Originally a guest post on Orbala. My favorite masjid is so severely sex-segregated that there isn’t merely a barrier for the women; there’s an entirely separate tiny afterthought of a room. But it’s my favorite because it is in the hills, where the stars are the brightest, next to sheds with horses in them (my …
Category: interpretation
“Take care of your souls.” —Qur’an 5:105
I hope this post finds everyone well, happy, and looking forward to a new beginning, despite the reality that a new journey around the sun involves no indication that our old problems won't continue. (They most certainly will.) With the acknowledgement that I am a little late, I'd like to begin the new year with a …
discussion of language with amina wadud
By popular demand, I'm writing a post about tea with amina wadud, who prefers (as I confirmed while I spun around in her bedroom) that her name be spelled with lowercase letters, like bell hooks. My auntie amina is currently visiting Indonesia and Malaysia, but before she left she gave me a copy of Domestic …
Quranic Verses and Misconceptions: The Limiting of 24:33
If you've been reading this website for a while, even if you're not Muslim, chances are you've caught the drift from a couple of posts that the Qur'an is absolutely gorgeous. Since I spend a lot of time here discussing the more seemingly formidable verses (see the entire "Misconceptions" tab) I haven't quite explicitly demonstrated …
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Removed from Societal Context: Verse 33:53, the Veil, and the role of Umar
Umar, the only corrupted caliph of the first four, publicized stoning as a punishment for adultery, a penal ordinance that does not appear in the Qur’an and was delivered by the Prophet in cases when the adulterer was non-Muslim, such as the case of a Jewish woman in Medina whose people had agreed to an …
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Prophet Maryam and Her Successor, the Prophet Muhammad
Although I've already written about Maryam as our Prophetess, I'd like to expand on her significance by comparing the cosmological role of our Prophet Muhammad to that of our Prophetess Maryam. There are several interesting parallels between Maryam and Muhammad; the first and most obvious is not only that both recieved word from the Archangel …
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It’s the 2nd day of Ramadan and my fast has already been interrupted for the next 7 days.
Since it's been a while since I've written here, I'll remind everyone asking What is the meaning of this!, that according to mainstream interpretation women should avoid applying nail polish because it acts as a barrier (we're suddenly against barriers now) between the water during wudu--ritual purification before prayer--and the surface of the nail. However, …
the fatal feminist 