Violence Against Muslim Women Is Racist and Misogynist
New Age Islam News Bureau
18
Dec 2015
Photo: Larycia Hawkins, a Christian who is wearing a hijab over Advent in solidarity with Muslims, attends service at St. Martin Episcopal Church in Chicago on Sunday, Dec. 13, 2015.
• 1.6m children out of school in Balochistan, says adviser
• M'SIAN ACTRESS NEELOFA MAKES HIJAB WAVES: Her Muslim headscarves have became a fashion empire
• ATS counsels 16-year-old Pune girl gearing up to join ISIS in Syria
• Woman Condemned to Stoning Death in Iran On United Nations Human Rights Day
• Oxfam forms task forces to prevent child marriages
• Lone Arab woman takes the reins to tame horses on the Golan
• Female cashier dies in accidental gunfire
• Saudis want female workers as precondition for hiring males
• Teacher suspended after playing violin for young women
• Muslim woman is Malaysia's only female stunt performer
• “Report militant activity within family,” women urged
• Thought about your baby girl’s name yet?
Compiled by New Age Islam Edit Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/violence-muslim-women-racist-misogynist/d/105653
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Violence Against Muslim Women Is Racist and Misogynist
Dec. 17, 2015
Face haloed by a gilded purple scarf, Larycia Hawkins, an African-American Christian associate professor of political science at Wheaton College, posted a Christmas Facebook picture of herself in hijab. This is her Advent practice, she explained, urging others to follow suit: to don the hijab in embodied solidarity with sisters facing Islamophobic violence for wearing headscarves.
“As part of my Advent Worship, I will wear the hijab to work at Wheaton College, to play in Chi-town, in the airport and on the airplane … and at church,” she said. “A large scale movement of Women in Solidarity with Hijabs is my Christmas #wish this year.” She also equated the Christian God with the Muslim one. In a controversial move, Wheaton College suspended her for these remarks.
Hawkins embodies a point we don’t hear often enough: Islamophobic violence against women is a black feminist issue. To pass over the recent attacks against Muslim women is to concede ground to the mounting terror on women of color that endangers us all.
Within hours of the Nov. 13 attacks on Paris, Islamophobic violence erupted in Europe and North America. But in contrast to the persecution of Muslim men after 9/11, recent violence seems to disproportionately target women.
In London, Yoshiyuki Shinohara pushed a Muslim woman in front of an oncoming underground train. In New York, a sixth-grade girl was attacked in middle school by boys who attempted to remove her hijab and called her ISIS while beating her. In Toronto, a Muslim mother was beaten and robbed after dropping her children at school, and later that week two women were assaulted on the subway by men calling them terrorists.
Violence against Muslim women spiked again after the mass shooting in San Bernardino, Calif., followed by the widespread broadcast of pictures of shooter Tashfeen Malik wearing a hijab. Women in hijab became labeled the new face of terrorism as several news headlines inquired: “Is Tashfeen Malik a new kind of female terrorist?”
Black women are among the Muslims targeted by Islamophobic violence. Witness the case of artist Kameelah Rashid, an African-American Muslim in hijab forced off a flight to Istanbul and questioned for hours by the FBI. Traumatized by the event, Rashid noted: “I don’t think there is a resurgence of Islamophobia after the Paris attacks. I think it never went away. It’s becoming more legitimized.”
More than 250,000 black Muslim women live in the United States, and globally the black female Muslim population reaches tens of millions. Nigeria alone counts 60 million Muslim women and Guinea, Niger and the Democratic Republic of Congo are among sub-Saharan African nations with majority Muslim populations. To be sure, many black Muslims don’t wear hijab. But like Rashid, any black woman identifiable as Muslim is now subject to state and interpersonal violence when moving across national lines.
This Islamophobic violence against women is part of a social climate in which violence against black women and girls seems to increasingly be tolerated. Weeks before the middle-school assault in New York, a black girl at Spring Valley High in South Carolina was thrown from her desk and slammed to the ground by school-based police officer Ben Fields. Days after assaults on Muslim women riding public transport in London and Toronto, fired Oklahoma City cop Daniel Holtzclaw stood trial for 36 counts of sexual assault against black women. One of those rapes occurred in front of a parked school bus.
These are incidences of a climate of intersecting racism and misogyny, which, as Rashid says, speaks less to a “resurgence” of violence against women of color than to the disturbing fact such violence is “becoming more legitimized.” The impulse to attack a girl in hijab and to throw a black girl across a schoolroom aren’t the same, but they are related. Both reflect ways in which girls and women with African ancestral heritage continue to be denied the privileges of full citizenship—and full humanity—in North America and Europe.
