By Suzanne Choney msnbc.com msnbc.com updated 11/20/2010 11:51:31 AM ET 2010-11-20T16:51:31 A longtime Charlotte, N.C., flight attendant and cancer survivor told a local television station that she was forced to show her prosthetic breast during a pat-down. Cathy Bossi, who works for U.S. Airways, said she received the pat-down after declining to do the full-body… [Read more…]
(CNN) — Full-body scanning machines may reveal a little too much, if an incident of workplace violence this week among Transportation Security Administration screeners is any indication. A TSA worker at Miami International Airport in Florida was arrested for allegedly assaulting a co-worker who had repeatedly teased him about the size of his genitals. The… [Read more…]
By Betsy Hammond, The Oregonian April 01, 2010, 1:08PM With supporters of religious freedom looking on, Gov. Ted Kulongoski signed a bill this morning that will end Oregon’s ban on teachers wearing head scarves and other religious attire. The ban won’t lift until after the 2010-11 school year. The rationale for the delay is to… [Read more…]
By Rebecca Smith, Medical Editor, Telegraph.co.uk All staff involved in caring for patients should be ‘bare below the elbows’ to ensure sleeves do not become contaminated and hands can be washed thoroughly to prevent infections passed around the ward. However female Muslim staff had been concerned about the rule as exposure of their forearms is… [Read more…]
Calif. Muslim employee fired for refusing to remove scarf in public (SANTA CLARA, CA, 2/24/10) – The San Francisco Bay Area chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-SFBA) is calling on Abercrombie & Fitch customers who value diversity and inclusion to contact the company to express their concerns about a Muslim employee who was… [Read more…]
The Fiqh Council of North America (an association of Muslims who interpret Islamic law on the North American continent) issued a ruling (fatwa) earlier this week that says Muslims shouldn’t go through full body scanners since this violate Islamic rules on modesty. Nihad Awad heads the Council on American-Islamic Relations, and their purpose is to… [Read more…]
Rafik Beekun While some may discriminate against Muslims, many day-to-day Americans are just and decent folks, and will also stand up for and defend Muslims’ rights to practice their faith. This sense of balance and fairness among my American countrymen is what makes America such a great and welcoming country.
Time Magazine, Sean Gregory Given the hyper-sexualized advertising that Abercrombie & Fitch has long embraced, it is no surprise that the company encourages its employees to let their hair down. But is the company practicing discrimination if it won’t hire a young woman who covers her head for religious reasons? Yes, according to the Equal… [Read more…]
Swearing-In Ceremony for Farah Pandith US Dept of State’s (first) Special Representative to Muslim Communities. While we congratulate our sister in Islam for her appointment, please note that Secretary Clinton is dressed more modestly and thus in a way more acceptable to Muslims than Pandith. http://www.state.gov/video/?videoid=40275422001 by Secretary Clinton: September 2009 While U.S. Muslims applaud this… [Read more…]
By Maulvi Waris Mazhari (Translated from Urdu by Yoginder Sikand) Some traditional ulema are of the view that Muslim women must not work outside their homes. They even argue that women can step out of their homes only under extreme necessity. Otherwise, they insist, they must remain within the four walls of their homes. Ironically,… [Read more…]
In the wake of the controversy generated by Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni’s suggestion that the increasing number of veiled women in Egypt was a sign of “regression”, Al-Ahram Weekly asked two leading cultural commentators how they interpreted the subsequent furore. The importance of national dialogue, in the absence of which we lapse into a… [Read more…]
Other Challenges to Muslim Women Wearing Religiously-Mandated Hijab 1. Georgia Muslim Woman Arrested Over Hijab 2. Denied Job at Abercrombie & Fitch
Note from Rafik Beekun: British Police should be praised for incorporating the hijab into their uniform. It is noteworthy that while some “Muslim” countries are often resistant to giving women their rights, Britain in this case is one step ahead of them. Saturday, January 31, 2009, Police have opened the door to female Muslim recruits… [Read more…]
Note from Rafik Beekun: Air Tran refused to rebook a Muslim family after some overly suspicious passengers misinterpreted comments made by a couple of family members leading to their being removed from the flight, and to their being immediately cleared by the FBI. Several members of one family were detained and surrounded in the pre-boarding… [Read more…]
CNN Wednesday, December 17, 2008 – updated: 10:04 am EST December 17, 2008 DOUGLASVILLE, Ga. — A head scarf landed a Muslim woman in jail Tuesday after she refused to remove it during a hearing at the Douglasville Municipal Court. Lisa Valentine, also known by her Islamic name, Miedah, 40, was arrested for ‘violating a… [Read more…]
www.cair.com (WASHINGTON, D.C., 12/16/08) The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today called on the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate a series of incidents in which Muslim women in Georgia were prevented from entering courtrooms because they were wearing Islamic headscarves, or hijabs. In the most recent incident, a Muslim woman was jailed today following… [Read more…]
Note from Rafik Beekun: In the video clip below, Fox (the right-wing TV channel and supporter of McCain) is trying to amplify the story and even distort in ways that are sick, i.e. what is a “Muslim” dress? Nevertheless, the Obama Campaign showed itself to be petty and Islamophobic when it asked two Muslim women… [Read more…]
