With the start of the new year, I’ve decided to resign as Contributing Editor at AltMuslimah. Since I’m gearing up for some new projects in 2011, I knew I wouldn’t be able to give the site the time it deserves. Hopefully, I’ll be able to rejoin them in the future. I’m sorry to go, but I loved working with Asma Uddin, Shazia Kamal, and everyone else at AltMuslimah!
But there are exciting things on the horizon! Stay tuned for updates!
I am really excited to announce that Muslimah Media Watch is a proud sponsor of the Women’s Voices Now short film festival “Women’s Voices from the Muslim World.”
We’ve been profiling submissions from the film festival all week on Muslimah Media Watch. All submissions will be screened at the WVN Festival in Los Angeles on March 17-19. You can watch all submissions at the WVN website.
And MMW won Honorable Mentions for both Best Female BLog and Best Group Blog!
You can check out the full list of winners and nominees here.
Thank you to everyone who voted and supports us!
Last Sunday, I went to a local production of Jennifer Jajeh’s solo show “I Heart Hamas.” The show’s site gives a pretty good synopsis:
With the current ongoing conflicts in the Middle East, the threat of global terrorism, and the never-ending negotiations and hostilities between Israelis and Palestinians, it’s hard not to feel overwhelmed by all of the bad international news. That’s exactly how Jennifer Jajeh feels. And to make matters worse, Jennifer is Palestinian. Well, Palestinian American. Or more precisely: a single, Christian, first generation, Palestinian American woman who chooses to return to her parents’ hometown of Ramallah at the start of the Second Intifada.
Join her on American and Palestinian soil on auditions, bad dates, and across military checkpoints as she navigates the thorny terrain around Palestinian identity. Weaving together humor, slides, pop culture references and live theatre, Jajeh explores how she becomes Palestinian-ized, then politicized and eventually radicalized in a fresh, often funny, searingly honest way.
I really enjoyed the performance. Jennifer’s wit when talking about her Jewish cat Judah or preachy Palestinian audience members made the evening fly by. She’s a wonderful performer, and it showed in both the show’s comical aspects and its serious ones. Her performance and the show’s vivid audio brought her life in Ramallah into startling perspective.
It was comforting and refreshing to hear someone address the, “No, where are you really from?” question. Though I’m Iranian and Muslim, I related to so many of Jennifer’s experiences as a Christian Palestinian trying to figure out where she fit in America. She spoke about feeling confined and uncomfortable in the small Palestinian American community, but being completely alienated from Palestinians in Ramallah. She talked about her frustration with trying to find a place for herself within mainstream American life, sharing examples from elementary school and her attempts to find work as an actress. She spoke about making people uncomfortable just by virtue of who she was—wishing aloud that she could be “ethnic, but without the baggage.”
If you get a chance, you should definitely see the show. She’s currently doing a college tour and will be in Los Angeles early next year—watch for updates at her website!
Yes, friends, there is such a thing as Islamic feminism.
In fact, this weekend (October 21-24), Spain is hosting the Fourth International Congress on Islamic Feminism.
I would have given my left hand to be at this conference, but it wasn’t to be this time around. Here’s hoping I’ll be there in 2012!
If, like me, you’re not living it up Islamic-feminist-style in Spain, you can still see the entire conference, because it’s streaming live! It’s on both the Congress’ website and livestream.com.
Right now, I’m listening to Ziba Mir-Hosseini discussing the implications of the Islamic Revolution on women’s education in Iran. *nerding out hard-core*
I’m a little (okay, a lot) late on this, but…
Amazing writer Jillian C. York included me as one of her “5 Writers You Should be Reading,” grouping me with such amazing writers as Glenn Greenwald and Ta-Nehisi Coates. I’m flattered and incredibly humbled by the inclusion.
York’s work is serious–she is a prolific writer on issues regarding internet censorship and The Middle East.
So you’d better listen to her and read me.
Thank you for being a friend. Except you, Elisabeth Hasselbeck. Blaming Obama for Islamophobia? Really?
Bill O’Reilly was on The View for some reason yesterday, and he went out of his way to rile everyone up, like always.
I don’t want to focus on O’Reilly’s incendiary and hateful comments; you can watch the clip yourself. I want to focus on the The View’s response.
Joy Behar and Whoopi Goldberg walked off the set in protest of O’Reilly’s statements. I think it was a perfectly acceptable method of protest (and the one closest to my heart). If you don’t like what someone’s saying, don’t listen.
And while I don’t agree with Barbara Walters’ castigation of Behar and Goldberg for their protest, I agree with her when she said that, “We should be able to have discussions without washing our hands and screaming and walking offstage.” Which is exactly what she did.
This begs the question: how much discussion can you have with someone like O’Reilly, who makes a career out of spreading incendiary opinions? Discussion is an important way to make connections and change attitudes. Walters confronted O’Reilly about his Islamophobic statements, and his half-assed apology illustrates how uninterested he is in discussion.
However, I want to thank the ladies of The View for participating in this discussion and calling O’Reilly out on his effery. I’m a believer in the power of allies, and I feel that everyone who added something constructive to the discussion on that program (again, not talking about Hasselbeck) through their walk-outs or call-outs acted as an ally for Muslim Americans like myself.
So thank you for being a friend, ladies of The View. And know that you always have a friend in me.
So be sure to nominate Muslimah Media Watch for Best Women’s Blog ASAP!
