Dr. Mariam Afifa Ansari. First Muslim Female Neurosurgeon In India
New Age Islam News Bureau
21 November 2022
• Dr. Mariam Afifa Ansari. First Muslim Female Neurosurgeon In India
• Iran Arrests Actor, HengamehGhaziani, Who Removed Hijab In Video: Report
• Lebanese Singer Myriam Fares Joins Forces With Nicki Minaj, MalumaFor World Cup Song
• Arab Designs Take Centerstage At American Music Awards
• Afghan Girl, 22, Dies By Consuming Rat Poison
• Moroccan Italian Model Malika El-MaslouhiIs Getting Emotional Over Her Latest “Magical” Trip To Morocco
• Shraddha's Murder And The Pernicious Bogey Of 'Love Jihad'
• Sindh High Court Acquits 5 Men Sentenced In Perween Rahman Murder Case
Compiled By New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/dr-mariam-afifa-ansari-muslim-female-india/d/128450
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Dr. Mariam Afifa Ansari. First Muslim Female Neurosurgeon In India
November 21, 2022
Mustafa Raza
Dr. Mariam Afifa Ansari
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Success comes to those who believe in hard work and dedication. This sentence fits the case of Dr. Mariam Afifa Ansari. She always dreamed of becoming a doctor. She has become the first youngest female neurosurgeon in the Muslim community in India. She had secured 137th rank in the All India NEET SS exam held in 2020, Mother is proud of her daughter and country and also became India’s first Muslim female neurosurgeon.
Since her school days, she has always been a top performer. Maryam completed her primary education in an Urdu medium school from Malagao.
Interestingly, Ansari, who has left many amazed with continuous successes, has been educated in Urdu medium schools till 10th class.
Afifa said, “Now I have become Dr. Afifa from Miss Afifa and my dream of wearing a white coat and examining patients with a stethoscope came true”. Maryam took her primary education from an Urdu medium school in Malegaon. After that she came to Hyderabad.
In Hyderabad, she studied till 10th at RajkumariDurushevar Girls High School, where she won a gold medal in class 10th. Afifa did MBBS from Osmania Medical College. She then obtained a master’s degree in general surgery from the same college. She won five gold medals during his MBBS course. After completing her course in 2017, she managed to get free admission for a masters course in general surgery in the same college. In 2019, she completed her post graduate degree, MRCS from Royal College of Surgeons, England.
In 2020, she did the Diploma of National Board course.
It is a special postgraduate degree awarded to specialist doctors in India. After scoring high in the 2020 NEET SS exam, she was granted free admission to MCh at Osmania Medical College.
“My success is a gift from Allah and now a responsibility,” she added.
She said that she would try to serve the community through her profession. Giving a message to Muslim girls, she said, “Don’t give up, never let anyone tell you that you can’t do it, prove them wrong, by getting it.”
She has been brilliant in studies since her school days. Afifa’s mother is a single mother and a teacher.
She is proud of her daughter. Apart from studies, Afifa also excels in painting, calligraphy and Islamic teaching.
Ansari’s continuous hard work has helped her cross every hurdle on the path of success. She is an inspiration for the young generation in India.
https://dailygoodmorningkashmir.com/first-muslim-female-neurosurgeon-and-her-success-story/
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Iran Arrests Actor, HengamehGhaziani, Who Removed Hijab In Video: Report
AFP
20 November ,2022
A screenshot from Hengameh Ghaziani's Instagram video
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Iran has arrested a prominent actor who in a video removed her headscarf in public in an apparent act of defiance, state media reported Sunday, as protests sweep the country.
Iran’s clerical leadership has been shaken by more than two months of women-led demonstrations sparked by the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old woman of Kurdish origin who had been arrested by the morality police in Tehran.
Authorities in the Islamic Republic describe the protests as “riots” and accuse the country’s Western foes of fomenting them.
HengamehGhaziani, a vocal critic of the crackdown on protesters, was arrested for inciting and supporting the “riots” and for communicating with opposition media, the official news agency IRNA said.
The 52-year-old film star had already indicated she had been summoned by the judiciary, and then published a video on Instagram of herself removing the obligatory hijab.
“Maybe this will be my last post,” she wrote late Saturday.
“From this moment on, whatever happens to me, know that as always, I am with the Iranian people until my last breath.”
