ReligionDispatches.org

I was glued to my Twitter all weekend.

During the weekend, there was almost no coverage of the protests and riots. Some news agencies, including Al Arabiya, had their offices closed, and state networks in Iran didn’t report on any of the civil unrest. So we turned to Twitter. Thanks to Twitterers from Iran, we’re getting a picture. But how complete is it? A majority of those Twittering seem to be Mousavi supporters. I kept getting a gnawing feeling, like I couldn’t see the forest for the trees.

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This week, Oprah aired her exclusive look inside the Yearning for Zion Ranch, the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints compound that was raided around this time last year. For me, the most interesting part of her visit was when she spoke with some teen girls and asked them frank questions about their lives and faith.

There aren’t any clips other than this one, which isn’t very indicative of the segment, and the print version doesn’t mention a single girl by name. I’m unsure whether the girls asked not to be named, but I have a hunch that their names were simply omitted since Oprah referred to them by name in the television version.

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According to Italian news agency AKI, Egyptian scholar Sheikh Jamal Qutb, head of the prestigious religious institution Al Azhar University’s head of fatwas, issued a religious edict saying that “a community, including family members or neighbours, should have the same right to end a marriage as the couples themselves.”

The adage says that when you marry someone, you marry their family, too. It doesn't say anything about neighbors. Despite the old saying, a marriage is between two people, no matter what others may think. Opening up a private relationship to public debate (a neighbor or family member can bring his/her case for the couple’s divorce to court) is intrusive and will not solve a couple’s problems.

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Aisha Gawad wrote about the “glass minaret” this week, referring to the difficulty Muslim women have getting into positions of power at the mosque. In her IPS article, she profiles Sara Elghobashy and Asra Nomani—two women with the same aim (women leading prayer and holding equal positions of power and respect at the mosque), but very different methods. Elghobashy’s method is to work within the system to achieve her aims: earn the same qualifications as male imams and Islamic scholars, go through the same schooling and training as they did. Nomani’s method is to go from 0 to 60: Gawad describes Nomani shocking her small community in Virginia when she prayed in the men’s section of her local mosque.

I was disappointed in the article, mainly because it set Elghobashy and Nomani up in a horizontally hostile stereotype. The article pits them against each other ideologically, with seemingly catty and dismissive quotes from both points of view to cement the idea of a rivalry (a female scholar who took the same approach as Elghobashy likens Nomani’s approach to “a teenager rebelling against her parents.” Ouch.).

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Keith Ellison, one of two Muslims in Congress, has cosponsored a bill with Rep. Betty Collum that will help bi-national same-sex couples keep their families together. The bill, which Rep. Jerrold Nadler has been pushing since 2003, is called the Uniting American Families Act, and would allow non-citizen partners of gays and lesbians to gain permanent resident status via the same channels that married couples use. If passed, this bill would obviously bring the U.S. a step closer in LGBT rights.

My interest in the bill lies particularly in Rep. Ellison’s involvement. Ellison was Congress’ first Muslim, and is still very active in his local Muslim communities. His involvement in the bill is interesting because the mainstream consensus on homosexuality in Islam is that it is not permissible. Thus, his support for the bill may be off-putting to some in American Muslim communities. But it may give hope to LGBT Muslim communities in America that their sexual orientation is recognized as a part of an acceptable family unit, if not in Islamic law, then in U.S. law.

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A few weeks ago, I wrote about an Uzbek imam who was preaching for women to wear “traditional dress” rather than “foreign” hijabs. I expressed disappointment over the fact that, despite what seemed an attempt to reinvigorate Uzbekistan’s historic Islamic identity, he was just another man telling women what to wear.

A news report this week confirms my suspicions that Uzbek officials and imams may not have women’s choices at heart. Uzbek officials reportedly devoted 25 minutes of television airtime to educating female viewers about fashion. But this wasn’t the Uzbek version of the Style network: the program stated that “traditional attire” was in, hijabs were out, and Western clothing was undesirable.

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Rihanna. Aasiya Zubair Hassan. Laci Peterson.

What do a pop star born in Barbados, a Pakistani TV executive, and a pregnant housewife have in common?

They are all victims of domestic violence.

But while Rihanna’s and Laci Peterson’s stories have not been connected to their ethnicities or their religions, Aasiya’s has. News reports dubbing her gruesome murder an “honor killing” are all over the news, and there are many who are quick to blame Islam or Pakistani culture for what her husband has allegedly done, despite the fact that he has not used Islam to justify his deeds, and no Muslim organization, scholar, or imam has condoned her murder.

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Journalist and activist Cassandra Balchin has written an article titled “Home truths in the Muslim family”, that discusses the changing dynamic of Muslim families and family law. Although the article gives out a lot of hopeful vibes, its’ “head in the clouds” feel ignores the “feet on the ground” reality.

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Normally, when a Muslim cleric speaks to women about their clothes, it’s about wearing more of them. But one imam in Uzbekistan has addressed his countrywomen, telling them not to cover up.

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Two FLDS men in Canada have been accused of polygamy and are currently in the middle of a trial. A defense attorney on the case says that the country’s decision to legalize gay marriage will lead to legalizing polygamy.