I was unhappy to read that “Draw Muhammad Day” creator Molly Norris had voluntarily gone into hiding. While I thought the concept of “Draw Muhammad Day” was ridiculous and viewed it in the same light as the South Park episode that supposedly depicted the prophet, I recognize that Norris’ intent wasn’t to be offensive or malicious. In Islam, intentions count for something just like actions, and no one should be punished for simple naïveté. It’s atrocious that Norris has received threats and feels unsafe enough to go incognito.
Which is why I’ve added my name to the list of American Muslims in the media who support Molly Norris and her right to free speech. My signature on a statement isn’t going to do much for her, but I hope she understands that she has our support.
A DEFENSE OF FREE SPEECH BY AMERICAN AND CANADIAN MUSLIMS
We, the undersigned, unconditionally condemn any intimidation or threats of violence directed against any individual or group exercising the rights of freedom of religion and speech; even when that speech may be perceived as hurtful or reprehensible.
We are concerned and saddened by the recent wave of vitriolic anti-Muslim and anti-Islamic sentiment that is being expressed across our nation.
We are even more concerned and saddened by threats that have been made against individual writers, cartoonists, and others by a minority of Muslims. We see these as a greater offense against Islam than any cartoon, Qur’an burning, or other speech could ever be deemed.
We affirm the right of free speech for Molly Norris, Matt Stone, Trey Parker, and all others including ourselves.
As Muslims, we must set an example of justice, patience, tolerance, respect, and forgiveness.
The Qur’an enjoins Muslims to:
* bear witness to Islam through our good example (2:143);
* restrain anger and pardon people (3:133-134 and 24:22);
* remain patient in adversity (3186);
* stand firmly for justice (4:135);
* not let the hatred of others swerve us from justice (5:8);
* respect the sanctity of life (5:32);
* turn away from those who mock Islam (6:68 and 28:55);
* hold to forgiveness, command what is right, and turn away from the ignorant (7:199);
* restrain ourselves from rash responses (16:125-128);
* pass by worthless talk with dignity (25:72); and
* repel evil with what is better (41:34).Islam calls for vigorous condemnation of both hateful speech and hateful acts, but always within the boundaries of the law. It is of the utmost importance that we react, not out of reflexive emotion, but with dignity and intelligence, in accordance with both our religious precepts and the laws of our country.
We uphold the First Amendment of the US Constitution and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Both protect freedom of religion and speech, because both protections are fundamental to defending minorities from the whims of the majority.
We therefore call on all Muslims in the United States, Canada and abroad to refrain from violence. We should see the challenges we face today as an opportunity to sideline the voices of hate—not reward them with further attention—by engaging our communities in constructive dialogue about the true principles of Islam, and the true principles of democracy, both of which stress the importance of freedom of religion and tolerance.
You can see the entire statement and signatories here. May God keep you safe, Molly Norris, wherever you are.
Friends, my time in Washington, D.C. was wonderful: full of energizing networking and meet-ups! I spent the weekend with Racialicious’ fabulous editrix Latoya Peterson, who is always ten times more awesome in person. Monday night, I met up with lots of my AMCLI fellows for a delicious iftar dinner. Delicious food and conversation with my friends and colleagues is always a great way to spend the weekend!
Tuesday was the big day: Generation Change and the State Department iftar! The Generation Change event was buzzing: I met lots of fabulous old and new colleagues, including the amazing Moniza Khokhar (the woman behind elan magazine), Fatima Monkush and Nyla Hashmi (the dynamic duo behind Eva Khurshid clothing), and Melody Moezzi, author and all-around kick-ass lady (and I’m not just saying that because she’s Iranian).
Farah Pandith, the State Department’s Special Representative to Muslim Communities, hosted the event, which included an impressive array of speakers: Hana Siddiqi Hernandez and Kauthar Umar, the ladies behind New Muslim Cool; Ahmed Ahmed, hilarious comedian; Dr. Naif al-Mutawa, the creator of The 99 comic series; and Herro Mustafa, who is the Vice President’s Mideast Advisor. Pandith posted a synopsis on her blog that includes a video of the speakers’ presentations, which include some poignant experiences and insights. Head over and watch, if you get a chance.
I took the opportunity to chat with Ahmed Ahmed, whose work on the Axis of Evil comedy tour is still some of my favorite—if you haven’t seen this, fix it! Ahmed is working on a new documentary, called Just Like Us, that highlights a multi-cultural comedy tour through the Middle East. It’s premiering at film festivals now, and has some of my favorite comedians (Maz Jobrani, Tom Papa, and Whitney Cummings, to name a few).
After Generation Change, we went upstairs for the iftar with Secretary Hillary Clinton. She highlighted some of the amazing work that the 70 Muslim Americans (yours truly included) are doing—like working as educators and poets, founding non-profits that bring wounded Iraqi children to the U.S. for medical treatment, and advocating for immigrant rights. The 70 of us sat with ambassadors and philanthropists (I was close to the Yemeni and Sri Lankan ambassadors, as well as Alex Kroenemer, a wonderful conversationalist and producer behind the PBS documentary Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet, and DJ Scandales, part of The LO Frequency collaboration). It was humbling and exhilarating to be in the same room with so many remarkable men and women, Muslim and non-Muslim alike.
The party favor from Secretary Clinton's iftar.
Today is Eid al Fetr, the celebration that marks the end of Ramazan. And I am in a wonderful mood in part because the State Department dinner renewed my enthusiasm and hope for my generation of Americans, even in the midst of things like Pastor Terry Jones’ threats to burn Qur’ans and the hateful dialogue around Park51. My colleagues, who have so much determination, kindness, and warmth, remind me that humanity can always overcome. Eid mobarak!
Fatemeh Fakhraie 