This week, child brides get official attention in Malaysia, a controversial cartoon runs in Montreal, a Canadian Muslim women sues her school after she is expelled for wearing niqab, women in Britain share the struggles they face in hijab and Indian women protest a Muslim cleric’s statement.
The Canadian Press reported that a Malaysian minister is urging an official probe into the alleged abduction of an 11-year-old girl whose family reportedly decided to marry her off to a religious leader. The man had promised to register the marriage but when her family did not hear from him they alerted authorities. The girl was found near a mosque in a state of shock and was hospitalized for a medical check up.
One India reported that the Montreal Gazette published a controversial cartoon of a woman in niqab, upsetting the Canadian Muslim community. One India reports that the cartoon’s artist Terry Mosher claims that the cartoon is mean to encourage discussion of the veil.
The Pew Forum reported that a Muslim woman has filed a human rights complaint after she was expelled from a Canadian college when she refused to remove her niqab. She was expelled last November.
BBC News published a piece on Muslim women in Wales’ response to the proposed French burqa ban. The piece noted that Muslim women are notably worried about the growing hostility toward Islam. Some of the women interviewed stated that they took their head covering off in certain public places to avoid negative attention.
In India, Sify News reported that Muslim women took to the streets in protest against a remark by Muslim cleric Kalbe Jawwad who is reported to have said that women should stay at home and should not have a role in politics. Jawwad’s statement was in response to the Women’s Reservation Bill, which will ensure that one third of all Indian Parliamentary seats are reserved for women.
Rabea Chaudhry is Associate Editor of Altmuslimah
