MUSLIM WOMEN

Why take pictures of covered muslim women?

Qur'an 4:34 Men are the maintainers (1) of women, with what Allah has made some of them to excel others and with what they spend out of their wealth. So the good women are (2) obedient, guarding the unseen as Allah has guarded. And those on whose part you fear (3) desertion, admonish them, and leave them alone in the beds and (4) chastise them. So if they obey you, seek not a way against them. Surely Allah is ever Exalted, Great.

1) Mo-ham-mad taught that women are to be totally dependent upon men for their substance.
Note: Jewish and Christian women are allowed to work outside the home.
Proverbs 31:10 Who can find a virtuous wife? For her worth is far above rubies.
Proverbs 31:16 She considers a field and buys it; From her profits she plants a vineyard.
Matthew 27:55-56 And many women who followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to Him, were there looking on from afar, among whom were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee's sons.
Acts 9:36 At Joppa there was a certain disciple named Tabitha, which is translated Dorcas. This woman was full of good works and charitable deeds which she did.
Acts 16:14 Now a certain woman named Lydia heard us. She was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira, who worshiped God. The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul.

2) Mo-ham-mad taught that women are to be obedient to their husbands even if he is evil.
Note: Christian marriage is based on respect and love with submission each other.
Ephesians 5:18-21 And do not be drunk with wine, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the fear of God.
Ephesians 5:33 Nevertheless let each one of you in particular so love his own wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband.

3) Mo-ham-mad taught that women are to stay with their husbands even if he is evil.
Note: Christian women are allowed to leave a husband who is evil.
1 Corinthians 7:15 But if the unbeliever departs, let him depart; a brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases. But God has called us to peace.

4) Mo-ham-mad taught husbands to beat their wives into submission.
Note: Christian husbands are to love their wives not abuse them.
Ephesians 5:25-28 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself.
Colossians 3:19 Husbands, love your wives and do not be bitter toward them.
1 Peter 3:7 Husbands, likewise, dwell with them with understanding, giving honor to the wife, as to the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life, that your prayers may not be hindered.

Islamic charity advises on when and how to beat women

Posted: Mon, 10 Jan 2022
The National Secular Society

The National Secular Society has reported an Islamic charity whose website condones violence against women to the regulator.

The NSS reported Utrujj Foundation to the Charity Commission after finding an article on its website that says that a man "has the permission to 'strike'" his wife as part of "a process to salvage a marriage".

The article, entitled "Can a man beat his wife in Islam?", is written by Haytham Tamim, the "founder and main teacher" of Utrujj and one of the charity's trustees. It says it is guidance for "the person in charge of the relationship [on] how to resolve issues when the relationship is going wrong".

In a section entitled "When is it permissible", the article says the "right to beat" wives is "part of a process" if a wife is "undermining her husband's authority".

In another section entitled "What constitutes a strike", the article says daraba (striking) is connected to nushuz (arrogance). It says an example of nushuz is when "the wife is troublesome, causing issues" and the husband suspects she is "talking to someone behind his back or receiving someone in his home without his permission".

It says the strike "must not leave a mark" and "must not be on the face".

Elsewhere, it implies hitting one's wife is "an act of loyalty and love".

The article quotes Islamic texts that say "men are in charge of women", "righteous women are devoutly obedient" and that women are "like your captives".

The article also quotes texts saying parents should smack their children if they do not pray.

Other articles on the website say it is a "major sin" for Muslim women to marry non-Muslim men, that divorce is "a man's prerogative", that women "have to wear hijab" and that Muslim women cannot "travel the distance of 3 days and 3 nights unaccompanied".

Utrujj registered with the Charity Commission as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation in December. Its charitable objects include "to advance the Islamic faith for the benefit of the public".

The movie titled "Not Without My Daughter" starring Sally Fields is based on a true story.

Saudi television personality Rainia al-Baz was legally beaten unconscious by her Muslim husband.

Women students in Islamic countries live in perpetual fear of men

Carmen Bin Ladin is speaking out against her Muslim ex-husband and ex-brother-in-law Osama.

Women from the safety of the West are speaking out against Islam.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali escaped from Somalia to the Netherlands only to receive death threats while in the West.