The video, which appears to have been filmed in a shopping street, shows Ghaziani bareheaded facing the camera without speaking and then turning round and binding her hair into a ponytail.
In a post last week, she accused the “child-killer” Iranian government of “murdering” more than 50 children.
According to the judiciary’s Mizan Online news website, Ghaziani was among eight people who were summoned to prosecutors over “provocative” material posted on social media.
They also included Yahya Golmohammadi, coach of Tehran football team Persepolis FC, who had strongly criticized players on Iran’s national squad for not “bringing the voice of oppressed people to the ears of the authorities.”
The comment came after the national football team last week met President Ebrahim Raisi ahead of their appearance at the World Cup, which began Sunday in Qatar.
Mizan said other prominent actors including Mitra Hajjar and BaranKosari had also been summoned.
Earlier this month TaranehAlidoosti, one of Iran’s best-known actors remaining in the country, posted an image of herself on social media without the mandatory headscarf.
Alidoosti vowed to stay in her homeland at “any price,” saying she planned to stop working and instead support the families of those killed or arrested in the protest crackdown.
Iranian cinema figures were under pressure even before the start of the protest movement sparked by Amini’s death.
Prize-winning directors Mohammad Rasoulof and Jafar Panahi remain in detention after they were arrested earlier this year.
https://english.alarabiya.net/News/middle-east/2022/11/20/Iran-arrests-actor-who-removed-hijab-in-video-Report
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Lebanese singer Myriam Fares joins forces with Nicki Minaj, Maluma for World Cup song
ARAB NEWS
November 19, 2022
Lebanese singer Myriam Fares has joined forces with US rapper Nicki Minaj
and Colombian singer Maluma for a new FIFA World Cup song. (Screenshot)
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“Tukoh Taka” makes history as the first World Cup song to feature Arabic, English and Spanish lyrics
DUBAI: Lebanese singer Myriam Fares has joined forces with US rapper Nicki Minaj and Colombian singer Maluma for a new FIFA World Cup song.
The track, “Tukoh Taka,” makes history as the first World Cup song to feature Arabic, English and Spanish lyrics. It was released on Friday on Universal Arabic Music, Universal Music Group and Republic Records.
In the song, Fares sings in the Lebanese and Khaleeji dialects.
Fares and Maluma will perform together at the opening of the FIFA Fan Festival at Al-Bidda Park in Qatar on Nov. 19.
“The preparations are in progress to perform the biggest concert in the Arab region for the opening of the FIFA Fan Festival… Be ready to witness this huge event,” Fares wrote on Instagram.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2202376/lifestyle
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Arab designs take centerstage at American Music Awards
ARAB NEWS
November 21, 2022
Lauren Jauregui opted for a dress by Norma Kamali. (AFP)
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DUBAI: The American Music Awards played host to a glittering showcase of Arab fashion this week as the likes of Carrie Underwood, Kelly Rowland, Becky G and Lauren Jauregui showed off gowns from Middle Eastern designers.
Country singer Underwood opted for a multi-hued dress by Lebanese Italian designer Tony Ward. With a plunging scooped neckline and playful fringed beading, the gown hailed from the designer’s Spring/Summer 2023 collection.
US singer and actress Rowland took things in a wilder direction with a leopard print sculptural gown by Lebanon’s Nicolas Jebran. The Rowland added black latex gloves for a dose of drama.
Meanwhile, US singer Becky G showed off an asymmetrical mini dress by Bahraini label Monsoori with a larger-than-life train and voluminous material draped on one shoulder.
For her part, US singer Lauren Jauregui, a member of Fifth Harmony, flaunted a floor-length number by designer Norma Kamali, who is partly of Lebanese descent. The heavily embroidered gown hailed from the designers Resort 2023 collection and featured tulip sleeves and a flared skirt.
Superstar singer and songwriter Taylor Swift won all six trophies she was contending for at Sunday night’s awards ceremony, including the artist of the year prize.
The new American Music Awards accolades lifted Swift’s lifetime total to 40, breaking her own record for most wins at the world’s largest fan-voted awards ceremony, Reuters reported.
The “Anti-Hero” singer said fan support in recent years had encouraged her to write more music, which made her happier.
“I have the fans to thank essentially for my happiness,” Swift said to a cheering crowd at the ceremony in Los Angeles.
Other honors for Swift on Sunday included favorite pop album, country album and video for her re-recording of 2012 record “Red.” The singer has been remaking albums from her past because of a dispute with her former record label.
