Giving Measurements To Male Tailors For Stitching Clothes 'Haram' For Muslim Women: Deobandi Cleric Qasmi
New Age
Islam News Bureau
23 November 2023
· Overnight, Dozens of Md. Muslim Groups, 3,800+ Petitioners Call on AG Brown to Restore Dr.
· Zainab Chaudry, Reject Islamophobia
· Iran Calls For Citizens Support In Face Of Hijab Rebellion
· Israel Woman's Family Thought Hamas Took Her. She Was Later Found Dead
· Teenage boys, 59-year-old woman: the Palestinian prisoners listed for release
· Bangladesh beauty queen brings 'dawn of hope' for trans women
· Scream 7 actress fired over pro-Palestinian posts
· PAS leader’s polygamy solution for late marriage among women
· Jailed Iranian Activist ArmitaPavir on New Hunger Strike
· Women’s tailoring banned in Herat, specialized women’s market closed in Balkh
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/male-haram-muslim-women-deobandi/d/131166
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Giving Measurements To Male Tailors For Stitching Clothes 'Haram' For Muslim Women: Deobandi Cleric Kasmi
November 22, 2023
NISHTHA ANUSHREE
Total Fertility Rate and Muslim women.
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Mufti AsadKasmi, a Deobandi cleric, issued a Taliban-style decree explaining how Muslim women should get their clothes stitched, Live Hindustan reported.
He claimed that where men take measurements, it is haram (forbidden) for Muslim women to get their clothes stitched. He suggested that instead, women should send their already stitched clothes to a male tailor for measurements, as it is permissible.
Earlier, in his statement, Mufti AsadKasmi had advised Muslim women not to go to beauty parlours where men work. He declared it illegal and haram for Muslim women and asked them to go to beauty parlours where girls work.
Source: swarajyamag.com
https://swarajyamag.com/news-headlines/giving-measurements-to-male-tailors-for-stitching-clothes-haram-for-muslim-women-deobandi-cleric-kasmi
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Overnight, Dozens of Md. Muslim Groups, 3,800+ Petitioners Call on AG Brown to Restore Dr. Zainab Chaudry, Reject Islamophobia
Ismail Allison
November 22, 2023
(WASHINGTON, DC – 11/22/2023) – The
Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil
rights and advocacy organization, today announced that overnight dozens of
Maryland Muslim community organizations and over 3,800 petitioners have called
on Attorney General Anthony Brown to reverse his decision “temporarily”
suspending her role on the state’s Hate Crimes Commission under pressure from
anti-Muslim and anti-Palestine groups who misconstrued some of her personal
social media posts about the ongoing crisis in Gaza.
In a letter sent to Attorney General Brown signed by dozens of Maryland Muslim organizations and a separate community petition signed by almost 4,000 people in less than 24 hours, Maryland community members and supporters wrote:
“As the only American Muslim on the Attorney General’s Hate Crimes Commission, Zainab Chaudry’s voice was critical in representing our community’s concerns to your office. Even a temporary suspension of her role is harmful and completely unjustified. Like Zainab, many members of the Maryland community have been critical of the Israel government’s horrific crimes against the Palestinian people…Suspending Zainab for criticizing the Israeli government’s horrific crimes and for expressing solidarity with the Palestinian people is unacceptable. This attack on her is an attack on all of us and we will not accept it.”
They also wrote, “As Zainab has said, ‘There is no conflict between condemning the Israeli government’s war crimes overseas and standing up against all forms of hate here at home, including antisemitism, Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian racism. False smears from anti-Palestinian and anti-Muslim extremists will not stop me from standing up for justice here and abroad.’ I completely agree.”
CAIR’s mission is to protect civil rights, enhance understanding of Islam, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.
La misión de CAIR es proteger las libertadesciviles, mejorar la comprensión del Islam, promover la justicia, y empoderar a los musulmanesen los Estados Unidos.
