Mumbai: Muslim Woman Alleges Domestic Violence After Husband Manish Hid Identity, Says She Was Beaten During Pregnancy
New Age Islam News Bureau
26 April 2026
• Mumbai: Muslim Woman Alleges Domestic Violence After Husband Manish Hid Identity, Says She Was Beaten During Pregnancy
• ‘He Posed as Rahman’: Bareilly Muslim Woman Accuses Husband Ashish Gangwar of Deception, Child Abduction
• Palestinians hold funerals for pregnant woman, children killed in Israeli strikes in Gaza
• Hamas operatives attack family in Gaza, including women and children
• 10 Muslim women who rule the Indian media space
• Kuwaiti women lead strong presence at Arab Women’s Week in London
• PCB announces Fatima Sana-led Pakistan women’s squad for Zimbabwe ODIs
• Turkish woman presses Trump DNA claim
• Corporate Jihad: How a Muslim Group at TCS Targeted Vulnerable Hindu Women via Power, Predation, and a Complicit HR Department
• The “Social Death” of Muslim Women in Quebec
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
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Mumbai: Muslim Woman Alleges Domestic Violence After Husband Manish Hid Identity, Says She Was Beaten During Pregnancy
April 26, 2026
A Muslim woman from Mumbai has alleged that she was deceived by her husband, Manish, whom she met through social media, and later subjected to repeated domestic violence after marriage. The case was reported at the Tilak Nagar Police Station.
The woman said her husband initially pretended to be someone else while communicating with her online, and later married her after a long relationship.
She alleged, “He spoke to another woman named Nikita Parekh during my pregnancy. I caught him multiple times, and when I objected, he beat me.”
The woman claimed that the situation worsened after the birth of her twin daughters in November, saying her in-laws expressed disappointment over not having a male child.
The woman further accused her husband and in-laws of regular harassment and physical violence. She said she was pressured for money to cover hospital expenses and told to bring financial support from her parental home.
The woman also alleged that she has been separated from her children and is not being allowed access to them. She claimed that her husband is withholding her personal documents, making it difficult for her to rebuild her life.
Source: theobserverpost.com
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‘He Posed as Rahman’: Bareilly Muslim Woman Accuses Husband Ashish Gangwar of Deception, Child Abduction
April 26, 2026
In Bareilly, a Muslim woman accused her husband, Ashish Gangwar, of hiding his identity and later fleeing with their four-month-old child.
The woman, identified as Fatima, has filed a complaint at the Nawabganj police station, alleging that her husband deceived her by posing as a Muslim man before marriage.
According to the complaint, the accused, Ashish Gangwar, first contacted her on Instagram and introduced himself as “Rahman.” Their online friendship gradually turned into a relationship, and after about a year, the two got married through nikah.
Fatima alleged that she only discovered months after marriage that her husband was not Muslim but Hindu and had concealed his real identity. “When I came to know the truth, I was completely shocked,” she said. Islamiceducation resources
She claimed the truth came out after the death of her father-in-law, when she visited her husband’s village. Locals allegedly informed her that his real name was Ashish, not Rahman.
This revelation led to disputes between the couple, though they later resumed living together. The couple also has a four-month-old son.
The situation took a serious turn when the couple recently travelled to Bareilly Junction, reportedly to go to Delhi. Fatima alleged that her husband suddenly disappeared from the station along with their infant son, leaving her behind.
The woman has made serious allegations, claiming that her husband threatened her and even intended to sell their child. She has demanded immediate action from the police to trace her son and ensure her safety.
Police have acknowledged the complaint and said that the matter is under investigation. According to officials, instructions have been given to examine the allegations and take necessary action.
Source: theobserverpost.com
https://theobserverpost.com/bareilly-woman-alleges-husband-hid-identity-fled-with-infant-son/
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Palestinians hold funerals for pregnant woman, children killed in Israeli strikes in Gaza
By Melanie Lidman
Apr 25, 2026
TEL AVIV, Israel —Palestinians on Saturday buried a woman pregnant with twins and two of her children, who were among at least 13 people killed in Israeli strikes in Gaza.
The toll on Friday included two men who were killed in Gaza City and eight others killed in the southern city of Khan Younis, according to local hospitals. Officials at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis said the eight people, including four police officers, were killed after Israel targeted a police vehicle.