As per Islam, women should be fully covered': Female Muslim cleric slams Mohammed Shami's wife's dress

27 Dec 2016, DNA webdesk

Condemning Indian cricketer Shami for his wife’s dress, Hina Zaheer. on Monday said that the former should understand that women should be fully covered as per Islam.

Condemning Indian cricketer Mohammed Shami for his wife’s dress, a Muslim cleric on Monday said that the former should understand that women should be fully covered as per Islam. ‘I don’t think it is a controversial matter, but yes it is condemnable. Taking Islam into context, this is not correct. Being a Muslim he should have remembered that women should be fully covered as per Islam,’ said Muslim cleric Hina Zaheer.

Another Muslim cleric Umer Ilyas said that changing the dress code is not a problem, but the best costume is the one which fully covers one’s body. ‘As per Islam, women should fully cover their bodies. One has freedom to wear anything, this is their personal matter, but the best costume is the one which fully covers one’s body,’ said Ilyas. India's strike bowler Mohammed Shami came in for sharp criticism by Muslim fanatics for posting pictures of his wife Hasin Jahan on social media.

Earlier, former cricketers have come to defense of ace Indian fast bowler Mohammad Shami, who came under sharp criticism of Muslim fanatics for posting his wife Hasin Jahan's pictures on social media.

Shami was reminded of his religion, with some even asking why his wife was not wearing a hijab.
Coming to Shami’s defense, former Indian cricketer Syed Kirmani said no body has right to interfere into anybody’s religious matters, adding that people should learn to look into themselves first before they point fingers at other.

Nobody should interfere into anybody’s personal life. Secondly, there is no force in our Islam. And we have no right to interfere into anybody’s religious matters,’ former Kirmani told ANI.

Echoing similar sentiments, former wicketkeeper-batsman Deep Dasgupta said it was sad that people have reacted in such an irresponsible manner. ‘It’s sad because the way people are reacting. See that’s one of the evils of the social media where there are people who are like that. It’s sad that some people in 21st century talk like that. But you cannot really do much,’ Dasgupta told ANI.

The Bengal pacer also took to Twitter to hit back at these internet trolls in a fitting manner and by being completely polite in his response.

‘Very good morning Har kisi ko jindagi mai mukam ni milta, kuch kismat wale hi hote hai jinhe ye nasib hota hai.!.jalteee rahooooo (Not everyone get what they desire, only a lucky few get it. They are my wife and daughter and I know what I should do. We should all look inwards),’ he said

‘Ye dono meri zindage or life partner hai me acha trha janta hu kiya karna hai kiya nahi.hame apne andar dekhna chahiye ham kitna accha hai. (These two are my life and life partner. I myself know what to do and what not to do. We should all look within ourselves how nice we are),’ he added.

‘The comments are really really Shameful. Support Mohammed Shami fully. There are much bigger issues in this country. Hope sense prevails,’ said Mohammad Kaif.

Where wife-beating is up for debate

Washington Times
October 1, 2005
Arnold Beichman

It boggles my Western mind, but I've just come across another of the many Middle East public debates, this one on an Arab TV channel: When is a husband justified in beating his wife?

The debate, broadcast on the Lebanese channel, Heya TV, was between a Lebanese cleric, a Lebanese women's rights activist and an Algerian woman author.

The cleric, Zakariya Ghandour, opened the debate with this graphic judgment: "Disciplining by beating occurs as a reprimand - not brutal beating. Brutal beating is forbidden. Use of a ruler or, as you mentioned, beating on the hand or the shoulder, the buttocks or anything like that - as a reprimand of a woman when all methods of guidance have failed. Like a mother or father who beat their son or daughter to prevent them from wrongdoing and not out of hatred or animosity."

The interviewer asked the cleric if the wife can discipline the husband when he strays. "Can she too take a ruler, beat him and reprimand him, if he, for example strays. Is there equality in this?" Good question. Islamic answer: "No, we give leadership to the man. She can also refrain from intimacy with him. Just like he can leave her bed, she can leave his. There is a parallel here."

Algerian woman author Fadhila Al-Farouk interposes: "I live in a common neighborhood and hear the cries of women who were beaten almost every night. I know what it means for a woman to be beaten. I know what it means for a women to be beaten merely because a man stared at her. She is innocent but nevertheless she is beaten. ... We are talking about brutal beatings, not a slap or two. ... They use rods, they use belts, they use iron chains. We are talking abut violent beating."

