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non-muslim women

Muslim American women are the new normal

Most insults aimed at Muslims are far from subtle. It is easy to recognize the affront, for example, when someone says she is tired of people saying Islam is a religion of peace, or sponsors ads in subway stations implying Muslims are “savages.” But sometimes the bigotry is subtle. Sometimes it comes from people who have been lovely to you, hosting you, feeding you fancy pastries and asking for your signature.

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World Hijab Day: An open invitation to all women

How is it that a piece of fabric can impact the socio-political paradigm of the world? In the last decade, Islam and Muslims have no doubt taken a beating in the court of public opinion and women who don the headscarf, or hijab, have endured the brunt of the abuse. The Western media frames these women as cloaked, both literally and figuratively, in oppression, desperate to liberate themselves from their dictatorial husbands and fathers by removing a cloth which symbolizes 1400 years of injustice.

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Drinking, dating and hijabs: The perils of college life for Muslim women

I climbed out of the car and heard the raucous laughter and booming music spilling out of the open windows and doors of the house party. My Christian and Jewish friends and I were welcomed as the innocent, new freshmen on campus. Red cups full of beer were passed around; I shook my head when one came my way. The guy holding it glanced at me with hazy eyes. “What?! No beer?” he said incredulously. “No, not for me!” I yelled back at him over the music. He shook his head dumbfounded and moved on to a more willing participant.

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From bride to wife: The women of patriarchal Muslim men

Since my conversion to Islam, I have struggled with depictions of Muslim brides and wives in the mainstream Western media. From the images of famous non-Muslim women marrying famous Muslim men  to the images of “pious” Chechen women sacrificing themselves for Syrian rebels, portrayals of Muslim brides and wives in mainstream Western media sources often depict two types of stories: either melodramatic romance novels or horror tales.

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Women and mosques: a love-hate relationship

Once upon a time, mosques were places where one could find God. Both men and women could meet and mingle with the fellow faithful, find refuge from the daily hectic-ness of life, and, perhaps most importantly, find peace. Given many women’s unpleasant experiences in mosques these days, one wonders if such peace and unconditional compassion ever even existed in mosques.

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Zahra Lari: An example for women of faith

She’s been called the “Ice Princess in the Hijab.” And I think she rocks. Zahra Lari is a 17-year-old Olympic figure-skating hopeful from the United Arab Emirates. And you can’t miss her because she wears a black hijab instead of sparkly hair clips and nylon pants instead of the characteristic shiny nude tights. I love seeing a Muslim woman as a competitive athlete. I just love it. I was crushed when the Iranian women’s soccer team was disqualified from the Olympics because of their headscarves.

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How are Muslim women doing in political cartoons?

After having written my undergraduate dissertation on depictions on Mexican First Ladies in political cartoons, I gained some insight into what it means to be a woman portrayed in editorial cartoons. Despite how funny political cartoons may be, they might also carry very strong messages, and these are often gendered.

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British women’s jihad against violence

Open any newspaper in the UK today and the two topics which govern any discussion on Muslims are women and extremism. Unsurprisingly, Muslim women feel these topics are inadequately addressed by Muslims themselves. Time and again, extremists – claiming to speak in the name of God – successfully dominate the discourse on British Muslims without any effective opposition.

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Women and the public space: Part 3

“If there’s no religious restriction on women barring them from visiting markets, then there should be even less challenges for women to visit and participate in mosques.” The logic of Georgetown chaplain Imam Yahya Hendi is flawless, but nonetheless, American mosques continue to fail to put his instruction into practice. To explore why the mosque, a public space that one would assume opens its doors to all, is often hostile and unwelcoming to its female visitors, my research partner and I administered an anonymous online survey.

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