Alfisha Syed a Muslim Woman Denied Islamic Burial Rites After Marrying Hindu Man In Bareilly
New Age Islam News Bureau
08 June 2025
• Alfisha Syed a Muslim Woman Denied Islamic Burial Rites After Marrying Hindu Man In Bareilly
• Systematic Violence Against Women Increases In Eastern Kurdistan And Iran
• Gaza: Women And Girls Struggle To Manage Their Periods Amid Crisis
• The Taliban Letters: One Woman Writes In Freedom, The Other In Fear
• Iran win Indonesia in 2025 AVC Women's Volleyball Nations Cup
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/muslim-woman-islamic-marrying-hindu-bareilly/d/135807
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Alfisha Syed a Muslim Woman Denied Islamic Burial Rites After Marrying Hindu Man In Bareilly
Jun 6, 2025
The burial was completed in the presence of police. (Representative image)
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BAREILLY/MEERUT: A 27-year-old Muslim woman was denied Islamic funeral rites by a mosque in Bareilly after marrying a Hindu man, her family claimed.
The woman, identified as Alfisha Syed—also known as Arshi—died on Sunday due to illness at her maternal home in Bareilly’s Mohalla Zakhira locality. Her family approached several local mosques to perform funeral prayers but were turned away.
According to the family, Arshi had married Rahul Srivastava, a Hindu man from Bareilly, on January 16, 2022. They claim the wedding was conducted in accordance with Islamic rituals and that Rahul had accepted Islam and adopted the name Zubair Ali.
“We showed evidence to religious authorities, but they dismissed it, demanding written documentation instead,” said Arshi’s mother, Sohaliya Khan, speaking to TOI.
“Locals said she married a Hindu and is no longer a Muslim. Conducting her last rites at the mosque would violate Islamic principles. Her family’s claims must first be verified,” he said.
Left with no other option, the family arranged for the funeral on their own. No one from the neighbourhood came forward to assist with the ritual bathing of the body, and the family faced resistance at the burial ground.
“A complaint was received regarding the denial of funeral rites. The burial was completed in the presence of police, and further action is being taken,” said Rajesh Kumar, SHO, Qila Police Station.
Meanwhile, Imam Khurshid Alam of Shahi Jama Masjid confirmed that Arshi’s father had presented marriage documents. “We have spoken to her husband, who confirmed his conversion to Islam. All evidence will be reviewed at the Dargah Alah. If the claims are verified, funeral prayers will be offered at her grave,” he said.
“If the allegations of misinformation are true, we will ask the community to apologise to the family, failing which legal action may be pursued,” Alam added.
Source: Timesofindia
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Systematic violence against women increases in Eastern Kurdistan and Iran
NÛJIYAN ADAR
8 June 2025
The Islamic Republic of Iran continued its systematic violations of women’s rights throughout 2025. Kurdish women living in Eastern Kurdistan (Rojhilat) faced dual discrimination based on both their ethnic identity and their gender.
The Iranian regime’s policies aimed at controlling women were manifested through forced veiling laws, arbitrary arrests, torture, flogging, and death sentences. In 2025, we documented the violations committed against women in Iran, particularly in Eastern Kurdistan, in detail, exposing the systematic oppression carried out by the Iranian state.
In Iran, forced veiling laws continued to systematically violate the fundamental rights of women and girls throughout 2025. These laws targeted not only adult women but also girls as young as seven, infringing upon their rights to freedom of expression, religion, and belief.
According to reports published by Amnesty International in 2025, these laws subjected women and girls to “severe pain and suffering,” leading to ill-treatment that amounts to torture. For example:
In March 2025, a seven-year-old girl named Aysu Rahimi, living in the city of Kermanshah in Iran, was punished by her school administration for refusing to wear a headscarf on her way to school.
AysuRahimi’s family stated that the child did not want to wear a headscarf and that this was a matter of personal choice. However, the school administration cited a directive issued by the Iranian Ministry of Education in 2025, claiming that headscarves were mandatory for all girls starting at the age of seven.
As a result of her refusal, Aysu Rahimi was banned from attending school for a week, and her family received a written warning stating that the child needed “moral education.”
On March 15, 2025, AysuRahimi’s mother, Shilan Rahimi, was taken into custody on charges of “spreading propaganda against the regime” after criticizing the situation. During her detention, it was reported that Shilan Rahimi was subjected to psychological pressure and was forced to record a “confession” video.
She was released on bail ten days later, but authorities made it a condition that Aysu could only return to school if she wore the headscarf. Shilan Rahimi said her daughter suffered severe psychological trauma due to this imposition, began having nightmares, and no longer wanted to go to school.
In May 2025, 22-year-old sociology student Leyla Hosseini from the University of Tehran was stopped at the campus entrance by Iran’s “morality police.” Her headscarf was deemed problematic on the grounds that it was “not in accordance with Islamic rules”, it did not fully cover her hair and was considered too colorful.
