All Hell Broke Loose On Women, Daughters for Embracing Islam in Maharashtra
New Age Islam News Bureau
25 July 2022
• Yemeni Model Entisar Al-Hammadi Moved To Solitary
Confinement in Houthi Prison
• Veiled Women Are Exposed To Racism and
Discrimination in Jobs in the Netherlands, Germany and Spain
• Afghanistan Journalists Centre Condemns
Pistol-Whipping Of Female Radio Host, Selagi Ehsaas
• Gaza’s Women and Girls See No Escape from Violence
• Interfaith Love between Sikh Man and Muslim Woman
Triggered the 'Hate Attack' On Gurudwara Priest in Alwar
• Islamic Centre Group and North Lanarkshire Muslim
Women's Alliance Hold First In-Person Public Event in Over Two Years
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/embracing-maharashtra-women/d/127565
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All Hell Broke Loose On Women, Daughters for Embracing
Islam in Maharashtra
Representative image
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July 25, 2022
Nagpur, July 25 (KMS): Hindutva inspired neighbours
have asked a widow and her two daughters to vacate their home in the vicinity
of Nagpur, the winter capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra after
they knew that the mother and her two daughters have embraced Islam.
The area known as Kamptee had earlier witnessed a
flare-up after a post supporting BJP’s Nupur Sharma who gave blasphemous
comments during a TV show. Weeks after the communal tension, the latest
incident has left security agencies on tenterhooks.
The woman’s husband had suffered a paralytic attack
and eventually passed away around a couple of years ago, leaving the
economically weak family in dire straits. With her daughters in college, the
woman was struggling to make her both ends meet.
The family began depending on the support of a young
Muslim shop owner in front of their house, whom she started calling her son.
The youth also allowed the family to use his shop premises, before shifting
elsewhere to a bigger facility.
Inspired by the treatment of the Muslim shopkeeper,
when the woman and her daughters decided to embrace Islam, all hell broke
loose. The youth was squarely blamed for the family’s religious conversion. “We
have a family-like bond which has nothing to do with Islam. Until someone has a
deep-rooted affinity and attraction for Islam, the religion doesn’t accept such
a conversion,” said the businessman.
Source: KMS News
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Yemeni Model Entisar Al-Hammadi Moved To Solitary
Confinement In Houthi Prison
Entisar al-Hammadi
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23 July, 2022
Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi militia moved Entisar
al-Hammadi, a model sentenced to five years in prison last year, to solitary
confinement, local media reported on Saturday.
Al-Hammadi was moved to solitary confinement following
“horrific torture” at the Central Prison in Houthi-held Sanaa, news website
Yemen Future reported, citing sources.
According to Yemen Future, al-Hammadi was physically
abused and severely beaten.
Two sources, one of whom is a prisoner at the Central
Prison, said the warden beat up al-Hammadi with an electric cable for chewing
the narcotic plant khat outside her designated cell.
Al-Hammadi was detained in February 2021 and sentenced
to five years in prison eight months later.
The Houthis charged al-Hammadi with prostitution, drug
dealing, and breaching Islamic norms. Al-Hammadi denied all charges.
In May 2021, human rights organization Amnesty
International said that al-Hammadi was forced to confess to several crimes,
including drug possession and prostitution.
Born to a Yemeni father and an Ethiopian mother, the
young woman worked as a model for four years and acted in two Yemeni television
series in 2020.
Source: Al Arabiya
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Veiled Women Are Exposed To Racism and Discrimination
in Jobs in the Netherlands, Germany and Spain
Sakina Fatima
23rd July 2022
The state of controversy arose on the communication
platforms, coinciding with the circulation of field research showing the extent
to which veiled women are exposed to racism and discrimination when they apply
for jobs in the countries of the Netherlands, Germany and Spain.
The research report was published on a website
affiliated with the University of (Oxford) British, on July 9, and caused an
uproar after a university researcher participated in the work through her
personal account on Twitter, Thursday, July 21.
Participating in the research were Marina
Fernandez-Reino, Valentina Di Stasio from the University of (Utrecht) in the
Netherlands, and Susanne Veit from the German Center.
