Razan Zaher, Dearborn Native of Palestinian and Lebanese Descent In The Running For Miss Arab USA
New Age
Islam News Bureau
01 July 2023
• Razan Zaher, Dearborn Native of Palestinian and
Lebanese Descent In The Running For Miss Arab USA
• Iranian Football Head Promises Women's Entry to
Stadiums
• Saudi Arabia Is Being Considered By The Women’s
Tennis Tour For Possible Business
• Today’s Arab Women Theologians Have Plenty of
Past Exemplars
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL:
https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/razan-zaher-arab-usa/d/130113
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Razan
Zaher, Dearborn Native of Palestinian and Lebanese Descent In The Running For
Miss Arab USA
Razan Zaher
vote.missarab.org
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06.29.2023
DEARBORN
— A Dearborn native of Palestinian and Lebanese descent has been selected as
one of 30 finalists in the running for Miss Arab USA.
Razan
Zaher was born in Michigan before her family returned to Lebanon, where she was
raised, and went on to earn her bachelor of arts in English studies and her
diploma with honors.
Zaher, a
second grade elementary homeroom teacher at a charter school in Detroit that
serves a number of English Language Learners in her second year of her PhD
studies in educational leadership, returned to the United States to further her
education. She currently lives in Dearborn and was inspired by her father, who
also works in the education field.
“My
father is a significant role model, and seeing what he did at work every day
made it clear that I wanted to follow in his footsteps,” she said. “From the
beginning, I knew I always wanted to work with children, and teaching has
always been a passion of mine. It is a profession that holds the power to
inspire, empower and shape future generations, creating a lasting impact that
is both rewarding and enchanting.”
Ashraf
Elgamal, founder and CEO of Miss Arab USA, is also president of the Arab
American Organization (AAO) and founded the Miss Arab Pageant on the basis of
advancing the cause of young Arab women. It acts as a charity event for the
community and a non-political platform for young women to achieve personal
growth and development and humanitarian goals while also taking pride in their
heritage.
“Being a
part of the Miss Arab USA competition holds tremendous significance for me,”
Zaher said. “It’s an opportunity to embrace and celebrate my Arab heritage
while showcasing my personal accomplishments, talents and dedication. This
platform allows me to represent my community and become a role model for
others, inspiring them to pursue their dreams fearlessly.”
Women
from around the country applied to be a part of the pageant and began a process
that focused on evaluating contestants on their personal qualities, talents and
commitments to representing Arab culture. Afterwards, 30 finalists were
selected and will undergo interviews, talent showcases and cultural
presentations to showcase their unique qualities and skills before a winner
will be crowned.
Zaher
told The Arab American News that she believes she embodies the qualities and
values that represent the essence of being Miss Arab USA.
“Throughout
my life, I’ve strived to promote unity, diversity and empowerment within my
community while serving those in need,” she said. “By voting for me, we can
ensure that our values and traditions are celebrated and uplifted on a national
stage. My exceptional leadership skills, unique experiences and unwavering
dedication to making a positive impact make me an exemplary candidate. I am
confident that I can effectively advocate for and represent the Arab American
community; voting for me means choosing a Miss Arab USA who will inspire,
uplift and create lasting change.”
Having a
direct connection with children in the community with her work, Zaher said that
she hopes to be an inspiration.
“To all
the children who may look at my story and feel inspired to chase their goals, I
want to tell you that your dreams are valid and your voice matters,” she said.
“Embrace your identity, be proud of your heritage and let it fuel your
aspirations. Believe in yourself, work hard and remember that the journey is
just as important as the destination. I hope that being part of the Miss Arab
USA competition will provide me with a platform to celebrate my Arab heritage
and promote cultural awareness. I aspire to inspire other young Arab women to
embrace their identities and pursue their dreams with confidence. Ultimately, I
aim to make a positive impact, both within the Arab community and society at
large, while becoming an ambassador for cultural diversity.”
Representing
Palestine and the state of Michigan with the goal of using this platform to
raise awareness, promote change and help those in need, Zaher said that this
isn’t about personal recognition, but a deep commitment to representing the
community as a whole.
“Whether
I win or lose the Miss Arab USA competition, I am committed to utilizing the
experience and platform to benefit the community,” she said. “In order to give
the Palestinian people the recognition they have always deserved, I aspire to
be a representative of my Palestinian roots on a national platform. If I win, I
will leverage the visibility and recognition to promote diversity, cultural
understanding and empowerment within the Arab community. If I don’t win, I will
still work passionately to contribute positively by actively engaging in
community initiatives, supporting charitable causes and using my voice to
advocate for the rights and well-being of Arab individuals. Regardless of the
outcome, my goal remains to make a meaningful and lasting impact on those who
put their trust in me to represent our community. ”
If Zaher
were to win the title, she said that she would strive to be a role model for
Arab American youth.
