This week, a “veiled” Muslim woman appointment to the Obama team, interfaith marriage leads to trouble in Egypt, and a new book on the Muslim experience is discussed in San Francisco.
This week marked the announcement that Dalia Mogahed, a “veiled Egyptian American”, was appointed to be a member of Obama’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. Mogahed is a senior analyst and executive director for the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies.
In Egypt, Christian convert Raheal Henen Mussa and her husband, a Coptic, are hiding from authorities and Mussa’s family. On April 13 Mussa was arrested for marrying her husband, Sarwat George Riad, in an unregistered ceremony without a witness – a form of marriage growing popular amongst Egyptian youth but not officially sanctioned by most Islamic scholars. Although the couple did not break any state laws, the couple is allegedly being sought for breaking religious edicts against Muslim women marrying men of other faith.
In San Francisco, Stanford grad Sumbul Ali-Karamali spoke about her newly-released book The Muslim Next Door: The Qur’an, the Media, and that Veil Thing. The book, consisting of anecdotes of Ali-Karamali’s life, is meant to humanize the Muslim experience.
The first Saudi women’s basketball team competed in Amman, Jordan earlier this week. The team, part of the Jeddah United Sports Company, was in Jordan for a four-day visit.
Rabea Chaudhry is Associate Editor of Altmuslimah