Khalid Al-Tanani of BeitLahiya recalled the series of strikes that killed his wife and two of his four children in the northern Gaza Strip.
“With the first shell, thank God we all survived and were calling out to each other. Then they fired the second, third and fourth shells one after the other. Their voices fell silent. I went inside and found my wife, Islam Al-Tanani, martyred, and my son, Hamza, and Naya in her mother’s arms. I found them martyred.” The children were 4 and 13 years old.
Hamza’s 13-year-old twin survived, along with another of the couple's children. Al-Tanani said they had just started talking about gathering baby items and clothes for the twins.
Family members wailed over the bodies Saturday. “You took my soul with you, Hamza, you took me with you and broke me, Hamza,” his grandmother sobbed.
Israel's military said several militants had threatened troops in the area and the military targeted them in an airstrike after warning civilians. Al-Tanani said the strikes came without prior notice.
Israel’s military said it had targeted two militants who threatened its troops in Gaza City and did not comment on the third strike in Khan Younis that killed eight.
While the heaviest fighting has mostly subsided, deadly Israeli strikes have repeatedly disrupted the truce since it took effect on Oct. 10. The escalating Palestinian toll has prompted many in Gaza to say it feels like the war has continued unabated.
Israeli forces frequently fire on Palestinians near military-held zones. Militants have carried out shooting attacks on troops, and Israel says its strikes are in response to that and other violations. Four Israeli soldiers have been killed since the ceasefire.
Israeli attacks have killed more than 790 people since the fragile ceasefire between Hamas and Israel was put in place six months ago, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry, part of the Hamas-led government, maintains detailed casualty records that are seen as generally reliable by U.N. agencies and independent experts. It does not give a breakdown of civilians and militants.
Overall, the health ministry says 72,300 Palestinians have been killed since the war in Gaza began with the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on Israel.
The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel and killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, on Oct. 7, 2023.
Source: www.kcra.com
https://www.kcra.com/article/palestinian-pregnant-woman-children-killed-israeli-strikes/71126439
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Hamas operatives attack family in Gaza, including women and children
By NuritYohanan
16-04-2026
Palestinian media publishes footage said to show Hamas operatives beating residents in Gaza.
According to the reports, the incident took place overnight between Friday and Saturday in the Rimal neighborhood of Gaza City.
The reports say that following a dispute between a member of the al-Wahidi family and a Hamas operative, around 40 armed Hamas members arrived at the family’s building and assaulted residents, including women and children.
A family member filmed a video after the incident, saying: “I swear that even the Jews did not treat us [Gaza residents] with such humiliation. We are a respected family of Bedouin origin — a Bedouin takes revenge even after forty years and says he acted too soon. We will settle accounts with everyone.”
Source: www.timesofisrael.com
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10 Muslim women who rule the Indian media space
byAashaKhosa
26-04-2026
The media is considered a tough profession, and naturally, till few decades ago, very few women were part of it. However, the pioneers, especially among Muslims, whose journeys span television studios, radio booths, conflict zones, and digital platforms, helped turn the narrative on national and local issues. With a growing presence of Muslim women in newsrooms, on TV screens conducting prime-time news debates, as Radio Jockeys, and covering conflicts on the ground, they have empowered the community and made media space more inclusive.
Under its series Parvaz, Awaz-the Voice brings you the stories of ten women from the Indian media who have left a mark in the field. They represent a generation of women who refused to remain confined by convention and instead built identities rooted in excellence and purpose. Here are the top Muslim women media persons:
Yana Mir has emerged as one of the strongest voices from Kashmir, challenging Pakistan-backed propaganda through journalism, entrepreneurship and advocacy. Educated in Mumbai and rooted in Kashmir, she returned to the Valley in 2020 to report stories often ignored, including the families of policemen killed by terrorists and the silence created by fear.
Her speech at the UK Parliament in 2024 brought international attention when she spoke of feeling free and safe in India. Through her enterprise NourZuw, she also supports Kashmiri artisans and promotes economic self-reliance.
Seema Mustafa stands among India’s most fearless journalists, with a career spanning nearly five decades. Beginning at The Pioneer at just nineteen, she went on to work with leading publications such as The Indian Express, The Telegraph and The Asian Age.
