Religion Dispatches
…o ordain women. Should we really support a musician named Sufjan? In Saudi Arabia, two rulings by Muslim authorities have created controversy. First, a cleric who urged grown men to drink breast milk has been removed from the radio airwaves. Meanwhile, human rights advocates are urging authorities not to intentionally paralyze a man as “eye for an eye” punishment for injuries he inflicted in a fight. Drivers in South Carolina may soon be able to p…
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…e” of anti-LGBT countries: Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Vatican City under a Trump presidency. Just last week a bloc of 54 African states attempted to oust the newly appointed U.N. LGBT monitor Vitit Muntarbhorn. The states introduced a resolution to do away with his new position that is expected to have nearly unanimous support from the Organization for Islamic Cooperation, whose member states have resisted upholdin…
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…t and other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries—Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. In Kuwait, convicted homosexuals could face up to 10 years in prison, if the engaged parties are under the age of 21. Haiti: Senate votes to ban marriage and pro-LGBT advocacy, citing ‘deep religious beliefs’ The Senate voted to ban same-sex couples from getting married and to an “public demonstration of support” for homosexuality, affirming the tr…
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…ions with the fetus. Even today, many Muslim majority countries, including Saudi Arabia—a nation rarely associated with women’s rights—have more flexible laws on abortion than what is allowed under SB 8. To be sure, Muslim traditions, texts, and communities aren’t free from the problems of sexism. And yes, the Taliban are unquestionably a repressive regime that denies the rights of Afghan women. But using Muslims and Islam to represent the essence…
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…ution passed with support from a coalition of twenty-six nations including Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, China, India, Venezuela, Russia, and the African Group. Opposing the resolution were Austria, Chile, Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Montenegro, Korea, Romania, UK, and the United States. Reprisals are expected during the current session of the Council. The positioning of “the family” as the best protector of children…
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…e uncovering the face is either prohibited or severely restricted, like in Saudi Arabia itself, for the hajj, the face must be uncovered. Technically, hajj is one long ritual and women are also prohibited to cover the face for the other ritual performances like salah. But what is the idea behind a woman not having any other particular specifications for ihram? Well, honestly I have no idea. It does mean she can wear red, or blue or green if she wa…
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…ment for male homosexuality in several countries, including Iran and Saudi Arabia. In early 2012, a Shiite militia group in Iraq—where homosexuality is not illegal—tortured and murdered more than forty men thought to be homosexual. The murders were denounced by Iraqi human rights groups as well as by international LGBT activists. The Iraqi government did not condemn or even address the murders. All this may seem shocking, but, sadly, the criminali…
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…by an Egyptian scholar Hasan al-Banna (1906-1948), the Muslim Brotherhood promoted an anti-colonial ideology meant to safeguard Egyptian society against British and French influence in the Middle East. Guided by the mantra “Islam is the solution,” the Muslim Brotherhood has had a long and tense relationship with Egyptian leadership. Since the revolution, however, influential members of the movement created the Freedom and Justice Party, currently…
Read More…agnitsky Act, Secretary of State Pompeo recently named 17 individuals from Saudi Arabia implicated in the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. This means any assets or business interests they have in the United States may be frozen. The Global Magnitsky Act could be invoked to sanction Stepan Tkach, Dmitry Asmolov and Sergey Bogodelov, the investigators and torturers working for the Investigative Committee of Russia who mistreated the Witnesses—i…
Read More…ia Avenue. I propose that we ban driving towards a safer world for babies. Saudi Arabia has taken the pioneering step by banning women from driving. The next courageous step is to ban driving altogether. This will eliminate all likelihood of rear-ending, lost babies, and dead pregnant women. Apart from driving, perhaps, indeed, the woman and her man ought to be fined for being pregnant. If she hadn’t gotten pregnant in the first place, why, she wo…
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