Faith, Peace & Tranquility: New Zealand’s Muslim Community

14 August 2010

I found a really interesting short documentary on Youtube about what life is like for Muslim New Zealanders. A little further Google rummaging and I unearthed an article on the subject in 30days.net. It aroused my curiosity as what life is like for this country’s seemingly young, vibrant Muslim minority.
Faith, Peace & Tranquility
Today there are [...]

Read the full post »

Women’s Voices Now – Standing Together to Speak in Time

4 August 2010

During my amazing three month stay in New York, I’ve had the honour of meeting some extraordinarily inspiring movers and shakers determined to re-stabilize the world’s axis and better the balance for those less fortunate.
One of the most potent of these meetings was a lunch with Catinca and Amanda of womensvoicesnow.org, which provided me with [...]

Read the full post »

A Sunni-Shi’a Love Story

29 July 2010

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 [...]

Read the full post »

The Pakistani Pupil Expelled for Getting Married

23 July 2010

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 [...]

Read the full post »

Malalai Joya – The Bravest Woman in Afghanistan

17 July 2010

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

Read the full post »

Who Are Somalia’s Juba Arabs?

10 July 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 [...]

Read the full post »

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

3 July 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 [...]

Read the full post »

How do Arab Friends Keep in Touch?

30 June 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 [...]

Read the full post »

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

27 June 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 [...]

Read the full post »

Egypt Launches Arabic Web Addresses

24 June 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 [...]

Read the full post »

← Previous Entries

Next Entries →