It’s time for black women—including those who are not Muslim—and Muslim women—including those who are not black—to recognize we have common cause. Lovely as Hawkins’ gesture is, I don’t advocate that all black women wear hijab this season. But I do advocate that we all lift any veils that prevent us from seeing Muslim women’s issues are our issues, too.
http://time.com/4153763/violence-against-muslim-women/
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1.6m children out of school in Balochistan, says adviser
December 18, 2015
QUETTA: The adviser to the chief minister on education said on Thursday that over 1.6 million children of school-going age, two-thirds of them girls, were deprived of education in Balochistan, which needed more schools to absorb them.
Speaking at a ceremony held here on Thursday in connection with the first anniversary of Peshawar’s Army Public School (APS) carnage, Sardar Raza Mohammad Barrech said it was a matter of serious concern that girls in such a large number were not enrolled in schools because of their shortage.
About 12,000 of the 22,000 plus settlements in the province had government-run schools but most of them lacked facilities.
Realising the gravity of those issues, he said, the provincial government had allocated massive funds for education sector and planned to open maximum number of schools. Besides, private schools are being encouraged in the areas where public schools do not exist.
“We want to bring Balochistan at par with other provinces in education sector,” the minister said.
He urged parents to get their children enrolled in schools and said: “We are raising awareness among parents to motivate them to educate their children.”
Referring to the APS massacre, he deplored that terrorists had attacked children in the gory incident and said the nation would never forget the innocent martyrs who had written history with their blood.
Mr Barrech called for a collective effort involving every segment of society to defeat terrorism.
http://www.dawn.com/news/1227092/16m-children-out-of-school-in-balochistan-says-adviser
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M'SIAN ACTRESS NEELOFA MAKES HIJAB WAVES: Her Muslim headscarves have became a fashion empire
18 December 2015
She’s a Malaysian celebrity with millions of fans. Every time she appears on screen, her adoring fans immediately rush to buy whatever she might have chosen to wear that day — including her headscarves.
Noor Neelofa Mohd. Noor, popularly known as Neelofa, is a stunning 26-year-old Muslim beauty queen, actress and television presenter with 1.4 million followers on Twitter and 2.2 million on Facebook. She’s also a savvy entrepreneur and the face of fashion firm Naelofar Hijab, her family-owned company. In just over a year the company has become one of Malaysia’s biggest headscarf brands and is looking at export markets.
Malaysia, where about 60% of the population is Muslim, isn’t the only country experiencing a surge in demand for what’s become known as modest fashion —fashion for Muslim women. The market globally was estimated to be worth $230bn in 2014 and is predicted to reach $327bn by 2020. Demand for headscarves, or hijab, is rising as more Muslim women decide to cover their heads.
In other Muslim-majority countries, many women also wear the hijab, or headscarf, reflecting the call in the Koran for both men and women to “cover and be modest”. While the shawl makes a religious statement, it’s also become a fashion accessory — and growing demand for on-trend hijab fashion has created a booming industry.
Sales at Naelofar, where no scarf costs more than 100 ringgit ($24), reached 50 million ringgit ($11.8 million) this year, more than twice the family’s target. The company sells its products at its flagship store and through a network of 700 distributors nationwide. They sell online and ship to anywhere in the world. With distributors in Singapore, Brunei, London, Australia, Netherlands and US, the goal is for Naeolfar to be a global brand.
“We are stunned and surprised,” said Noor Nabila, 30, Neelofa’s sister and the managing director of NH Prima International, the group behind Naelofar. “We couldn’t believe it when we got this kind of response.”
Their highly prized customer , the stylish headscarf wearer, has even earned a nickname; a hijabista.
Nowadays people who wear the hijab are not just from the desert or the village. They can be an icon.
Fuelling this surge in demand is a trend toward more conservative dress worldwide for Muslim women beyond the Middle East and South Asia. The shift has happened over the last 30 years as the religion has been interpreted more conservatively in many countries.
Alia Khan of the Islamic Fashion Design Council, believes “it’s about returning to values.” The council has about 5,000 members, a third of them designers from 40 countries. Globally, Khan says “the demand [for modest fashion] is huge.”
Turkey is the biggest market for Muslim fashion. Indonesia’s market is growing fast and the country wants to be a world leader in the industry. Paris-trained Dian Pelangi – 2.5 million Instagram followers - is Indonesia’s leading designer of modest fashion and was recently named among the 500 most influential people in fashion by UK-based magazine Business of Fashion. She has 14 outlets in Indonesia and one in Malaysia.