Leyla Hosseini objected, telling the police there was nothing wrong with her clothing and that it was her personal choice. Despite this, the morality police forced her into a van and took her to a detention center in Tehran.
She was held at the center for four hours, during which she was subjected to physical violence. According to her statement, a female police officer slapped her, dragged her by the hair, and threw her to the ground. She was also insulted with remarks such as, “People like you spread immorality.”
During her detention, Leyla Hosseini was denied access to a lawyer and was not allowed to inform her family. After four hours, she was fined 500,000 tomans (approximately 10 US dollars) and was threatened with imprisonment if she “violated the rules again.”
The ‘White Wednesdays’ campaign, which has continued in Iran since the 2010s, is known as a civil disobedience movement against the country’s forced veiling laws. As part of the campaign, women protest every Wednesday by wearing white clothing or sharing photos and videos of themselves without headscarves on digital media platforms.
In April 2025, Azadeh Mohammadi, a 30-year-old teacher from Shiraz, joined the ‘White Wednesdays’ campaign by posting a video without a headscarf. In the video, she declared, “This is my body, my choice,” openly opposing the compulsory veiling laws.
Her video quickly went viral, receiving thousands of views and messages of support. However, on April 5, 2025, Azadeh Mohammadi was arrested during a raid on her home. Officers from the Ministry of Intelligence detained her on charges of “violating public morality” and “spreading propaganda against the regime.”
During her detention, Azadeh Mohammadi was subjected to both physical and psychological violence. One officer reportedly broke her arm and dragged her by the hair before throwing her to the ground.
She was held for ten days in a detention center in Shiraz. During this time, she was denied access to a lawyer, and her family received threatening phone calls. On April 15, 2025, a verdict was issued: fifty lashes and one year in prison. The flogging was carried out on April 17, leaving permanent scars on her back.
Azadeh Mohammadi was transferred to Adelabad Prison in Shiraz to serve her sentence. Her health condition deteriorated due to the prison environment; the broken bone in her arm was left untreated, leading to a severe infection.
At the beginning of 2025, especially in the lead-up to International Women’s Day on March 8, Iranian authorities attempted to prevent women from gathering and demanding their rights by issuing threats and warnings. In one video, a woman without a headscarf is seen being assaulted by the morality police, while other women nearby intervene and show solidarity by confronting the officers. This incident became a powerful example of the ongoing struggle of women in Iran, who continue to resist both state violence and social oppression.
In the first week of February 2025, Shirin Bahrami, a 29-year-old Kurdish singer and women’s rights activist living in Tehran, released a protest song on a social media platform. The song criticized Iran’s compulsory veiling laws and centered around the slogan Jin, Jiyan, Azadî (Women, Life, Freedom), highlighting the struggle for women’s liberation.
Shirin Bahrami performed the song without wearing a headscarf, and the video included symbolic scenes depicting the regime’s oppression of women. The clip quickly gained thousands of views. Her song soon drew the attention of the regime’s so-called “morality police,” known as the Guidance Patrols.
On February 7, 2025, Shirin Bahrami was arrested during a raid on her home in Tehran. Officers from the Ministry of Intelligence detained her on charges of “spreading propaganda against the regime” and “insulting Islam.”
During the detention, her phone and computer were confiscated. Her family was also subjected to pressure; her mother and sister were threatened when they attempted to submit a petition for her release.
Shirin Bahrami was held in solitary confinement for ten days in Tehran’s Evin Prison. During this time, she was denied access to legal counsel and was reportedly subjected to both physical and psychological torture. Authorities attempted to force her to record a “confession” video, but Shirin Bahrami resisted the pressure.
On February 17, 2025, a verdict was issued: she was sentenced to 74 lashes on charges of “violating public morality” for singing a protest song against discriminatory veiling laws. She also received a two-year prison sentence and was banned indefinitely from using digital media.
The case of Shirin Bahrami is just one example of the Iranian regime’s ongoing crackdown on female singers and activists. During the same period, at least fifteen women journalists and activists in Iran had their digital media accounts shut down, and three female singers were arrested on charges of “producing immoral content.”
These incidents reflect a systematic targeting of women’s artistic expression and activism. While women like Shirin Bahrami pay a heavy price, a climate of fear is imposed on other women across the country.
In Eastern Kurdistan, Kurdish women have been targeted by the Iranian regime both for their ethnic identity and their defense of women’s rights. Throughout 2025, arbitrary arrests, torture, and death sentences against women activists in the region continued without pause.
