Romaissaa Benzizoune

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The Islamic calendar is lunar, not solar. Adrian Gaut/Trunk Archive

ReflexionesIslam y Mundo Árabe

I always struggle to explain Eid al-Adha. It’s not just the story of the holiday that’s inaccessible to your average American — at its meaty core is a tale of animal slaughter — but also its timeline. I explain that the holiday commemorates how willing a prophet was to sacrifice anything for God — including his own son. (Spoiler alert: He lives.)

So when is it? Someone always asks.

Well, we don’t know, I answer.

The Islamic calendar is lunar. The beginning of each month is determined by the sighting of a new moon. That is fundamentally at odds with the solar calendar that Pope Gregory XIII helped spread across the planet hundreds of years ago.…  Seguir leyendo »

How to Be a Hoejabi

ReflexionesIslam y Mundo Árabe

A couple of years ago, Nadia Ali made international news for being a Muslim porn star. She was banned in Pakistan and began to receive death threats. (How many porn stars can say that they have graced ISIS’s personal hit list?) So I don’t think the conservative Muslim world liked her.

The Western world, on the other hand, had a field day.

One of the films that Ms. Ali stars in, “Women of the Middle East,” flaunts the following tagline: “They may look suppressed, but given an opportunity to express themselves freely, their wild, untamable natural sexuality is released.”

Unsurprisingly, outlets like Refinery 29 and The Daily Beast made Ms.…  Seguir leyendo »

At the Beach in My Burkini

EuropaUnión Europea,

There really is no great way to describe my newest burkini. There is no shape that it takes on, no existing style that it resembles, no problem that it effectively solves. It impedes both modesty and actual swimming, costs more than $100 plus shipping, and can be secured only with an array of hooks, straps and elastic bands.

It is completely and entirely Barbie pink.

And according to Mayor David Lisnard of Cannes, if worn on a beach in his French city, it is “unwelcome”. It is a “symbol of Islamic extremism”. It may “create risks of disrupting public order”. I get the feeling that he is not talking about its color or functionality or the vast room for improvement designers have when it comes to modest wear.…  Seguir leyendo »