The interviewer says: "I am getting a very ugly picture of the Algerian people."

The Algerian author replies: "No, this is not restricted to the Algerian people. It occurs throughout the Arab world."

On another earlier debate, one participant suggested a more humane way to beat the supposedly errant spouse: with a toothpick. No statistics are available whether, in sparing the rod, the toothpick has come into widespread use.

The Algerian consul in Lebanon is quoted as authority for the revelation about "the suffering of Algerian women married to men in Egypt and other Arab countries and the beatings they suffered." Nor is this mistreatment restricted to Arab countries, says Fadhila Al-Farouk. She claims some 2 million Arab wives in France "are victims of brutal beatings" too.

The interviewer asks if there is a difference between a woman suffering violence in the Arab world or in Western society. An incredible reply, as recorded by MEMRI, from the Algerian woman author. Fadhila Al-Farouk: "The Western woman differs from the woman in Arab countries. The Western woman is aware of her basic rights. She knows who she should turn to, how to report to the police, neighbors get involved. In our case, a neighbor cannot call the police and the police cannot be involved. ... It is very rare for the police to intervene between a husband a wife."

Is it possible half the world's Arab population has no rights?

Arnold Beichman, a Hoover Institution research fellow, is a columnist for The Washington Times.

Imams 'condone domestic violence'

Richard Kerbaj
January 30, 2006

THE nation's most senior Islamic woman has attacked Muslim religious leaders who condone "wife-beating" and other forms of domestic violence.

Aziza Abdel-Halim, the only female member of the Prime Minister's Muslim Advisory Council, has warned that Islamic women are being "put down" by imams in hardline and moderate circles and their rights ignored.

"Women have suffered from sometimes ill-informed imams ... who have tried to put down women and negate some of their rights or activities," she said yesterday.

"And some of them (imams) have condoned men beating women, which is un-Islamic."

The comments, unusually outspoken for a female Muslim leader, have surfaced amid concerns that no female community representatives had been invited to the coming national imams conference in Sydney.

The conference is likely to see moderate spiritual leaders attempt to crack down on radical clerics and their extremist views and to develop a national board of imams. It is also likely to consider a code of behaviour for the country's imams.

The meeting will be attended by 10 community representatives and 62 imams, including firebrand cleric Mohammed Omran, who has come under fire from the federal Government and moderate Muslim leaders for espousing radical views, including that al-Qa'ida leader Osama bin Laden is not a terrorist but a "good man".

Fellow radical spiritual leaders Abdul Salam Mohammad Zoud and Faiz Mohamad have also been invited.

Sister Abdel-Halim, who is president of the Muslim Women's National Network Australia, said the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils, the conference host, was being "unjust" by not inviting female community representatives to attend.

"Women are half of the community and they bring up the other half, so you shouldn't really exclude them from anything," she said. "There should be some women observers who have a background in ... Islamic studies, and these women will represent the women within the community and should have an input."

She said the women may "raise a few points of concern that the imams may not be aware of or may be aware of and may be reluctant to address".

Sister Abdel-Halim's comments about cruelty towards Muslim women were backed by Jamila Hussain, a lecturer in Islamic law at the University of Technology Sydney, who said many imams were out of touch with the issues concerning Muslim women.

She worried that some spiritual leaders were indifferent to the cruelty being experienced by some women at the hands of aggressive partners.

"We don't know what imams are telling the men," Ms Hussain said. "Are they taking a stand, for example, against domestic violence? They should be, but we don't know whether they are or not. We suspect some are but probably the majority are not."

Sister Abdel-Halim told The Australian that "imams wield a great deal of power over the community".

"When people go to congregation, the imam for them is the source of religious knowledge and what he says to a lot of them is indisputable," she said.

She said that along with the imams who would be present at the conference, both male and female academics and youth leaders should also be invited to share their views.

She said she thought the AFIC board of executives "find educated women very threatening because women are ... very good community organisers and high achievers when it comes to setting up initiatives".

The federation has recently come under attack from community youth representatives and other Muslim leaders for not being representative of the Islamic community in Australia.

The Australian's phone calls to the federation yesterday were not returned.

Crisis centers help Muslim women and others suffering from domestic abuse Thursday, April 6, 2006

By MAKEBA SCOTT HUNTER
HERALD NEWS

When the violence at home had gotten so bad that he was hitting her every day and had endangered the life of her unborn child, she knew it was time to get help – but not just any help. She wanted to talk to a woman, and she wanted that woman to be Muslim.

