The religion blogging world has its thousands and ten thousands, but there are precious few dedicated to religion and design. Recently I mentioned in passing Hijab Style--"the UK's first style guide for Muslim women!"--and if you're into the material culture of spirituality, it really is a must read. The latest trends in tying headscarves; a write-up on a UAE fashion designer who manages her business while keeping track of eleven (!) kids--each post provides a window to a world that is all too often unseen by the mainstream Western eye.

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Danmarks Radio's youth club Skum has named eighteen-year-old Huda Falah Miss Headscarf 2008. Hijab Style describes the controversy surrounding this contest and provides a comprehensive set of links (including an instructive video interview); Faith Central ponders the implications.

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Via Animal, neo-Jesus Kanye West's shutter shades go ecumenical in the latest issue of Islamic trendmag Elan.

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It actually sounds exactly like things I've heard multiple times from Christian pastors, but this is Malaysia and the city is governed by a conservative Islamic political party:

Azman Mohamad Daham, a spokesman for Kota Bharu municipality, said the latest suggestion contained in leaflets was part of a two-year old campaign.

"We just distribute pamphlets," he said. "Our minimum guideline is [women] must wear headscarves. The rest is up to them. If they want to follow the 100% Islamic way, it's up to them."

The goal of the modesty drive was to prevent rape and safeguard the women's dignity, he said.

It advises that women should refrain from using heavy makeup, particularly bright lipstick. Loud high-heel shoes should also be avoided, though if women insisted on wearing them the heels could be padded with rubber to mute the sound.

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This morning on my walk to work I noticed that the demolition of an office building had exposed a church to public view--and not just any church, but Manhattan's first Roman Catholic parish. Drawn by the sight I decided to do a walk-through. The ornamentation, the altars, the markers commemorating the history of building and craft--the place was a vivid reminder of a visual style in some ways alien to life today, but at the same time its direct antecedent.

The blend of sensory richness and spirituality reminded me of this recent article on the goldsmiths of Iraq. Gold as an expression of transformative identity has a long history there, a tradition evident not just in the Bible but in the diffusion of its iconic values throughout the globe. Which is just one more why the plight of Iraq's goldsmiths is so tragic--it's not just that the invasion led to the pillaging of ancient art; Iraq is losing the very artists whose work help gives life meaning.

Even more disturbing--the role of religious conflict in this spiritual implosion. For more on that check out the whole article; for now, a poignant reminder of one family's lost golden age:

For Walid, goldsmithing is more than a business, it is a family tradition too important to abandon.

His grandfather worked on the golden-domed Kadhimiya shrine, where Imam Musa al Kadhim and his grandson, Muhammad Taqi, revered by Shiite Muslims, are said to be buried.

His father made jewelry for the Iraqi royal family.

A faded photograph hanging above Walid's counter shows his father with the portable wooden box he used to display his wares before he opened a store in 1934 in Baghdad's most famous gold bazaar, which fills the winding alleys leading to the shrine. . . .

The jewelry sold in the Kadhimiya district is especially prized by Iraq's majority Shiites, who consider it to be a blessing from the imams buried there.

Before U.S.-led forces invaded the country in 2003, the shopkeepers say, as many as 3,000 Iranians also visited the shrine every day. After offering a prayer to the imams, the pilgrims would join the bustling throngs to shop for gold.

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Dansk Folkeparti..., originally uploaded by gergenzola.

The Dansk Folkeparti is nothing if not media savvy, as evidenced by this attention-grabbing ad featuring a burqa-clad judge. The message: unless the people take action, Denmark will soon be governed by sharia law.

The Economist explains the effect of this campaign:

Birthe Ronn Hornbech, the immigration minister, denounced the DPP as “fanatically anti-Muslim” and said the judiciary was capable of policing its own impartiality and dress code. Stig Glent-Madsen, a high-court judge, confirmed that the judiciary had always managed this itself.

