Sadhvi Prachi Slams Swara Bhasker for Marrying A Muslim, Says She Could Be Killed Like Shraddha
New
Age Islam News Bureau
22
February 2023
• Abu
Dhabi Summit to Brainstorm Women’s Common Challenges
• Princess
Lamia Bint Majed Reappointed Goodwill Ambassador for UN-Habitat
• Qatar
to Debut at Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific Golf Championship
• Loulwa,
Saudi Arabia’s Most Successful Blues and Soul Singers, Shaping the Future of
Saudi Arabia’s Music Scene
• Layan
Jouhari Carries On Family Legacy for Al-Ittihad and Saudi Arabia
Compiled
by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/sadhvi-swara-muslim-shraddha/d/129172
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Sadhvi Prachi slams Swara Bhasker for marrying a Muslim, says she could be killed like Shraddha
Sadhvi Prachi slams Swara Bhasker
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by:
Priya Pareek
Feb
22, 2023
New
Delhi: Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP) leader Sadhvi Prachi slammed actress Swara
Bhasker for marrying Samajwadi Party's Fahad Ahmad and said that she could meet
the same fate as Shraddha Walker, who was killed by her live-in partner in
Delhi.
Sadhvi
Prachi said that Swara should have seen the fridge before taking the decision
to marry a Muslim man. She was referring to the sensational murder case where
Shraddha's body was chopped into 35 pieces and stored in a fridge before the
accused disposed of the body parts in jungle.
"Probably,
Swara Bhasker didn't pay attention to the news of how Shraddha's body was
chopped into 35 pieces. She should have seen the fridge once before taking such
a big decision. It is her personal choice. I have nothing much to say. But what
happened to Shraddha can happen to Swara too," the VHP leader said.
"Swara
Bhasker has always been against the Hindu religion. I was sure that she would
marry someone not from the religion. This has happened now. She has married a
Muslim," Sadhvi Prachi added.
Swara
Bhasker's marriage sparks debate
Swara
Bhasker announced her engagement with politician Fahad Ahmad on February 16,
triggering a massive debate on social media with Islamic religious scholars
questioning the validity of the marriage under Sharia laws. Notably, Swara has
not accepted Islam.
Swara
and Fahad got married under the Special Marriage Act which allows Indian
nationals to get married irrespective of their faiths.
Chicago-based
Islamic scholar Yasir Nadeem al Wajidi took to Twitter to say that if Swara
Bhasker is not Muslim and her 'supposed' husband is Muslim, this marriage is
not Islamically valid.
"Allah
says do not marry polytheistic women until they believe. 2:221 If she accepts
Islam only for the sake of marriage, it is not accepted by Allah," he
added.
Source:
Times Now News
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Abu
Dhabi Summit to Brainstorm Women’s Common Challenges
Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak
-----
February 20, 2023
ABU
DHABI — The International Summit of Women 2023, which will begin in Abu Dhabi
on Tuesday, will come out with proposals to resolve the common challenges faced
by women worldwide. The two-day event will focus on the role of female
leadership in establishing peace, social integration, and driving prosperity,
according to the organizers.
The
summit, titled the “Role of female leaders in establishing peace and social
integration, and driving prosperity,” will begin with the welcoming remarks of
United Arab Emirates’ Mother of Nation Sheikha Fatima bint Mubarak, who is also
chairwoman of General Women’s Union (GWU), president of Supreme Council for
Motherhood and Childhood, and Supreme Chairwoman of Family Development
Foundation.
The
opening speeches will be delivered by President of India Droupadi Murmu,
Chairman of the Supreme Organizing Committee of the Summit and WMCC Chairman
Dr. Ali Rashid Al Nuaimi, and Maja Gojkovic, deputy prime minister of Serbia.
Themes
of the two-day sessions include Women leaders driving climate action; sustainability,
philanthropy and poverty alleviation; Lifetime achievers among women; Women
leaders in education and science innovation; Women’s leadership in parliament
and democracy; Women leadership in media and creative industry; Women in fine
arts and cultural heritage; Women and the power of networking and women in
megatrends of the world; and Women’s leadership in sports and tourism.
Delegates,
including eminent stateswomen, faith leaders, entrepreneurs, social activists,
cultural personalities, media figures, and scholars from more than 100
countries will attend the event. The summit is organized by the World Muslim
Communities Council (WMCC) and in cooperation with GWU, to celebrate the 100th
anniversary of women receiving the right to vote and be elected.
Chairman
of the Supreme Organizing Committee of the Summit and WMCC Chairman Dr. Ali
Rashid Al Nuaimi, said that the Council believes in women’s important role in
building peace, promoting social integration and creating a prosperous future
for future generations worldwide.
