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RIYADH, Saudi Arabia – A Saudi woman arrested while attending a soccer game in the kingdom claims she did not know women were prohibited from going to the male-only stadiums, the state-linked Okaz newspaper reported on Monday. Saudi Arabia enforces a strict segregation of the sexes and has no designated areas for women at soccer stadiums ... Police spokesman Atti al-Qurashi said security spotted her at the stadium "deliberately disguised" in male attire to avoid detection, reported the state-linked news website Twasul. Okaz reported Sunday that police questioned the woman, who is in her twenties, for "impersonating" a man by...

Recent pictures in Stars and Stripes feature female U.S. service members wearing the Islamic headscarf, also known as a hijab. These women are part of a new initiative, Female Engagement Teams, being deployed in Afghanistan. Aside from questions about whether the safety of these women deployed into harm's way is jeopardized by trading the helmet for the hijab, the photos invoke memories of a policy fight in Congress less than a decade ago. In 2002, the Senate overturned a DoD mandate requiring female American service members stationed in Saudi Arabia to wear the Saudi version of the burqa, known as...

Controversy in Saudi Arabia over Fatwa Permitting Breastfeeding of Adults By: Y. Admon* Introduction Sheikh 'Abd Al-Muhsin Al-'Obikan, an advisor at the Saudi Justice Ministry, recently issued a fatwa allowing the breastfeeding of adults. The fatwa is aimed at enabling an unrelated man and woman to be secluded in the same room, a situation which Islam considers forbidden gender mixing. The rationale behind the fatwa is that breastfeeding creates a bond of kinship between the man and woman, rendering the man her mahram,[1] thus making it acceptable for them to be together in seclusion. The fatwa created a stir...

Manal Fageeh never liked the abaya, the long black cloak she was forced to begin wearing at 13. She resented the fact that it was obligatory for women in Saudi Arabia, and the black absorbed heat in the often-scorching climate. Saudi women have long been known in the West for their all-enveloping black attire, widely considered a mark of their oppression. But Sharif and Fageeh are among a growing number of women and girls here who are rethinking and reinventing the abaya to more closely reflect their personalities and religious beliefs. The redefinition of the abaya mirrors the greater, though...

Following faith and fashion By Indlieb Farazi in Doha, Qatar Wednesday 29 March 2006, 12:56 Makka Time, 9:56 GMT The abaya is an over-garment worn by many Muslim women Reema and her friends are slowly parading around a Doha shopping mall, making sure their fashionable floor-length coverings are seen. The glamorous girls shroud their jeans and colourful tops with long black robes, mixing fashion with religion and tradition. "I think it looks really elegant. There are so many abayas on the market at the moment - the latest being the farasha, or butterfly-style abaya. It isn't tight-fitting like the French-style...

Muslim wins right to reject the hijab By Anthony Browne, Brussels Correspondent ISLAMIC groups across Europe have campaigned for years for the right of Muslim women to wear the religious headscarf, or hijab. Now a Muslim woman in the Netherlands has won the right not to wear it. Samira Haddad, 32, won her case against the Islamic College of Amsterdam, which insists that all Muslim women wear the hijab. The secondary school rejected her for a job after she said in an interview that she did not wear it. The country’s Equality Commission ruled in Ms Haddad’s favour, saying that...

Italy bans Islamic burqas Natasha Bita, Florence August 01, 2005 ITALY has banned Islamic burqas under tough terrorism laws that provide two-year jail terms and E2000 ($3200) fines for anyone caught covering their face in a public place. The counter-terrorism package, passed by Italy's parliament yesterday, doubles the existing penalty for wearing a burqa or chador -- traditional robes worn by Muslim women to cover their faces -- or full-faced helmets or balaclavas in public. Police can extract DNA samples without a suspect's consent, detain them for 24 hours without a lawyer present, and deport foreigners suspected of terrorism under...

RIYADH, 13 March 2005 — Saudi women will no longer be faceless identities. As of mid-2006, it will be compulsory for every Saudi woman to have her own ID card with her face on it, terminating the age of women depending on the current family card that only carries their names. Hissah Al-Suwaileh, the head of Women’s Civil Status Department in Riyadh, confirmed to Asharq Al-Awsat, a sister publication of Arab News, that Saudi women would soon no longer be using the traditional and current method of proving their identity with the family card. The department will now be providing...

"Women and Islam--A Westerner's Perspective" Posted by Doc Farmer Wednesday, June 04, 2003 I've lived in the Middle East region for over five years now. And although I'm not a female nor a Muslim, I think I've got a bit of an understanding of the position of women as regards the religion of Islam. It's not what you've been led to believe, either. First, let's get this misconception out of the way straight up. Female circumcision is NOT sanctioned or supported by Islam. There are some cultures that did this practice far before the rise of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh),...

Female Fighter Pilot Presses Ahead with Lawsuit CNSNews.com) - Attorneys for U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Martha McSally are pressing ahead with their lawsuit against the Pentagon and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, even though the Pentagon has modified its policy on U.S. military women wearing a Muslim abaya. The abaya is a head-to-toe covering that women are required to wear in public in many Arab and Muslim nations. At a hearing in federal court in Washington on Wednesday, attorneys for McSally plan to challenge a Defense Department motion to dismiss McSally's lawsuit. McSally, who is based at Prince Sultan Air...