Hijab-wearing women have also become more visible in Western countries where Muslims are a minority. In September, British model Mariah Idrissi became the first woman in a headscarf to star in a commercial for H&M, the world’s second- biggest clothing retailer. At this year’s London Fashion Week, the three sisters behind Malaysian clothing brand Mimpikita held their first show, arguably getting more attention for the hijabs they wore than the clothing they sent down the runway. Western designers have also shown an interest in fashion for the Muslim woman – in 2014, DKNYlaunched a Ramadan collection.
Other big Western brands have followed suit — Tommy Hilfiger and Mango have sold Muslim clothing during Ramadan, and Japanese brand Uniqlo collaborated with British designer Hana Tajima for a line of modest fashion, which included hijab and kebaya, a type of traditional dress.
“Everyone wants to have style,” Zulfiye Tufa, an Australian blogger and fashion designer, told a panel on Islamic fashion at November’s World Islamic Economic Forum. “They might not go for something that’s ‘in fashion’ but they do want to keep up with the trends. It affects how they’re perceived, especially in the West.”
Malaysian Vivy Yusof, 27, started wearing the headscarf two years ago, after giving birth to her child (a common lifestage when women decide to make the transition.) Unable to find the kind of stylish scarves she wanted, Vivy decided to start designing her own, focusing on top-quality fabrics and contemporary designs to appeal to professional women, and non-Muslims too. She named the brand dUCk after her high school group of friends, and it launched in May 2014.
“It was so hard for me to find an urban brand with an international appeal,” Vivy said. “A lot of brands are very mass market. I wanted to create something a bit more elevated, more premium and to show that wearing a scarf can be a celebration.”
Dian Pelangi is Indonesia’s leading designer of modest fashion (Credit: Getty Images)
Her latest designs sell out almost as soon as they hit the online store and women queue to buy them whenever they go on sale at bazaars in the Malaysian capital. While Vivy is coy about sales figures, she says the company is already making a profit. Social media is crucial to the firm’s advertising — new designs and re-stocks are flagged to the brand’s 110,000 Instagram followers while Vivy herself has 356,000 followers.
In Naelofar Hijab’s flagship store in Kuala Lumpur, scores of people — older women with partners and children in tow, younger women in skinny jeans and tunics — are browsing though the rails to a soundtrack of Katy Perry.
Noor Nabila, who doesn’t wear a headscarf herself, is now looking beyond Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei and is determined to make Naelofa the world’s No. 1 hijab brand.
“When people say it’s an untapped market, it’s really an untapped market,” she said. “Social media really changed it altogether. Nowadays people who wear the hijab are not just from the desert or the village. They can be an icon, be successful and wear the hijab. - http://www.bbc.com/
http://www.malaysia-chronicle.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=608540:msian-actress-neelofa-makes-hijab-waves-her-muslim-headscarves-have-became-a-fashion-empire&Itemid=2#axzz3uf8CXER5
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ATS counsels 16-year-old Pune girl gearing up to join ISIS in Syria
December 18, 2015
The Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad (ATS) is counselling a 16-year-old girl from a “well-to-do Muslim family” in a Pune suburb after they found that she was preparing to go to Syria in 2017 and join the Islamic State (IS).
ATS Assistant Commissioner of Police Bhanupratap Barge told The Indian Express that they are “de-radicalising the girl” with the help of Islamic clerics and with the “complete support” of her family.
ATS sources said the girl had been convinced by IS sympathisers on various social media platforms that they would get her admission to a medical course in Syria so that she could work for IS.
Sources described the girl as “bright”, with 90 per cent marks in her SSC exams. She is now a student of Class 11, pursuing the science stream in a Pune-based junior college, they said.
Investigations by ATS have also revealed that the girl was connected through her Facebook account to IOC manager Mohammed Sirajuddin, who was arrested last week from Jaipur for his alleged links with IS. But sources said there was no evidence that she had communicated with Sirajuddin.
Directed by state ATS chief Vivek Phansalkar and IG Niket Kaushik, the Pune team zeroed in on the girl “using human and technical intelligence a few days ago” based on inputs received from others who were being lured by IS propaganda on social media.
According to sources, the team contacted the girl and her “highly educated” family and opted for counselling instead of registering a case as the girl was a minor.