Thomas Frank, USA today BALTIMORE — Body-scanning machines that show images of people underneath their clothing are being installed in 10 of the nation’s busiest airports in one of the biggest public uses of security devices that reveal intimate body parts. Body Scanners are Invasive The Transportation Security Administration recently started using body scans on… [Read more…]
Geert Wilders Insults Dutch Prime Minister Geert Wilders insults the Dutch Prime Minister publicly, and blames the Dutch Parliament for defending Muslims in the Netherlands. Stephen Sackur of BBC World “Hard Talk” talks to Dutch Member of Parliament, Geert Wilders about his controversial views on Islam, Muslims, Arabs and immigration. Part 1 In the first video, Wilders would like… [Read more…]
By Ruth Marcus Wednesday, March 26, 2008; A19 It’s a measure of America’s multicultural journey over the past half-century that we’ve gone from “God and Man at Yale” to Allah and Woman at Harvard. In a contretemps scarcely imaginable in William F. Buckley’s day, Harvard has closed one of its gyms to men for six… [Read more…]
BY NATHALIE ALONSO Monday, March 10, 2008 3:05 PM EDT As an adolescent, Jackson Heights resident Carla Carballo, 29, would greet her male friends in typical Latin fashion – with a kiss on the cheek.However, ever since she converted to Islam a decade ago, Carballo, who is single, has given up that custom and no… [Read more…]
Julia Shearson, Harvard alumna and executive director of the Cleveland office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Cleveland), discusses a recent move to allot six hours per week for women-only workouts at one of Harvard’s campus gyms. For those who complain about political correctness on behalf of Muslims, please listen to the video below from… [Read more…]
By Hidir Goktas and Gareth Jones Sat Feb 9, 8:49 AM ET Turkey’s parliament voted on Saturday to lift a ban on female students wearing the Muslim headscarf at university, a landmark decision that some Turks say will undermine the foundations of the secular state. Parliament, where the ruling centre-right AK Party has a big… [Read more…]
Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2008 By CARLA POWER, TIME When Famile Arslan showed up for her first day of work, the receptionist pointed her toward the broom closet. “‘The cleaning supplies are over there,’” Arslan recalls being told. “I had to say, ‘No, I’m not the cleaner. I’m the lawyer.’” In fairness to the receptionist, Arslan… [Read more…]
WASHINGTON, DC (WUSA) — A DC track and field star says she’s been the victim of religious discrimination. Officials at the Montgomery Invitational track meet told Juashaunna Kelly she had to remove her Muslim head covering if she wanted to compete. It was a roller coaster weekend for the 17 year old star from Roosevelt… [Read more…]
Deborah Howell Washington Post, Readers were confused and angry that “Opus” comic strips with a Muslim theme did not appear in the Aug. 26 and Sept. 2 Sunday print editions. The strips, created by Berkeley Breathed, were distributed by the Washington Post Writers Group and published on washingtonpost.com. Most of the controversy involved the Aug.… [Read more…]
CAIR News Release August 28, 2007 Civil rights and community organizations are urging their constituents to take note of revised screening procedures at airports for all head coverings and to know their rights as travelers. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) released a statement today confirming reports of new head covering screening procedures as of August… [Read more…]
Note from Rafik and Nadiah Beekun: Though some of the following information is available on other websites, we have reproduced it here because of its direct relevance to the issues covered by this blog. We have also added to the material available on the internet through our own research. We will explore the implications of Hijab… [Read more…]
Linda Morris Religious Affairs Writer Sydney Morning Herald (Australia) August 7, 2007 Tuesday, p. 5 First Edition ON JUST about every cover of Azizah, the first of a new crop of US Muslim women’s magazines, is a women wearing the hijab. The practice has drawn criticism that the publisher and editor of Azizah, Tayyibah Taylor,… [Read more…]
Dr. Muhammad ‘Ali Al-Hashimi The true Muslim takes good care of his clothes, so you will see him presenting a pleasant appearance, without being extravagant. He is pleasant to look at and to meet, and does not annoy people with his careless, disheveled appearance. He always checks himself before he goes out to meet people,… [Read more…]
[...] Hadji said that in late 2004, he reproached a customer for harassing a Tunisian waiter. Hadji said he asked the customer to leave after the diner said, “If you don’t like it, go back to your country,” and “I fought two wars to get rid of people like you.” The restaurant’s owners ordered Hadji… [Read more…]
Source:atwork.settlement.org The issue of discrimination experienced by Muslim women who wear hijab when they apply for work was established in 2000 through consultations conducted by Women Working With Immigrant Women (WWIW) with Muslim serving organizations and through surveys of labour organizations and institutions such as the Ontario Human Rights Commission to find out what information… [Read more…]
What Allah wants her to be By KATHLEEN D. BAILEY Special to the Union Leader Sunday, Apr. 29, 2007 Exeter – They wore long skirts and head scarves, business suits, jeans and sweaters. One tee nage girl wore a head scarf and jeans. They came from a rich mix of countries, including America, and spanned… [Read more…]
TU THANH HA From Tuesday’s Globe and Mail MONTREAL — When news came that young Muslim girls had been turned away from a tae kwon do competition in Quebec because they wore Islamic head scarves, one of the people upset was the former dean of engineering of the University of Ottawa. Aside from being an… [Read more…]
November 21, 2010
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