Columns

This week, Muslim women’s experiences on Hajj were highlighted, as was the growing trend of niqab in Egypt. Azizah magazine’s publisher is recognized, as are Muslim women’s rights to support after divorce in India, and the plight of Afghan women was reported on by Reuters.

This week, a collection of photographs from around the world of men, women, and children celebrating Eid ul Adha, Rifqa rally is held in Ohio for the runaway Christian convert, first “gay honor killing” in Turkey continues to stir civil clash, concerns are rising in the US over rate of Muslim “honor killings,” and Hamas bans women dancers and scooter riders.

This week, artist Shepard Fairey portrays the many faces of Muslim women, a Muslim woman’s headscarf is pulled on at a grocery store, burqa-clad Barbies will be auctioned off in London, 200 models are encouraged to convert to Islam, a female-only bank opens in Iraq and Lubna Hussein tours Europe to gain support for Muslim women.

Ghadafi hosts a soiree with hundreds of Italian women in an attempt to convert them to Islam, The Islamic Center of Pittsburgh held its second annual Women’s Conference, six American Muslim men in the military discuss complications Fort Hood raises for Muslim soldiers, and Afghan mullahs attend a workshop on birth control.

This week, Major Nidal Malik Hasan is accused of going on a shooting rampage in Texas, Sikh and Muslim women join together in California to address discrimination against religious head coverings, and women in the Aceh province of Indonesia can no longer wear tight pants. In Kuwait, female lawmakers will not be forced to wear the head covering while in Malaysia male members of a political party take an oath to divorce their wives if they change party affiliations. Pakistan holds its first-ever Fashion week, and Muslim women in India are barred from receiving micro loans.

Last week in the news, female Saudi cartoonist challenges societal views of women, New York husband gets his neck slashed by Pakistani wife for religious abuse, women must wear socks (but not bras) in militant controlled parts of Mogadishu, and Kuwait rejects call to require women MPs to cover heads.

This week, The New York Times published a story that Somalia’s al Shabaab group began publically whipping women for wearing bras, NPR published a piece on Dalia Mogahed, Kuwaiti courts give women the right to travel without their husband’s permission and continue to debate whether female MPs should have to wear the hijab, police in Arizona are looking for an Iraqi man accused of running over his daughter, and two more Sudanese women were sentenced to 20 lashes and fines for wearing trousers.

This week, Ayaan Hirsi Ali is interviewed by the LA Times to discuss women’s rights in Islam, and Beyonce’s Malaysian concert is postponed.

This week, in Egypt, bans on virginity kits and burqa cause a stir. In Canada and Italy, burqa bans were also proposed. And in a Lebanese paper Naomi Wolf asserts that Muslim women are not in need of being saved by the West.