As a relatively new convert to the religion, she wanted to take care to follow the customs of Islam, which has specific teachings on domestic violence -- the brutality taking place in her family.

"I didn't want to do nothing by mistake," said the woman, who lives in Paterson and asked that her name not be published. "I wanted to follow the rules. I wanted to follow everything by Islam." And, she says, "I really wanted to feel comfortable with the people."

So she asked counseling centers and organizations for help finding a female Muslim counselor. She asked at schools, and she asked local Muslim women but kept receiving the same answer again and again: There were none.

Finally, her child's pediatrician, a Muslim, referred her to WAFA House. After the long search, "I was sooo happy," she recalls.

Founded in fall 2004, WAFA House (Women Against Family Abuse) is a privately run domestic violence crisis center based in Paterson that caters primarily to the needs of women of South Asian, Arabic and/or Muslim descent. The Arabic word "wafa" translates to "sincerity," "faithfulness" or "to have hope," and the organization has come to be known as a place where a Muslim woman can find all three.

The rate of domestic abuse in the Muslim community is about the same as in the general population -- about 18 percent, according to a 2000 study performed by Oakland University in Rochester, Mich., a rate comparable to the national average. It tends, however, to be more hidden, says Dorria Fahmy, WAFA's founder and executive director.

"There is a mindset that you don't talk about things outside of the home," says Fahmy, explaining the thinking that inhibits some women from seeking help. "There is concern that taking these issues outside of the community somehow contradicts religious teachings."

The need for organizations like WAFA House is especially great in New Jersey, which is home to an estimated 10 percent of the U.S. Muslim population, according to the New Jersey branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

"The issues that we face are quite unique," says Lakshmi Rajagopal, a coordinator at Manavi, New Jersey's oldest Muslim-focused domestic abuse center. "Among those are the dynamics of violence in the community. The way that violence manifests requires an understanding of the culture, the family structures and the people that abuse comes from."

Because many of WAFA's clients are immigrants, abusers sometimes hold the threat of deportation or child-custody loss over their wives. The language barrier can also be a factor.

Natives of Arabic and South Asian nations, who make up a majority of New Jersey's Muslim population, often speak a number of languages, including Arabic, Hindi, Urdu and Bengali. Most domestic crisis centers lack the resources to communicate with women who aren't fluent in English. Non-English speakers sometimes were turned away, or referred to organizations like Manavi, which was previously the state's sole domestic violence center handling the needs of Muslim women. When Manavi was founded 21 years ago, it was unique in the nation, said Rajagopal.

"Given the size of the organization, we can't handle the number of cases that come in, and WAFA can now help with that," Rajagopal says.

Close to 80 women, children and families have sought help at WAFA House over the past year-and-a-half. The organization's primary goal is reuniting families through counseling rather than splitting them apart, says Fahmy.

The WAFA House staff -- one paid administrator, several unpaid interns and an unpaid board of directors -- also helps women navigate daily obstacles. A Jordanian woman with limited English, for example, gets help about twice a week reading her mail. WAFA House prides itself on teaching women to advocate for themselves against an aggressive husband or one who tries to manipulate Islam's religious doctrines to justify his actions.

"We teach women about their rights because, Islamically, a woman has rights," says WAFA House intern Jenin, who asked that only her first name be printed. "Unfortunately with men, some men, they're going to give you their perspective or their interpretation of women's rights ... but it doesn't say in Islam to treat a woman like she's nothing, or like she's less than him. Unfortunately some are doing it anyway. Culture definitely tweaks the religion."

WAFA House has its fair share of critics, Fahmy acknowledges. Some have charged that, by empowering women, the group breaks up families. That perception appears to be changing, however, thanks in part to the addition of male board members -- and the outspoken support of the imam of Paterson's largest mosque, the Islamic Center of Passaic County.

"Islamically, we are obligated to work together to protect this woman or child. From this point, we founded WAFA House," says Imam Mohamed Qatanani, who has begun a series of Friday prayers on the rights of men and women according to Islam. "We found it important to have a professional to not only protect her, but to teach and educate the Muslim community (about) how to treat a woman according to the teachings of God."

At a recent fundraising event at the center, the organization raised $30,000 in just one hour.