Source: cair.com
https://www.cair.com/press_releases/overnight-dozens-of-md-muslim-groups-3800-petitioners-call-on-ag-brown-to-restore-dr-zainab-chaudry-reject-islamophobia/
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Iran Calls For Citizens Support In Face Of Hijab Rebellion
22nd November 2023
A group of hijab enforcers in Tehran
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The Iranian government has issued a call for citizens to actively participate in a plan aimed at countering the removal of hijabs as masses of women reject strict laws.
Local news outlets have revealed that citizens are being invited via text messages to join the "Verbal Warning and Confrontation with the Unveiling and Indecency" initiative, one of Islamic Republic's terms for crackdown on hijab defiance.
Ahmad Vahidi, the Minister of Interior, supported the growing activism of hardliner Iranians clashing with women not wearing hijab, saying, "It seems to be carried out by popular groups under the banner of enjoining good and forbidding evil. Everyone has a duty for this, but it should be done with good manners, solely through verbal advice."
The recent deployment of state-backed police and hijab patrols in Tehran's metro stations continues to stir controversy. Social media images depict numerous hijab officers causing congestion in a subway passageway at Tehran's Enghelab station, now colloquially referred to as the "horror tunnel" for women.
Reports highlight the Security Police (FARAJA) using cameras to identify women without headscarves. The stringent enforcement of hijab rules gained momentum after the tragic death of Iranian-Kurdish woman MahsaAmini in hijab police custody in September 2022, sparking the Women, Life, Freedom protests.
The heightened presence of hijab police has also resulted in the tragic death of ArmitaGeravand, 16, who lost her life in October following an encounter with Tehran's hijab police in the subway, echoing the MahsaAmini tragedy one year earlier.
Source: .iranintl.com
https://www.iranintl.com/en/202311228471
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Israel Woman's Family Thought Hamas Took Her. She Was Later Found Dead
November 23, 2023
Muskaan Sharma
Gabay was a recent law graduate who
would have turned 26 next week
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The body of a 25-year-old Israeli woman, who was assumed to be one of the hostages taken by Hamas after it attacked a music festival near the Gaza border, was found on Thursday, according to reports.
Shani Gabay's body was found under a burnt ambulance near the Supernova music festival site where she was working on October 7, reports said. When Hamas fired rockets at Israel and its gunmen attacked the site, several attendees hid under the ambulance that was later bombed by the gunmen.
“Our Shani is gone. Our hearts are broken into pieces. We are all crying and refuse to believe, how much we waited for a different ending. Forty-seven days of hope came to an end with receiving the bitter news this morning about the murder of Shani on October 7,” Yokneam Mayor Simon Alfasi told The Jerusalem Post.
According to her family, Gabay had called her mother at 6:40 am informing her about the rockets overhead, asking her what to do. Her mother advised her to get out of her car and find a place to hide.
Gabay reportedly hid in a field shelter near Kibbutz Alumim. Two of her friends, who survived the attack, said the gunmen threw grenades at the shelter so Gabay ran back to her car but was shot. Later, she was taken to a police command post to get medical help. She was not seen again.
“She was told to run but we don't know how well she could have run by that point," her brother told Israeli media.
After they heard nothing from her, Gabay's family set out to look for her at hospitals and medical centres where injured from the attack were taken. Her father headed to the sit of the party to find any clue to her whereabouts. Over the next five days, he turned over bodies lying in ditches and side of the roads to find her daughter.
Gabay was a recent law graduate who would have turned 26 next week, reports said.
The music festival, where 3,000 people were reportedly partying, was one of the first targets of the Palestinian group whose gunmen are reported to have entered the site on motorbikes, trucks and ever gliders, seen flying over the festival in viral video.
Source: ndtv.com
https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/shani-gabay-israeli-woman-missing-after-oct-7-hamas-attack-on-music-fest-found-dead-4598318#pfrom=home-ndtv_topstories
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Teenage boys, 59-year-old woman: the Palestinian prisoners listed for release
22nd November 2023
JERUSALEM: The vast majority of Palestinians slated for release under an Israel-Hamas swap deal to secure the release of hostages held in Gaza, are teenage boys, an official Israeli list shows.
Israel released the names on Wednesday of 300 Palestinian detainees who could be set free under the agreement.
Under the terms of the deal, the first phase will see 50 Israeli hostages released over the course of four days, with 150 security detainees to be freed in response.