ATS sources said their probe revealed that the girl took the first step towards IS after she came across a news item on the militant group about four months back. Out of curiosity, they added, she joined a related Facebook group where she came in contact with a Sri Lankan national suspected to be an IS operative.
Soon, she started communicating with other IS sympathisers through Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Telegram and email, sources said.
According to ATS officials, the girl was radicalised to such an extent that she changed her personal lifestyle within a short span of time. “Earlier, she wore modern clothes and had to be forced by her family to observe certain religious customs. After radicalisation, she started wearing the burqa and observing all religious customs meticulously,” said sources.
Apart from Sirajuddin, the girl’s list of friends on Facebook also had other Indian and foreign nationals with suspected links to IS, sources said. They included IS sympathisers from the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Saudi Arabia and European countries, and Indian states such as Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, sources said.
The Pune ATS team has alerted police teams in the other states and international agencies about these suspects.
http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/ats-counsels-pune-girl-gearing-up-to-join-islamic-state-in-syria/
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Woman Condemned to Stoning Death in Iran On United Nations Human Rights Day
Dec 11, 2015
While International Human Rights Day was observed on Thursday, Iran announced another woman was sentenced to death by stoning. Identified only by the initials "A.Kh," the woman was convicted of allegedly being involved in her husband's murder, reported Fox News.
The United Nation's Human Rights Day occurs annually on Dec. 10 to commemorate the day in 1948 on which the U.N. General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The stoning penalty, as reported on the Persian-language Iranian website LAHIG, calls for wrongdoers to be buried up to their shoulders and pelted with rocks. An Iranian criminal court in Rasht, the capital city of the northern province of Gilan, executed the sentence, cited the Jerusalem Post.
The woman was also sentenced to lashings and 25 years in jail, according to the International Business Times. Two men also were convicted of the murder. While one of them was sentenced to death, the other will have to serve five years in prison.
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"Local state media reported the sentencing. However the Iranian regime's judiciary has not officially published any information on the verdicts," the National Council of Resistance of Iran said.
"The rate of executions in Iran has not decreased in the last few years; it has increased," Maryam Nayeb Yazdi, a prominent Canadian-Iranian human rights activist based in Toronto, told Fox News.
"Although stoning has become more rare in Iran, such sentences are still being issued by Iranian judges. The probability of a stoning sentence to be carried out is slim due to the international sensitivity of the issue; there is a great chance her sentence may be 'converted' to death by hanging."
Information from the International Committees against Execution and Stoning indicates Iran is believed to have imposed death by stoning on at least 150 people since the Islamic Revolution in 1980.
Julie Lenarz, the executive director of the Human Security Center in the United Kingdom, said: "It is astonishing that the West cultivates an ever-closer alliance with a theocratic regime widely known for its abysmal human rights record and aggressive behavior in the region. They hang men for the 'crime' of writing poems; or engaging in peaceful protest; or loving someone of the same sex."
"Women are stoned for being raped and Iranian law even allows for juvenile executions. Iran is averaging three hangings per day at the moment and remains a pariah state with no regard for human life. In a despicable form of moral myopia, the gold rush for business, as the international sanctions regime begins to unravel, has made Western governments blind to the suffering of ordinary Iranians at the hands of the Ayatollahs," Lenarz said.
http://www.gospelherald.com/articles/60568/20151211/woman-condemned-to-stoning-death-in-iran-on-united-nations-human-rights-day.htm
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Oxfam forms task forces to prevent child marriages
ASMA MOJIZ
December 18, 2015
ISLAMABAD: In a spirited speech at a consultation meeting on child marriages, organised by Oxfam Novib and the Young Parliamentarians Forum (YPF), MNA Marvi Memon offered Oxfam and its partners the use of over 47,000 Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) beneficiary committees for their project to end child marriages in Pakistan.
The committees, which are spread across 32 districts in the country, are dedicated to women’s empowerment.
“We’re giving you the population which is most badly affected, and we’re giving you a platform where you can come and fix all of this,” she said.
YPF and Oxfam Novib also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), for partnership in youth development programs.
YPF general secretary Shiza Fatima Khawaja said YPF sought partnership with Oxfam for research, data collection, policy making and lobbying for issues related to children and the youth.
The consultation meetings discussed Oxfam Novib’s ‘Bachpan Bachao’ programme which aims to end child marriages in Pakistan.
It is working to raise awareness about the dangers of child marriages and aims to ‘strengthen young boys and girls’ and work on policy reform.
According to a documentary screened during the event, the project is active in four districts of Punjab and Sindh.
