India: Farmer’s Daughter Takes on Terrorists — and Wins

Rukhsana Kausar, a 21 year old woman, attacked the terrorists who had broken into her home and she saved her father’s life. As the terrorists beat her father, she attacked them with an axe, and then she took control of their automatic weapon and used it on them.

Farmer’s daughter disarms terrorist and shoots him dead with AK47

An Indian farmer’s daughter disarmed a terrorist leader who broke into her home, attacked him with an axe and shot him dead with his own gun …

(Dean Nelson, Daily Telegraph)

Mosques From Around the World

A new blog that focuses on photos of mosques in different countries. It’s under development, but the photos are quite beautiful.

Check out Religious Architecture

Saudi Arabia: Opposing Child Marriage

While the religious establishment still insists that there should be no lower age limit to child marriage in Saudi Arabia, opposition to child marriage is mounting from medical, human rights and even some religious quarters.

Of note:

A special report by the Saudi Health Ministry stated that child bride marriages were “one of the primary causes for the emergence of physical and psychological problems… [and for] the rising incidence of disease within the family and society, which are a burden on the health system.” Among the physical problems mentioned in the report were menstrual problems, infertility and vaginal tearing, as well as osteoporosis and frequent caesarian surgeries due to pregnancy and childbirth at a young age. As for psychological problems, the report stated that the early withdrawal of maternal love and the sudden termination of childhood caused anxiety and marital problems, among other difficulties.

Saudi Arabia’s Health Ministry admits what the Ulema will not.

Rising Criticism of Child Bride Marriages in Saudi Arabia

Y. Admon (New Age Islam)

The Saudi press has lately been discussing the custom of child bride marriage, especially cases of middle-aged or elderly men taking prepubescent girls for their wives. The religious justification for this custom, which has been prevalent in Saudi Arabia and in many Muslim societies since the early Islamic era, is that the Prophet Muhammad married his wife ‘Aisha when she was only six years old.

Recent press reports on child bride marriage in Saudi Arabia sparked a wave of criticism among columnists and social activists, who called for abolishing the custom and for setting a minimum age for marriage in Saudi law. In response, on November 24, 2008, the Saudi Shura Council passed a resolution setting the legal age of majority at 18. However, the council refrained from explicitly defining this as the minimum age for marriage, reflecting the difficulty it faces in confronting this well-entrenched practice….

USA: Hijabi Monologues Takes Wing

Muslim-style ‘Monologues’

Raja Abdulrahim (LA Times via Philadelphia Inquirer)

Los Angeles TimesThere is no central theme [to the Hijabi Monologues]; the play focuses on individual women and their stories. One monologue addresses the types of men who hit on hijabis, another tells the story of a mother who loses her son in a car accident. The one that draws the most reaction is about a teenager who gets pregnant – a taboo subject in Muslim communities.

“Hijab is not the centerpiece,” Alhassen said of the play, “it’s the background….”

Turkey: Science and Technology Magazine Editor Fired Over Darwin Article

Darwin article causes flap in Muslim Turkey

SUZAN FRASER (Associated Press)

Turkish university students and teachers on Wednesday protested the removal of an article about Charles Darwin from a state-run science magazine amid concerns that secular views are under threat in the Muslim country….

Saudi Arabia: 75 Year Old Woman to Be Lashed for Consorting with Men

I’m not sure what to say about this, other than hoping that the story is a hoax or the product a misunderstanding.

Saudi Woman, 75, Sentenced to 40 Lashings

(Associated Press)

Iraq: The Unhappy Fate of Women Whose Fathers and Husbands Have Died

Here are two depressing stories of the desperate situations that some Iraqi widows and their daughters must deal with to put food on the table.

The shame of Iraq’s pariah widows

Michael Sergeant (BBC News)

… Accurate figures are hard to obtain, but even before the invasion in 2003, there were hundreds of thousands of widows in Iraq.

Many lost husbands in the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s. At the height of the violence of recent years, up to 100 women a day were becoming widows.

Almost everywhere you go in Baghdad, you can see them begging at traffic lights and outside mosques – dressed from head to toe in black.

The women are supposed to be given just over $1 (£0.70) a day from the government.

But a survey by the charity Oxfam has discovered that less than a quarter actually get the money …

and also:

Iraq’s Unspeakable Crime: Mothers Pimping Daughters

Rania Abouzeid (Time Magazine)

… [The] underworld is a place where nefarious female pimps hold sway, where impoverished mothers sell their teenage daughters into a sex market that believes females who reach the age of 20 are too old to fetch a good price. The youngest victims, some just 11 and 12, are sold for as much as $30,000, others for as little as $2,000. “The buying and selling of girls in Iraq, it’s like the trade in cattle,” Hinda says. “I’ve seen mothers haggle with agents over the price of their daughters….”

Chechnya: President Defends Honor Killings

Ramzan Kadyrov, Chechnya’s president has defended the murders of 7 women he claims were prostitutes. He is apparently attempting to appease Islamists by stating that the murders were justifiable honor killings, but chooses to ignore 2 huge problems with his theory:

1. Honor killings are not defensible in Islam.
2. There is no evidence that the 7 women were murdered by relatives and, therefore, these killings would not qualify as honor killings anyway.

It is sickening for this man to try to profit politically from the murders of these women who were probably killed by his own supporters.

Chechen leader imposes strict brand of Islam

LYNN BERRY (Associated Press)

The bullnecked president of Chechnya emerged from afternoon prayers at the mosque and with chilling composure explained why seven young women who had been shot in the head deserved to die.