“If I
were to win the Miss Arab USA competition, there would likely be several
opportunities and possibilities that could unfold,” she said. “As the
titleholder, I would have the chance to represent the Arab community on a
larger stage, participate in public speaking engagements and collaborate with
influential figures. I would strive to be a role model for Arab American youth
and emphasize the significance of education as a powerful tool for personal
growth and community development. I will inspire others through my journey,
serve as an ambassador for Arab culture and work towards fostering
understanding and inclusivity on a global scale.”
Voting
for Miss Arab USA closes on July 14. Voting and donation information for Zaher
can be found on the Miss Arab USA website.
Source: arabamericannews.com
https://arabamericannews.com/2023/06/29/dearborn-native-in-the-running-for-miss-arab-usa/
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Iranian
Football Head Promises Women's Entry to Stadiums
FILE - Female football fans wave Iranian national flags during the
friendly football match between Iran and Russia at Azadi Stadium in Tehran, on
March 23, 2023. The head of the Iranian Football Federation has renewed a vow
to allow women into various stadiums in the country.
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June 30,
2023
Mehdi
Taj, head of the Iranian Football Federation, has renewed the promise of
allowing women into stadiums. This time, he says he has approval from the Supreme
National Security Council of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Taj
assured women's entry to stadiums in a recent interview with Radio Sport of the
Islamic Republic of Iran. He announced the approval by the Supreme National
Security Council, with a dedicated task force assigned to oversee its
implementation. The Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Sports and Youth, the
Football Federation and two intelligence agencies are actively planning the
process of facilitating women's access.
Despite
repeated promises, the issue of women's presence in football stadiums remains
unresolved. The obligation imposed by FIFA, football's world governing body,
falls on the authorities of the Islamic Republic, yet Iranian officials have
consistently downplayed the matter. Over the past several years, women have
been granted limited access to stadiums only on a few occasions during national
competitions.
While
Taj has made repeated promises, this is the first time it has been mentioned
that the Supreme National Security Council has endorsed the presence of women.
The council serves as a government entity within Iran, with its security
decisions gaining executive authority after approval by the Supreme Leader of
the Islamic Republic.
The
secretariat of the Supreme National Security Council has yet to respond to
Taj's statement. Even if the council were to grant its approval, it would still
require confirmation from Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
In
another segment of his speech, Taj addressed the stadiums where women will be
granted access and said, "The presence of women is no longer up for
debate. Women will be present in stadiums such as GolGohar, Sepahan, ZobAhan
and Ghadir Ahvaz, which are deemed suitable. Azadi Stadium should also make
necessary preparations."
In
previous years, when women came to watch national and club matches, Azadi
Stadium played host to them, and it was often cited as the sole stadium in Iran
equipped to accommodate women's presence. The sudden change raises questions
about what might have transpired in recent months to render Azadi Stadium
unprepared to host women at the current time.
Source: voanews.com
https://www.voanews.com/a/iranian-football-head-promises-women-s-entry-to-stadiums-/7162494.html
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Saudi
Arabia is being considered by the women’s tennis tour for possible business
July 01,
2023
LONDON: Like other sports, women’s tennis is
looking into the possibility of getting into business with Saudi Arabia. And
while holding a tournament there is not imminent, WTA Chairman and CEO Steve
Simon said Friday that he visited that country with some players in February as
part of the evaluation process.
“It’s a
very difficult and very challenging topic that’s being, obviously, measured by
many, many different groups right now,” Simon said at an event in London to
mark the 50th anniversary of the meeting that led to the founding of the WTA.
“I think
where we are right now (is): We’ve had conversations. We’ll continue to have
conversations,” Simon said.
Simon’s
comments came a few days after the St. Petersburg, Florida-based WTA announced
it was setting up a “pathway to equal prize money” so women earn the same as
men at certain tournaments by 2027 and others by 2033. Simon said Tuesday
additional money would come from incremental boosts by the events themselves
and from revenue projected to arrive from broadcast, data and sponsorship
rights via WTA Ventures, the tour’s commercial enterprise that launched in
March.
“I’m not
saying that Saudi is a place we should be doing business with or not yet. It’s
still being evaluated,” he said Friday.
The
men’s tennis tour, the ATP, has been in contact with the Saudi sovereign wealth
fund, officially named the Public Investment Fund. The PGA Tour, European tour
and the fund, which backed the LIV Golf series, said on June 6 they would
combine their commercial businesses. Saudi soccer clubs have been bringing in
top players from Europe.