It has conducted training sessions and formed community task forces comprising the police, social welfare departments, lawyers, child protection units, health departments, teachers, religious leaders and nikah registrars.
These task forces will undertake advocacy and preventive efforts to prevent child marriages. According to the documentary, the task forces have prevented seven child marriages, including two by women task forces.
Community activists Shahana Abbas Shani and Sabeeha Khanum explained how they had prevented child marriages in their respective districts.
Ms Khanum, who is from Larkana and teaches fifth grade students, said she stopped one of her young students from being married off by explaining to her parents that doing so is against the law and punishable by three months in prison or a fine of Rs150,000.
Ms Shani said she enlisted the help of her community in Muzaffargarh to prevent the marriage of a 9th grade student. She said her community was active in raising awareness about child marriages despite receiving negative responses.
Both activists said they had received threats for their work toward preventing child marriages.
As part of their work on child marriages, Oxfam released an analysis of Pakistani laws on the prevention of early marriages and identified lacunas within them.
Programme Monitoring and Learning Officer Ayesha Inam said many Pakistani laws were contradictory, and it was imperative that these contradictions were understood.
The analysis noted the achievements and shortcomings of existing laws, including the Sindh Child Marriages Restraint Act 2013 and the Punjab Marriage Restraint (Amendment) Act 2015. It then situated these laws within the context of Pakistan’s international commitments and laws around child marriages in Islamic countries Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Morocco.
Of particular contention was the automatic dissolution of proven child marriages, something the laws from both provinces do not touch on. Punjab’s amendments also do not assign a uniform age of marriage (which is 16 for girls and 18 for boys).
Ms Inam said that clauses that set the marriageable age of women as 16 (against 18 for men), violate constitutional safeguards against gender discrimination.
Ms Inam said the relationship between rape and the consummation of child marriages was unclear, as Section 375 of the Pakistan Penal Code, in its definition of ‘rape’, states “with our without her consent when she is under 16 years of age”.
However, during a panel discussion following the analysis, Aahang legal advisor and board member Maliha Zia said that the courts have upheld this definition of rape, even when the victim was married.
She added that the original drafts of Punjab and Sindh’s bills were very different to the final laws, saying that Sindh’s law was particularly progressive and originally discussed the automatic dissolution of child marriages, and the legitimacy and rights of children from child marriages.
Speakers also emphasized the lack of support structures for child marriage victims, even after their marriages have been dissolved, saying social taboos around sexual relations can lead to girls being ostracised by their communities and leave them at risk of honour violence.
http://www.dawn.com/news/1227134/oxfam-forms-task-forces-to-prevent-child-marriages
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Lone Arab woman takes the reins to tame horses on the Golan
December 18, 2015
MAJDAL: The grey horse rears its head, rocking left and right, kicking its legs wildly. Sensing danger, Raja Kheir throws herself off and rolls on the ground.
The slender, brown-haired 32-year-old in white jacket and jeans tames horses — not in itself unusual on the picturesque plains of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
What makes Kheir different is that she is an Arab woman, among the few, or perhaps even the only one from the area taking the reins.
Born into a conservative family of Druze in the Israeli village of Beit Jann in the Upper Galilee, she now lives and works in Majdal Shams near Syria.
Horses are an important part of the culture in the region’s ranches and cattle farms spread among the rugged hills and plains.
Since dawn, Kheir has been in a battle with three-year-old Qamar — the moon in Arabic — and eventually succeeds in getting a saddle on her.
When she rides Qamar for the first time, she focuses all her concentration but the horse bucks, causing her to throw herself to the ground.
Hours later, Kheir is making progress. She places her feet in the stirrups and digs her feet gently into the horse’s side, repeating this several times while at the same time tapping the animal’s stomach.
“It is not enough to put a saddle on a horse to tame it.
The important step is to ride it,” she said.
Qamar still isn’t ready to listen fully, and many attempts end with another roll on the ground.
Once this hurdle is overcome, the slow process begins of teaching them to be ridden.
But Kheir, who has been riding since she was six, is not discouraged. When she was a child, “everyone called me a tomboy because I wasn’t afraid of anything,” she says.
She used to spend days in the wilderness near her grandfather’s home in Beit Jann, where horses roamed. There, she says, “my relationship with riding began”.
Her journey into taming horses really started eight years ago, when she took a course in the town of Pardes Hanna near Haifa in northern Israel.
Since then she has earned multiple diplomas: she can ride horses, train them and teach them dressage.
Along with a partner, she decided to set up a taming and training centre.