On
her part, GWU Secretary General Noura Al-Suwaidi said that the UAE's hosting of
the summit reflects the message and vision of the wise leadership of the UAE,
that the advancement and empowerment of women is a vital priority. “We are
proud of the participation of a group of prominent women leaders in the world
in the event hosted by the UAE,” she added.
Source: Saudi Gazette
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Princess
Lamia Bint Majed Reappointed Goodwill Ambassador for UN-Habitat
Jasmine
Bager
February
21, 2023
RIYADH:
Princess Lamia bint Majed has been reappointed as the UN Human Settlements
Program’s (UN-Habitat) Goodwill Ambassador for the Arab world.
Surrounded
by the Saudi and UN flags, she signed to extend her tenure at the UN
headquarters in Riyadh on Monday and reiterated her commitment to the
UN-Habitat mission and to continuing the collaborative work.
She
told Arab News: “I'm very pleased and honored to be renominated as the Goodwill
Ambassador for the Arab region for the UN-Habitat.
“I’m
very excited because habitat or housing, it’s one of the most important — and I
would say crucial — things for a human to feel safe, to just have a roof over
your head.
“We
worked in the last couple of years with UN-Habitat in different countries. So,
we worked in Syria, we worked in Sudan, Iraq, Palestine; we did thousands of
units, we helped thousands of families, and this is what makes me sleep well at
night.
“And
what’s happening in the world now in Syria and Turkiye, we will be able to
support more,” she said.
The
princess pointed out that the world had changed, and needs had shifted since
she took on the role, especially before and after the coronavirus pandemic.
“The
need now is how to reach, how you tackle the problem, how to create awareness.
“In
some areas, it’s very easy. It’s much easier than before because everyone is
already used to the digital world. And sometimes it’s very hard because it’s
not that easy to reach that person physically, as seen with what’s happening
now in Syria and Turkiye.
“So,
it’s always a challenge, but to be able to serve and to help is an honor and a
pleasure. And I think it’s a learning curve for everyone.
“I
hope inshallah, with this appointment, I’ll be able to help from a
philanthropic perspective and with the United Nations, as well,” she added.
Princess
Lamia noted the support of the Saudi government in helping with UN-Habitat’s
achievements and said her goal for the upcoming term was to maintain the
momentum.
She
also encouraged Saudi youth to volunteer and get involved with supporting the
UN-Habitat mission.
Maimunah
Mohd Sharif, executive director of UN-Habitat, told Arab News: “Today is a
historic moment for us in UN-Habitat for signing the extension of her royal
highness, Princess Lamia, as our Goodwill Ambassador. And we’re very happy that
she agreed to continue the work and champion the mandate of UN-Habitat.
“She’s
been with us for the first three years and she’s an advocate for our work, not
only in this region, but also the other parts of the region.”
Source: Arab News
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2255531/saudi-arabia
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Qatar
to debut at women’s amateur Asia-Pacific golf championship
Mohamed
Eltayeb
February
21, 2023
The
Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific (WAAP) championship will feature Women golfers
Nada Mir from Qatar and Vanessa Richani from Lebanon on the greens for the
first time.
Qatar’s
23-year-old gained ground in tennis for her gold medal campaign in the Pan Arab
Championship last year in Tunisia.
Now,
alongside her Arab colleague Richani, the two golfers will represent their
countries at the Singapore Island Country Club from the March 9-12.
The
premiere of the golfers has garnered applause from Taimur Hassan Amin, Chairman
of the Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation (APGC).
“It’s
wonderful to have more countries being represented in the Women’s Amateur
Asia-Pacific championship. It’s a sign that the game is growing and becoming
more popular among women here, especially in the Arab region,” Amin voiced upon
the announcement of the golfers.
“It’s
great that young players from Qatar and Lebanon have qualified for the WAAP
through the WAGR. I’m hoping this will motivate young ladies in the Arab
region, and other countries, to try harder to improve and take advantage of
this unique opportunity to develop their game,” the APGC Chairman added.
The
championship featured an invite of 85 players from 22 countries from several
countries including Japan, Korea, Thailand, and Australia.
Singapore
will field the largest team of players, naming eight to star in the tournament.
Dubbed
a tournament of several firsts, this year’s edition will feature two players
from the top ten of the World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR) and 17 of the top
100.
Thailand’s
Atthaya Thitikul, the youngest golfer ever to win a professional golf
tournament at age 14, will lead the star-studded lineup.
Last
year, Ting-Hsuan Huang captured the gold title in the tournament.
Source:
Doha News
https://dohanews.co/qatar-to-debut-at-womens-amateur-asia-pacific-golf-championship/
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Loulwa,
Saudi Arabia’s Most Successful Blues and Soul Singers, Shaping the Future of
Saudi Arabia’s Music Scene
Jordan
King
19
Feb 2023
‘I
want to empower other women to be who they are and do what they want to do.