She reported from war zones, including Beirut and Kargil, earning the Prem Bhatia Award. Founder of the digital platform The Citizen, she remains a powerful advocate for independent journalism and women’s voices. As the first elected President of the Editors Guild of India, she reinforced the principle that journalism must question power, not flatter it.
RubikaLiyaquat has built a strong identity in Indian television journalism through discipline, sharp reporting and composed primetime anchoring. Beginning with field reporting, she worked with networks such as Live India, News24, Zee News and ABP News, steadily rising to national prominence.
Beyond the newsroom, she is recognised for affirming India’s plural social fabric through messages of mutual respect and Hindu-Muslim harmony. Her journey highlights resilience, merit and the importance of coexistence in a polarised age.
Rana Siddiqui Zaman broke barriers to become a respected voice in journalism, particularly in cinema, culture and the performing arts. Educated at Aligarh Muslim University, she chose journalism when it was still considered unconventional for women.
Her defining years at The Hindu earned her acclaim for insightful columns and interviews with major artists. After professional setbacks and economic challenges, she reinvented herself and now works with the Children’s Book Trust. Her story is one of courage, reinvention and quiet determination.
NagmaSahar is widely regarded as one of the most balanced and socially committed voices in television journalism. Born in Patna and educated in Delhi, including studies at JNU, she brought academic depth to her reporting. At NDTV India, she covered major events from the tsunami in Tamil Nadu to elections in Kashmir.
Her show Salaam Zindagi brought issues such as addiction, discrimination and transgender rights into mainstream conversation with empathy and dignity. Her career reflects integrity and meaningful journalism.
HeenaKausar Khan has become an important journalistic and literary voice by bringing the inner realities of the Muslim community into mainstream Marathi discourse. Raised in Pune, she started her career with Lokmat before turning to feature writing.
Through platforms like Sadhana Weekly and Loksatta, she explored identity, reform and changing social consciousness. Her books, including Itranama and Ijtihad, have earned acclaim and honours. She continues to advocate humanity, coexistence and nuanced understanding.
AtikaFarooqui has enjoyed a distinguished media career spanning more than two decades. Known as a thoughtful host and interviewer, she built her reputation through consistency rather than instant fame.
Working across news and entertainment, she became known for warm, intelligent conversations that focused on creativity and personal journeys rather than sensationalism. A poet and writer fluent in multiple languages, she remains relevant by adapting gracefully from television to the digital era.
DrFirdous Khan, celebrated as “The Princess of the Isle of Words,” is a scholar, poet, journalist and translator whose work bridges spirituality, literature and media. Associated with the Sufi tradition, she has authored books such as Fahm al-Qur’an and Pioneers of Ganga–Jamuni Culture.
Her career spans Doordarshan, All India Radio and numerous print platforms. Writing in Urdu, Hindi, Punjabi and English, she has earned honours for journalism and literature while promoting harmony, service and the enduring power of words.
Shah Taj Khan, professionally known as ShehTaz Begum Khan, is a distinguished Urdu author, journalist, and educator whose career spans more than twenty-five years across print media, broadcasting, literature, and academia.
Based in Pune, she has earned respect in Urdu journalism through roles as reporter, editor, producer, and creative director with organisations such as ETV News, where she helped shape the special bulletin KhasBaat, as well as publications like NaiDuniya Urdu Weekly and Media Star News Feature Agency.
Source: www.awazthevoice.in
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Kuwaiti women lead strong presence at Arab Women’s Week in London
April 26, 2026
The first edition of Arab Women’s Week, organized by the Arab Business Leaders Council in London, witnessed a strong Kuwaiti presence through the participation of businesswomen Tayba Al-Humaidhi and SheikhaAwatif Al-Sabah, alongside more than 1,000 senior figures from the United Kingdom and the Middle East and North Africa region.
The event brought together entrepreneurs, policymakers, investors, and influencers in the fields of entrepreneurship, innovation, and social impact, with the aim of strengthening the role of Arab women globally and enhancing their participation in economic and leadership platforms.
Both Kuwaiti participants took part in a wide international program of panels and discussions focused on empowering Arab women and expanding their influence through knowledge exchange and cross-border dialogue, Al-Rai daily reports.
