In Episode Four: Headscarf, TE'A gets under the veil to dispel stereotypes associated with women who cover and their choice to wear the hijab. Then in the post-performance dialogue, one woman challenges the Company to see this issue through more than one lens. (4 comments)
I love to confuse people by subverting the stereotype of Muslims that they always see and hear from. I believe that breaking the false equation between conservatism and authenticity is the best way to end the monopoly over religious thought by radicals and their supporters. (3 comments)
Altmuslimah's second photographic campaign video features Heba Amin's illustrations from the new children's book, Extraordinary Women from the Muslim World. (Zero comments)
As practicing Muslims, we’re so used to a traditional separation of genders – during prayer, during conferences, and so on. In looking for mainstream art and music to mimic, hip-hop in particular is an easy one to copy, as in its nature, it can be used to express anything. So what about a genre that could arguably be seen as predominantly expressing love for women? (Zero comments)
Many have died tragic - and silent - deaths in the post-election violence in Iran. But one woman, Neda Agha Soltan, became a symbol with her death caught on video. Here, Neda's fiancee, Caspian Makan, comments on her story in comments transcribed exclusively for altmuslim.com. (1 comment)
Altmuslimah's Painted Gala, held on June 28, 2009 with live performances from The Kominas and Omar Waqar, was a huge success. Here are selected photos from the event. (Zero comments)
Altmuslimah's photography exhibit will be on display at the annual Islamic Society of North America convention July 3-6 in Washington, DC. (Zero comments)
Launched in April 2009, Beauty and the East TV is an effort by American Muslim Samira Atash to build bridges between both Muslims and the West and between Muslims in America and elsewhere around the world. (1 comment)
Although many middle class Saudis believe that banning women from driving is a societal injustice, change and progress are often slow. Areej Khan’s new campaign, ‘We the Women’, is a creative strategy for engaging Saudis of all perspectives to foster a healthy debate on an issue that has been part of public discourse for decades. (Zero comments)
What happens when you find a group of tragically victimized women who were abducted by sex traffickers? You rescue the one white American girl you were looking for and forget about the rest of them. That, basically, is the narrative achievement of the recent French action thriller, Taken, starring Liam Neeson. (4 comments)
Farid was diagnosed with impotency within the first few months of his marriage. In other households, the issue would be hushed up and the woman would often be blamed for this state of affairs, allowing the man to hastily divorce or take another wife. Not so with Farid. He chose to tackle the issue head-on. (Zero comments)
Nyla Hashmi and Fatima Monkush struggled to find contemporary fashion that was modest until they developed their own brand of women's clothing with Eva Khurshid. But the design, religious, and economic challenges mean the two have to work twice as hard to get noticed. (Zero comments)
Honor killings, in which women are murdered for tarnishing their family’s honor, are prevalent throughout the Middle East. In Jordan they account for one-third of all violent deaths, on the order of twenty-five a year. Although they are illegal, the murders are prosecuted leniently in a country where tribal custom and Islamic teachings often hold sway in the courts. (Zero comments)
Skateistan, a skateboarding school in Kabul that takes youth off the streets, offers some normalcy to Afghan children who more often than not experience no real childhood and are forced to find work to help support their families. (Zero comments)
Following the brutal murder of Aasiya Zubair, renewed attention has been paid to the position of Islam on domestic violence. In response, here is a sermon by Shaykh Hamza Yusuf, recorded on February 20, 2009 in San Jose, California. (1 comment)
While many foreign correspondents based across the Muslim world are under pressure to file stories that will make headline news, Jack had the opportunity to go in-depth and focus on the day-to-day lives of everyday people across the Muslim world. (Zero comments)
News briefs for week of August 23, 2010 - This week, A Bangladesh court ruled that people cannot be forced to wear religious clothing, a youth organization in Massachusetts urges officials for more comprehensive cultural sensitivity training of teachers, Emirati women frequent hair salons less during the month of Ramadan, and the Christian Science Monitor describes the pro-women's rights stance of one of the leaders behind the proposed Islamic center near ground zero. (August 24, 2010) (0 comments)
News briefs for week of August 16, 2010 - This week, the government of Afghanistan releases statistics on alarmingly high suicide attempt rates by Afghan women, and an Islamic theologian recounts his experience on a nudist beach that led to his conversion to Islam. (August 17, 2010) (0 comments)
Ramadan: A wife’s perspective (and a husband’s) - When my husband finally makes his way down the stairs, my frustration abates and he and I sit across from each other and share our early morning meal. We speak intermittently and keep one eye trained on the clock to ensure we finish our food by the time dawn prayers begin. Despite the sparse conversation and the hurried meal, I enjoy the feeling that we are both beginning our obligatory fasts together, as a unit. (August 13, 2010) (1 comment)
News briefs for week of August 9, 2010 - This week in the news, why pregnant women exempt from fasting still fast, Taliban responds to TIME's cover story on Aisha, Satirist claims he is not joking about his plans to open an Islamic gay bar next to Cordoba Mosque, and a young American Muslim man abstains from alcohol and dating for the month of Ramadan. (August 10, 2010) (0 comments)
News briefs for week of August 2, 2010 - Brazil offers asylum to Iranian women sentenced to death by stoning, veiled women pass through Canadian airport checkpoint without being checked, Malaysian reality show crowns its champion imam, and a few British gay Muslims find support from their local imams. (August 3, 2010) (0 comments)
News Briefs for the week of July 24, 2010 - This week, Saudi clerics seek more Muslim maids and say its okay for women to uncover their faces in the presence of burqa bans. Two French women in burqinis were refused entry into a pool, and two Muslim women in England are not allowed onto a public bus. (July 27, 2010) (0 comments)