Yet the government, which relies on the DPP's support to stay in power, has decided that a new law is needed to ban the wearing of all religious symbols by judges—from Christian crosses to Jewish skullcaps and even Sikh turbans. The hapless Ms Ronn Hornbech will have to frame the law. And the DPP is now calling for even broader bans. Muslim headscarves, says Ms Kjaersgaard, are a “symbol of political Islam and the discrimination against women”. She wants them “out of schools, off the streets and outside the doors of parliament”.

Many Danes share Ms Kjaersgaard's sentiments. A poll by Megafon for TV2 found 48% in favour of a ban on public employees wearing “religious garb”, and only 39% against.

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A voice from the ethereal realm has called unto to me to feature Divine Interventions, an inspired example of commercial "religious obscenity." DI's products are primarily from the Christian tradition, tho they also include Moses and the Buddha--but not Muhammad.

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You will not see g-strings, revealing leotards, or nudity at Claude Thomas' newly-created cabaret revue in Marrakech. Instead, dancers' bodies are demurely hidden and kisses are only allowed on the cheek.

"Les Folies de Marrakech", launched earlier this month, is an unusual blend of Western decadence and Islam.

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AVN has the story; Erica Campbell's website explains her decision. Two things are particularly interesting: the sense that her charity work (animal rescue) was not enough, and the social network that emerged as she communicated with the men who paid for her pics. An excerpt below; for a different POV, including an intriguing comparison of working in porn with wearing a head scarf, check out this NOW discussion with Nina Hartley.

Here's Erica Campbell:

I love helping people, I love befriending people, I love animal rescue and rehab. I care a GREAT deal for my friends and family and ALWAYS do whatever I can to care for them and make sure that they are ok. For a long time I THOUGHT that I was doing the right thing.....and doing my personal best......well...I was wrong...dead wrong. . . .

The past few years have been very difficult for me. That is no secret to anyone that knows anything about me. I have been working my tail off to support myself, my farm, my rescues, my family, and the list goes on. No matter how hard I worked.....no matter how many people or creatures I helped I STILL had that void inside of my heart and my soul. Connecting with person after person through my site as REAL FRIENDS. I understood the loneliness of the people that I would talk to...because I myself was so lonely. The more I shot...the deeper my darkness got.....the more I understood the pain of others. My friends and my fan. There is ONE common thread to so many of us online here.....the need to be loved, accepted, cared for, the need to have SOMEONE understand you and connect with you. At the end of so many of these emails was that loneliness. SO many men have asked me what they were doing wrong, how to find a special girl like me for THEM. How to fill that "void" in their hearts...in their souls.

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Via

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Via Trendhunter:

German designer Markus Kison has introduced a digitally-enabled burqa that can transmit a photo, or anything else, of the wearer to nearby mobile phones. Kison calls it the CharmingBurka, and claims that the garment isn’t forbidden by Sharia or Islamic law.

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Demons, divination and Muhammad--this book has it all.

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Via The Plank:

“I used to love Osama bin Laden,” proclaimed a 24-year-old Iraqi college student. She was referring to how she felt before the war took hold in her native Baghdad. The Sept. 11, 2001, strike at American supremacy was satisfying, and the deaths abstract.

Now, the student recites the familiar complaints: Her college has segregated the security checks; guards told her to stop wearing a revealing skirt; she covers her head for safety.

“Now I hate Islam,” she said, sitting in her family’s unadorned living room in central Baghdad. “Al Qaeda and the Mahdi Army are spreading hatred. People are being killed for nothing.”