Most of her clients are families who have bought horses and need someone to train them for them. She also trains stray horses found in the Golan.
With Qamar, a stray who arrived only a few days ago, Kheir is in the initial stages — convincing the horse to accept her presence and to enter the stable.
Horses “like to be free. They don’t like to have anything on their backs”, she says.
“So when I ride her for the first time she is afraid of me and I am also afraid of her. She doesn’t know my reaction and I don’t know her”. When I feel she is going to hurt me, I throw myself off.
“After you place the saddle on a horse it takes two to three weeks to tame them, though not to be able to ride them,” she says.
It can take many more weeks for a former stray to get used to everyday things such as the sound of cars.
Kheir awakes at dawn every day to feed the 15 horses at her school in the Golan, near where several other centres are based.
They need to be fed by 7:00 am at the latest, she says, because something as simple as a late meal can upset a horse’s stomach and even in rare cases be fatal.
For Kheir, the most important asset in a trainer is courage.
“If a horse feels your fear it will not accept you,” she says. “But if he feels you love him, he will protect you”. Once confidence is gained, the rider then has control, she says.
Being a woman and from the Druze minority, she admits it can be difficult in the Israeli equine world which is dominated by Jewish Israelis and men.
When she and her partner set up the ranch — the only Arab centre in the area — they even faced acts of sabotage, with a horse and a foal poisoned and pressure put on some people not to sell to them.
“There was a real war against us,” Kheir says, deliberately not naming the alleged culprits. But we’ve got all the official papers and our school continues.
http://www.dawn.com/news/1227033/lone-arab-woman-takes-the-reins-to-tame-horses-on-the-golan
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Female cashier dies in accidental gunfire
December 18, 2015
Rawalpindi - A female cashier died of gunshot wound while her senior officer sustained injury when a loaded service gun was fired accidently by the newly employed untrained security guard in a private bank on Haider Road on yesterday.
The incident took place at the private bank at 8:45am in the jurisdiction of Police Station Cannt.
The deceased female cashier was identified as Hina Gull, resident of Chakra and injured as Haris Ali Rana, resident of Chaklala.
Rescue 1122 shifted both deceased and injured to District Headquarters Hospital (DHQ) Rawalpindi for postmortem and medical treatment.
Police lodged an FIR against the security guard and Security 2,000 Company and decided to write a letter to the Home Department for cancellation of the licence of the security company.
According to Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Cantt Circle Syed Iqbal Kazmi, security guard namely Muhammad Umer Khan was checking his service loaded 12 bore pump action gun while standing in vintage point when he fired the gun accidently.
He said that the bullet hit under left ear of Hina Gull, who was sitting in a small cash room adjacent to cash counter, and Haris Ali Rana, who was standing with colleague for obtaining cash.
As a result, the girl died on the spot and the other cashier injured and was shifted to DHQ.
He said that a heavy contingent of police reached the bank and collected evidences.
He said that police arrested the security guard.
Responding to a query, DSP said that Muhammad Umar Khan was newly hired by the Security 2000 Company and today (Thursday) was his first day on duty.
“Umer came to Saddar, Rawalpindi from Muzafarabad and met with a security guard standing outside the bank and told him about his unemployment,” he said, adding on this the security guard arranged his meeting with Supervisor who immediately hired him and deployed at the bank without giving him any training.
DSP said that police lodged an FIR against the Security 2000 and the guard and moved a letter to the Home Department for blocking its licence.
A case was registered on the application of injured Haris, he added.
The gun was also taken into custody by police.
Bank’s Operational Manager Ahmer, when contacted, also confirmed that the security guard was hired by company one day ago and was untrained.
“He was checking his loaded gun in vintage point when it was fired.
The bullet hit Hina and Haris while blasting mirror of cash counter.
Hina died on the spot due to excessive bleeding and Haris sustained injury,” he said.
Later, the doctors handed over the dead body of Hina Gull to her heirs after conducting postmortem.
A family member of Hina Gull told The Nation that she was lone bread and butter earner for her family, which consisted of two sisters and an old mother living in Officer Colony, Street Number 4, Chakra.
Her father Abu Al Biyan died seven years ago.
http://nation.com.pk/national/18-Dec-2015/female-cashier-dies-in-accidental-gunfire
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Saudis want female workers as precondition for hiring males
December 18, 2015
The Saudi government has always been pushing Bangladesh to send female workers since an agreement was signed early this year, implying in conversations that otherwise male workers would not be hired, although they never put it in writing, said BMET Director General Begum Shamsun Nahar yesterday.
