Al Jazeera’s Muslims of France

A brief survey of Al Jazeera English’s ‘Muslims of France.’

Mocking the Prophet, Mocking his Followers?

The editor of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo spoke out immediately after the petrol-bombing of the offices of his offices on Wednesday to accuse those responsible of being ‘idiots who betray their own religion’ and ‘radical stupid people who don’t know what Islam is’. Stephane Charbonnier comes across as defensive of Islam, voicing the same sentiment expressed by most of us ‘moderates’ whenever extremist attacks splash themselves across the news.

The Accidental (Revolution) Tourist

A voyage with benign and meager doctoral student ambitions “accidently” transformed into a historic Forrest-Gump-like journey through revolting Arab and European countries during the summer of 2011.

VIDEO: Woman Arrested for Wearing Niqab

The above is a video taken on July 31st. The video shows, at first from a distance, a sort of commotion taking place across the street. As it continues and as the person with the cameraphone approaches, it becomes clear that around 3-4 French police officers are fighting with a woman wearing the niqab, a [...]

Take Your War Elsewhere

Let us stop using the bodies of women as our fronts for cultural warfare.

The Last Tango in Paris

If she was wearing heels, this would have been much hotter. [tarboush tip: emily]

Niqab at Revolution’s Forefront

They resemble a black bloc: fully clothed in the darkest of the black, with only their eyes visible, a large group of Niqabi women were walking with their heads held high in a massive protest in Sana’a, calling for the overthrow of the regime.

To All The Haters..

I made this years ago, in response to the Quebec Reasonable Accommodation debate, where it was published as a cartoon in my university paper. I suppose more than ever it is still relevent.

And very true. So don’t mess.

Update on Mini-Skirts and Veils

Statistics on how many women wear facial veils are usually not available in France, which is wary of surveys of people’s religious practices because of the ideal of equality. This means that until now, the issue of Islamic veils has been debated with much passion but little hard evidence.

Beyond Mini-Skirts and Veils

President Sarkozy’s recent declarations against the burqa have fallen out of the news headlines but his words are still ringing loudly within and outside Western Muslim communities. Opinion pieces and letters continue to flood international and local papers, tugging back and forth. While such debates may be painful and trivial to read and listen to by many, they must be welcomed as they both bring into light a far greater issue than any all-encompassing piece of fabric.