So, this meme is making the rounds again.
There is definitely a problem with these men, but not the one never-Muslims memers made up. A better caption would be “They think that a man who ‘allows’ his wife or sister to exist in public, where someone might see her and get turned on, is a cuck who won’t go to heaven.”
Continue reading “No, “rubbing one out” to a Muslim man doesn’t make him go to hell”
There are some Muslims living in Europe or the United States who think that voting is a temptation to be avoided, like drinking alcohol or dating.
And I really do mean some Muslims. Mostly, I heard it from older people or the British branch of my family.
That said, more than once, as a proudly pro-voting American who was also a staunch Muslim, I was told to turn away from the siren call of the polling places and to Allah.
Make Voting Sexy Again is one way to get out the vote, I guess?
While there are plenty of Islam Q&As and other internet sources for the answer to this weirdly-specific question, I’ve both seen and participated in the debate over the permissibility of voting in Islam first-hand. Continue reading “Why Some Muslims Think Voting Is Haraam”
Let’s say a woman wrote into Ask A Manager asking about what to do about a coworker. This man seemingly exorcised his publicly-stated resentments towards management about being forced to participate in a gift exchange by giving her a bad gift. That gift consisted of a garment designed to cover a part of her body that she and most of her other female coworkers don’t normally cover, along with a book which states, among many other questionable things, that women should cover that part of their body lest they tempt men into sexually assaulting them.
Most would consider the gift inappropriate and would think his act misdirected and possibly discriminatory, not find the story hilarious. Yet somehow, when it’s a tweet written by a Muslim man rather than an advice letter written by a woman, people find it funny. To wit: A screencap of this tweet was uncritically splashed onto my Facebook Timeline courtesy of several never-Muslims I thought should know better.
My workplace is forcing me to take part in SecretSanta. Jokes on them. Linda from HR is getting a copy of the Quran and a Hijab.
— عرفان (@Irfan_Aliii) December 5, 2016
There is a bit of humor here, but mostly, it’s just cringe-inducing misogyny — and specifically, for those who have lived experience with Muslim men pressuring us to cover our heads, chill-inducing slut-shaming. Continue reading “Holiday Gifting Guide Don’ts: Quran & Hijab”
Yes, I’m still thinking about Orlando. As long as the unceasing parade of bad arguments posited about Omar Mateen continue, so will I continue to seethe about them.
That he was mentally ill. That he was an American, therefore Islam had nothing to do with it. That his reasons had entirely to do with his allegedly being closeted. That he couldn’t have been Muslim because he drank alcohol. That Islam is absolved because that one is theologically against LGBTQ people doesn’t mean one condones violence done against them.
Thankfully, others are speaking out as well: about the realities of mental illness, about the homophobic environment in which Omar Mateen was raised, about the homophobia revealed among Muslims by the attack, and about the responsibility of Muslims for combating that homophobia. Continue reading “Bad Arguments vs. Facts Regarding Omar Mateen”
In the wake of Orlando, there appears to be a move by the well-meaning to dredge up and bring up every example of anti-Muslim bigotry and non-Muslim anti-LGBT sentiment as well as absolve Islamic homophobia. All are well-meaning, and some are less blatant in their erasure of Islamic homophobia, but none reflect reality or do anything to help anyone except straight, cis Muslims.
One example I have seen across my feed one too many times is a screencap of this tweet:
The Christian Right has introduced 200 anti-LGBT bills in the last six months and people blaming Islam for this. No. #PulseNightclub
— Chase Strangio (@chasestrangio) June 12, 2016
Yes, the Christian Right has been behind a lot of awful actions against LGBTQ people. Yes, never-Muslims of all stripes have been, can be, and are anti-LGBTQ. No, that doesn’t somehow absolve Islamic teachings and bigoted Muslims from their culpability and complicity in anti-LGBTQ sentiments. Erasure and denial of a problem never did a thing to solve it. Continue reading “Erasing LGBTQ Muslims & Islamic Homophobia”
Taher Shah had been the butt of the Pakistani and Indian internet’s jokes for his music videos ever since his 2013 release of Eye to Eye. When I first discovered and started showing people Eye to Eye, I will admit it was for reasons related to mockery. Observing people’s reactions to him after his Angel video, as well as a specific aspect of the discomfort of the allistic during Eye to Eye, have brought me around to completely un-ironically thinking he actually is a beautiful and special person with a lot to teach.
No, really! Continue reading “Taher Shah’s Lessons on Autism & Social Norms”
Next time Today Christian poses questions for atheists, its authors and editors might consider some sort of mechanism by which said atheists might answer them rather than declare “Atheist [sic] Cannot Truly and Honestly REALLY Answer” them, lest the questions be mistaken for something that “leads to some interesting conclusions” as to their true motives for asking.
I’ll answer anyway.
Continue reading “Today Christian’s 10 Questions for Every Atheist”
At this point, headlines like this make me sigh:
View at Medium.com
The “Islam” in scare quotes gave the game away before I had read it, but read it I did. I try to not isolate myself from views that differ from those of my past self as well as those I hold in the present. The views presented by the author, Sidra Mahmood, could not be more divergent from my beliefs when I was a Muslim. To wit:
It is unfortunate that when people hear the word “Islam” they assume all the atrocities that come along with the package like stoning etc. As a Qalam Seminary student, I now understand that all those corporal punishments don’t even apply in this day and age. Hope I can write more about the deeper nuances I learn at the Seminary and share them with everyone because no wonder, the more I learn, the more I fall in love with Islam.
No punishment? Not even the Quran-sanctioned ones? What Islam is this? Continue reading ““True Islam”: The Stinkiest of Red Herrings”
This video, via The Guardian’s Comment Is Free and featuring Hanna Yusef, was brought to my attention by Nathan Zwierzynski (transcript):
Speaking as someone who also used to wear hijab and claim it was a bold feminist act, I will say that there is a lot to unpack here, none of which can be addressed without nuance and care.
Continue reading “Is Wearing Hijab a Feminist Statement?”
Content notice for racism and sex and racist sex and sexual violence.
Inspired in no small part by the grand tradition of Captain Awkward.
racial preference is racism / dating preferences racist / are preferences racist / race preference dating / is having a preference racist
TL;DR answer to all of these: Sometimes.
Slightly longer answer: Saying “I’m attracted to [members of a particular racial/ethnic group]” is a faux-complimentary way of saying “All [members of a particular racial/ethnic group] look alike to me.”
Much longer answer: What Is Racist About Race-Based Dating Preferences
i’ve been fantasizing a bout girls in hijabs
Welp.
Between weirdos on campus and at atheist meetups, I have a lot of personal not-good feelings about men who profess veil fetishes. Continue reading “Search Term Round-Up #4: Dating & Sex + Religion & Race, Oh My~”
