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CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Rafia Zakaria Indianapolis, IN
Rafia Zakaria is an attorney currently completing her doctorate in Political Science at Indiana University, where she is the John Edwards Fellow (2007-2008). Her research focuses on Muslim identity specifically as it relates to Sharia law initiatives and multiculturalism in Western states. She teaches courses on US Constitutional Law, Political Philosophy and Islam and Politics. Rafia also works on the Middle East Country Group of Amnesty International USA. She is the Associate Executive Director of the Muslim Alliance of Indiana and a Board member of ibtida, (an NGO that builds schools in rural Pakistan) and ANAA, an NGO dedicated to advocacy for female victims of violence in her native Pakistan. In addition to being Associate Editor at altmuslim.com since 2006, Rafia is a weekly columnist for Daily Times in Pakistan, she writes frequently for US and international publications, her work has appeared in Frontline India, The Nation, Reason, Arts and Letters Daily, and numerous other publications. |
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 | | Sharia and society Muslim grrls, part IV By Rafia Zakaria, December 24, 2010 There I was, with my first Muslim client, confronting a predicament where the American legal tools at my disposal did not promise the best result for my client. Pouring over Zainab’s case in those first few days, I felt dejected. In recent decades, most states have passed legislation that makes divorce a “no fault” issue. This means simply that if either a husband or wife asks a court for a divorce, it is automatically granted without anyone having to prove conditions such as adultery or abandonment, as was the case in decades past. ( 2 comments) |
 | | Sharia and society Muslim grrls, part III By Rafia Zakaria, December 22, 2010 I picked up Zainab from the motel where she had been abandoned by her husband, Said. Married only a year earlier in Amman, Jordan, she could not drive and spoke little English. Zainab, whose name I’ve changed to protect confidentiality, had left friends, family, and a job behind to be with a man who had promised her a life of comfort in the United States. They had met at a wedding two years before, when her cousin had wed one of his brothers. Punctuated with the romance of the wedding, one of the few instances when young men and women could socialize in Amman without the usual restrictions, they had a few clandestine conversations. ( No comments) |
 | | Sharia and society Muslim grrls, part I By Rafia Zakaria, December 17, 2010 Four or five years ago, the term Sharia, which for Muslims denotes Islamic law, meant scant little to Americans. As I write this in the fall of 2010, America’s perceptions of Islam and Muslims have changed markedly. A few months from now, when Oklahoma voters march to the polls, they will face “question 755” on their ballots. Born out of the “Save Our State” constitutional amendment passed by the Oklahoma legislature earlier this year, question 755 will implore voters to forbid courts from using international law or Sharia law in their decisions. ( 1 comment) |
 | | Dialogue On 9/11, Listening to Muslim womens’ voices By Rafia Zakaria, September 22, 2010 Much has been said about Imam Abdul Rauf, the Imam behind the proposed Park 51 Islamic Cultural Center in New York City, which would stand a few blocks from the site of the 9/11 attacks nine years ago today. In the intense controversy surrounding the construction of the community center, he has been called a “ radical,” despite ample evidence of his longtime efforts to do interfaith work and bridge misunderstandings between Muslims and other communities. ( No comments) |
 | | Conflict The face we can’t ignore: Women in Afghanistan By Rafia Zakaria, August 11, 2010 What to do about the war in Afghanistan is posed as a question of military strategy, of defense expenditures, of logistical technicalities; of political climate, secret safe havens and effective counter- insurgency… but almost never a question of women. In the meeting rooms on Capitol Hill, in seminars held at think tanks and universities around the U.S., and on talk shows where experts dissect the latest in the saga of American warfare, a resolute silence has surrounded the issue of Afghan women. ( 2 comments) |
 | | Misyar marriage Prohibition does not eliminate promiscuity By Rafia Zakaria, April 5, 2010 The existence of “misyar” marriages and the fact that they are being advertised on websites similar to western ones proposing sexual dalliances exposes the hollowness of the idea that prohibition eliminates the desire for promiscuity. ( 6 comments) |
 | | Human rights Dr. Aafia’s appeal By Rafia Zakaria, February 19, 2010 The aftermath of Dr. Aafia Siddiqui’s conviction nearly two weeks ago in a New York courtroom has seen several protests in her home country of Pakistan. On February 13, students from universities all over Islamabad congregated at Aapbara Chowk and demanded her release, while pointing out the silence of human rights groups. A day earlier, Lahore’s Liberty Chowk saw students and faculty members of several educational institutions come together to protest against Dr. Aafia’s continued detention. Many other protests have been witnessed since the verdict was announced. ( 2 comments) |
 | | Violence against women Abuse, asylum and America By Rafia Zakaria, July 31, 2009 A new policy by the Obama Administration has provided an opportunity for abused women, including those under threat of death from karo kari, to claim asylum in the United States. Concerns about notions of Western patriarchy should be seen in the context of the lack of options that hundreds of thousands of women, from Mexico to Pakistan, currently have. ( 1 comment) |
 | | Talibanization The privatization of Pakistani women By Rafia Zakaria, March 11, 2009 Sexual crimes have been mainstays of Pakistani politics for nearly all of its sixty-one-year history and have been used to legitimise all sorts of regimes. This gives the Taliban ample room to justify yet another repugnant episode in the history of Pakistani women. ( 3 comments) |
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