‘Any
time I’m on stage I get messages from young ladies, and sometimes even older
women, saying thank you.’
This
is what Loulwa, one of Saudi Arabia’s most successful blues and soul singers,
told Metro.co.uk about finally being able to perform freely on stage.
Up
until very recently, artists had to rely on an underground scene to play music
for live audiences.
Concerts
were banned in the conservative country, with authorities previously stating
they could encourage the ‘mixing of sexes and open doors to evil’.
But
things are changing ‘incredibly fast’, after His Royal Highness the Crown
Prince announced his Vision 2030 in 2016.
The
idea is to ‘open Saudi Arabia to the world’ with unprecedented reforms which
included allowing women to drive for the first time ever in 2017.
The
changes have also shifted everything about the music industry, with the country
seeing its first-ever General Authority for Entertainment in government.
Loulwa
and Jara, Saudi’s first female rapper, are two of the 10 exciting artists
featured in a new docuseries called Herstory, currently airing on Arabic
streaming platform Shahid.
They
spoke to Metro.co.uk about how quickly their careers have transformed in what
locals refer to as ‘the change’.
Loulwa,
35, was once only able to sing at underground shows hidden in someone’s house
or garden in the port city of Jeddah.
At
other points, she performed at cafes in compounds – private residential districts
where many western immigrants choose to live.
Loulwa
was one of just two women who regularly played at these events, which were
dominated by men.
She
told Metro.co.uk: ‘Back then, you used to feel anxious and be worried you could
get caught but now the change is unbelievably crazy and beautiful.
‘Women
used to be worried about what their families might think because they couldn’t
see anyone else making music, but now you can see so many more female artists
performing and singing.’
Jara,
25, feels ‘very blessed’ to have a dad who supported her career as a rapper.
She
said: ‘He would take me to all these shows and make sure I felt protected as
the only female rapper there.
‘There
is no other female in the industry and I think that if my dad wasn’t with me I
wouldn’t have been able to reach where I am.
‘Everywhere
you go, it’s just men everywhere – having my dad protect me by my side helped
me focus on what I want to do and on my craft.’
Jara
is still the only known woman rapping in Saudi Arabia but the music scene is
changing at such a pace, she summed it up as ‘surreal’.
She
told Metro.co.uk: ‘If you think about how it was before and how it is now, I
can’t believe this all happened in less than five years.
‘For
me, or any other female in the industry, you used to feel like you were doing
something wrong or that, as a woman, you shouldn’t be doing.
‘But
now I feel like it’s something you do with respect, with your head held high.’
Loulwa
echoed similar thoughts when she said the most important thing ‘the change’ has
accomplished is that women no longer have to feel shame.
Both
artists want their work to inspire other women, and young girls, to do what
they love.
Jara
said: ‘I want a young girl to see me rapping and feel empowered to do whatever
she wants to do, whatever talent she has.’
Speaking
directly to any women reading, Loulwa said: ‘What do you want to be? You want
to go to space? You can do that.
‘Whatever
you want to do, you can do that. They will feel powerful when they choose for
themselves and not let society choose.’
She
went on: ‘I’ve always believed that Saudi women are the strongest, they manage
to cope with all situations and they’ve always been creative and very
ambitious.
‘All
they need is for people to believe in them and give them the chance to bloom.’
Saudi
Arabia had its first-ever mixed-gender concert in April 2018, when the Egyptian
Opera House played in the capital city of Riyadh.
In
December that same year, Lebanese singer Hiba Tawaji became the first female
musician to perform her own concert in the country.
Now,
just five years later, it is becoming much more common to see women on stage.
The
co-creators of Herstory, British Hannah Berry George and Lebanese-American Ruby
Malek, have seen ‘the change’ take place in just the three years they spent
making the docuseries.
When
they started looking for female artists to feature, they ‘could barely find
any’ but have seen ‘amazing progress’ since.
Ruby
said: ‘Every single one of the artists we spoke to were thinking about moving
to pursue music in a different country.
‘It’s
an incredibly difficult decision to choose between their career and their
community and it’s not an easy thing.
‘But
now it’s a whole new world. Now they want to make it from Saudi because it’s
their country and their culture’.
Dina
Dahboura, who commissioned Herstory as the first-ever docuseries featured on
Shahid, said: ‘These female artists are in the infancy of their careers but
they are part of a historic time in Saudi – in the music scene and beyond.’
Source:
Metro UK
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Layan
Jouhari Carries On Family Legacy for Al-Ittihad and Saudi Arabia
Paul
Williams
February
21, 2023
Football
clubs the world over are built on the support of their fans.