During the event, Tayba Al-Humaidhi, an entrepreneur, behavioral scientist, and founder of the “Li Walakum” platform, was honored at the British House of Lords with the “Entrepreneurship in Social Impact” award. The recognition highlighted her contributions to financial literacy, behavioral research, and women’s economic empowerment.
Al-Humaidhi said the award reflects her efforts in applying behavioral science and financial knowledge to public benefit through her platform, which provides simplified financial awareness content aimed at improving decision-making and addressing behavioral barriers to economic independence.
She also participated as a speaker in a panel discussion at the Arab Businesswomen’s Forum, where she addressed the future of entrepreneurship and the importance of financial literacy in achieving sustainable growth. She emphasized the need to transform financial knowledge into practical tools that strengthen women’s ability to make informed financial decisions.
Al-Humaidhi further highlighted her academic and professional background, including her studies at the London School of Economics and her ongoing doctoral research in behavioral finance, in addition to her media work through more than 50 television and digital episodes focused on financial awareness.
Meanwhile, SheikhaAwatif Al-Sabah participated in a separate panel discussion attended by members of ruling families, diplomats, investors, and global thought leaders. She shared her experience in establishing the training and consultancy center “Bio Sol,” focusing on personal development and leadership.
She was also honored during the week in recognition of her work in promoting self-awareness, psychological resilience, and purposeful leadership through training and empowerment initiatives. She highlighted the importance of mental health, coaching, and capacity-building in strengthening individuals and communities.
Both participants underscored the importance of empowering frontline workers and individuals in crisis-affected environments, stressing that intellectual, psychological, and professional support is essential for building resilient societies.
Their participation reflects the growing international presence of Kuwaiti women in global forums, where they are increasingly contributing to discussions on entrepreneurship, leadership, mental health, and economic empowerment.
The event was hosted at prominent British venues, including Mansion House, the British House of Lords, and the Royal Society, reflecting its high-level international standing and broad participation.
Arab Women’s Week concluded with a series of strategic meetings between founders, investors, and policymakers, aimed at strengthening cooperation between the United Kingdom and the Arab world and supporting women-led entrepreneurship and innovation.
The Arab Business Leaders Council, established in London in 2022, continues to focus on empowering Arab entrepreneurs through innovative solutions that support business growth and global market expansion.
Source: timeskuwait.com
https://timeskuwait.com/kuwaiti-women-lead-strong-presence-at-arab-womens-week-in-london/
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PCB announces Fatima Sana-led Pakistan women’s squad for Zimbabwe ODIs
April 26, 2026
KARACHI: The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has announced a 15-member squad for the upcoming three-match ODI series against Zimbabwe Women, scheduled to be held at the National Bank Stadium from May 4-9.
The ODI series, part of the ICC Women’s Championship 2025–29, will be followed by a three-match T20I series at the same venue. The T20I squad will be announced in due course.
Fatima Sana will continue to lead the side in the ODI series. The matches are scheduled for 4, 6 and 9 May, with all games set to begin at 3:30pm PKT.
Pakistan are currently placed fifth in the ICC Women’s Championship standings with two points, following their away ODI series against South Africa earlier this year.
Zimbabwe Women’s team will tour Pakistan for the first time in their history and are scheduled to arrive in Karachi on 29 April. Both teams will undergo training sessions at the National Bank Stadium from 30 April to 3 May.
Fatima Sana (c), Aliya Riaz, Ayesha Zafar, Diana Baig, Gull Feroza, MominaRiasat, Muneeba Ali (wk), NajihaAlvi (wk), NashraSundhu, Natalia Parvaiz, RameenShamim, SadafShamas, Sidra Amin, SyedaAroob Shah and TasmiaRubab.
Ayesha Ashhar (team manager), WahabRiaz (mentor/head coach), AbdurRehman (spin bowling coach), Umaid Asif (fast bowling coach), Abdul Majeed (fielding coach), Imran Farhat (batting coach), Muhammad Arslan (media manager), Waleed Ahmed (analyst), Moeen (strength and conditioning coach), TehreemSumbal (physiotherapist) and KiranShahzadi (masseuse).