More detainees could subsequently be released at the same ratio of three to one, it said.
An AFP examination of the names found that 33 were women, 123 were boys under 18, and 144 were 18-year-old men.
The youngest was 14-year-old Adam Abuda Hassan Gheit from annexed east Jerusalem, who was arrested in May for "hostile sabotage activity, attacking a police officer and throwing stones".
The oldest was a 59-year-old woman called Hanan Salah Abdallah Barghuti, who was arrested in September for "Hamas activity including money transfers", it said.
It identified 49 as Hamas members, 60 as belonging to Fatah, the party which leads the Palestinian Authority in the occupied West Bank, and 17 as being affiliated with the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).
The others had no affiliation specified.
The most prominent individual on the list is IsraaJaabis, 38, who was convicted of detonating a gas cylinder in her car at a checkpoint in 2015, wounding a police officer. She was sentenced to 11 years in prison.
Israeli rights group HaMoked welcomed the deal.
"Holding people as hostages is itself illegal, a war crime, and Hamas should release all the hostages unconditionally," its executive director Jessica Montell said in a statement, adding it was "appropriate that Israel release prisoners and detainees to advance this goal".
Most of those to be released were "detainees still awaiting trial, on charges that range from incitement to stone-throwing to attempted murder", she said, adding that the list also included women and teenagers held without charge or trial in so-called administrative detention.
"These people should also have been released unconditionally, so a deal to release Israeli hostages and Palestinian administrative detainees is doubly welcome," she said.
Source: newindianexpress.com
https://www.newindianexpress.com/world/2023/nov/22/teenage-boys-59-year-old-woman-the-palestinian-prisoners-listed-for-release-2635260.html
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Bangladesh beauty queen brings 'dawn of hope' for trans women
23rd November 2023
DHAKA: Bangladeshi trans woman Yasin Ahmed Sokal always wanted the freedom to dress like her sisters, but never in her wildest dreams did she imagine being showered with applause at a beauty pageant in her conservative homeland.
For 24-year-old Sokal, her triumph in one of the South Asian nation's most prestigious beauty contests was not only a personal victory but one that sent a message of hope.
Sokal, whose name means "dawn" in Bengali, was this month named second runner-up in Miss Evergreen Bangladesh 2023.
"I hope I've brought a dawn of hope for trans women in Bangladesh," Sokol said in the capital Dhaka.
"It is a victory for thousands of trans women and thousands of Sokals out there."
Among Bangladesh's population of 170 million an estimated 1.5 million people are transgender, but they have long faced discrimination and violence.
Stories are common of transgender people being abandoned by families and communities, forcing them to beg or be driven into the sex trade.
Beauty has no gender
"It sends a message of hope to all closeted transgender people that is: beauty doesn't remain limited to men and women," she said.
"Beauty is everywhere, diversity is beauty, and beauty has no gender."
Attitudes in the Muslim-majority country towards trans people are slowly shifting, although the LGBTQ community still faces massive legal and societal discrimination.
Homosexuality is criminalised under a colonial-era penal code.
Sokal, a fashion student in Dhaka, grew up in a hostile world where her wish to be a woman was mocked.
"I was born male, but I'd always realised I was growing up as a woman," Sokal told AFP.
Coming from a Muslim family from a rural village 60 kilometres (38 miles) east of the capital Dhaka, Sokal knew as a child she felt different.
"I was a victim of bullying so many times in school and college," she said, in a quiet voice.
She described how she was refused enrolment into an English course "because of my gender identity".
For the beauty contest, which was open to only women, Sokal was questioned as her name sounds like a man's.
"It was only after I was able to convince them about my identity that they called me for the audition," she said.
"Victory in the Miss Evergreen Bangladesh is a testament that I am a woman. Thanks to the contest, finally people have appreciated my beauty."
While Sokal identifies as a trans woman, many in Bangladesh would identify her as a "hijra" -- a South Asian term for a "third gender".
Traditionally in Bangladesh, hijras have held a unique cultural position, with the popular belief they can confer luck or good health to others.
