Month: May 2016

Don’t ban the burqa – challenge the modesty doctrines instead

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Don’t ban the burqa – challenge the modesty doctrines instead

By Tehmina Kazi Unlike other articles on Muslim women’s sartorial trends, this one will not start with a terrible “thinly-veiled” pun, or a picture of a woman with her face covered in black  cloth. Shazia Hobbs managed to avoid both these traps in her “Ban the burqa” article, which correctly identified religious fundamentalism as a bigger problem in the current generation of British Muslims, than in previous generations.  The proliferation of face-veils is simply one manifestation of this; other manifestations include gender segregation on university campuses, and the ex-communication (or takfir) of…

Transgender people in Pakistan: Demonisation of the ‘other’

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Transgender people in Pakistan: Demonisation of the ‘other’

By Saima Baig   Transgender people have long been a part of the history of South Asia. Their stories are told in the Kama Sutra and they have existed in the Indian sub-continent for centuries. They were part of the courts of both Muslim and Hindu emperors and performed various spiritual and gender-liminal roles. Subsequently, while they were not openly ostracised by society, they tended to live on its edge, making their living by performing at functions, begging and as sex workers — but never as full members of the population with rights equal…

Why is Sesame Street’s New Afghan Muppet wearing a headscarf?

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Why is Sesame Street’s New Afghan Muppet wearing a headscarf?

By Samar Esapzai This is a cross-post   I have always loved Sesame Street. It was the only children’s show, along with Fraggle Rock, that I eagerly watched as a little girl while growing up in Saudi Arabia. I especially love how culturally diverse the show is and how, through multicultural elements, it aims to teach young children the value of mutual acceptance and cross-cultural friendships. In a nutshell, the show is perfect in all aspects of what a children’s show is supposed to entail. So it did not come…

Let’s take Islam back from the extremists and fundamentalists

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Let’s take Islam back from the extremists and fundamentalists

By Hassan Radwan   Islam – my religion – is facing the most serious crisis of its 1400 year history. Extremists like ISIS only serve to bring this crisis to a head, but it has been growing over the last 200 years. Yet despite this, we refuse to accept there is need for reform or even to engage in a conversation about it. The past 200 years have seen some of the greatest changes in human history. Changes in relationships, gender roles, law and order, morality and ethics. Changes in the…

Ex Muslims and converts to Islam are not so different

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Ex Muslims and converts to Islam are not so different

By Sarah Ager   Ex-Muslims and converts to Islam have much more in common than you might imagine. These similarities go beyond simply moving from one set of beliefs (or lack thereof) to another or having a connection with Islam either in the past or the present. One of these unexpected, and rather negative, similarities between ex-Muslims and Muslim converts was first pointed out to me by Imtiaz Shams, co-founder of Faith to Faithless, during a conversation in which he commented that “both of us get fetishised and hated if you don’t fall in…

Green-Zone Protests: Is Iraq Sleepwalking Into Iran?

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Green-Zone Protests: Is Iraq Sleepwalking Into Iran?

By Haydar Zaki   Anti-corruption protests sweeping through a Middle Eastern country, spearheaded by an ultra-religious figure under the language of rights and equality – where have we heard this before? All one needs to do is look at the history of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq’s neighbour Iran to understand why I am deeply sceptical about current events. In Iran, ultra-religious figures were able to capitalise on the unrest and disenfranchisement of the Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, to implement one of the most brutal theocracies in the region. It is…