Source: www.geosuper.tv
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Turkish woman presses Trump DNA claim
April 26, 2026
A Turkish woman’s paternity lawsuit claiming Donald Trump is her biological father has been dismissed by a court for lack of evidence, but she is appealing and pursuing U.S. legal channels. NeclaÖzmen, 55, says she learned in 2017 that she was adopted after a possible hospital baby swap involving an American woman named Sophia. She insists her aim is not to harm Trump but to confirm the truth through a DNA test and a direct conversation.
Source: www.msn.com
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Corporate Jihad: How a Muslim Group at TCS Targeted Vulnerable Hindu Women via Power, Predation, and a Complicit HR Department
April 26, 2026
“The Nashik TCS case, based on multiple police complaints and an ongoing investigation, outlines serious allegations of sexual exploitation, harassment, and religious coercion involving several team leaders and HR personnel. An undercover operation reportedly revealed a pattern in which young, vulnerable employees—many working night shifts—were targeted through a combination of authority, personal manipulation, and institutional failure. Accounts point to the misuse of supervisory power, inadequate HR response, and gaps in the enforcement of workplace safeguards under the POSH framework. Beyond the individuals involved, the case raises broader concerns about vulnerability within India’s BPO sector and the effectiveness of corporate grievance systems. As investigations continue, it stands as a critical test of accountability for corporate India.
More than a decade ago, a former Indian Navy officer fresh out of his Short Service Commission landed what should have been a dream job at one of Bengaluru’s biggest IT firms. Instead, he walked into a corporate minefield. The HR department, he later confided, operated like a shadow network — openly woke Hindus and Muslim employees working in eerie tandem. Show even mild support for the Ram Temple or Hindu causes, and your career was quietly torched: negative appraisals, denied promotions, extended benching. “I shut down completely and stopped talking to my colleagues because anyone could have been a spy,” he recalled. The anti-Hindu undercurrent was so thick that he lasted just months before putting in his papers. His warning? This wasn’t just one rogue office. It was the underbelly of India’s marquee IT giants.
Source: hindupost.in
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The “Social Death” of Muslim Women in Quebec
By Christopher Curtis
April 25, 2026
Belkacem taught children in Quebec’s government-subsidized daycares for nearly 20 years, taking babies from their parents’ arms every morning and returning them safely at night.
She was like a second mother to them, witnessing first steps and first words, teaching them how to use a fork, how to say please, how to show empathy and which arm goes in which sleeve of their winter coats.
Years ago, when a mother with two children in Belkacem’s care became pregnant with her third, she said Belkacem would drive the kids home every night so she didn’t have to pick them up.
All of these things that Belkacem did — from wiping away tears to lighting candles on birthday cakes — she did while wearing a hijab. But hijabi women aren’t allowed to work in Quebec’s government-run daycare system anymore.
“Kids, they care about how you make them feel, not what’s on your head,” said Belkacem. “Those children were my life. That job was my life. I rarely visited my family back in Algeria because I needed to be there for my kids. That’s what they were to me.”
Banning religious symbols may be a priority for this government, but it’s a different story for the working families who actually rely on the system. Some 62 per cent of parents with children in Quebec daycares say it doesn’t matter if their teacher wears a hijab, according to a Léger poll released in March.
Waiting lists for a spot in the subsidized program stretch for years because of staffing shortages. So why shrink the labour pool? Why pick a fight with workers whose conditions are so dire that half leave the profession within their first two years of service?
In its bid to reinforce secularism in the province, the Coalition Avenir Québec (CAQ) government passed Bill 9 in April, prohibiting government-run daycare employees from wearing religious symbols on the job. The law also forbids prayers in public spaces, prayer spaces in universities, and prevents hijabi women from volunteering at their children’s schools.
“They chose to lose their jobs,” Drainville said, during a press scrum in February. “They decided not to respect the law, and therefore it’s their decision.”
Belkacem quit before the new law came into effect. She said there was more honour in leaving than being told to go. Her voice still cracks when she speaks about it.
“I am someone who is proud, and my dignity, it’s important to me,” said Belkacem. “My government telling me how to dress? I cannot accept that. I changed countries once before, I can change jobs. But it is a dark time. I have no income of my own. I told my husband, ‘Now you’re carrying me.’ We have one income but a mortgage to pay, two kids to put through school.
