News briefs for week of November 2, 2009

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.
According to the New York Times, Major Nidal Malik Hasan, an Army psychiatrist accused of a gunfire rampage that killed 13 and injured 29 at Fort Hood, Texas, has regained consciousness after being shot down during his attack. Major Hasan is the only suspect at this time, and is said to have had anti-American views and been extremely troubled by his pending deployment.

The Mercury News reported that in Fremont, California Sikh and Muslim women gathered to address discrimination that women of both faiths feel because of their religious head coverings. This was the first time that a multi-faith forum was held in the area to address the issue of religious discrimination.

The Jakarta Post reported that women in West Aceh, Indonesia will no longer be able to wear tight-fitting pants. The government claims that the move is an effort to further enforce sharia law, and has authorized sharia police to cut tight trousers on women and force them to wear loose-fitting attire.

The LA Times featured a photo essay on the sharia police in Aceh – the only Indonesian province imposing sharia law. The images include one of the police ordering a group of young women in head coverings to go home and change out of the dark leggings that they were wearing.

The Associated Press reported that female Kuwaiti lawmakers do not need to wear the headscarf, a decision made by the country’s Constitutional Court. Kuwait does not impose an Islamic dress code, but a bill passed in 2005 stipulating that women must abide by Islamic law was cited in the effort to force female MPs to cover their hair.

In Malaysia, The Star has reported that male members of the PAS political party are to take an oath to divorce their wives if their wives choose to change political parties. Women’s rights activists and politicians in the country criticized the decision.

In Pakistan, MeriNews reported on Pakistan’s first ever Fashion Week. Labeling the women involved in the event as “liberated in mind and body”, MeriNews noted that the event featured non-traditional women’s dressing – a far cry from the burqa imposed by the Taliban in the NWFP regions of the country.

The Economic Times of India reports that there is a massive movement to deny Muslim women access to microcredit. The paper reports that this is the result of pressure from Muslim organizations in the country that are run primarily by Muslim men.
Rabea Chaudhry is Associate Editor of Altmuslimah

1 Comment

  • OmarG says:

    >>male members of a political party take an oath to divorce their wives if they change party affiliations.

    Wow! But seriously, I think such oathes are explicitly condemned in the Quran. Man, they messed up bad: upset thier women folk *and* God at once. Which is worse 🙂

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