By Zeena MubarakA 15-year-old Muslim girl in France was not allowed to attend classes because her skirt was deemed too ostentatious of a religious symbol. In France, displaying religion in public, government-funded spaces is prohibited. In concession to this law, the girl, identified as “Sarah,” removed her hijab before entering the school. But this was not enough…
By Zeena MubarakCanadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper recently decided that he is the spokesman for the rights and feelings of Muslim women. He proclaimed that the niqab, the face covering that some Muslim women choose to wear, is anti-Canadian, part of a fundamentally oppressive culture, and actually offensive to Canadians. “Why would Canadians, contrary to our own…
By Zeena MubarakThe Huffington Post recently published the disturbing account of Craig Monteilh and the time he spent as an FBI informant in a mosque. Although the article details many injustices committed against the Muslims in the mosque, the Huffington Post decided to run the story with the headline: “Former FBI Informant Craig Monteilh: FBI Encouraged Me…
By Zeena MubarakBuzzfeed posted an article called “This Photographer Traveled The World To Show That Female Beauty Is Everywhere.” It describes the adventures of Romanian-based photographer Noroc Mihaela, as she travels around the world, photographing what she determines to be female beauty in other countries. What do they mean by saying the photographer wants to prove that female…
By Zeena MubarakRecently, I paid a visit to the Arab American National Museum. Initially, I was extremely excited — as a Sudanese American, I’m not used to seeing my identity represented positively anywhere. I had a few pre-existent apprehensions: there is a strong history of marginalization of Black Arabs and of course racism exists in the Arab…
By Zeena MubarakInna lil lahi wa ilayhi rajioon. To God we belong, and to Him we shall return. Yesterday, the lives of three young Muslim college students were brutally ended by a lone gunman. They were husband and wife, Deah Barakat, 23, and Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha, 21, and Yusor’s sister, Razan Mohammad Abu-Salha, 19. Their deaths are an…
By Zeena MubarakEvery time an aggressor that identifies as Muslim carries out an attack — though the distinction between terrorist and hero is extremely clear — the world turns to 1.7 billion Muslims asking for an apology. This situation is familiar to the many, many Muslims living in Western countries. We have apologized for, and condemned, such…
By Zeena MubarakMuslimMatters published an article on Tuesday called “The Hypocrisy of Feminist Outrage” by Daniel Haqiqatjou, which argued that in the recent discussion of catcalling, the general discourse had left out the important “other victim.” Apparently, in the discussion of women’s right to feel safe in their environments, we need to consider the feelings of the…
By Zeena MubarakYou know how it is. You’re going about your day and then – BOOM – it’s prayer time. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) said the whole world’s a mosque, right? Here are my top seven improvised mosques: 1) Fitting Room Let’s start with an oldie, but goldie. The fitting room is always a good place for a…
By Zeena Mubarak1) THE WAILING KID You may think this kid is just being a poor clueless child, but his timing shows you that the whole thing is completely deliberate. He spends the entire sermon and prayer sobbing his little heart out, but the second the Imam pops out his first “Asalamu Alaikum”, the child is as…
By Zeena MubarakYou’ve probably seen this little video by TrueStoryASA, which appears to depict vloggers Adam Saleh and Sheikh Akbar, being stopped and frisked by an NYPD officer who appears to be racially profiling them. The vloggers “prove” that the cop is profiling them by conducting a little experiment: they pass him twice, arguing both times. The…
By Zeena MubarakIt has been just over a week since the death of Michael Brown, an unarmed eighteen year old boy who was slaughtered by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri. The exact circumstances of his death are unknown. They do not matter. He did not have a weapon and, whatever pretenses are eventually revealed, the underlying…