“And while we’re dealing with this crisis, I am grieving the loss of my career. I see a baby in public and it nearly brings a tear to my eye. I miss it so much. Seventeen years, this was my life.”
Bill 9 is the latest measure by the CAQ government to impose French-style secularism in its public institutions. The law’s predecessor, Bill 21, prevents public school teachers, police officers, prison guards and other authority figures from wearing religious garments on the job.
In theory, Bill 21 applies to all religions. But in practice, it targets Muslim women. At least, according to research by the Association for Canadian Studies, York University and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association.
A survey of over 1,000 religious minorities found that, since the adoption of Bill 21, the political climate in Quebec has left Muslims isolated, hopeless and fearing for their children’s future in the province. Published in 2022, the study tracked an alarming rise in hate crimes against Muslims, citing examples of women being spat on, having their hijab ripped off, and one mother being run off the road by a pickup truck. The woman was walking with her three-year-old at the time.
Although the CAQ is polling a distant third, the Parti Québécois (PQ) sits within reach of forming a government. PQ leader Paul Saint-Pierre Plamondon has promised to extend the hijab ban to students in elementary school. The PQ leader recently gave an exclusive interview to Rebel News, an organization with a history of sharing Islamophobic conspiracy theories. Rebel News was investigated by the Toronto Police’s hate crimes unit in 2024 after its owner ran ads claiming Canada was “under siege” because of immigration from Muslim-majority countries.
And while the Liberals are polling a close second to the PQ, the party — once a stalwart defender of religious minorities — supports Bill 21. However, the Liberals say they wouldn’t oppose court challenges to the bill.
“We don’t have any defenders in the political sphere. We’re on our own now,” said ZeinabDiab, a scholar whose PHD research centred on Bill 21. “These women are experiencing a social death, their choices are being limited by the state, they are being physically and psychologically isolated by the state.
On the one hand, when Drainville says hijabi women “chose to lose their jobs,” he claims they’re actively resisting the will of the state.
On the other hand, when Secularism Minister Jean-François Roberge testified before a parliamentary commission in February, he suggested these women needed to be liberated by the state.
“This is the same logic Canada used to justify the residential school system,” Diab said. “They were saving Indigenous kids by removing them from their communities, their spiritual practices, their language and assimilating them into a ‘superior’ culture. This is about the white majority in Quebec exerting control over its minorities. It is not feminism guiding their decision-making, it is colonialism.”
Amira Elghawaby served as Canada’s Special Envoy in Combating Islamophobia from 2023 to 2026, a role that brought her into contact with hundreds of hijabi women across the country.
Far from sheepish or submissive, these women hold public office and host television shows, they lecture at universities, compete in elite sports and run emergency rooms that save lives every day. Some chose to wear the hijab later in life despite worries from their parents that they might face discrimination. Others fear the attention their daughters might get should they one day decide to wear a piece of fabric that makes them so identifiably Muslim.
Elghawaby says that when Roberge claims he wants to save these women, he flattens the diversity within Muslim communities into something vaguely sinister.
“It creates this monolith of the brainwashed Muslim woman wearing a hijab without free will,” she said. “But in reality, this legislation is erasing these women from public life. You are almost dead in the social space. You are not alive the way other women are in Quebec. You’re not free to make decisions about your career. If your children are in school and they want a quiet moment for prayer, they’re not allowed. If you want to volunteer at your children’s school, you can’t.”
This CAQ government and the PQ have repeatedly argued that these secularism bills are a continuation of the Quiet Revolution, when francophone Quebecers emerged from under the shadow of the Catholic Church and built the foundation of a social democratic state in North America.
Diab counters that the state is already secular, public schools no longer teach religion, and Quebec did away with Protestant and Catholic school boards in the 1990s. She says that focusing on what a teacher wears rather than how they teach doesn’t address the potential for religious bias in our school system.
The legislation, which extends the symbols ban to support staff at schools, came after media reports of teachers imposing Muslim ideology at a public school in Côte-des-Neiges. A report by 98.5 FM found that a clique of teachers at the elementary school treated students differently based on their gender, religion and cultural background.