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A fascinating post from Drive Line:

The decoration of vehicles is a common practice in a number of countries in addition to Pakistan. Similar techniques and materials are employed in truck and (more frequently) bus decoration in the Philippines, Indonesia, and several countries in Central and South America; in South Asia itself, Indian trucks are painted, as are the scooter rickshaws, called "Baby Taxis", of Bangladesh. What makes the case of Pakistan unique, however, is the pervasiveness of vehicle decoration, since decoration is heavily utilized on virtually all privately and fleet-owned commercial vehicles, from the well known trucks and buses, to vans, share taxis, animal carts and even juice vendors' push carts.
The motifs on the trucks can be categorized in five groups:1. Idealized elements of life, such as the romanticized village, landscapes or beautiful women.2. Elements from modern life, such as pictures of political figures or patriotic symbols.3. Talismanic and fetish objects, such as horns, yak tails and items of clothing.4. Talismanically or religiously loaded symbols, such as eyes and fish.5. .Obvious religious symbols and images such as Buraq (a celestial horse that is believed to have carried the Prophet Muhammad on a spiritual journey to heaven).
However, by far the commonest religious symbols appearing on a truck are the Ka'ba and Prophets mosque, appearing on the left and right of the front of the truck somewhere towards the top.

Posted by jat at 10:46 PM | Permalink

By Turkish designer Soner Ozenc:

The lighted designs brighten the closer the rug is to the direction of Mecca, so the faithful can always be sure they're pointing to the right location, and the soft glow is said to provide a soothing environment in which to fully focus on the prayer.

Posted by jat at 08:21 AM | Permalink

Joanna Sugden has the scoop, complete with this social-enterprisey analysis from a moderate Muslim blog:

Newspapers are featuring ads for flowers and articles on various Muslims worldwide with their panties in a bunch about any holiday not explicitly mentioned in Sahih Bukhari. But in all the conspicuous consumption and harrumphing, the ones that Muslims should really be focused on get lost in the shuffle as usual. Many of the trappings of Valentine’s Day have ugly and sometimes bloody pasts that no amount of red satin can hide. The items we exchange as gifts are often produced by workers who are paid little or nothing, live in wretched conditions, and face cruelty and danger in their work. Yet in the denouncing of this holiday, even the holier than thou forgot the poor and the oppressed.

Posted by jat at 09:56 AM | Permalink

The view from Unique Pakistan, in a lengthy article that includes personal stories, descriptions of various garments and a critical response:

The chador, the billowing black dress that covers most everything from head to toe, leaves the face exposed. The burqa, which is worn in Afghanistan, covers everything including the eyes. And the niqab leaves only the eyes exposed. All these fashions, however, are not following the Quran or even the Muslim religion, Mardini said, but are mere cultural definitions of how to cover.

"The hijab is not meant to restrict or confine a woman, it's a code of modesty," said Mardini. "The hijab is worn so as not to cause attractions; this means the woman has to make sure her hair and neck are covered and wears modest clothing that cover(s) the physical body. You don't have to have the chador or niqab or any of that, those are merely cultural."

But hijab-clad females who don makeup, lots of jewelry and tight clothes defeat the idea. "The hijab's purpose is to not draw attention; when wearing it, one has to be simple, not colorful or stylish," Mardini said.

Part of the symbolism of wearing the hijab also is in "the gaze, the way a woman looks at other people, especially men, particularly strangers," Mardini added. A woman's gaze should be modest, along with "very modest dress and demeanor." And she should "be mindful of God" when veiling.

Mardini said the Quran also calls for conservative cover for men: "They are supposed to cover their bodies in public, be decent in public and not wear tight clothes."

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Roses in Riyadh will soon be rare, now that the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice has banned items with a scarlet hue from floral and gift shops.

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Words fail:

The images in the Basra police file are nauseating: Page after page of women killed in brutal fashion -- some strangled to death, their faces disfigured; others beheaded. All bear signs of torture.

The women are killed, police say, because they failed to wear a headscarf or because they ignored other "rules" that secretive fundamentalist groups want to enforce. . . .

The killers enforcing their own version of Islamic justice are rarely caught, while women live in fear.

Boldly splattered in red paint just outside the main downtown market, a chilling sign reads: "We warn against not wearing a headscarf and wearing makeup. Those who do not abide by this will be punished. God is our witness, we have notified you."