In 2013, trans people were officially identified as a separate gender, and in 2018, they were allowed to vote and run in elections.
Two transgender candidates have since won mayoral elections, while employers have slowly overcome earlier stigmas to recruit them to jobs.
Islamic clerics have opened dozens of seminaries to trans students, expediting their social inclusion.
Live as I love to live
Sokal said she "felt lucky" her family supported her, and felt "immensely loved" when she was flooded with congratulatory messages after her beauty contest win.
"They considered my achievement as their achievement," she said.
After graduation, she said she wants to become a model and host conferences and cultural shows.
"Many people praise that I walk well on the runway," she said. "My dream is one day that I will be a top model."
Her lesson for life is that she refused to let those opposing her define who she should be.
"I have always tried to live as I love to live," she said. "So, those bullying did not affect me."
She said she is proud of who she is.
"You may not like a colour of nature, but you can't deny that colour," she said. "I also consider myself as a colour of nature and I like this colour."
Source: newindianexpress.com
https://www.newindianexpress.com/world/2023/nov/23/bangladesh-beauty-queen-brings-dawn-of-hope-for-trans-women-2635523.html
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Scream 7 actress fired over pro-Palestinian posts
November 23, 2023
LOS ANGELES — Actress Melissa Barrera has been fired from the next Scream film sequel after its makers said her pro-Palestinian social media posts were antisemitic.
The star has posted regularly about the Israel-Gaza conflict, including resharing one post that accused Israel of "genocide and ethnic cleansing".
Production company Spyglass said it had "zero tolerance for antisemitism".
Meanwhile, Susan Sarandon has been dropped by her Hollywood agency after speaking at a pro-Palestinian rally.
Neither Sarandon, who starred in Thelma & Louise, nor Mexican actress Barrera have commented on their situations.
However, before her departure was announced, Barrera reshared a quote from another account on her Instagram story which read: "At the end of the day, I'd rather be excluded for who I include, than be included for who I exclude."
That post has been interpreted by some of her followers as a reference to her being sacked from the film.
Barrera has led the previous two Scream movies and has also starred in the recent screen version of Carmen and the 2021 adaptation of stage musical In The Heights.
Other posts shared by Barrera in recent weeks have included one about distorting the Holocaust "to boost the Israeli arms industry" and another saying Gaza was "currently being treated like a concentration camp".
In a statement released to Variety, a spokesman for Scream 7 production company Spyglass said its stance was "unequivocally clear".
It said: "We have zero tolerance for antisemitism or the incitement of hate in any form, including false references to genocide, ethnic cleansing, Holocaust distortion or anything that flagrantly crosses the line into hate speech."
Christopher Landon, who is expected to direct Scream 7, stylised as Scream VII, appeared to reference the situation on social media.
In a since-deleted post on X, he said: "Everything sucks. Stop yelling. This was not my decision to make."
The Scream franchise was rebooted in 2022, with the fifth film taking $137m (£109m) at the box office and the sixth earning $169m (£135m).
Barrera played Sam Carpenter in the films, the older sister of Tara, played by Jenna Ortega.
The rebooted films also starred Courteney Cox, David Arquette and Neve Campbell, reprising their original roles.
Barrera's firing followed news that actress Sarandon has been dropped by talent agency UTA.
She has been criticized for telling the rally last week: "There are a lot of people that are afraid of being Jewish at this time, and are getting a taste of what it feels like to be a Muslim in this country, so often subjected to violence."
She also said people were "educating themselves, people are stepping away from brainwashing that started when they were kids".
Sarandon encouraged attendees to "be strong, be patient, be clear and stand with anybody who has the courage to speak out".
A senior figure at another Hollywood agency, MahaDakhil of CAA, has also had backlash for Instagram posts about the conflict, one of which said: "What's more heartbreaking than witnessing genocide? Witnessing the denial that genocide is happening."
As a result, Ms Dakhil was relieved of her duties as co-chief the motion pictures department, although she was allowed to remain an agent.
According to Variety and other trade publications, one of her most famous clients, Tom Cruise, made it known to CAA that he was backing Ms Dakhil.
Cruise reportedly met her at the agency's office last week to show his support for Ms Dakhil in person.