Some of the problematic teachers, who were mostly of Arab descent, were either refusing to teach science and sex education or only doing so sparingly. There were also tensions between the school’s Muslim and non-Muslim teachers, according to the news report. What the report didn’t mention is that there were also Muslim teachers standing up to the clique.
That’s what the Ministry of Education found in its own analysis of the Bedford School scandal. In the end, 11 teachers had their licenses suspended.
“The irony is that none of these teachers actually wore religious symbols,” said Diab. “Which goes to show how superficial these hijab bans are. Ultimately, they were fired for their actions and not what they wore. But now Muslim women must suffer the consequences.”
Before Bill 21, the PQ government of Pauline Marois tabled the Quebec charter of values in 2014. That legislation would’ve prevented public-facing employees of the state from wearing religious symbols, but it never passed. The PQ called a snap election and lost before voting on the charter.
Like Bill 21, the charter applied to all religious symbols, but the discourse and media coverage surrounding the legislation zeroed in on Muslim women. Particularly, that secularism and equality between men and women are fundamentally incompatible with the hijab.
The charter was itself an outgrowth of a social crisis that dominated Quebec headlines when the Charest Liberals were in power. With immigration from Muslim-majority countries increasing at the beginning of the 2000s, a handful of anecdotes about hijabs, halal meals and prayer spaces were amplified on the front pages of Quebec’s most-read daily newspapers.
The overwhelming message of these news items, Diab says, was that Muslims were imposing themselves on Quebec society. They did this by demanding accommodations related to their faith. In the midst of the media frenzy, there were countless reports about a village in Mauricie adopting a deeply Islamophobic bylaw.
In 2007, Hérouxville’s elected councillors tabled a “code of life” which implied that Muslim immigrants were prone to publicly beating women and burning them alive. News about Hérouxville was broadcast worldwide, making this small farming parish synonymous with intolerance.
But a university researcher who studied media coverage around the reasonable accommodations “crisis” found that much of the controversy was manufactured.
Researcher MarysePotvin published her findings in the International Journal of Canadian Studies. “The media,” she wrote, “(elevated) anecdotal material to a social crisis.” Something as banal as a request for halal options at a cabane à sucre became front-page news in the Journal de Montréal.
The 2008 Bouchard-Taylor report also found that claims of creeping religious influence in Quebec society were a “crisis of perception” stoked by distortions in media reports.
Ahead of the 2007 provincial election, PQ Leader Andre Boisclair sided with Quebec’s religious minorities, denouncing the “incredible downward slide” of our political discourse.
Months later, the PQ’s conservative supporters abandoned the party in favour of Action Démocratique du Québec (ADQ), a party whose leader took a hard line against Islam during the campaign. With its base splintered, the PQ suffered its worst political defeat in a generation, finishing third behind the Liberals and ADQ. After Marois replaced Boisclair in June 2007, the PQ began adopting the politics of exclusion.
Richard Martineau, for instance, wrote 438 columns about Islam between 2006 and 2014. Writing in Quebec’s largest newspaper chain, Martineau described Islam and the hijab in overwhelmingly negative terms, speaking about Muslim women but rarely listening to them, according to a study by the Université du Québec à Montréal.
In 2016 alone,LaPresse published 1,408 articles about Islam, but only 64 featuring the word “Islamophobia”, making Muslims incredibly visible while ignoring crucial aspects of their lives from the discourse.
This discourse, Diab claims, has largely been imported from France, where the government imposed a series of hijab bans starting in 2004. And while the legislation was passed in the 21st century, the history of “unveiling” Muslim women stretches back even further.
“The French were ‘unveiling’ Muslims in the streets of Algeria almost 70 years ago,” said Diab. “The French military would stage these public unveiling ceremonies and invite reporters, cameras, it was a huge event. These images would then be broadcast in France so they could tell the citizens back home, ‘Look, we’re not colonizing Algeria, we’re liberating its women.’
“But they didn’t care about these women, they wanted to destroy the solidarity these women found through Islam to further dominate them.”
Staged as a response to the uprisings against colonial rule in Algeria, the wives of French generals would remove the women’s hijabs and even burn them while a crowd cheered.
They combined this with a postering campaign that featured a Muslim woman removing a face covering with the caption: “Are you not pretty? Unveil yourself!”