The attacks on the women of Basra have intensified since British forces withdrew to their base at the airport back in September, police say. Iraqi security forces took over after British troops pulled back, but are heavily infiltrated by militias.

And tracking the perpetrators of these crimes is nearly impossible, Khalaf says, adding that he doesn't have control of the thousands of policemen and officers.

"We're trying to trace crimes carried out by an anonymous enemy," he says.

Amnesty International has raised concern about the increasing violence toward women in Iraq, saying abductions, rapes and "honor killings" are on the rise.

"Politically active women, those who did not follow a strict dress code, and women [who are] human rights defenders were increasingly at risk of abuses, including by armed groups and religious extremists," Amnesty said in a 2007 report.

Sometimes, it's just the color of a woman's headscarf that can draw unwanted attention.

"One time, one of my female colleagues commented on the color of my headscarf," Safana says. "She said it would draw attention ... [and I should] avoid it and stick to colors like gray, brown and black."

This extremist ideology enrages many secular Muslim women, who say it's a misrepresentation of Islam.

Sawsan, another woman who works at a university, says the message from the radicals to women is simple: "They seem to be sending us a message to stay at home and keep your mouth shut."

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Via

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A fascinating documentary on the culture of nose jobs in Iran.

Documentary filmmaker Mehrdad Oskouei considers the epidemic of nose jobs in contemporary Iran, the world leader in rhinoplasty with an estimated 60,000 to 70,000 operations each year. In a country that discourages personal expression and disdains Western culture, young Iranians eagerly change their noses to model images in European and American fashion magazines. With a light touch, Oskouei listens to patients and surgeons comment on this enigmatic phenomenon.

Posted by jat at 11:19 PM | Permalink

Via Sabbah's Blog:

The first soccer match between female teams has taken place in Alkhobbar (Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province). The match was held between two teams of university students. The Prince Mohammad bin Fahd University team defeated their guests, the Al Yamamah College.

Although the match was held at a 35,000 capacity stadium in al-Dammam, no men were allowed in the stadium, and the referee and her linesman, as well as the fans, were also female.

Posted by jat at 12:39 PM | Permalink

From Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis:

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In the U.S., Playboy's painted Wonder Woman cover has sparked heated protests.  Muslim Malaysia is in the throes of a similar controversy, except the offender is a reality-contest runner-up who--no kidding--shocked the country by imitating in a televised performance the iconic S-painted-on-Tom-Welling's-chest scene from the Smallville pilot. 

AP story after the jump.

Continue reading "Malaysian kryptonite" »

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Pictured left: The Huysuz Virjin, a seventy-six year old crossdressing celebrity in Turkey.

Or at least that's what he used to be.  The "Petulant Virgin" claims that the country's Islamic government is pressuring broadcasters to clamp down on immorality.

The Economist offers a fascinating peek into this culture clash, including an unexpected endorsement of the ruling Islamic party from designer Cemil Ipecki:

"Cemil Ipekci has declared that AK is the best government to have ruled the country in the history of the republic and that, had he been born a woman, 'I would have covered my head [ie, Islamic-style].' Pressed to explain, a demure Mr Ipekci says 'I am a conservative homosexual.'"

Posted by jat at 11:03 AM | Permalink

Today's Faith Central had an interesting post on the debate over whether botox is Halal (a Malaysian fatwa council says no).  In it:  a link to TheIslamicMarketplace.com, which sells Halal cosmetics, including this eyeliner.

OOPS I DID IT AGAIN APPEAL:

A while back I received a nice note from an overseas Islamic fashion entrepreneur whose site I intended to feature, but it looks like I accidentally deleted the email.  If you're that person--or even if you're not and you have something you think might be good for the site--please contact me at jeff dot trexler at gmail dot com.

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That's the theme of an editorial in the Yemen Times making the blog rounds today. The underlying theme: international human rights organizations subvert the religious, social and moral norms of Islamic families.

