Politics

Mandela and Prophet Yusuf

When Nelson Mandela died two weeks ago at the age of 95, television channels and radio stations brimmed with tributes to this internationally beloved man. A civil rights icon, a savvy political strategist, a Nobel Prize recipient and the first black president of South Africa—he wore all these hats, and each one with more elegance than the last. Yet as a Muslim woman, I found myself appreciating Mandela and his life through an entirely different prism. That of Chapter 12 in the Holy Qur’an.

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The “Mipsterz” video debacle: Westernization vs westoxification

The recent debate surrounding the “Somewhere in America” video by Sheikh & Bake Productions has thus far been by Muslim women of the West about Muslim women of the West. The discussion involves the balance in their lives between what Sana Saeed, in her discussion-generating article, calls “normal,” “Americanness,” and “Western” on one side and “ourselves” on the other.

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Somewhere in America, Muslim women are freaking out and fitting in

This week, Muslim Americans, particularly women, across the web and social media are abuzz about a viral music video, affiliated with a Muslim Hipster group called Mipsterz. The video set to Jay-Z’s song “Somewhere in America” features Muslim women of diverse ethnic backgrounds fashionably dressed with hijab (headscarf) doing random things in major American cities – climbing trees, running across benches, strutting in high-heels, skateboarding, riding a motorcycle, unsuccessfully chopping wood, even professional fencing.

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Silencing Malala Yousafzai and the brown man’s honor complex

In a Pakistani interview long before becoming a household name, Malala shared her dreams of becoming a politician, gave advice on foreign policy (including drones), and thanked the Pakistani Army for their successful operation in Swat. Malala was a force to be reckoned with long before the Taliban shot her in the head. And despite their best efforts to silence her, she is an even greater force to be reckoned with now.

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Tell me your story

A full moon hung low one North Carolina night. Omar ibn Said was on the run from his South Carolina master who had almost beaten him to death a month earlier. When Omar came upon a church, he whispered “Praise Allah” under his breath. He took ablutions by the well in the churchyard and then entered the sanctuary to perform his Islamic prayers.
A young white boy saw him walk inside. Men on horseback with a pack of dogs quickly arrived to snatch Omar, mid-prostration, off to jail.

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Malala Yousafzai and the white saviour complex

When Malala Yousafzai was shot in the head by Taliban gunmen simply because she wanted to gain an education it sent shockwaves around the world.
Straight away the Western media took up the issue. Western politicians spoke out and soon she found herself in the UK. The way in which the West reacted did make me question the reasons and motives behind why Malala’s case was taken up and not so many others.

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Pakistan’s Islam: The flaying of a Muslim wife

Muslims complain the West portrays Islam as violent, misogynistic and unforgiving. As a Muslim woman myself, I confirm ‘Muslim’ brutality is best portrayed only by ourselves.
This week in Multan, Pakistan, 36-year-old Farzana Bibi was allegedly dismembered by her husband for refusing to wear a niqab. Waiting until their three children had gone to school, he allegedly took a knife used for slaughtering an animal in the halal fashion to dismember her into ten pieces.

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Miss America – peeking behind the bigotry

The racist reactions to Nina Davuluri’s Miss America pageant victory were indeed alarming. Nonetheless, there is much to unpack from the incident, and considered compassion can and should be as much a part of the American Muslim reaction as outrage.
For purposes of this analysis, let us consider racism as stemming largely from two places. One – racism as a function of power and greed. Two – racism as a function of vulnerability and relative helplessness.

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