In March 2025, officers from the Ministry of Intelligence began arresting Kurdish women’s rights activists in Kurdistan Province for participating in International Working Women’s Day events. Four women, Leila Pashaei, BaranSaedi, Sohaila Motaei, and Souma Mohammadrezaei, were detained, held in solitary confinement at a detention center in Sanandaj (Sine), and interrogated without access to legal counsel.
Sohaila Motaei had also been briefly arrested in January 2025 for protesting execution sentences issued to female prisoners. In the past, she was sentenced to five years in prison for “spreading propaganda against the system.”
Throughout 2025, the Iranian regime continued to issue death sentences against Kurdish women activists. Two Kurdish women, Pakshan Azizi and WarishaMoradi, were sentenced to death on fabricated charges such as “propaganda against the regime” and “waging war against the state.” These sentences sparked widespread outrage across Eastern Kurdistan.
On January 22, 2025, a general strike was held in Eastern Kurdistan. People took to the streets to protest the death sentences of Pakshan Azizi and WarishaMoradi.
On January 17, 2025, women prisoners held in Lakan Prison in Rasht (Reşt) issued a call urging the international community to stop the executions.
On April 1, 2025, Human Rights Watch (HRW) condemned the Iranian regime’s treatment of WarishaMoradi, ZeynabJalalian, and Narges Mohammadi in an urgent appeal.
Additionally, on March 9, 2025, dozens of human rights organizations launched a campaign demanding an end to the execution orders for Pakshan Azizi and WarishaMoradi, along with Sharifa Mohammadi.
The killing of Jina (Mahsa) Emini by the “morality police” in 2022 sparked a mass uprising across Iran and Eastern Kurdistan under the slogan 'Jin, Jiyan, Azadî'. The impact of this movement continues to resonate, yet the Iranian regime has responded with increasingly brutal measures to suppress the women who took part in it.
The protests that began after the killing of JinaEmini continued into 2025 as a platform for women to voice their demands for freedom. However, the regime has targeted women participating in these protests with charges such as “propaganda against the state.” For instance, the arrest and imprisonment of Sohaila Motaei during the 2022 protests serves as a clear example of the ongoing repression that persisted into 2025.
Women journalists who reported on the killing of JinaEmini and helped bring the protests to public attention also became targets of the regime. In 2025, many of these journalists were summoned for interrogation, had their digital media accounts shut down, and some were sentenced to prison.
Women’s rights in Iran have been systematically restricted since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. By 2025, the regime’s policies aimed at controlling women had grown even more severe. In the World Economic Forum’s 2017 report, Iran ranked 140th out of 144 countries in gender equality. This situation showed no improvement in 2025, on the contrary, it continued to deteriorate.
In Iran, women’s participation in the workforce increased by only 7 percent between 1990 and 2017, reaching just 19 percent. This rate remained low in 2025 as well. Women continued to face discrimination in both economic and social spheres.
The Iranian regime’s violations of women’s rights have also been a matter of concern for the international community. However, the regime has ignored these reactions.
During the 58th session of the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council, held from February 24 to April 4, 2025, the mandates of the Fact-Finding Mission and the special rapporteur on women’s rights violations in Iran were renewed. On March 18, an interactive dialogue addressed the Iranian regime’s systematic oppression of women.
Amnesty International stated that Iranian authorities have targeted women’s rights activists with arbitrary arrests, flogging, and death sentences. The organization called on Iran to end these policies and abolish the mandatory veiling laws.
Despite international pressure, the Iranian regime did not change its stance. On the contrary, repression against women intensified in 2025. The regime sought to silence women’s rights defenders by labeling them as “anti-revolutionary dissidents.”
Despite all forms of repression, women in Iran and Eastern Kurdistan continued their resistance in 2025. The slogan 'Jin, Jiyan, Azadî' remains a symbol of the women’s liberation struggle. General strikes, protests, and international campaigns held in Eastern Kurdistan reflect ongoing efforts by women to make their voices heard.
Source: Anfenglish.Com
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Gaza: Women and girls struggle to manage their periods amid crisis
8 June 2025
Globally, 1.8 billion people menstruate, yet for many, especially in crises zones, it’s far more than an inconvenience.
In war-torn Gaza, around 700,000 women and girls of menstruating age, including thousands experiencing their first period, face this challenge under relentless bombardment and in cramped, unsanitary conditions with little privacy.
The United Nations’ sexual and reproductive health agency, UNFPA, warns that the lack of access to menstrual products, clean water, and soap makes it nearly impossible for women and girls to manage their periods with dignity.
Since March, Israel’s aid blockade has depleted hygiene supplies in Gaza, including sanitary pads. The authorities temporarily lifted the ban last month and UN agencies were able to bring in limited amounts of items such as flour and medicine.
Since the end of May, aid is now being distributed through a system backed by the United States and Israel, bypassing the UN and other humanitarian agencies, but it falls far short of what is needed.