The published research shows that 65 per cent of
Muslim women who attach their hijab pictures to their CV when applying for a
job in the Netherlands, reject them directly without calling for a personal
interview, as well as in close proportions in Spain and Germany.
The research adds that the image of the veil is not
the only element for which Muslim women are rejected in those countries,
because many send applications without attaching a personal photo.
The CV included that the applicant for the job
contributed to work related to Muslims, such as volunteering in a religious
centre or an Islamic charitable association.
Commenting on the results of the research, activist
Jihad al-Haq attacked European culture, saying, “Europeans think that their
racism is okay, because they have good reasons to be racist.”
It takes courage to wear the hijab on a daily basis,
and I think we will never get to a point where we don’t worry a little bit
about hijab discrimination,” said researcher Voula Via.
In July 2021, the European Court of Justice said that
companies can prevent Muslim female employees from wearing the hijab in certain
circumstances, in a ruling by the highest court in Europe in two cases filed by
two women in Germany, who were suspended from work after they wore the hijab.
The reasons for the court’s decision – based in
Luxembourg – stated that the employer in the two places informed the two
employees that wearing the hijab was prohibited, and they were suspended from
work and told to come to work without a hijab, or they would be transferred to
another job.
The court ruled that “a ban on wearing anything that
expresses political, philosophical or religious beliefs in the workplace may be
justified by the employer’s need to present a neutral image to clients, or to
prevent any social squabbles.”
The issue of the headscarf has sparked controversy
across Europe for years, highlighting sharp divisions over the integration of
Muslims into European societies.
In 2017, the European Court of Justice ruled that
companies have the right to prohibit the wearing of the headscarf or any other
visible religious symbol in the workplace under certain circumstances.
In 2014, the French Supreme Court upheld a ruling to
dismiss a Muslim daycare worker after she wore the hijab in a private
kindergarten, and 10 years earlier, France – which has the largest Muslim
minority in Europe – banned the wearing of the hijab in public schools.
Source: Siasat Daily
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Afghanistan Journalists Centre Condemns
Pistol-Whipping Of Female Radio Host, Selagi Ehsaas
24 July, 2022
Kabul [Afghanistan], July 24 (ANI): The Afghanistan
Journalists Center (AFJC) has expressed concern at the incident in which the
female host of Dost Radio in Nangarhar province in eastern Afghanistan, Selagi
Ehsaas was recently attacked by unidentified gunmen.
AFJC condemned violence against the media and
journalists after the beating of Selagi Ehsaas, who was returning from work on
July 20, when she was stopped by unidentified gunmen and pistol-whipped in Moi
Mubarak village of Surkh Rod district in Nangarhar province, reported Khaama
Press.
The locals brought Selagi to the hospital after she
fell unconscious due to the attack, the locals said, adding that she is still
in shock and fear.
She said she does not “feel safe”, Khaama Press
reported, quoting locals.
It is alleged that the female broadcaster was beaten
by the Taliban and was also said to work as a midwife in one of the private
hospitals; however, the Information and Culture Department of the Taliban in
Nangarhar province has denied the claims.
Previously, on June 6, the manager of Dost Radio, Sahar
Sirat Safi, was detained by Taliban intelligence in Kabul and released after 28
days.
According to UNAMA, there have been significant
changes in the country’s media landscape, including the closure of more than
half of the free media, the evacuation of hundreds of journalists, and rising
work restrictions, violence, and threats against journalists.
Earlier in May, while reporting a women’s
demonstration, journalist Roman Karimi and his driver were detained and
tortured by the Taliban.
The United Nations Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), in
a statement on World Press Freedom Day, said that they “deplore the erosion of
rights for journalists and media institutions under the Taliban.”
In another statement, German Special Representative
for Afghanistan and Pakistan Jasper Wieck in a tweet said that “Press Freedom
is key for Afghanistan and Afghans. Restrictions on national and international
media outlets must stop.”
