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.

An Open Letter to ABC’s 20/20 regarding “Islam: Questions and Answers”

In light of the highly problematic portrayal of Muslims in ABC’s 20/20 September 29, 2010 episode “Islam: Questions and Answers,” a colleague of mine, Margari Hill (who is also an amazing blogger in her own right), and I wrote an open letter to the production team of the program. If you are interested in supporting this effort and endorsing this letter, please click on the link here to fill out the requested information and share with others who shared similar sentiments about the episode.

An Open Letter to ABC’s 20/20 regarding “Islam: Questions and Answers” Season 31, Episode 3

The Hijab Alternative

If all men were blind, would Sharia grant women the right to walk naked in the streets?

It is that men have eyes that seems to be the one and only reason why the ultra-religious insist on the necessity for women to cover up.

This is proof that, contrary to ultra-religious oxymoronic views, cultural norms and habits trump any religious teaching.

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.

Poor Alternatives

Anne Applebaum, liberal-ish Washington Post and Slate correspondent, former-USSR expert, and wife of the Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs, recently published the most ridiculous op-ed of all time, entitled “Morocco, an Alternative to Iran.”  On Slate, it was published as “Morocco Makes Peace With Its Past” (perhaps even more proposterous), and I perhaps wouldn’t have [...]

Chaim Sends Greetings from Iran

It’s not a well-guarded secret that resident KABOBfest Arabist Chaim Sugarman has a fetish for hijab-wearing women.

Point in case: While in Iran to show his support for the country’s seventh party candidate, Koskol, he sent the KABOBfest listserv the following short email and picture…

Iraqi Muhajabeh Character on ATWT

How did this ludicrous, crown jewel of a TV storyline concocted by the good people at As the World Turns (ATWT) fall under my nose? This As the World Turns storyline, which aired first aired February 22nd of this year,  focuses on a mutually beneficial relationship. Ameera Ali Aziz (AAA), an Iraqi native college student, needs [...]

“I doubt more than 1 in 100 Muslim women wear hijab here. It’s probably close to the opposite in their home countries…

So if it is really all about choice, why do the same women make different choices, depending on where they live?-A frequent KABOBfest message board commentator commenting on a conversation sparked by I post I wrote concerning the Bahraini 200 meter olympic competitor (Ruqaya Al-Ghasara), who was fully covered from head to toe for her races. [...]

Songs From Above (as in satellite TV)

The LA Times has an article on Syrian singer Hossam Haj and his new song “Let Us Pray Together, Sweetheart.” Haj got famous for his last jam, “Get Your Hijab On!”. Haj is the latest in a growing list of self righteous singers. While I kinda dug the work of Sami Yusuf and could tolerate [...]