Billie
Jean King, the International Tennis Hall of Fame member and equal rights
champion, said during a panel discussion at Friday’s event: “I’m a huge
believer in engagement. I don’t think you really change unless you engage. ...
How are we going to change things if we don’t engage?”
Source: arabnews.com
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2330806/tennis
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Today’s
Arab Women Theologians Have Plenty of Past Exemplars
JUNE 30,
2023
The
Middle East today is at a kairos moment in time. As women across the region
fight for their rights and freedoms, the tectonic shift is felt also in
Christian academia. What was once a trickle of female theologians has developed
into a growing number of developing leaders, enabling and emboldening other
women to rise in leadership.
While
only Protestant churches have yet ordained female priests—in Lebanon, Syria,
and the Palestinian territories—other similar bold figures are modeling an
emerging path of spirituality within patriarchal Arab society.
But
their own inspiration is found in the past.
As
members of the first Christian communities, Eastern Christian
women—deaconesses, historians, theologians, and martyrs—articulated their faith
and theology centuries ago. However, their stories are not well known even in
our region. But it is remarkable that two of the largest remaining Christian
communities in the Arab world, Coptic and Maronite, have known historical
female leadership. Within the rich and complex ecclesial context of the Middle
East, their legacy continues to shape our theological thought as evangelical
women today.
Desert
mothers
Observing
the full moon rise above today’s Egyptian desert in the land where Saint
Anthony (A.D. 251–356) originally established monasticism as a lay movement, I
am reminded how spirituality was crafted by asceticism. The desert fathers left
a heritage of wisdom celebrated by many today who seek spiritual discipline.
But we
often overlook the desert mothers.
These
Ammas (from the original Syriac) were Christian ascetics who also inhabited the
deserts of Egypt, Palestine, and Syria in the fourth and fifth centuries,
whether in monastic communities or as hermits. Both men and women respected
them as spiritual exemplars of maturity and wisdom, imparted through teaching,
preaching, and their own sublime examples.
Amma
Syncletica of Alexandria (d. around A.D. 350) led a community of women who
desired to serve God, with religious insights highly esteemed in the writings
of Pope Athanasius the Great.
Amma
Sarah, the fifth-century hermit from Egypt’s WadiNatroun desert, was known for
her asceticism, courage, and spiritual teachings. As a well-educated reader,
she was concerned that her heart be fully upright in her pursuit of God.
Amma
Theodora (d. A.D. 412), a renowned spiritual guide, met Saint Anthony multiple
times and was a colleague of Archbishop Theophilus of Alexandria.
Though
these desert mothers desired solitude, they did not see cultural norms for
women as obstacles to their calls or their pursuit of God, keeping
relationships as role models in their daily study and prayerful life.
For
modern-day Christians seeking to be faithful in their spiritual lives in a
complex context like today’s Middle East, the core practices of desert mothers
can provide rich insights. The monastic framework encourages the integration of
spirituality and theology, with the Word of God and spiritual disciplines at
the center.
Through
times of solitude, these desert mothers produced profound theological
works—lacking sorely in the Arab world today, especially those written by
women.
‘Daughters
of the Covenant’
Strolling
down Star Street in the old city of Bethlehem today, I can see the sanctuary of
the Syriac Church of the Virgin Mary. From the outset, Syriac Christianity
offered women positions as deaconesses and consecrated virgins. Literary
sources contain frequent references to this from the fifth century until the
tenth century, in both the western (Maronite) and eastern (Assyrian/Chaldean)
traditions of Syriac Christianity.
Several
of the earlier texts mention the BnatQyama, “Daughters of the Covenant,”
alongside references to deaconesses. These were women who had taken vows of
celibacy and simplicity, working in the service of Christ. Not only did their
women’s choirs (generally comprised of consecrated virgins) lead worship, but
their hymns also provided essential instruction for believers about the Bible,
theology, and Christian community. Their remarkable teaching and liturgical
ministry can be traced through at least the ninth century.
Jacob of
Sarug (d. 521), for example, mentioned the women’s choirs as “female teachers”
(malphanyatha, in the feminine plural), whose singing declared the
“proclamation” (karuzutha, corresponding to the Greek kerygma) in the liturgy.
Syriac sources describe the Daughters of the Covenant, cherished for their
melodious conveying of scriptural truth, as conversant with exegetical,
ascetic, and hagiographic literature, demonstrating a culture where women were
concerned about theological education in its many forms.