Twenty were teachers and one was an attorney. Three-quarters of them were born in Quebec, but she says none feel as though they’ll ever truly be considered Québécoise.
“Quebec tells us ‘We don’t want you as you are, you’re not a Québécois when you wear your hijab,’” said Diab. “But even if we do remove it, we’ll never be Québécois enough for some.”
She argues that it also presents the risk of further ghettoizing Muslims from the rest of Quebec, with some families either homeschooling their children or sending them to private schools that aren’t subject to Bill 21.
If anything, these women are doing everything they can to continue to live in Quebec, work in French, and help raise the next generation of students. All of them, she said, belong to a support network of hijabi women who share legal and practical advice on how to live with the obstacles imposed on them.
“Women adapt, they come up with strategies, a Plan A, a Plan B, a Plan C, but the government keeps putting up more obstacles,” Diab said. She says that many of the women working in daycares are already on their Plan B since they used to be public school teachers. Now, it may be that the only hope they have to remain in Quebec is riding on a Supreme Court decision.
Although the law violates provisions in Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Quebec adopted it using Section 33 of the Constitution, also known as the notwithstanding clause. Section 33 is a seldom-used constitutional tool to circumvent the Charter.
The Supreme Court could still overturn Bill 21 if it finds that it violates sections of the Constitution not covered by the notwithstanding clause. Section 28, for instance, mandates that all Charter freedoms apply equally to men and women. If the Court finds that the law, as it is applied, overwhelmingly violates the rights of women, then it might have cause to overturn.
There are also pre-Confederation statutes put in place to protect the rights of Canada’s francophone Catholic minority to hold office and practice their religion in a state run by British Protestants.
“There is also the matter of the ancient right of the courts to judicial review,” said Pearl Eliadis, a professor at McGill University’s faculty of law. “These ways predate the Charter, they go all the way back to English common law. We have a Constitution where the judiciary is the ultimate arbiter of the legality of government action. So does the fact that Section 33 (the notwithstanding clause) has been invoked eliminate that right?”
Eliadis cites a case in Saskatchewan where the government used Section 33 to pass legislation that would make it illegal for teachers to refer to students by their chosen pronouns. The case, which is also before the Supreme Court, tests whether the notwithstanding clause can override judicial review.
Last year, the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal said there is nothing in the language of Section 33 that limits the court’s right to determine the legality of a law.
For Belkacem, who feels worn out by years of arguing over her place in Quebec society, striking down Bill 21 would pave the way for Bill 9 to be ruled unconstitutional. It provides just a glimmer of hope, but it is hope nonetheless.
“These days, I’m raising chickens and selling the eggs,” she said. “Anything I can do to help the family get through this. It’s hard to feel like we’re going to be okay, like one day this will all be behind us and we can go back to being Québécois again.”
Elghawaby says that while Quebec doesn’t have a monopoly on Islamophobia, there is a near-permanent sense of hopelessness taking root in its Muslim communities. She speaks about being overwhelmed by this feeling during a vigil to commemorate the Quebec City Mosque shooting.
“I could tell — particularly young people — I could see this look in their eyes like, ‘We don’t know what to do. We have built our lives here, this is our home, we don’t want to leave,’” said Elghawaby. “And yet every step of the way, we are told we don’t belong. I refuse to give in to that feeling. I am motivated to push back against that feeling. But I do consider Quebec to be ground zero of the exclusion in the rest of the country.
“Quebec Muslims are worried about their future in a way Muslims in the rest of Canada aren’t. Canadians are worried too. We’ve had a massacre in Ontario, we have discrimination, we have Islamophobia. But the sense of being driven out of your home and not being able to live your life freely in Quebec is a constant.
“I won’t let anyone make me feel this way, but I don’t know how I would survive in Quebec. I have known many, many people who’ve left over the years because of that feeling.”
“I was born in Lebanon, but when I speak French, I speak it with a Quebec accent,” Diab said. “This place where I grew up, where I adopted the sound of its language and used its expressions lovingly, is no longer my home. I don’t know if that can be undone.”
Source: therover.ca
https://therover.ca/the-social-death-of-muslim-women-in-quebec/
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URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/mumbaimuslim-woman-domestic-violence-husband-manish-hid-identity/d/139802