This question may raise some eyebrows, but I’m going to ask it anyway: What’s the big deal? Polygamy isn’t any more “dangerous to society” than gay marriage, which Canada has deemed acceptable for society. Consenting adults enter into a union that they feel fits their preferences, religion, or both.

Full disclosure: I am personally opposed to polygyny (which is how polygamy is usually manifested). But I think we’re all missing the silver lining in polygamy legalization:

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Cardinal Jose Policarpo has warned Portugese women about marrying Muslim men. According to Policarpo, marrying Muslim men leads to “a pile of troubles, that not even Allah knows where would end.” Policarpo added, “I know that if a young European of Christian background marries a Muslim, as soon as they go to his country, they’ll be subject to the regime of Muslim women. Just imagine it.

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On Sunday, Saudi Arabian human rights groups issued a statement opposing child marriages as a breach of Rights of the Child Charter and the International Women’s Rights Treaty (both of which Saudi Arabia has signed within the last fifteen years). Last month, an 11-year-old girl was awarded a divorce from a marriage she did not want to a 75-year-old man. Despite both these recent events, Saudi Arabia’s most senior cleric Sheik Abdul-Aziz Al Sheikh has publicly stated his support for child marriages.

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Yesterday was the tenth day of the Islamic month of Muharram: Ashura. Despite the fact that all Muslims find significance in Ashura, the commemorative holiday is a major one for Shi’a Muslims.

For Shi’ites, Ashura is a day of mourning and reflection on the sacrifices of the Prophet’s family. This is the day that produces all the footage of self-flagellation, which makes all non-Muslims think that all Muslims (Shi’a or otherwise) are bloodthirsty, violent, and fanatical.

During this time, many pilgrims trek to shrines to observe rituals and pray. Many of the shrines central to Ashura are in Iraq, and their significance for Shi’ites means that sectarian tensions run high. This past week, a man (who reports earlier stated was a woman) blew himself up among Shi’a pilgrims at the shrine of Imam Moussa al-Kadhim.

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Rihanna is covering up for a concert in Malaysia. Aside from all the eye-rolling “bad girl being good” comments that the media is putting forth about her appearance, you’d think that this was the biggest thing to happen to either Rihanna or Malaysia by the way the media presents the issue.

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The year 2008 is over, and it's been a mixed bag. Obama's victory in the presidential race sparked hope around the world that might just carry us through to 2009. But the attacks on Mumbai and Gaza are casting long shadows over 2008, particularly for Muslims.

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The Vatican is expected to team up with several predominately Muslim governments to protest a U.N. resolution that “calls for the decriminalisation of homosexuality worldwide,” according to the U.A.E. newspaper The National. No predominately Muslim nations have been named, but the article mentions that the resolution was discussed among members of the Organization of the Islamic Conference.

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Normally in the media, news articles focus on what the Muslim minority of a country wants the majority to do for them: allow them headscarves or days off for Islamic holidays, framing them as “special privileges.” This narrative colors Muslims as an obstinate and tantrum-throwing bunch that really just want things done their way, rather than to simply have an equal chance at integrating their faith into their life, like everyone else in a non-Muslim majority country gets to do.

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I wrote about Busta Rhymes’ newest song “Arab Money” over at Racialicious a few weeks ago. My major qualm: the song’s offensive portrayal of Arabs.

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Last week, al-Qaeda No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahiri disparaged Barack Obama in a web broadcast, calling Obama (as well as Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell) a “house Negro.”

This hasn’t sat well with the majority of American Muslims. The Council of American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) released a statement condemning al-Zawahiri’s “threatening rhetoric and racial slurs,” a prominent imam in Chicago publicly condemned the statements, and imams in New York’s African-American Muslim community slammed the comments as originating from people who have “historically been disconnected from the African-American community generally and Muslim African-Americans in particular.”

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AlterNet's Tom Jacobs wrote about two new studies that examine Islamophobia in students and healthcare professionals.

The first study, dubbed "The Turban Effect," was conducted by a team of researchers from the University of South Wales in Australia, and published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. It states that:

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Last week, the United Arab Emirates appointed its first female marriage registrar, Fatima Saeed Obeid al-Awani. It’s the first country in the Arabian Peninsula to do so.

This follows Egypt’s decision to appoint Amal Suleiman to the same position a few months ago. India also saw a woman preside over marriages as early as last August.

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Last week, Al Azhar issued a fatwa (edict) that allows a wife to beat her husband in self-defense. Egyptian independent daily al-Masry al-Youm quoted Sheikh Abdel Hamid al-Atrash: “A wife has the legitimate right to hit her husband in order to defend herself.”

Krista of Muslimah Media Watch breaks down the fatwa’s insignificance:

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The Indonesian Parliament has re-introduced a bill (originally proposed in 2006) intended to define pornography as “sexual material that includes photographs, cartoons, films, poems, vocalization, conversations and body gestures in the media, or in public shows, exhibits or performances.”

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Last Friday, Dr. Amina Wadud led a mixed-gender congregation of 15 people in prayer in the U.K. This is the first time that any Muslim woman has done so in Britain, and the second time Dr. Wadud has led a mixed congregational prayer (she made history by leading a congregation in New York City in 2005).

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