Notably, the ever-increasing restrictions against
media in Afghanistan have also drawn widespread criticism globally with the
United Nations (UN) and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) decrying the
arrests, demanding the Taliban stop harassing local journalists and stifling
freedom of speech through continued detentions and threats.
With the consistent arbitrary arrests of journalists
by the Taliban, the media in Afghanistan faces several restrictions. In the
last year, several blood-curdling incidents of harassment of Afghan journalists
and media workers have been recorded.
Since the Taliban took over Afghanistan in mid-August
last year, it rolled back women’s rights advances and media freedom revoking
the efforts on gender equality and freedom of speech in the country.
Over 45 percent of journalists have quit since the
Taliban assumed power.
The ever-increasing restrictions against media in
Afghanistan have also drawn widespread criticism globally with the United
Nations (UN) and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) decrying the
arrests, demanding the Taliban stop harassing local journalists and stifling
freedom of speech through continued detentions and threats.
The Taliban had promised women’s rights, media
freedom, and amnesty for government officials in the group’s first news
conference after the takeover in August. However, activists, former government
employees, and journalists among others continue to face retribution. (ANI)
Source: The Print
https://theprint.in/world/afghan-media-body-condemns-pistol-whipping-of-female-radio-host/1053378/
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Gaza’s women and girls see no escape from violence
July 24, 2022
ABASSAN, Palestinian Territories: Seventeen-year-old
Istabraq Baraka fell pregnant soon after her wedding in the Gaza Strip. Three
months later her husband killed her.
“She died from a severe beating, which caused bleeding
on the brain and lungs and broken ribs,” said her mother Nazmiya.
Sitting with her husband Suleiman in a garden in Abassan,
near the city of Khan Yunis in the south of the Palestinian territory, the
53-year-old talks at lightning speed about last year’s killing of one of her
two daughters, as well as the loss of an unborn grandchild.
Istabraq’s father wipes tears away with the corner of
a red-and-white keffiyeh wrapped around his head.
He laments the slow pace of legal proceedings since
his daughter’s husband handed himself in to the police shortly after the
killing.
“The perpetrator admitted his crime, a year and a month
until now and nothing’s happened,” said the 70-year-old.
Femicide is on the rise in Gaza, according to figures
from the Women’s Center for Legal Aid and Counselling, a Palestinian civil
society group.
The organization registered six killings and suspicious
deaths related to domestic violence in 2019, a figure which rose to 19 the
following year.
UN Women said the situation worsened at the onset of
the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, which resulted in the “lockdown of survivors
of violence with their abusers.”
Ayah Alwakil, a lawyer from the Palestinian Center for
Human Rights, said women can consider violence from their husbands normal
behavior in Gaza’s patriarchal society, which has been controlled by the Hamas
Islamist group since 2007.
“Some women don’t know their rights and some others
are afraid of going to court, for lack of family support,” she added.
The Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics said 38
percent of women in Gaza faced physical or psychological violence from their
husbands in 2019, but Alwakil estimated the true figure to be far higher.
Men convicted of killing their wives can be jailed or
face the death penalty. But the sentence is reduced if they commit a so-called
“honor killing,” in which a relative is murdered because they are deemed to
have brought shame to the family.
UN Women says such “outdated and discriminatory laws”
impede justice.
Additionally, those seeking to escape domestic
violence risk losing their children.
If a wife obtains a divorce, custody passes to the
ex-husband once a daughter turns 11 or a son reaches nine.
Noha Khaziq, 31, stayed with her abusive husband
because they had four children.
He killed her in February.
“Her husband tied her up and left her at home so that
she couldn’t escape and get out. When he returned she was dead,” said her
brother Abdelaziz, who shares his sister’s green eyes.
“We feel satisfied with the death sentence ruling
against the husband, five months after the heinous crime, but we demand the
sentence be enforced quickly,” said the 28-year-old.
The Khaziq family has not seen Noha’s children since
she was killed, because custody was granted to their father’s relatives.
Fifteen years since the Israeli-led blockade of Gaza
began, it is almost impossible for women fleeing violence to leave the
Palestinian enclave.
In a territory home to 2.3 million residents, around
40 women are staying in only two specialized refuges.