Ramzan Kadyrov said the women, whose bodies were found dumped by the roadside, had “loose morals” and were rightfully shot by male relatives in honor killings….

… Kadyrov’s version also has been contradicted by federal prosecutors in Moscow, who have concluded relatives were not involved. No arrests have been made and the investigation is continuing. Kadyrov’s office refused to comment on the investigators’ conclusion.

The Moscow newspaper Novaya Gazeta reported that some of the women worked in brothels frequented by Kadyrov’s men. Many Chechens say they suspect the women were killed in a police operation. The truth of the killings may never be known, given how much Kadyrov is feared….

West Bank: Women Serving as Judges in Islamic Courts

2 Palestinian women become judges in Islamic court

NASSER SHIYOUKHI and DIAA HADID (Associated Press

… [T]he female judges say they can help their [Muslim] sisters obtain their rights under Islamic law. They say a sense of shame surrounds women speaking to men, especially about intimate family relations…

UK, Media: Terrorism Double Standard?

When terrorism isn’t newsworthy

(Scottish Islamic Foundation Blog)

Imagine if a Scottish Muslim had pled guilty to threatening to blow up Glasgow Cathedral and behead one Christian a week until all British troops were pulled out of Iraq and Afghanistan.

There would be outrage, right? It would be splashed over the front page of every newspaper in the land. It would be the top of all news bulletins….

… So when news came into the Scottish-Islamic Foundation office this week of one Neil MacGregor pleading guilty to threatening to blow up Glasgow Central Mosque and behead one Muslim a week until all Scottish mosques were shut down, we thought it couldn’t possibly be true. There had been no build up to such a trial, no coverage during it and none on the verdict….

Iran: Worth a Visit; Iranians Kind and Welcoming

Iran: the friendliest people in the world

(London Times)

USA, Domestic Abuse: A Reality Check and Troubling Teen Attitudes

Many teens blame Rihanna, say dating violence normal

Megan Twohey and Bonnie Miller Rubin (Chicago Tribune)

Ed Loos, a junior at Lake Forest High School, said a common reaction among students to Chris Brown’s alleged attack on Rihanna goes something like this: “Ha! She probably did something to provoke it.”

In Chicago, Sullivan High School sophomore Adeola Matanmi has heard the same.

“People said, ‘I would have punched her around too,’ ” Matanmi said. “And these were girls!” …

and, also from he Chicago Tribune:

Restraining order against ignorance

Kari Ansari (Chicago Tribune)

Aasiya Zubair Hassan is dead of decapitation.

When we in the Muslim community received this news we prayed for her soul and held our collective breath, waiting for the negative associations to surface in media reports. Sure enough, the term “honor killing” has risen like green scum on a stagnant pond, giving every Muslim-bashing blog and ultraconservative media outlet a proverbial field day….

… Now I’m even reading comments from people who worked with her on a professional level using the term honor killing to describe her death. Women’s groups who know nothing about the situation are throwing the term around as if they know what it implies and what it entails, associating it with the murder of Aasiya.

First, let’s get one fact straight. Islamic law does not allow a man to kill his wife, for any reason. There is nothing in the teachings of the faith that says a man should protect the honor of his stature in the community by committing violence against a woman….

… When Nicole Simpson was savagely murdered, her throat was stabbed numerous times almost to the point of decapitation; did we call this an honor killing? Did anyone say the alleged killer, O.J. Simpson, did it because he was black, or a Christian? No. There was a long, documented history of domestic violence perpetrated on Nicole by O.J. This murder of Aasiya is no different. Violence against women has no educational, racial, socioeconomic or religious bounds. Aasiya’s story should give us the impetus to do more to protect all women from domestic violence. We as a society should not sully the memory of Aasiya Zubair Hassan’s mission to build bridges of understanding between people by painting her faith with a broad black brush of mistrust and intolerance.

USA: Bridges TV Founder Murders Wife

Any positive effect Bridges TV may have had on relations between Muslims and non-Muslims has been damaged by the founder’s brutal murder of his wife.

Not surprisingly, the television station’s web site is now unavailable. The victim, Aasiya Zubair, was the station general manager.

Orchard Park businessman charged in beheading of wife

Fred O. Williams and Gene Warner (Buffalo News)

Friends expressed shock on Friday that the founder of a Muslim TV channel — which he launched in order to counter violent images of Muslims — has been arrested in his wife’s brutal slaying….

Iran: Shirin Ebadi On Womens Rights After the Revolution

Women’s rights under Iran’s revolution

(BBC News)

Egypt: Great Expectations vs Reality of Obama

Why the Muslim World Can’t Hear Obama

ALAA AL ASWANY (NY Times)

We saw Mr. Obama as a symbol of this justice. We welcomed him with almost total enthusiasm until he underwent his first real test: Gaza. Even before he officially took office, we expected him to take a stand against Israel’s war on Gaza. We still hope that he will condemn, if only with simple words, this massacre that killed more than 1,300 Palestinians, many of them civilians. (I don’t know what you call it in other languages, but in Egypt we call this a massacre.) We expected him to address the reports that the Israeli military illegally used white phosphorus against the people of Gaza. We also wanted Mr. Obama, who studied law and political science at the greatest American universities, to recognize what we see as a simple, essential truth: the right of people in an occupied territory to resist military occupation.
But Mr. Obama has been silent….