Nearly 90 per cent of the territory’s water and sanitation infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, and fuel for water pumping is no longer available.
“I only had one pad, so I wrapped it in toilet paper to make it last. I couldn’t wash, and the pain was horrible. I sat in silence crying until the end of the day.”
As nine in 10 households face extreme water shortages, the lack of clean water, soap, and privacy has turned menstruation into a source of anxiety, isolation, and shame. “Sometimes I need pads and soap more than I need food,” said Aisha*, a displaced girl.
With less than a quarter of the over 10 million sanitary pads needed each month available, women and girls are forced to improvise. Many use torn clothes, sponges, or old rags, often without proper cleaning.
“I tore my only shirt into pieces so my daughters could use them instead of pads,” shared a father of four displaced from Jabalia.
These makeshift solutions are not only painful and undignified, but they can also cause infections and long-term reproductive health issues. With the health system on the brink of collapse, thousands of women may go untreated.
Speaking from a health care perspective, but also as a woman, a doctor in Gaza described treating women coping with menstruation, pregnancy, and childbirth under horrifying conditions.
“These should be natural experiences, not sources of distress and pain. I see strength in women’s eyes, but I also see deep pain and the stripping away of dignity,” she said.
In emergencies, women and girls are among the most vulnerable. According to UN agencies, they face heightened risks due to displacement and the breakdown of normal protection structures and support. They also face increased care-related tasks such as providing food and water.
“Food keeps us alive, but pads, soap, and privacy let us live with dignity,” said Maysa*, a displaced woman in Khan Younis. “When we receive hygiene kits, it feels like someone finally sees us.”
As a frontline responder, UNFPA is working to ensure menstrual health is integrated across humanitarian efforts in Gaza. Since October 2023, the agency has provided more than 300,000 women and girls with two-month supplies of disposable menstrual pads and distributed postpartum kits to over 12,000 new mothers.
Yet, three months into a total aid blockade, stocks were nearly exhausted. With border crossings closed, hygiene kits are no longer reaching those in need. The recent entry of some aid distributed by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation included food, flour, medicine and nutrition support according to media reports.
Source: News.un.org
https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/06/1164081
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The Taliban Letters: One Woman Writes In Freedom, The Other In Fear
June 8 2025
When the British novelist Kate Mosse taught an online class to female writers in Kabul last November, organised by the UK-based organisation Untold Narratives, she couldn’t stop thinking about how different their lives were to hers.
Since the Taliban took back control in 2021, Afghanistan has once again become the worst place on Earth for women, whose rights have been stripped away. Women are barred from the workplace, and for the fourth year running Afghan girls are banned from high school.
While Mosse was about to go on tour, the women she had spoken to were forced into silence and imprisoned behind four walls. So she decided to write one of them a letter, the start of a remarkable correspondence with a woman who was risking her life to reply.
We haven’t met in the real world but it was great to hear your voice last year in the Afghan women’s writing group. There were so many points of similarity and also so many differences.
First let me tell you a little bit about myself. I’m a 63-year-old writer of fiction, non-fiction, plays, women’s history and memoir. I’m also the founder of the Women’s Prize for Fiction and currently embarking on my first one-woman tour, which is both thrilling and terrifying.
I’m a mother and a grandmother and for the past 15 years I have been a carer — first for my beloved father and mother, and now for my 94-year-old mother-in-law. She uses a wheelchair, she’s fantastic and fun, and she spends her days doing crosswords, knitting and jigsaw puzzles.
Now, what about you? I know you also write fiction and non-fiction. But I’d love to know more. Whatever you feel safe or inclined to share.
You and your fellow authors in the writers’ group clearly have courage and determination and face huge challenges, more than most artists have to contend with — but it’s why your work matters. Your words deserve to be heard. We are here. We are listening. So dear Parand, I can’t wait to hear back from you. I’m excited to discover how we — one Afghan writer, one English one — can start to build our dreams of a common language.
Source: Www.Thetimes.Com
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Iran win Indonesia in 2025 AVC Women's Volleyball Nations Cup
Jun 7, 2025,
Iran defeated Indonesia 3-2 (23-25, 25-23, 16-25, 25-19, 15-12) in their opening match of the 2025 AVC Women's Volleyball Nations Cup on Saturday, Tehran Times reported.
The Iranian team are placed in Pool B alongside the Philippines, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Indonesia, and New Zealand.
Iran are scheduled to play New Zealand on Sunday.
Pool A includes Vietnam, Australia, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, and India.
The Nations Cup is being held in Hanoi, Vietnam, from June 7 to June 14.
Source: En.Mehrnews.Com
https://en.mehrnews.com/news/232784/Iran-win-Indonesia-in-2025-AVC-Women-s-Volleyball-Nations-Cup
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URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/muslim-woman-islamic-marrying-hindu-bareilly/d/135807