Even if you're opposed to domestic violence (which, just for the record, I am, in case you were wondering), the core argument is one to be reckoned with. Today's post-colonial world increasingly privileges local standards over the imposition of external values. Are we reaching a point where international human rights are obsolete, the relic of an idealized twentieth-century vision of abstract universal values? Moreover, since 9/11 it's become fashionable in the West to characterize parts of religious practice with which we disagree as "not real Islam" or "not real Christianity," but is that really ours to decide? And does such a normative judgment help us understand why believers carry on offensive practices?

Just as a reminder that this sort of issue doesn't only arise in Yemen, here are a couple links featuring the institutionalization of violence in the U.S. The first: the rules for dress and jewelry from Christian Domestic Discipline, a site where we learn that "the husband has authority to spank the wife" but "the wife does not have authority to spank the husband." And here are the dress code and rules for corporal punishment of children in a California Christian school.

I know, I know--the Islamic guy is talking about domestic violence, but that's not what happens when Christians hit their wives and children.

Riiiiiiiigggghhhhtttttt.

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I get a lot of interesting email from friends of the BofG, and one of my New Year's resolutions is actually to answer it (sorry!).  Not sure what to say in response to this one, though.  Received the following cheerful affirmation of faith late last night; something tells me not everyone's sad about what happened to Benazir Bhutto:

Posted by jat at 02:04 PM | Permalink

A great quote from a revealing interview with Persepolis’ Marianne Satrapi at Payvand's Iran News.

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Today's New York Times takes a look at Egypt's stybblistic evolution out of being a secular state. 

That the norm for women is to wear the hijab will not come as a surprise.  What stands out is the fashion for men:  the alamat el-salah, or zebibah, which is a mark on the forehead that comes from touching the ground in prayer.

But should it really come as a surprise that this mark should become popular in Egypt?     

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The following preview for Marianne Satrapi's animated version of Persepolis tells a complete story through evolving style. If you haven't read any of her work, check out this interview in the Wall Street Journal and hie thee to a bookstore.

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Two stories out of Canada today highlight an emerging twist in the American culture war:

Soccer rules tangled up in Hijab: an Edmonton girls team is benched after a league bans Islamic head scarves during games

Killed for not wearing a Hijab: A father kills his daughter for removing her hijab at school

And in more hopeful news, the New York press is abuzz with the story of how a Muslim guy saved two Jews being beaten up on the subway by self-proclaimed Catholics, one of whom preceded the attack by flashing his Jesus tattoo.

The dumbest part of the assault? One of the attackers said it was in retribution for the Jews killing Jesus on Hanukkah.

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So you're covered in tattoos, convert to Islam and decide to make a pilgrimage to Mecca.

Except there's one problem:  you understand that tattoos are forbidden.  Does that mean that you have to settle for a shopping trip to Dubai instead?

Not at all, sez Islam Online:

In short, a new Muslim convert cannot be casted out of Islam, after recently embracing it, for having no means to remove tattoos applied during his pre-Islamic life.

In his response to the question, Dr. Muzammil Siddiqi, former president of the Islamic Society of North America, states the following:

“First of all, I would like to stress the fact that it is haram to have tattoos on the body. However, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is reported to have said, “Islam takes away the sins done before it.”

Thus, if these tattoos cannot be removed easily or if you have to spend a lot of money to remove them, then you should not worry about them.

When Hajj becomes obligatory on you, you should perform it and do not neglect it because of tattoos on your body. No one should stop you from going to Hajj because of tattoos. I have seen hundreds of pilgrims, men and women, who come from some countries and they have all kinds of tattoos on their faces and bodies. It is forbidden in Islam, but among some tribes in Africa, unfortunately, it is still practiced, even among Muslims.”

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A wry commercial commentary on the Sudan controversy from conservative blogger Bob McCarty.  The ever-informative and engaging Get Religion explores the implications of the controversy for how journalists should draw the line between "Islamic" and "Islamist."