From
the biggest clubs to some of the smallest, tribalism and emotional connection
are passed down from grandparents to parents to children.
Stories
are told, legends immortalized and cross-generational moments created, adding
to the rich fabric of the game.
So
it is for 22-year-old Saudi Arabian Layan Jouhari.
Born
in the seaside city of Jeddah, she was raised by a family of diehard Al-Ittihad
supporters loyal to a club founded almost 100 years ago with with one of the
richest histories anywhere in Asia.
Jouhari’s
uncle, Ghanayem Al-Harbi, played for Al-Ittihad for almost a decade during the
1960s and ’70s and went on to work as an assistant coach under Carlos Alberto
Parreira with the Saudi Arabian national team when the Green Falcons won the
AFC Asian Cup in 1988.
“He
talks about winning the cup, and there’s a picture of him holding the cup
(that) he always shows me,” she said of her uncle.
Her
father, Abdulmojeeb, also represented Al-Ittihad, but in different sports,
playing both volleyball and table tennis for the Jeddah club.
So
it is fair to say Jouhari and her family bleed yellow and black.
“Ittihad
is like blood for so many, because it started in 1927, so it’s already one of
the oldest clubs in Saudi,” she told Arab News.
“From
the beginning my whole heritage is Ittihad, so we’re huge fans of Ittihad.”
Jouhari,
part of an emerging generation of female players, has gone one better than just
wearing the famous yellow-and-black kit as a fan; she is now wearing it as an
Al-Ittihad player, having been signed by her childhood club to be part of their
inaugural squad for the first season of the recently completed Saudi Women’s
Premier League.
Having
grown up idolising players such as Moroccan midfield maestro Karim Al-Ahmadi,
who played almost 100 times for Al-Ittihad across three seasons, and recent
signings such as Tarek Hamed and Ahmed Hegazi, Jouhari could scarcely believe
the news when she found out.
“Just
talking about it, I can’t get rid of the smile on my face,” she said.
“It
came so rapidly, all the changes and all the developments here for women’s
football in Saudi. This was one of the huge steps that Saudi took, which is to
have all the major clubs, the men’s clubs in Saudi, start a women’s team.
“When
I heard that I’m going to be part of Ittihad, it was maybe the best news I’ve
heard in my life. I called up my whole family one by one just to tell them the
news. It was indescribable.”
She
added: “Some of them, like my uncles who are older, they couldn’t believe it;
they were just so curious and excited.
“They’re
like, ‘when are you going to play, can we watch the matches?’ So I was like, of
course, it’s all going to be open.
“Here
in Jeddah we have Al-Jawhara (King Abdullah Sports City) Stadium, it’s the
biggest stadium in our region, and that’s where we were playing the league
games, on the reserve field.
“So
they were even shocked that we’re getting that much support. It’s very
exciting.”
Almost
her entire family came to watch that first match, a Jeddah derby against rivals
Al-Ahli, and they would have walked away happy, with the Tigers winning 3-1 to
get their campaign off to the perfect start in front of a healthy crowd there
to witness history.
While
they could not keep pace with Riyadh rivals Al-Nassr, who clinched the
inaugural championship, and Al-Hilal, at the end of their first campaign
Al-Ittihad finished a respectable fourth, laying a solid foundation for the
next generation of women who can look up to the likes of Jouhari and dream of
one day also playing for the club they grew up supporting.
“There
has been a rapid development happening the past four years. I don’t think it
has happened this fast anywhere else in the world,” the 22-year-old said.
“So
for me to be a part of that, it’s such a blessing. Every now and then there’s
something new, a bigger project, more events, more opportunities, and all I can
do now is seize the moment and work hard on myself, because I know that what
I’m doing now is important for me, but also important for the future and the
next generation.
“I’m
rolling out the carpet for the next generation and setting the standards for
Saudi football here for women, so it’s a responsibility as much as it is a
blessing.”
While
the season may have ended, the football will continue for Jouhari, who is also
a member of the Saudi women’s national team that will this week play a series
of friendlies against Indonesia.
The
Indonesian team played at the most recent AFC Women’s Asian Cup and are ranked
97th in the world and 20th in Asia, making them the highest-ranked nation that
Saudi Arabia has faced since their formation 12 months ago.
Whatever
the result, Jouhari is optimistic for the future of the women’s game in the
Kingdom.
“It’s
only been a year so far for our national team,” she said. “But already we’ve
see a huge change from when we started. Now we have started the RTC (regional
training centers) and there are training centers all over Saudi for young
girls.
“We
are already seeing a lot of talented young girls appearing and I think they are
going to take the stage in the next five to 10 years. I feel very optimistic
about that.”
Source:
Arab News
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2255411/sport
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