The conflict began when Gaza-based gunmen from Hamas attacked southern Israel on 7 October, killing about 1,200 people and taking about 240 others hostage.
Israel launched a military operation to destroy Hamas in response. More than 14,000 people in Gaza have been killed, according to the Hamas-run government.
Israel and Hamas have now agreed a deal to release 50 hostages being held in Gaza during a four-day pause in fighting. — BBC
Source: saudigazette.com.sa
https://saudigazette.com.sa/article/638013/World/America/Scream-7-actress-fired-over-pro-Palestinian-posts
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PAS leader’s polygamy solution for late marriage among women
23 Nov 2023
ALLOWING polygamy for Muslim men can be a possible solution to address the issue of late marriage among Muslim women, says PAS politician Datuk Seri Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man (pic).
The Kubang Kerian MP said the issue is sensitive among many people.
“When we discuss polygamy, it is as if we are committing a crime.
“We must be rational. If a man is capable, qualified and fair, a huge moral support must be given to them (to practise polygamy),” he said during the debate on the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry at the committee stage in the Dewan Rakyat yesterday.
Tuan Ibrahim provided his own statistics that there are more than 8.4 million single women in the country.
“I know this is not the final solution, but this matter can be a way out to address the issue of late marriage, and I am sure some of those on the other side (government bench) will also consider this,” pointing at the government bloc, drawing laughter from the floor.
Datuk MohdIsamMohd Isa (BN-Tampin) then asked Tuan Ibrahim, “Do you have one or two (wives)?” which drew laughter again from the MPs.
Tuan Ibrahim replied that he only supports the suggestion.
“In terms of capability and needs, if you are capable, please go ahead. Although I only have one (wife), I have three more empty spots.
“I will wait, maybe we can move together,” he told MohdIsam.Yeo Bee Yin (PH-Puchong) criticised Tuan Ibrahim for making a “sexist” remark on polygamy.
“It is impolite to encourage polygamy and it hurts the sentiments of women and wives within the Dewan Rakyat and outside,” she said while Women’s, Family and Community Development Minister Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri was winding up her ministerial reply on the Budget 2024.She also added that women should not be deemed as having a “problem” for being unmarried, adding that it is the right and personal choice of women to decide whether they want to get married.
Yeo also urged Tuan Ibrahim to retract his statement.
“Don’t bully women just because we are smaller in numbers (in the Dewan Rakyat).”
Source: thestar.com.my
https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2023/11/23/pas-leaders-polygamy-solution-for-late-marriage-among-women
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Jailed Iranian Activist ArmitaPavir on New Hunger Strike
NOVEMBER 23, 2023
ArmitaPavir, a 29-year-old Iranian activist imprisoned in the northwestern city of Tabriz, says she has been on a hunger strike for 10 days, and holds the Islamic Republic accountable for any harm that may befall her.
In an audio file received by IranWire, Pavir says launched her hunger strike on November 12, the second since her arrest on September 13, emphasizing that her dreams, life and career have all been taken from her.
Speaking with a weak voice, she is interrupted every few minutes by a message saying, "This call is from Tabriz prison."
The activist says she will not relent, declaring that she cannot ignore the countless grieving families and the blood spilled in the authorities’ crackdown on dissent.
Recent reports emerged from Tabriz prison indicating that Pavir was hospitalized due to her deteriorating health.
The young woman was first detained during protests in Tabriz on October 31 last year. Before that, she was suspended and then banned from university for her student activism.
Pavir ran a Telegram channel where he shared her daily experiences and emphasized the need to keep up the resistance against the Islamic Republic to bring changes in her country.
Security agents have retained her mobile phone and electronic devices and pressured her to sign a letter of apology to justify her arrest.
The judiciary claims to have arrested her for "financial" reasons, citing a debt she allegedly owed the university for running a café at Tabriz Madani University.
However, an informed source has told IranWire that this is merely a pretext, as she remains incarcerated despite having paid the debt and damages.
In the audio file, Pavir confirms that the financial accusations are fabricated and describes being pressured to sign a "letter of repentance" since the first day of her detention.