"I was so touched, I just started crying," said a WAFA house employee, who asked to be identified by her first name, Miriam. "Women were taking rings and gold off their body and throwing it at us."

The unnamed Paterson woman who sought help is still with her husband, and said that, with counseling from WAFA House and the imam, her mate has begun to change.

"He doesn't do that anymore," she said of the prior abuse. "We talked about it and I told him (that) if this is going to continue like this I'm going to leave ... and the imam let him know how the woman has to be treated in Islam."

Abuse plagues Muslim women in Germany

Traditional attitudes linger, leading to forced marriages and violence

By Rachel Elbaum
Reporter
MSNBC
May 25, 2006

BERLIN - Imagine a home with so much pressure to cook, clean and take care of younger siblings that you don’t have enough time to do homework. Imagine your parents forbidding you from going out to socialize with friends from school. Imagine running away from home at 17.

This was Leyla’s life. Born in Turkey near the Syrian border, Leyla* came to Germany at the age of six with her mother and siblings to join her father, one of the many so-called "guest workers" invited by the German government during the 1960s and 1970s. (*The women interviewed for this story spoke on condition of anonymity for reasons of safety.)

Leyla excelled in German schools, but life at home was overshadowed by her parents' loveless marriage, verbal abuse from her father and few demonstrations of affection. It got worse when her older sister was married off and left home, and Leyla was suddenly thrust into the role of housekeeper and babysitter.

Then, after years of cleaning floors, cooking dinners and finding just enough time to finish a bit of homework, Leyla had enough of feeling like a slave and went to live in a shared house set up specifically for Turkish girls with troubled family lives.

Life away from her family was better, but it turned out her nightmare was only beginning. Leyla would shortly become one of hundreds of immigrant women in Germany — many from Muslim backgrounds — subjected to abuse, forced marriages and other violent family situations against their will.

Virginity check

After months of living on her own — and a chance to concentrate on school work and even have a social life — Leyla’s parents asked her to join them on a trip back to Turkey. “Your grandparents are sick,” they told her. “Come to see them one last time.”

Against the advice of friends and her social workers, Leyla acceded and joined her parents on the long drive to Turkey.

“As soon as we left my mother took away my passport,” said Leyla, recounting her story at a caf� in one of Berlin’s Turkish neighborhoods. “They told me Germany was now dead to me.”

But the most frightening part of the drive was when her parents said she would be going to a gynecologist to find out if she was still a virgin.

“I just wanted five minutes alone with the doctor, to give him a little money and get him to lie for me,” said Leyla, who at that time had slept with a boyfriend in Germany. But her plan didn’t work and the doctor confirmed her parents’ worst nightmare. Her mother went into hysterics, wailing in the doctor’s office, while her father stood there, unable to speak.

“It wasn’t until then that I realized what a shame I had brought on them,” she said.

Quickly, they arranged a marriage with a cousin, explaining to the family that she wouldn’t bleed on her wedding night as a result of a sports injury.

“He wanted to marry me. It was a good deal for him, he wanted to come to Germany,” she said of her cousin, whom she met just once.

Her distress at the whole situation was magnified when during the meeting he attempted to kiss and touch her.

It turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Hoping to avoid a marriage like her parents’, she told her father of the cousin’s unwelcome advances and he agreed to call off the match.

Eventually, with the help of her social worker in Berlin, Leyla managed to get back to Germany, and her place in what was the first shelter established for immigrant girls, enabled to her get a degree in early education and become a caregiver/counselor in a women’s shelter for immigrant girls stuck in family situations similar to her own. Now 42, she has managed to build a new life and is married to a German man.

Religion, culture, tradition

While Leyla managed to avoid a fate preordained by her family, it is impossible to know how many others are left in violent situations with few means of escape. An editor for the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet has estimated that 50 percent of Muslim women in Germany have been victims of domestic violence. In addition, forced marriages often turn into violent homes.

At the heart of the matter is a complicated dance between Germany’s inability to fully embrace immigrants, many of whom were invited from Turkey to fill labor shortages, and the immigrants' unwillingness to let go of behaviors and traditions that appear brutal to mainstream Western Europeans.