For artist of the year, Swift triumphed over formidable names including Beyonce, Harry Styles, The Weeknd, Drake, Adele and Bad Bunny, who had gone into the night with a leading eight nominations.
Pop singer Pink opened the AMAs show dancing and singing on roller skates to her upbeat song “Never Gonna Not Dance Again.” Later in the ceremony, she performed “Hopelessly Devoted to You” in a tribute to Olivia Newton-John, the “Grease” singer who died in August.
Musician Lionel Richie, known for “All Night Long” and other 1980s hits, was celebrated with the AMA's icon award. Stevie Wonder and Charlie Puth performed a medley of Richie songs on dueling pianos.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2203416/lifestyle
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Afghan Girl, 22, Dies by Consuming Rat Poison
By Saqalain Eqbal
November 21, 2022
Hajar, a 22-year-old girl, lived in the SharinTagab district of Faryab province, according to the authorities, who committed suicide and ended her life.
According to Hameedullah Botshekan, the spokesman for the Taliban chief of police in Faryab province, Hajar committed suicide as a result of family problems and violence.
Meanwhile, a youngster took her own life by strangling and hanging himself two days ago in the 6th police district of Maimana, the provincial capital of Faryab.
Shamsullah Mohammadi, the Taliban’s Head of Information and Culture in Faryab, cited the relatives of the young man as saying that his suicide was motivated by a mental condition.
Youth suicide, particularly among women, has climbed over the previous year in several provinces across the country.
Suicide in the country is considered to be mostly driven by mental illness and mental stress brought on by the unfavorable economic climate and unemployment.
https://www.khaama.com/afghan-girl-22-dies-by-consuming-rat-poison-48697/
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Moroccan Italian model Malika El-Maslouhi is getting emotional over her latest “magical” trip to Morocco
ARAB NEWS
November 20, 2022
DUBAI: Moroccan Italian model Malika El-Maslouhi is getting emotional over her latest “magical” trip to Morocco.
Over the weekend, the model shared a carousel of images from her trip and captioned the post, “Morocco, the most magical place on earth” along with a heart emoji.
The photos include snapshots of food, trips to the desert, camp sites and what looks like a car ride through a crowded marketplace along with a film crew. The model kept the project under wraps, however, and did not mention why she was working with the camera crew.
The model’s trip to Morocco caps off a successful year.
Two months ago, she was named the Italian Model of the Year in a ceremony in the country. “Memo: If you want it, you must go get it!” she wrote in an Instagram post after the event. “This morning I was awarded Model of the Year Italy. Grazie mille to everyone that made today possible,” she added.
The model was also picked by US designer Tory Burch to star in a campaign for the label’s activewear offering, Tory Sport.
In a series of images shared on the brand’s Instagram page, 23-year-old runway star El-Maslouhi wore a pleated laser cut tennis skirt with a white tank top and a blue-and-beige cross body bag from the fashion house’s Summer 2022 tennis collection.
In other pictures, the model wore a monogram jacquard anorak, a matching red-and-yellow yoga set and a white polo shirt.
In May, the label tapped the model to showcase the brand’s pre-Fall 2022 collection via a series of campaign images.
El-Maslouhi, who was born in Milan to an Italian mother and a Moroccan father, is one of the most in-demand models in the fashion industry at the moment.
The catwalk star, who made her modelling debut when she was 18-years-old, has graced the runways of storied fashion houses in New York, London, Milan and Paris and walked for the likes of Ulla Johnson, Prabal Gurung, David Koma, Boss, Missoni, Messika and more.
She has also hit the runway for Dior, Chanel and Valentino, in addition to appearing in international campaigns for notable brands like Lanvin and Dundas.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2203016/lifestyle
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Shraddha's murder and the pernicious bogey of 'love jihad'
ShumaRaha,
NOV 21 2022,
While the horrific murder of 27-year-old Shraddha Walkar by her live-in partner, Aftab Poonawala, has shocked the country, and while the media serves up its grisly details 24x7 with an almost orgiastic intensity, a member of our political class, a class that never disappoints when it comes to the depths to which it can descend, has decided to use the crime to add ballast to his agenda of communal polarisation for electoral gains.