According to Pavir, the city’s prosecutor forced her into a meeting in Tabriz prison.
"They told me to write a letter of repentance and express regret... but I explicitly stated that I’m not sorry or regretful, and if given the chance again, I would take the same actions," she says.
"Our discussion continued, and the prosecutor bluntly declared that anyone who opposes this system [the Islamic Republic] is a traitor,” she adds. “He was so enraged and narrow-minded that he shouted in the hallway that ‘no one has the right to assist this woman.’"
In response, she shouted that “no one desires assistance from you or your kind."
Pavir details the harassment she has faced since her arrest, stating that "from the moment I arrived, various officials spoke to me repeatedly to persuade me to write a letter of repentance."
She explains that her refusal to sign the letter and her interaction with the prosecutor led to the extension of her detention.
While similar cases typically take 10 to 15 days to reach court, this process took three months in Pavir’s case. During this time, a judge ruled she should remain incarcerated.
Pavir explains that after observing her positive interactions with other inmates, prison officials transferred her to a cell on a separate floor reserved for minors.
However, she says the cell also houses a woman accused of murder and another who faces the death penalty for drug trafficking.
"If I am a financial prisoner, why am I not in a financial ward [of the prison]?" she asks.
Pavir said she first went on a hunger strike to protest her transfer to a cell outside the general and financial crimes ward and the relentless pressure she endured.
"They didn't allow me to shop on my own,” she says. “I had to write a list and have other people buy things for me. As time went on, they increased the psychological pressure. The prison warden confiscated my notebook for no reason, even though I was using it to learn handicraft skills. When I walk in the yard, people constantly follow me around, eavesdropping on my conversations with others."
"This system, despite its arsenal of weapons, media outlets and despite its use of punishments, threats, and all forms of repression, feels so weak that it fears a women activist like me," she continued. "If I talk to a fellow prisoner for five minutes, the prison's order is disrupted."
Pavir reveals that she ended her first hunger strike after receiving promises from prison authorities that she would be transferred to the ward housing financial prisoners by November 10.
"They didn’t keep their promise, so I resumed my hunger strike and will not end it under any circumstances," she says.
"With each passing day, I become increasingly aware of my capacity for resilience and bravery."
"The end of this path is clear to me, not only for me but for all of us," according to the activist, who ends her audio message by saying: "Hope. Don't lose hope."
Source: iranwirem.co
https://iranwirem.co/en/women/122793-jailed-iranian-activist-armita-pavir-on-new-hunger-strike/
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Women’s tailoring banned in Herat, specialized women’s market closed in Balkh
Fidel Rahmati
November 22, 2023
Sources from Herat confirm that the Taliban administration has prohibited women’s tailoring in the central region of this province. Simultaneously, some media outlets have reported establishing a specialized women’s market in Balkh.
The source, who preferred not to be named in the report, informed Khama Press that Taliban forces entered the city Wednesday morning to inspect commercial markets. Several markets, including all women’s clothing tailoring centres, have been closed as part of this inspection.
The source added that over the past week, “whispers about the Taliban administration blocking women’s tailoring were heard, but no one believed that these warnings could become a reality.”
The exact number of tailoring shops that have been closed is not specified. It is worth noting that earlier this year, the Taliban had also banned women’s tailoring in Balkh province.
The Taliban has not provided any statement regarding this action so far. This contrasts with reports from some media outlets that indicate establishing a specialized women’s market in Balkh. It is noteworthy that at the beginning of November, the Taliban had imposed a ban on women’s tailoring in Balkh as well.
According to its sources in Mazar-e-Sharif, the daily newspaper “Ettelaat-e-Roz” reported that a women’s commercial market called “Khadija Kubra” has been closed due to tax liabilities.
This commercial market consists of around 200 shops for women, all managed by women. One of the women shopkeepers stated, “This market has been in debt for a long time; why should we suffer? The government should hold accountable those who have had outstanding debts.”
Source: khaama.com
https://www.khaama.com/womens-tailoring-banned-in-herat-specialized-womens-market-closed-in-balkh/
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URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/male-haram-muslim-women-deobandi/d/131166