Talking to journalists at Probashi Kalyan Bhaban in the capital, she said the response to government efforts to attract female jobseekers was always poor.
The Bureau of Manpower, Employment and Training (BMET) had opened for registrations online following a deal Dhaka and Riyadh inked on February 11 for 12 types of workers such as maids, drivers, housekeepers, security guards and gardeners.
“We have told the Saudi authorities to increase female workers' wages and ensure better protection for them, otherwise it is difficult to motivate females to go to that country,” added Shamsun Nahar.
Earlier in the day, Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment Minister Nurul Islam said the government would continue sending migrants as per the agreement.
On another note, he said the government welcomes any form of legal migration and was working, along with Malaysia and Thailand, to prevent irregular migration like those over the sea by boats.
Briefing journalists on the ministry's activities marking International Migrants Day today, he said an agreement was finalised to expedite the process for Malaysia to recruit Bangladeshi workers under a government to government contract.
It will be signed soon, said Nurul, adding that this year, till December 15, at least 5.23 lakh male migrants found jobs in different countries.
Moreover, he said Probashi Kalyan Bank would be converted into a regular bank and Tk 300 crore transferred to it from a migrants' welfare fund so that returnees can be provided loans and be rehabilitated.
Later, Nurul attended a seminar, “Migration in the fulfillment of the Sustainable Development Goals,” in the ministry's briefing centre.
Manusher Jonno Foundation Director (rights division) Rina Roy, Warbe Development Foundation Chairman Syed Saiful Haque, Ovibashi Karmi Unnayan Program Chairperson Shakirul Islam, and Bangladesh Ovhibashi Mahila Sramik Association Director Sumaiya Islam spoke at the seminar.
http://www.thedailystar.net/city/saudis-want-female-workers-precondition-hiring-males-189031
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Teacher suspended after playing violin for young women
December 17, 2015
Manama: A university in Saudi Arabia has suspended a foreign teacher after he played the violin in front of a class of young women.
Dr Eisa Al Ansari, the rector of Prince Mohammed University (PMU), one of the largest private universities in Saudi Arabia, said that an investigation had been launched into the incident.
The rector said that the teacher was new at the university and that he was recruited two months ago.
The incident was a personal behaviour by the teacher and violated the formal policy of the university aligned with the systems and regulations of the Ministry of Education that are endorsed and applied by all universities in Saudi Arabia, he added, Saudi news site Sabq reported on Thursday.
Al Ansari said that the Eastern Province-based university invariably held intensive workshops for all foreign teachers about the systems, regulations, traditions and customs of Saudi Arabia ahead of assuming taking up their positions.
Commenting online on the incident and on calls to take action against the university, Nadia Al Qahtani, a student at PMU, said that the teacher was new and that he was not aware of the local traditions.
“Those of you who have been talking disapprovingly about the mixing of genders should be reminded that mixing exited in the days of Prophet Mohammad (Peace Be Upon Him),” she posted.
“The university has a good reputation and all the students are happy with it. Looking for issues, particularly the mixing between genders, denotes the limits of your minds. Not every mixing is forbidden,” she said.
http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/saudi-arabia/teacher-suspended-after-playing-violin-for-young-women-1.1639394
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“Report militant activity within family,” women urged
December 17, 2015
KUALA LUMPUR: Any woman suspecting her husband or children of being involved in militant activities should immediately report the matter to the authorities, says Women, Family and Community Development Minister, Rohani Abd Karim.
She said this move was to stop family members from being sucked into violent activities and prevent wives from conviction for conspiracy.
“Please come forward to the relevant authorities. We may be able to help them. That’s my advice as this is the best that you can do for them.”
“The public can forward their complaints to the Home or Women, Family and Community Development ministries so that further action can be taken immediately, and wives or mothers will not be guilty of abetment,” she told reporters after launching a Perbadanan Usahawan Nasional Berhad Prospernita programme at the Putra World Trade Centre today.
Rohani was commenting on the six-month jail sentence imposed by the High Court on a Statistics Department chief clerk last Tuesday, when she pleaded guilty to protecting her husband so that he could receive treatment for injuries sustained in Syria.
Judge Kamardin Hashim imposed the sentence on Poziah Harun, 42, and ordered her to serve the sentence from the date of arrest on August 19.
During the court proceeding, Kamardin said the offence was categorised as serious even though the accused only intended to protect and accompany her husband to seek treatment.