Critics of Germany's record with guest workers say the country has been standoffish with the new residents, leaving them clinging to their homeland’s culture for a sense of familiarity and belonging, a phenomenon particularly true among Muslim immigrants. Many Germans, meanwhile, blame the immigrants for holding on to their old ways and say the responsibility for their poor situation lies mostly with the guest workers for not making more efforts to adapt to German norms and customs.

“You can’t say [these attitudes against women are] because of one specific thing,” said Seyran Ates, a Berlin lawyer of Turkish descent who focuses on women’s rights. “Many families, who marry their children off early, want to prevent sex outside of marriage. Some are worried that here in Germany their kids will take a German partner or a partner of another nationality so they marry their kids very quickly with another immigrant or a person here they know.”

“It is an absolute mix of religion, culture and tradition,” said Ates, who was born into a Muslim family.

In part because of several highly publicized murders of Muslim women by family members for “dishonorable” behavior — along with the murder of the controversial Dutch filmmaker Theodore Van Gogh, who often spoke out about the abuse of women — there is a new willingness to discuss forced marriage and spousal violence against women taking place in Turkish and other immigrant communities.

There are about a dozen shelters around Germany that cater specifically to immigrant women, and several organizations that provide support and advice for those seeking to get out of abusive relationships. The majority of these organizations receive government support or funds in one form or another.

Two-year nightmare

At one of these shelters, the Interkulturelles Frauenhaus (Intercultural Women's House) in Berlin, an Iranian woman, Shabnam, is still trying to recover from a two-year nightmare marriage.

The well-dressed 24-year-old originally came to Germany after marrying a former neighbor who lured her with promises of a better life than the one she could have in Iran.

He had a good job and a nice apartment in Hanover, he told her at the meeting their parents arranged in Turkey. With strong pressure from her parents to accept his proposal, and her own desire to have a husband, Shabnam found herself married at the end of his visit.

Only after her arrival in Germany did she find out her new spouse's promises were all lies. He had no job and few plans to find one. Eventually he started drinking. And then the beatings started. If she asked why he didn’t look for work, he hit her.

Ambitious and wanting to learn German so she could get a job, she instead was trapped at home, cooking Persian food for his friends and taking care of the house.

“I couldn’t talk to him,” Shabnam said. “I was unhappy, I slept a lot, I had a lot of problems, I couldn’t think.”

After a breakdown caused by her husband's revelation that he was moving to the United States, Shabnam landed in the hospital for a month. A friend then encouraged her to seek help through the Interkulturelles Frauenhaus. Shabnam is now learning German, and hopes to soon begin a degree course in computer science.

Early intervention

In some ways, Shabnam is a success story. She got the help she needed. And so have the nearly 200 other women and children the Interkulturelles Frauenhaus has assisted this year.

Advocates and caregivers agree that the best way to end these problems is to start educating children early that these attitudes are wrong.

“We need to work with all people and not just with the victims when it’s too late and they’re getting divorced,” Ates said. “We must start much earlier, in kindergarten.” But to make this possible, “we need more government support and institutionalized support. Help costs money.”

Although there are still hundreds of women across Germany seeking help from shelters, and countless more who suffer in silence, advocates are hopeful that the recent public focus on women’s issues is helping more women find help and even avoid forced and abusive relationships.

“I have a feeling that it is getting better, now there is more openness,” said Leyla. “Parents are more willing to listen to their children. Not for everyone, but slowly...”

Two Muslim mothers are sitting in a cafe chatting over a pint of goat's milk.
The older of the two mothers pulls her bag out, and starts
flipping through photos and they start reminiscing.
"This is my oldest son, Mohammed. He was 24 years old."
"Yes, I remember him as a baby," says the younger mother, cheerfully.
"He's a martyr now, though", the older mother confides.
"Praise be to Allah", says the younger mother.
"And this is my second son Kalid. He was 21 years old."
"Oh, I remember him", says the younger mother happily.
"He had such curly hair when he was born."
"He's a martyr, too", says older mother quietly.
"Praise be to Allah," says the younger mother.
"And this is my third son, my baby. My beautiful Ahmed.
He was eighteen years old", the older mother whispers.
"Yes," says the younger mother enthusiastically,
"I remember when he first started school."
"He is a martyr, also", says older mother, with tears in her eyes.
After a pause and a deep sigh, the younger Muslim

MUSLIM WOMEN Why take pictures of covered muslim women?

MUSLIM WOMEN

Why take pictures of covered muslim women?