Could something like the teddy bear Mohammed protests arise in the Christian community?  In a way, they already are.  Protests against The Golden Compass extend beyond the movie and books to the potential impact of its merchandising.  Here's a sample objection from a popular Catholic message board:

What if some kids watch that or read the books and decide to name their doll or stuffed animal or favorate pet "demon" or something from the movie? Seemingly harmless things like that can and will open spiritual doors. 

Interesting historical counter-example: last year around this time, Christian protests led Toys for Tots to agree to distribute 4,000 "Holy Huggables" talking Jesus dolls, which TfT had previously rejected on the grounds that the toys might offend non-Christians.

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Over at the Huffington Post, Steven Denlinger has been writing on his movement away from his family's conservative Mennonite faith.  It's all worth reading--especially for someone who, like me, grew up in Amish country--but this story made a particular impression:

WHEN WAS THE PRECISE MOMENT I decided to leave the world of my birth?

THE MOMENT OF DECISION, the emotional Rubicon I crossed, occurred during a conversation with a Muslim girl in London, England in April, 1989. I was attending Richmond College, living on the Kensington campus. I was 25 years old.

I don't even remember the young woman's name. The two of us were standing in the common room, waiting to collect the day's mail. It was almost the end of my year abroad. A classmate from my Chaucer class had just introduced us, and we were having one of those random conversations that suddenly goes deep. She had asked me about my world, and reciprocated by telling me about her own strict and loving father and her own birth world.

Although she was dressed like any Western girl, my new friend told me that when she returned to Egypt, she would take off her clothes and put on the garb of her father's culture. The demands of modesty she would face made the women's apparel within my own Amish-Mennonite world look positively slutty. And then, as I listened to her describe the patriarchal world of her birth, it finally hit me.

I realized that although the trappings of her birth world were different, and the theology read in a different language, the religious principle that put men in control of her world was the same.

That moment caramelized all of my questions. Suddenly, my life changed, forever.

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WXMU has more on this must-see music video from Kabul, featuring Afghanistan's first girl group. I won't spoil anything here, but the sequence starting at 2:20 is stunning!

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From the Times of India:

R&B singer Beyonce Knowles has been asked to cover herself when she performs in Malaysia this year in November.

Organizers have taken the decision keeping in mind the furious students of the Muslim country who threatened to boycott a concert performed by artist Gwen Stefani because of her indecent reputation.

"We've informed Beyonce's management about this issue of clothes, but it takes some of the fun out of it," Contactmusic quoted, Razlan Ahmad Razali, the chairman of Pineapple Concerts, as saying.

. . .

"She's a fashion icon, and we know that she often wears miniskirts and clothes that expose her navel during her performances. It's a pity to restrict her, because her costumes are all tasteful and glamorous," Razali said.

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An engaging multi-faith exploration of the relation between art and higher meaning, available here.

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One of the many fun yet useful design feature of the Mac is the Dashboard, which displays application widgets that can do, well, just about anything. Pictured above: one of a couple user-designed Islamic Dashboard widgets displaying prayer times.

And yes, it has an option to sound the Athan, the distinctive call to prayer!

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Mary Ann Sorrentino, columnist and former Planned Parenthood director, writes this week on recent legal developments pertaining to the prohibition of chastity rings and the hijab in school.  She raises a key point:

Lydia Playfoot, a 16-year-old English student, regrets that London’s High Court rejected her request to wear a Christian “virginity ring” to school. Playfoot sees the ring as a religious symbol, representing her commitment to virginity before marriage. The High Court said the ring is not a religious symbol, but jewelry, which the school forbids for all students. . . .

Celibacy isn’t easy, especially for teens with raging hormones in their bodies and peer pressure pushing from the outside. I’m not sure all the rings and balls in the world can compete with young love and lust. I am happy to cheer for those who try to resist and also to be there to catch them if they fall.
 
