Category: Sarah’s blog

My recent experiences traveling back from the Middle East reaffirm my belief that not only does profiling fail to protect us, but it can actually lead to the resentment and marginalization that can feed extremism and violence. I recently had the privilege of visiting Jordan and Turkey over the winter break. However, once arriving at…

When you hear someone mention “Saudi Arabia”, what images come to mind? Is it is a place of mystery where women are hidden away in vast harems? If you are Muslim, most likely your thoughts turn to the Holy Mosque in Mecca, a sanctuary for Muslims from around the world. As a liberal American Muslim…

Sarah Swick, Minaret of Freedom Institute Recent representations of the status women in the Middle East, and the Arab Peninsula in particular, have focused on how women are disempowered and marginalized. Critics point to the clothes of the region, the black dress (abaya), headscarf (hijab), and in some cases the face veil (niqab) that women…

Sarah Swick, Minaret of Freedom Institute, www.minaret.org For the last part of my blog series on a “Women in Islam” conference I attended, I’d like to highlight another response to how we should understand the Qur’an today. One of the last panels of the conference featured a discussion on re-reading the Qur’an from a female…

Sarah Swick, Minaret of Freedom Institute, www.minaret.org In addition to the hijab issue discussed in my previous blog, another constant theme during the recent “Women in Islam” conference I attended in Germany was the role or place of the Qur’an in our lives. There were two perspectives presented at the conference: one position that emphasizes…

Sarah Swick, Minaret of Freedom Institute, www.minaret.org I was recently invited to represent the Minaret of Freedom Institute at an international conference in Cologne, Germany sponsored by the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (Foundation). The topic of the conference was “Women in Islam: Between Oppression and (self-) Empowerment.” The Conference brought together Muslim and non-Muslim women[1] from…

Recent debates have swirled over an Iranian conference characterized as “denying the genocide” of the Holocaust.  Moreover, the Iranian president, Ahmedinejad, has been repeatedly quoted as calling the Holocaust a myth.  Actually, Ahmadinejad called the conference questioning the number of people killed in the Holocaust mainly as a means of challenging boasts about the freedom…

Over the past weeks and months Pakistan has been embroiled in a debate over changes to the “Hudood Ordinances,” which, among other things, require a woman to provide four eyewitnesses to complain about rape—lacking the four witnesses, she may then be tried for perjury and/or adultery. The institution of the required four witnesses to prove…