On November 19, while campaigning in Kutch for the forthcoming Gujarat Assembly elections, Assam Chief Minister Himanta BiswaSarma declared that if the country did not elect a strong leader like Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2024, a monster like Aftab, who hacked his partner's body into pieces and was also a perpetrator of 'love jihad', would rise up in every city of the country.
It seemed to have slipped Sarma's mind that the butchery of Shraddha by Aftab happened on Modiji's watch and that this straightaway demolishes his contention and punctures his vote-for-Modi war cry. But who cares about facts when the objective is to stir up fear and then fish in troubled waters? A bridge may collapse due to corruption, and criminal negligence and hundreds may die as a result, millions may be jobless and in economic distress, but the real issue, dear electorate, is that evil Muslim boys are preying upon Hindu girls with the intention of converting them to Islam, and then murdering them as well. (Er, not much point in converting a person if you're going to kill her off after that. Does nothing for the alleged plan to swell the Muslim population of this country.) And the only one who can protect you from this abomination, quothSarma, is Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Sarma is not the only one who has labelled this ghastly murder as an incident of so-called 'love jihad' — although he is the first major politician to cite the crime as a poll ploy to try and drive a fresh wedge between Hindus and Muslims. Indeed, ever since news broke that Shraddha's boyfriend Aftab had killed her in May and chopped up her body and disposed of her remains bit by bit, right-wing voices on social media have been shrill in their assertion that this was nothing but 'love jihad' on a diabolic scale. The fact that the victim was a Hindu girl and her murderer happened to be a Muslim with whom she was in a long-term relationship, was enough for them to pounce upon the case as validation for what is, in effect, a mythical theory confected by Hindutva wadis to make the Hindus seethe with a sort of tribal hatred against Muslims. After all, inter-faith relationships and inter-faith amity make it difficult to pursue the project of othering and demonising India's largest minority community.
Others have been citing Shraddha's chilling murder as proof that nothing good comes of a girl defying her parents and choosing to be in a live-in relationship. Union minister Kaushal Kishore went so far as to say that educated girls have only themselves to blame if such mishaps take place. "Get married first. Live-ins encourage crime," he said.
Victim blaming in cases of sexual assault or murder of women is nothing new, of course. But those who are holding up this murder as a cautionary tale and a prompt for girls and women to pack up their freedom to make life choices and crawl right back into the shadow of patriarchy, are either laughably naive or deliberately misleading. Intimate partner violence is a worldwide phenomenon, and its incidence or severity has no bearing on whether the partners are married or not — just as it has no bearing on whether the relationship is inter-faith. In India, the latest data from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) show that of the 4,28,278 cases of crimes against women in 2021, as many as 1,36,192 cases were registered under the charge of 'cruelty by husband or his relatives'.
And let us not forget the dowry deaths, which, the sanskari, anti-live-in brigade may note, take place within the bonds of wedlock, and, more often than not, in marriages arranged and sanctioned by both sets of parents. According to the NCRB, there were 6589 dowry-related deaths in India in 2021. In other words, 18 women die every day due to torture, or murder, or abetment to suicide, over dowry.
As the police go about piecing together the evidence of Aftab's ghastly crime, and, hopefully, are able to press charges that will be enough to convict him, the public discourse should focus on how to enable girls and women to seek help when they are subjected to intimate partner violence. It should focus on creating the necessary conditions and support systems — both familial and institutional — and giving them the confidence and strength to walk out of abusive relationships before the assault gets out of hand and leads to what happened to Shraddha. Any other talk — whether of the purported sins of modernity or of so-called 'love jihad' — is just so much twaddle, and distracts attention from the legions of women who need help to be able to come out of the violent relationships in which they are trapped.
Unfortunately, there are enough people in this country who get incited and intimidated by references to the pernicious bogey of 'love jihad'. As the toxic cry resounded on social media after Shraddha's murder came to light, sections of the mainstream media too avidly joined in to fan the deplorable charge. Meanwhile, scant coverage was given to another grisly murder — a man named Abhijit Patidar slit his partner Shilpa's throat in Jabalpur and recorded her dying moments on video — perhaps because it didn't have the inflammatory (and fictive) love jihad angle that Shraddha's case was being made out to have?
