Syria's female muftis

Syria's Grand Mufti has announced that female graduates in Islamic Law will be trained as muftis, with the ability to issue fatwas specific to the needs of women.

Entrepreneurship in the Middle East: "The women are getting it"

Women are well-represented in the entrepreneur class in the Arab world, at least anecdotally.

Breaking News: a Saudi Sheikh makes a proclamation about sharia that has more to do with politics than religion

Mosque? or State?

Sheikh Obaikan, a member of Saudi Arabia's Higher Religious Committee, answered a question about mixed-gender workplaces by saying that it was appropriate if the woman (or women) were wearing hijab; sharia only forbids khalwa, wherein a man and a woman are together in a state of seclusion.

Hadi Fakeeh, journalist at al Hayat and asker of the question, published the answer and is now being sued by Sheikh Obaikan. (He recorded the conversation). The sheikh has issued new statements on the mixing of men and women that are a little ... less liberal.

on women in Yemeni literature, or, Sexual Politics: Yemen Edition

In a word, women in Yemeni literature are sexualized in a way that distracts from the other possible attributes of female characters.

Sounds familiar.

on Queen Rania

Newsweek profiles Queen Rania of Jordan. A teaser:

Rania is glamorous, brainy and not afraid of a little controversy.

So, um ... it's a pretty flattering piece.

on population control in Egypt

How do you control population growth if most women in your country don't work, abortion is illegal, vasectomy is "barely heard of" and punitive measures like restricting maternity benefits for large families are off the table?

Egypt is facing this challenge now.

I do not have an aggressive "small government" attitude, but when it comes to reproductive health, it seems obvious that families would be just as concerned about the rising price of food and limited employment opportunities as Mubarak is. Why not simply educate women about their options with respect to birth control?

a different take on Iraq

Numan al Faddagh, an Iraqi writer living in Cairo, surveys the cafe where Iraqi ex-pats spend their time in the Egyptian capital and offers a more favorable assessment of the American presence.