Rohani, who felt sorry for Poziah, said she believed the chief clerk was doing her duty as a wife in caring for her husband.
– BERNAMA
http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2015/12/17/report-militant-activity-within-family-women-urged/
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Thought about your baby girl’s name yet?
Dec 18, 2015
Samar Yahya
Naming a newborn baby whether a boy or a girl concerns parents and takes quite a good time and thought until they choose the perfect name for their baby. When choosing a name for a newborn baby, we usually look for a meaningful name. Some people believe that everyone’s name has a reflection on his character. Muslims always think of several possibilities for naming their babies. For a name of a girl, it is suggested to name a Muslim child after one of the women mentioned in the Holy Qur’an, or after one of the wives or daughters of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), or one of the important women of his time.
In the Holy Qur’an, one woman is mentioned by her name, while other virtuous women are mentioned by their story. We come to know their names from the mention of their husbands or from the Islamic tradition. While the Qur’an does not directly name any woman except for Mariam (also known as Mary), women play a role in many of the rich and varied stories that the Qur’an tells.
Mariam, is the mother of prophet Issa (Jesus). Her most notable characteristics were purity, constant worship, and devotion to Allah. Her story is told in many different verses, and the 19th chapter of the Qur’an is also named after her.
Hawwa, (also known as Eve) was the wife of Adam. She was the first female human. Most translators and interpreters derive the name Eve from the Hebrew verb which means to live or have life.
Sara; some linguists say that this name means a person of great personality. Sara was the wife of Prophet Ibrahim who gave birth to Prophet Ishaq in her later years. An indication of how important she was, Sara was mentioned in several verses in the Holy Qur’an.
Hajar; this word is derived from the verb to emigrate. Hajar was the second wife of Prophet Ibrahim; she gave birth to Prophet Ismail. She walked back and forth, up and down between the hills of Safa and Marwah, seeking water for her infant son. Walking seven times between the Safa and Marwah is a main ritual performed by Muslims during Hajj and Umrah.
Asiya, can mean the pillar, mediator, supporter, sorrow lifter, and sorrow helper. Asiya was the wife of Pharaoh; she was a believer while her husband was disbeliever and a tyrant. She cared for prophet Musa after his rescue as an infant. She protected Musa and stood up for him in front of her husband.
She was honored by Allah in the following verse in the Holy Qur’an:
{And Allah presents an example of those who believed: the wife of Pharaoh, when she said, “My Lord, build for me near You a house in Paradise and save me from Pharaoh and his deeds and save me from the wrongdoing people.} (Chapter 66, verse 11)
It is common for Muslims to pick names for their girls, from the names of the wives of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). To Muslims, the wives of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) are loved and cherished; they are known as the “Mothers of the Believers”.
Khadija, in the literal sense, means premature born baby. She was the first person to accept Islam and the first wife of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). He described her as follows, “She believed in me when no one else did; she accepted Islam when people rejected me; and she helped and comforted me when there was no one else to lend me a helping hand.”
Aisha means living. Aisha was known for her lively spirit, intelligence, and good memory. She became a teacher to other Muslims and a narrator of Hadith, sayings and traditions of the Prophet (peace be upon him). Many of the companions would seek her help in resolving difficult legal problems.
Zainab means a father’s precious jewel. Also a wife of the Prophet (peace be upon him), she was known for her extraordinary piety, righteousness, and generousness.
Hafsah was a special woman; she was the wife of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and the daughter of Umar ibn Al-Khattab. She was a woman who was not afraid to speak her mind, and she used to tend to the wounded on the battlefield.
Juwairiyah, this name indicates a person who is is brilliant and often inventive, full of high inspirations.
Hind, possibly means group of camels. Hind was the name of Umm Salamah. This strong woman, along with her first husband, was among the earliest converts to Islam. They emigrated to Ethiopia, and then to Madinah, and after her first husband’s death, she married the Prophet (peace be upon him).
Safiyyah means pure and sincere. Maymunah means auspicious; it also means the one who has been blessed. Mariyah is the Latin form of the English name Mary, and the Arabic name is Mariam.
Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) had four daughters: Zainab, Umm Kulthum, Ruqayyah, and Fatimah
Umm Kulthum means the one with a round face.
Ruqayyah, has several meanings; it means rising or ascent, also charm and incantation.
Fatimah means captivating. Fatimah was the Prophet’s youngest daughter and was deeply devoted to him, and she spent her spare time in prayer and worship.
http://saudigazette.com.sa/life/thought-about-your-baby-girls-name-yet/
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