Two of the most frequent questions I’m asked by my non-Muslim friends are: 1) What’s the difference between a Shi’a and Sunni Muslim (like me) and 2) What happens if a Sunni and a Shi’a fall in love?  Neither question has a particularly straightforward answer.

I read a moving story about Sunni-Shi’a love in Newsweek a couple of years back. It was the tale of two Iraqi teachers, one Sunni and one Shi’a who met in 2000 when they were both studying at the University of Baghdad.

A Cautious Courtship

Sunni guy Mahir Murad, 26 and Shi’a girl, Hind al Yasseri fell deeply in love, but had to hide their three-year courtship from their friends and family.

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I found an intriguing and thought provoking article in Arab Times I’d love to get your opinions on:

Apparently, a Pakistani pupil has been expelled from his private school in Peshwar for secretly marrying his 16-year-old cousin. The reason? Teachers at the school believe that marital relations shouldn’t be discussed in the playground.

Age of Consent

The groom in question Ghairat Khan sports a beard and attends 7th grade at the English-language Peshawar Model School. His peers are 12 and 13 year old boys, yet Ghairat insists he is in fact, 18. According to the Arab Times, it’s not unheard of for students to fall back a few years in some areas of Pakistan.

Khan insists he married his cousin because his father died and his mother was ill. Pakistani civil law permits boys to marry at 18 and girls at 16, but under Islamic law, younger unions with parental consent.

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There can be little disputing that Malalai Joya, also known as “the bravest woman in Afghanistan”, has earned her name and reputation.

The brave and outspoken Malalai Joya

An Afghan activist for women’s rights (among other relevant issues) is presently on tour to promote her incredible book A Woman Among Warlords: The Extraordinary Story of an Afghan Who Dared to Raise Her Voice.

At the age of 25, she stood up at a 2003 constitutional assembly in Kabul and denounced Afghanistan’s warlords. In 2005,  Malalai went on to become the youngest person ever elected to Afghanistan’s new Parliament. Two years later she was suspended from parliament for her relentless denunciation of her country’s warlords and drug barons.

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Who Are Somalia’s Juba Arabs?

July 10, 2010

I’ve been reading a fascinating article in 30-days.net about the Juba Arabs, a 900,000 strong population that live along the Somali/Ethiopian border.
Virtually cut off from the rest of the world, around 650,000 Juba live in Somalia’s fertile regions Wabi of Shebele. A further 275,000 live just over the border in Ethiopia.  Originally from the Arabian [...]

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Turkish President Tweets a Tut-Tut at the Nation’s Internet Restrictions

July 3, 2010

While my friends in Pakistan have been keeping me up to date on the country’s Facebook ban and associated saga – I was intrigued to learn of another virtual controversy… this time in Turkey.
Thanks to my dear Turkish friend Lamia, who returned from Istanbul yesterday and tipped me off, I found an article in Today’s [...]

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How do Arab Friends Keep in Touch?

June 30, 2010

Ok folks: random factoid of the day:
Q: How do Arab friends keep in touch and stay up to date?
A: They turn on, log in and type.
According to an article in The Guardian, there are more Facebook users in the Arab world than newspaper readers.
Out of Print
Dubai-based market research firm Spot On Public Relations reports that [...]

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Arab Women Co-create Madrasati Palestine (Palestine is My School)

June 27, 2010

40 Bahraini women have joined a Jordanian initiative to defend the rights of Palestinian children in Jerusalem. This educational project will renovate rundown schools in East Jerusalem and was started by Queen Rania last month, in tandem with the launch of the Arab Women’s Network.
The Power of Combined Talent and Strength
The AW network is made [...]

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Egypt Launches Arabic Web Addresses

June 24, 2010

Go figure: Arabic is one of the world’s leading languages yet the Wikipedia Arabic portal carries less words than its site in Catalan, which is spoken by 9 million people…
In a bold move to give the language the digital oomph it deserves web addresses will now be available in Arabic. The Guardian reports on how [...]

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Love, Sex and Dating Queries? Young Indians Ask The Sexpert

June 21, 2010

The Indian parliament’s decision to ban sex education has left young Indians with a conundrum: Where do they go to get advice on love, dating and sex?
According to an interesting article in The Guardian, they open the daily supplement of the Times of India, the country’s best-known English-language newspaper and make a beeline for the [...]

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Rebels with a Cause: Taqwacore: The Birth of Punk Islam

June 19, 2010

If one thing’s surer than Sid Vicious’ steel toe caps, it’s that  Taqwacore: The Birth of Muslim Punk took courage, faith and fearlessness to complete. This recently released feature documentary about the revolutionary twists, turns, triumphs and travesties of Pakistan’s Muslim Punk movement sure ain’t for the fainthearted.
The film is based on its namesake novel, [...]

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