The following was published as a Facebook post by the author. It is reprinted here with permission. It has been edited for clarity. I’ve spent the past week in and out of a lot of conversations about the new Hulu show ‘Ramy’. Those conversations have waded through expressions of disgust…
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America elected its first two Muslim women to the US House of Representatives in the 2018 midterm elections: Rashida Tlaib of Michigan’s 13thCongressional District and Ilhan Omar of Minnesota’s 5thCongressional District. Tlaib and Omar are part of a “pink wave” in which a record 100 women ran for Congressional office,…
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Writer and interfaith activist Saadia Faruqi has launched an amazing new children’s book series, Meet Yasmin. altM’s Asma Uddin sat down with her to talk about her inspiration for the series and her path to success. altM: Saadia, welcome to altM. You’ve written some really wonderful pieces for us in the past,…
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Most coverage of Ilhan Omar, the thirty-five-year-old state legislator who won the Democratic primary in Minnesota’s Fifth Congressional District last night, has focussed on her identity. She was born in Somalia, and she came to the United States when she was twelve, knowing only two phrases of English: “hello” and…
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It is no secret that Mattel Inc.’s Barbie doll has done well, not only in the US but also globally. The franchise contributed nearly 20 percent to Mattel’s worldwide gross sales in the last quarter and was ranked as one of the top-selling US toy properties. However, the company has…
Read MoreIn episode 15, two podcast worlds collide. #GoodMuslimBadMuslim hosts Taz Ahmed and Zahra Noorbakhsh discuss podcasting while Muslim, Iranian, Bengali, American, feminist, comedian, artist, activist…(you get the point). We talk about what it’s like to walk the fine line between what it means to be a good and bad Muslim — and…
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For the past few weeks, my whole family has gathered in our living room in the evenings to watch the Olympics. It has been a family tradition for the past few Olympics, and usually swimming, women’s gymnastics, diving and track are the favorite events. “Phelps is just so amazing,” everyone…
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I recently had the opportunity to interview Dr. Umar Faruq Abd-Allah, Chairman of the Board & Scholar-in-Residence at the Nawawi Foundation, a non-profit educational foundation based in Chicago, Illinois. Dr. Abd-Allah offered me his insights into the growing phenomenon of Muslim women taking off their headscarves. The first part of the four-part interview can be read here, the second part of the interview can be read here, and the third part of the interview can be read here. The fourth and final part of the interview follows:
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AK Comics has potential to bring something new to the comic book industry, especially with its two female characters, Jalila and Aya. But the writers need to break away from imitating mainstream American comic books and give Jalila and Aya their own identities as Middle-Eastern/Muslim super-heroines.
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Naif Al-Mutawa’s The 99 offers us arguably the best depictions of Muslim female characters to have ever appeared in comic books. One would hope that its realistic portrayals of Muslim women will help inspire more positive depictions of women in mainstream comic books.
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