadi Khourieh. Thirty-two years old, unmarried and pregnant, Hiyam was found dead from poison on Wednesday, August 31, 2005. According to her family, she committed suicide rather than bring the shame of a child out of wedlock on her family. It is likely, however, that her family forced her to take her own life. The family accused Mahadi Khourieh of being the father, a charge he denied.
Continue reading ""Honor" in the West Bank"
Posted by tomscud at 09:30 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
Will Fulla and Barbie Ever Have Tea Together?
I’ve just had a grueling few weeks attending back-to-back conferences and dealing with other work-related idiocy. As a result, I’ve fallen behind on ‘Aqoul correspondence, but I would like to thank everyone for their emails. Will be catching up slowly over the next few days, but in the meantime a tidbit from the New York Times (evaluna posted the link earlier today):
Best Seller in Mideast: Barbie with a Prayer Mat
Young girls here are obsessed with Fulla, and conservative parents who would not dream of buying Barbies for their daughters seem happy to pay for a modest doll who has her own tiny prayer rug, in pink felt. Children who want to dress like their dolls can buy a matching, girl-size prayer rug and cotton scarf set, all in pink...
"This isn't just about putting the hijab on a Barbie doll," Mr. Abidin said. "You have to create a character that parents and children will want to relate to. Our advertising is full of positive messages about Fulla's character. She's honest, loving, and caring, and she respects her father and mother."
Though Fulla will never have a boyfriend doll like Barbie's Ken, Mr. Abidin said, a Doctor Fulla and a Teacher Fulla will be introduced soon. "These are two respected careers for women that we would like to encourage small girls to follow," he said.
Continue reading "Will Fulla and Barbie Ever Have Tea Together?"
Posted by eerie at 12:10 AM | Comments (10) | TrackBack
September 22, 2005
What's a Nice Muslim Girl to Do?
My hippie feminist Mom never let me have a Barbie; she believed they promoted overly traditional gender roles for girls. (Not that I wanted one - I was more a Lego girl).
But I can't help but wonder what she'd think of Fulla, the doll with Muslim values?
Posted by evaluna at 09:08 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
September 13, 2005
Two Jews, Three Opinions: Marriage Law in Israel
Sometimes with all the infighting between Muslims, Christians, and Jews in the Middle East, not to mention among various flavors of Muslims and/or Christians, many people forget that the Jews aren't exactly one big, happy family. In fact, the Israeli Jewish community can be one big, unhappy, dysfunctional family in one very basic regard...the legal right to get married in a ceremony that reflects one's chosen level of religious observance, not to mention one's beliefs regarding gender equality: Unorthodox Weddings Dividing Israelis
Continue reading "Two Jews, Three Opinions: Marriage Law in Israel"
Posted by evaluna at 09:56 PM | Comments (10) | TrackBack
August 29, 2005
Hijab Fashion, Getting Noticed in Your Slinky Little ....
In keeping with purient interests, as well as our commitment to rooting about the dark corners of the MENA world and its cultural off-shoots, I draw your attention to this amusing little article in The Washington Post entitled
While the arty actually deals with surburbanite sub-Con muslim girls in the Washington DC area, the actual issues therein are very familiar to the MENA region proper.
There is also a helpful little slide show to introduce you to Hijab sexy chic. Actually one of our young subjects is quite fetching in the scarfy hijab she chose. Fashion accessories...
Posted by The Lounsbury at 01:57 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
August 11, 2005
Emory Law School: Islamic Family Law Resource
Currently reading Women's Rights & Islamic Family Law: Perspectives on Reform, based on a series of studies conducted by Emory Law School.
The book presents case studies of Muslim societies in Egypt, the West Bank & Gaza and the United States. It also includes a general survey of domestic violence in the Middle East. This study is particularly interesting to me because it attempts to describe the interaction between shari'a, social attitudes and state law in the region. I may write something about it later, but for now I offer this useful link to Emory's Islamic Family Law website.
Note that the data is current as of 2002 and may not include more recent legal reforms/reviews in countries like Morocco (I'm smirking at you, Lounsbury).
Posted by eerie at 10:12 PM | Comments (12) | TrackBack
August 09, 2005
Fatima Mernissi: The Veil and the Male Elite
Lately I’ve been reading a lot about women, personal status law and gender inequality in MENA. While it is a common knee-jerk reaction to blame Islam for oppressing women in the region, one need only look non-Muslim communities in and around the Middle East to see that similar practices often cut across religions. Mistreatment and neglect of women and female children is perpetrated by Muslims, Christians, Hindus and others, justified to varying degrees by calls to religion, local custom or ancient tradition.
Having said that, it’s also quite common to see people claiming that Islam elevated the status of women, when compared to the jahiliyya (pre-Islamic period) in Arabia. This appears to be true (although it remains controversial to what degree), but these same writers generally fail to mention that both the Qur’an and the Hadith contain passages stating quite clearly that women are not equal to men in some rather important respects. For me, the inequality is exemplified by a verse in Sura 4 (here are two translations):
Men are the protectors and maintainers of women, because God has given the one more (strength) than the other, and because they support them from their means. Therefore the righteous women are devoutly obedient, and guard in (the husband’s) absence what God would have them guard. As to those women on whose part ye fear disloyalty and ill-conduct, admonish them (first), (next) refuse to share their beds (and last) beat them (lightly); but if they return to obedience, seek not against them means (of annoyance): for God is Most High, Great (above you all). – 4:34 (trans. A. Yusuf Ali)
Men are in charge of women, because Allah has made some of them excel the others, and because they spend some of their wealth. Hence righteous women are obedient, guarding the unseen which Allah has guarded. And those of them that you fear might rebel, admonish them and abandon them in their beds and beat them. Should they obey you, do not seek a way of harming them, for Allah is Sublime and Great! - 4:34 (trans. Majid Fakhry)
Guardianship, obedience and the “appropriate” interpretation of this verse have been widely debated by religious scholars. Based on the full title of Moroccan feminist writer Fatima Mernissi’s work, The Veil and the Male Elite: A Feminist Interpretation of Women’s Rights in Islam, I expected a discussion of Qur’anic verses that suggested both equality and inequality in terms of gender. Of course, I had already been disappointed by Mernissi’s meandering style in Islam and Democracy, so it was not particularly surprising to discover the same unfocused, overly-poetic writing here. My guess is that this work is not a rigorous sociological study as much as it is a description of her personal journey, with a bit of history thrown in for interest.
Continue reading "Fatima Mernissi: The Veil and the Male Elite"
Posted by eerie at 08:49 PM | Comments (20) | TrackBack
August 01, 2005
Sex and Citizenship: Morocco, Jordan, Foreigners Boinking and Children's citizenship
Our industrious friend Abu Aardvark(s) (known affectionately in our Maghrebine parlance now, in honour of the second Aardvark as Bou Aradvrak) had some interesting comments on Morocco's newly announced move, via the Moroccan King's Throne speech this weekend, to change Moroccan law to grant citizenship to the children of foreigners and Moroccan women. This will end, when eventually enacted, decades of paterfamilias centered citizenship policy.
Bou Aradvrak indicated he hoped this would have a positive effect on the Jordanian dynamic where similar liberalisation has been stalled:
Progress for Arab Women & Children as his blog arty is entitled.
Posted by The Lounsbury at 10:52 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