When AFP visited one of them, a woman with bruises
covering one side of her face sat in a corner. She was about to return to her
husband, rather than risk losing access to her children.
“The law is not on women’s side all the time in the
Gaza Strip,” said Aziza Elkahlout, a spokeswoman for the social development
ministry which runs one of the refuges.
“We thought of opening the safe house because of the
injustice women are exposed to,” she added, blaming the Israeli blockade for
Gaza’s dire living conditions.
But such reasoning is inadequate for Suleiman Baraka,
who says the authorities are partly responsible for his daughter’s killing.
“The government helps the offender because it doesn’t
take any immediate decisions,” said Istabraq’s father.
He is reminded of his daughter every time he reaches
for his phone, whose screen shows a photo of him with his two girls.
More than a year since Istabraq was killed, he warned
that delays in reaching justice only “encourage criminals.”
Source: Arab News
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2128261/middle-east
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Interfaith Love Between Sikh Man And Muslim Woman
Triggered The 'Hate Attack' On Gurudwara Priest In Alwar
bySwati Goel Sharma
Jul 24, 2022
On Thursday night (21 July), a former granthi (priest)
of a gurudwara was attacked by five men in what is being seen by the Sikh
community as a religious hate crime in the Alwar district of Rajasthan.
The attackers, believed to be Muslims, cut the Sikh
man’s hair before letting him go. Victim Gurbaksh Singh is a resident of
Milakpur village in Alwar’s Ramgarh tehsil.
In his statement recorded in the first information
report (FIR) filed in the case, Singh said he went to the adjoining Alawada
village to buy some medicines at around 7.30 pm.
On his return, a man on the road signalled him to
stop, saying that a Sikh man was lying injured. As Singh stopped his
motorcycle, the man, joined by four others, held him by his neck. Two of them
were carrying knives. They threw chilli powder in his eyes and covered his eyes
with a cloth.
They began discussing among themselves a plan to
behead Singh. When Singh pleaded to know his offence, the men said that his
kind were eloping with Muslim women. Singh said that the men were mistaken,
that he was a not a native of Alwar but of Sikri, and he was a pujari at a
gurudwara.
Hearing this, the men called up one “Jumma,” asking
what to do with Singh. The man on the other side told them not to kill Singh,
but to leave him after cutting his hair. Singh pleaded with the men not to cut
his hair and instead cut his throat. However, the men did as instructed.
By the time Singh removed the cloth strip on his eyes,
the men had left.
The FIR (number 417/2022) was filed at Ramgarh police
station on 21 July. Based on the complaint, the police booked “Jumma sarpanch”
and four unidentified men under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 323
(causing hurt), 341 (wrongful restraint), 307 (attempt to murder), 153A
(promoting enmity), and 295A (deliberately hurting religious sentiments).
In Sikhism, “kesh,” or uncut hair, form one of the
"Five Ks," which are physical symbols worn by Sikhs who are initiated
into the Khalsa. The other Ks are Kara (a steel bracelet), Kanga (a wooden
comb), Kaccha (cotton underwear), and Kirpan (steel sword).
A resident of Alawada village, without wanting to be
named, told Swarajya over the phone that in April a man from the Sikh community
had eloped with a Muslim woman for marriage. Both are adults and the affair was
consensual.
“The Meos saw it as an affront to their community.
They staged protests. Eventually, Jumma intervened and made the police recover
the woman. From the police station, Jumma brought the woman back home despite
her wish to go with the Sikh man,” the source said.
“Since then, that Sikh family has been living under
threat. They have not been going out much,” he added.
The source said that Jumma Khan is the Sarpanch of
Alawada. He said Muslims comprise “1500 votes” in Alawada, compared to the “400
votes” of Sikhs.
In Alwar, Muslims are overwhelmingly converts from the
Meo jaati. Sikhs are largely Rai Sikhs that come under the backward castes.
News agency PTI has quoted Alwar Superintendent of
Police Tejaswani Gautam as saying that it appears that Singh was targeted
because of old enmity between Sikhs and Meo Muslims in Alawada village over
alleged love affairs.