There's more: One TV news anchor exhibited his journalistic credo by tweeting a picture of the invitation card of the marriage reception of a Hindu woman and a Muslim man in Vasai, Mumbai (the same area where Aftab and his family used to stay), with the hashtag LoveJihad. The reception ended up getting cancelled for the sake of "peace" in the locality.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has often reiterated his commitment to empower India's women. That includes protecting them from violence. Perhaps the next time he dwells on the subject of women's safety, he could also state that violence is simply that — a dark, destructive force that has no religion. Or is that too much to ask?
https://www.deccanherald.com/amp/opinion/shraddhas-murder-and-the-pernicious-bogey-of-love-jihad-1164270.html
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Sindh High Court acquits 5 men sentenced in Perween Rahman murder case
Ishaq Tanoli
November 21, 2022
The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Monday acquitted all five men sentenced in the murder case of renowned rights activist Perween Rahman — who was shot dead in the metropolis in 2013 — citing a lack of evidence and ordered their release.
The development comes around nine months after an anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Karachi sentenced four of the accused, namely Abdul Raheem Swati, Ahmed Khan, Amjad Hussain Khan and Ayaz Swati, to life imprisonment and sent the fifth accused, Imran Swati, to jail for seven years.
The trial court’s verdict, which was issued after eight long years of proceedings, was subsequently challenged in the high court.
In its judgement issued today, a two-member SHC bench, comprising Justice KK Agha and Justice Zulfiqar Ali Sangi, observed that none of the accused had been charged with “actually murdering” Rahman.
Instead, the court said, the accused were charged with “planning, instigating and in effect abetting the murder”.
The judges also agreed with the appellants’ lawyer on the contention that Rahman’s interview, which she gave in 2011 and aired after her murder, was inadmissible evidence. The court concluded that it be excluded from the case.
The court also declared that the murder case did not fall in the jurisdiction of the ATC as it was found that the motive behind the killing was not to create terror but land-grabbing.
“And as such, all appellants are acquitted of any offence under the ATA in the impugned judgement,” the court order read.
In light of this, the court said, accused Rahim Swati’s confession, which was recorded under Section 21 (H) of the Anti-Terrorism Act and later disowned, should have been recorded under Section 164 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
Therefore, “we place no reliance on it” and it was also “inadmissible in evidence”.
The court also observed that prior to this confession, there was no tangible evidence against any of the accused.
The court concluded that even if all pieces of evidence were admitted, they failed to prove the charge against the accused beyond a reasonable doubt.
The court also ruled that the “required ingredients” of the charge of abetting the crime were not proved against any of the accused.
Moreover, evidence, including bullet shells, collected from the crime scene and the forensic analysis report failed to establish a link with any pistol belonging to the accused as no pistol was recovered from them at the time of their arrest, the court order stated.
On these grounds, these pieces of circumstantial evidence were of no consequence, the court concluded.
With regards to the reports of the joint investigation team, the court was of the view that a JIT report was “no more than an opinion of an investigating officer and is not proof of any facts in terms of evidence”.
The court also said the prosecution had failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt any offences against the accused under Sections 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of an offence or giving false information to screen offender) and 202 (intentional omission to give information of an offence by a person bound to inform) of the Pakistan Penal Code.
“As such, the appellants are acquitted of this charge”.
The court said the accused were entitled to the benefit of the doubt as “many doubts concerning the appellants’ involvement in the murder case of the deceased” were found.
Hence, the court ruled, the all of the five men were acquitted and the trial court’s verdict was set aside. They shall be released unless wanted in any other custody case, the court directed.
The murder
Rahman, wo was heading the Orangi Pilot Project (OPP) and had devoted her life to the development of impoverished neighbourhoods, was gunned down near her office in Orangi Town on March 13, 2013.
Initially, a case for her murder was registered under Sections 302 (premeditated murder) and 34 (common intention) of the Pakistan Penal Code at the Pirabad police station.
Later, Section 7 (punishment for acts of terrorism) of the Anti-Terrorism Act, 1997, was added to the first information report on the basis of a judicial inquiry conducted by then-district and sessions judge (west) Ghulam Mustafa Memon on the orders of the Supreme Court.
In March 2021, the ATC was told that Rahman had identified and named “land grabbers and extortionists” for trying to illegally occupy the land of the OPP’s office in an interview recorded around 15 months before she was allegedly killed by the same group.
In the interview, Rahman had called Raheem Swati a “land grabber and extortionist” and stated that the latter wanted to illegally occupy the land of the OPP’s office, the charge sheet had stated.
https://www.dawn.com/news/1722259/shc-acquits-5-men-sentenced-in-perween-rah
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