A
Maronite mystic
Hannah
Ajaymi was born in 1720 to a Maronite family in Aleppo, Syria. But she became
known as Hindiyya due to her dark olive complexion, etymologically linked to
the Arabic name for India. By the time she was 17, she was considered a model
of piety in the spiritual disciplines, including oral prayer and fasting.
Uninterested in marriage, she considered herself espoused to Christ.
Article
continues below
Hindiyya’s
determination to establish a religious congregation indicated her dedication to
Christ, and she became the foundress and mother superior of a group of monastic
women. Her first convent formed in Aleppo in 1753, but she frequently traversed
the Lebanese mountains and founded four monastic communities overall.
Hindiyya
was unusually well read in Arabic religious works, with a considerable
collection of her own publications. Her major work, Sirr al-Ittihad (Mystery of
the Union), is the first-known rare Arabic account of a mystical experience
between Jesus and a Christian woman. And her Al-Durar al-Saniya (Precious
Jewels) is a significant theological work—over 400 pages of spiritual counsel
for her nuns. Hindiyya died in 1798.
While
modern-day Lebanon struggles to rise out of ashes and debris, the contemporary
Maronite church has developed room to discuss the role of women, with its 2022
synod dedicated to their particular mission. Hindiyya was revered as a saint at
certain times in her life, but at other times was seen as a heretical threat to
the established order. Yet as a prominent priest told me, “It is about time the
Maronite church reopens Hindiyya’s file.”
Mother
Irini
Known as
Ummina in Arabic and Tamav in Coptic (“Our Mother”), Irini is a modern-day
example of a desert mother. Born Erene Yassa in 1936, she became mother
superior of the Old Cairo convent of St. Abu Saifein and played a major role in
the revival and reformation of Coptic monasticism for women. She was
consecrated as a nun in 1954 and wrote many meditations on biblical teachings,
mystical visions, and physical sickness.
Finding
inspiration in the life of fellow Alexandrian Amma Syncletica, she gave up her
family wealth to pursue a path of poverty. She passed away in 2006.
Mother
Irini is well known and treasured by many Egyptian Christians as a female
leader within the Coptic revival. Copts honor her spirituality alongside the
cherished figures of Pope Cyril VI (1959–1971) and Pope Shenouda III
(1971–2012).
Endowed
with great spiritual vision, she employed her gifts to teach and guide both her
nuns and frequent visitors—male and female—who sought out the wisdom of her
monastic community. Not only did she lead a life of prayer, but she was also a
gifted manager. And as the sincerest flattery for her spiritual stature,
popular acclaim exaggerates her visions and miracles, similar to historic male
Egyptian saints like Abanoub and Mina.
Article
continues below
By
enhancing the convent’s library with publications about godly women, Mother
Irini expanded space for women in the Coptic church, where men are usually the
official representatives. Renewal had previously been centered on male
monasticism, but today there are hundreds of nuns and mukarrasat (consecrated
virgins) in Egypt, serving the poor and recalling the traditions of ancient
times.
But as
mirrored in other Eastern churches, her example has inspired women outside the
convents as well, stimulating renewed engagement in theological education.
Modern
scholars
There
are several prominent examples who follow in their heritage:
A
monastic of the Coptic Orthodox Church, Mother Lois Farag is a lecturer at
Luther Seminary who authored St. Cyril of Alexandria, A New Testament Exegete:
His Commentary on the Gospel of John and Balance of the Heart: Desert
Spirituality of Twenty-First Century Christians.
The young
scholar Dina Tarek has produced substantial works in both biblical studies and
spiritual theology through the School of Alexandria Foundation.
SourayaBechealany,
a former secretary general of the Middle East Council of Churches, has two
doctorate degrees in theology.
RoulaTalhouk,
an anthropologist and a practical theologian, supervises doctoral students at
Saint Joseph University of Beirut.
Marked
by deep spirituality, these women are leading a new generation of female Arab
theologians—within a diverse theological landscape where their presence has
often been unrepresented, their voices ignored, and their contributions
unacknowledged.
In many
ways their emergence has been sparked by a Protestant egalitarian vanguard,
which in turn cross-pollinates the evangelical churches with a greater respect
for their historic brothers and sisters.
In the
land where Christianity was birthed but where its numbers are currently
dwindling, these shining female stars remind us that through the empowering of
the Holy Spirit and with the prayers of the global church, the glorious gospel
will continue to be proclaimed, bringing both present and eternal hope to an
aching region.
Source: christianitytoday.com
https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2023/june-web-only/women-theologians-middle-east-desert-mothers-hindiyya-irini.html
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URL:
https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/razan-zaher-arab-usa/d/130113