On Friday (22 July), the local Sikh community held a
panchayat to make a consensus on demands and staged a protest outside the
police station asking for swift arrests in the case. The protest was joined by
Hindu residents.
About Alwar
The district of Alwar, which borders the state of
Haryana, comprises a large portion of what is called the Mewat belt, known for
its high rate of crime. Mewat gets its name from the native Meo jaati
population. Almost the whole of the jaati group has converted to Islam over
several centuries.
A part of the belt is in Haryana’s Nuh district, where
criminals from the Meo community recently mowed down a high-ranking police
officer of Haryana police.
The belt is notorious for cow smuggling and slaughter
activities. In 2019, the then Haryana director general of police Manoj Yadava
told a bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court in an affidavit that the
police personnel in Mewat were working in quite a hostile atmosphere, facing
danger to their life and safety.
The court in turn observed that the offences of cow
smuggling and slaughter in Mewat were “being committed by hardcore smugglers,
fully trained, and that too in a well-planned manner on large scale in an
organised way."
In 2018, a man named Rakbar Khan, who was from the Meo
community and a charge-sheeted cow smuggler, died after being caught by
residents of Lalawandi in Alwar around midnight while he was dragging two cows
through a field. Villagers handed him to the police, but Khan died in police
custody the same night.
The police booked several villagers for Khan’s
"murder," accusing them of beating him and causing internal injuries.
A large section of the media and activists used the case to raise the bogey of
“lynchistan” and labelled Alwar a "Hindutva laboratory." (Read
Swarajya’s rebuttal to the labelling here.)
Source: Swarajyamag
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Islamic Centre group and North Lanarkshire Muslim
Women's Alliance hold first in-person public event in over two years
ByIan Bunting
24 JUL 2022
Friends of Airdrie and Coatbridge Islamic Centre
(FACIC) and North Lanarkshire Muslim Women's Alliance were "absolutely
thrilled" to hold their first in-person public event in more than two
years.
Due to the COVID pandemic, the groups had been unable
to organise their popular annual community open day gatherings at the Islamic
Centre.
However, around 800 people joined staff and volunteers
from both organisations for a fun-packed "Eid in the Park" event held
in Strathclyde Park.
Guests included 10 North Lanarkshire councillors and
representatives from Voluntary Action North Lanarkshire, the NHS and social
work services.
There were multiple stalls on display under beautifully
decorated gazebos and visitors got to sample special Biryani and carrot cakes
in the tradition of Eid.
Arts and crafts, face painting, henna and boat rides
wowed the children and there was also space to play football and cricket.
Dr Irfan Jehangir, FACIC chairman, told Lanarkshire
Live : "This was our first face-to-face public event since the start of
the pandemic and it was wonderful to once again bring the Lanarkshire community
together in style.
"We used to hold an annual open day at the
Islamic Centre but moving to Strathclyde Park gave us much more space and
around 800 people were in attendance; the response was overwhelming.
"Eid al-Adha is the event to commemorate the
great sacrifice offered by the prophet Abraham, which is a common point between
the Abrahamic faiths of Christianity, Judaism and Islam.
"Everyone embraced Eid, and the different
cultures on display, and were keen to learn more about everything.
"The good weather was like the icing on the cake
in what was a truly wonderful day."
Dr Jehangir added: "FACIC and North Lanarkshire
Muslim Women's Alliance would like to send a big thanks to everyone who made
'Eid in the Park' such a special event.
"Special appreciation goes to all of our partners
from the council who were such a brilliant team and helped make every activity
seem so easy to organise and take part in.
"Teamwork really does make the dream work and
we've been incredibly touched by the heart-warming messages our teams have
received in person and via social media.
"FACIC intends to continue organising community
events and activities with a view to bringing together the various cultures and
communities that have made Lanarkshire their home and helped build stronger
relationships, boosting the social fabric of our society."
Head here to find out more information on FACIC and
here for further details on North Lanarkshire Muslim Women's Alliance.
Source: Daily Record UK
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URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/embracing-maharashtra-women/d/127565