My latest TV obsession is One Day at a Time, a sitcom about a Cuban-American family. (Not to be confused with the 1970s show with the same name.) It’s a Netflix original, and I keep reading that not enough people are watching it so it’s gonna be canceled – and it’s the best show ever, so I literally can’t even. I need more seasons.
We, the undersigned, issue this statement in solidarity with the survivors of Tariq Ramadan’s sexual violence. We believe survivors and stand with them in their fight for justice. We also acknowledge the Islamophobic mistreatment of Tariq Ramadan by the French justice system and call on them to ensure fair treatment during his trial. That said, our primary concern is the welfare of survivors whose needs have been ignored while the focus is on Ramadan’s treatment. We reject the false choice between being anti-Islamophobia and anti-gender based violence especially since the survivors in this case experience both forms of violence as Muslim women. We believe that both gendered and Islamophobic forms of violence are equally unacceptable and require urgent attention. We are disappointed to see prominent Muslim community organizations and scholars supporting Tariq Ramadan and not believing survivors. Tariq Ramadan’s mistreatment at the hands of French authorities does not excuse his crimes. The Quran asks us to stand for justice even if it’s against our own loved ones (4:135).
We call on the Muslim community to stand against sexual violence, believe survivors and withdraw their support of Tariq Ramadan.
Signed:
Pre-post: I’ll be posting a brief statement tomorrow, related to this, in support of the women whom Tariq Ramadan has sexually assaulted and raped. Stay tuned. It’ll come with some signatures of support.
Qur’an 4:148: “God does not like the public mention of evil/accusation except by one who has been wronged.” (لَا يُحِبُّ اللّٰهُ الۡجَـهۡرَ بِالسُّوۡٓءِ مِنَ الۡقَوۡلِ اِلَّا مَنۡ ظُلِمَؕ)
Continuing this.
Pre-post: Sorry I haven’t blogged in a while, beloveds. I ache to, and I have so much to share and so much to say! And it’s not even that I don’t have time: I do (I always make sure I have time for myself, alhamdulillah for this so far!). It’s other things, like the impostor syndrome eating me alive these days, so… but I hope to blog more this year, especially with a lighter teaching load this semester, and I have to update y’all with pics from my travels from last year, and my GOD, I’m learning SO much with my new teaching career I can’t wait to share all this.
So. On to this.
I was blessed enough to spend much of my winter break in Cairo. It was a complete joy. There were some unexpected surprises, like literally absolutely no harassment (I KNOW!! We hear so much about harassment in Egypt that I was shocked to not experience any at all! More on this below), and there was abundant learning and appreciating. I learned so much about myself I’m still dealing with that.
I co-wrote this statement with other Muslim women. We’re here to show our unconditional support for survivors of sexual violence (whatever their gender, sex, sexual orientation, race, religion, ability, and other markers of othering). This statement comes with a pledge (click here for it), so please read the statement and then sign the pledge to show your support for people who have been sexually assaulted.
There’s something deeply disheartening and disempowering about constantly, almost on a daily basis, being bombarded with sexist and otherwise exclusionary images of heaven that don’t appeal to me or to most Muslim (or other) women at all. I sometimes accidentally come across sermons (of men, of course, because Muslim patriarchy doesn’t allow women to give sermons – that’s literally how much religious patriarchy hates women) where I’m given descriptions of these women, and it’s vomitrocious. And the men in these videos are watching and listening intently fucking drooling, like oh my God, what can I do to just die right this moment and go to heaven. I like how they assume or expect they’ll go to heaven, despite the shittiness of their attitude towards women. If God spares these men, I’ll be having a long conversation with Her.
Women in the Qur’an: An Emancipatory Reading
Asma Lamrabet
Translated from the French by Myriam Francois-Cerrah
Sqaure View, 2016. 172 pages. $19.95
A shorter version of this review is published in the American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences.
Asma Lamrabet’s Women in the Qur’an: An Emancipatory Reading sufficiently fulfills its promise to offer an emancipatory approach to the Qur’an. It argues for a re-reading of the entire Islamic tradition, not the Qur’an alone, in a gender egalitarian way that embraces women’s full humanity. Despite some of its weak arguments, its overall point of women’s liberation through the Qur’an and through stories of the Prophet and its argument that the Qur’an is in fact anti-patriarchal are often well-made.
The Perplexity of a Muslim Woman: Over Inheritance, Marriage, and Homosexuality
Olfa Youssef
Translated from the Arabic by Lamia Benyoussef
Lexington Books, 2017. 156 pages. $80
A shorter version of this review is published in the American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences
Olfa Youssef’s The Perplexity of a Muslim Woman: Over Inheritance, Marriage, and Homosexuality
Since the article by Yasmin Mogahed where she argues against female-led prayer (google it) has been making rounds again and it has some misleading and false statements, here’s a response to it, point by point. Collectively written by me, Zahra K., and someone else. Yasmin Mogahed’s points are in red, and our responses follow. Please note that this post is only a response to Mogahed’s claims and not entirely on female-led prayer. For an article on female-led prayer and how Islam does actually permit it, please click here (it includes references – and I’m gonna link to this a few times below because).