But this virginity sideshow pales alongside bans on serious religious garb mandated by whatever holy texts wearers hold dear. It is worrisome that some courts are missing the same fine distinction that the British High Court, in its wisdom, made in the Playfoot case.

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There's a new silver exhibit in Phoenix. One of the featured items: the Sumatran padung earpiece, which, when adjusted up or down, indicates a woman's marital status. Why would this jewelry have such an association, and not, say, a wedding ring?. As you can see from the following replica available at murnis.com, Its double spirals symbolize . . . um . . . the rod-like extension connotes . . .

Anyway, we're dealing with a family-friendly museum here, so let's move along now, shall we? Here's museum director Katie Anderson talking about the exhibit's religious significance:

And while sorority girls everywhere clamor for the silver Return to Tiffany necklace and bracelets, other cultures create fertility symbols with the precious metal. Known as fetishes, these objects vary in symbolism and meaning from culture to culture. It's religious iconography through jewelry, Anderson says: "Each culture's silver can tell us about the people who made them and who wore them."

Plus ca change . . .

Posted by jat at 10:41 AM | Permalink

Jesus said that the disciple of the kingdom of heaven "brings new and old things out of storage" (Matt 13:52)--and in regard to women's fashion, ain't that the truth? Faith Central has a nice rundown on modest women's swimwear from Christian and Muslim vendors--it's new, but oh so old.

Pictured below: Bill Norton, the bathing beach policeman of Washington, D.C., in 1922 enforcing a regulation prohibiting a woman's bathing suit from stopping more than six inches above the knee.

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According to this Christian critic, yes. This assertion isn't a surprise if your familiar with Christian apologetics, in which one common strategy is to expose your opponent's self-contradictions. Evolutionists are quoted against each other or themselves; the historical peccadilloes of the Latter Day Saints stand against the Mormons' modern family-friendly rhetoric; Islam is divided against itself.

Beyond this underlying strategy, the article also attempts to expose Islam as anti-woman, citing evidence that includes an alleged prohibition of jewelry. Christianity, the author claims, holds to a different standard:

In Christianity men are taught to lower their looks while passing by a woman to show respect and to open the door for any female to let her pass first through the open door.

You learn something new every day.

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Religious t-shirts on the rise, says the author of a recent commentary in the fashion news site Fibre2Fashion. He should know--the author, Wain Roy, is a marketer whose work includes such sites as JesusBranded, a ministry that sells Jesus-logoed items as a means of spreading the faith. The success of sites like JesusBranded is further evidence of the blurring of the line between consumerism, commerce and faith. Critics may see this as selling out, but believers who buy into it see it more as transforming the culture than conformity.

Speaking of t-shirts and uprising, pictured above is a t-shirt that is causing quite a stir in New York City: the Intifada NYC shirt sold by Arab Women Active in Art and Media. The word "Intifada" means "uprising" and has long been associated with the Palestinian resistance against Israel. Further causing controversy: one of the people loosely--and I mean loosely, in the sense of being part of a group that shares office space with AWAAM--is the principal of a new NYC school that has already sparked an uproar with its planned curriculum in Middle Eastern studies.

Is AWAAM encouraging girls to don ski masks and gun down their playmates or is it, as I suspect, being provocative in an artistic kulturkampf? Check out their website and decide for yourself!

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More recent news:

Jakarta's Islamic Fashion Festival

Fighting on the fashion front in Iran

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The New York Post is not generally known for taking a moderate tone toward Islam--it's the newsprint home of Michelle Malkin, Bill O'Reilly and other populist conservatives--but the paper recently published a fair and balanced look at new Islamic fashion. Click here for a revelatory interview in which one young Muslim woman explains how the clash of religious tradition and New York chic fosters creative design. Be sure also to read the comments, where (sigh) she's promptly criticized for wearing her clothes too tight.

Posted by jat at 10:30 AM | Permalink

We've seen a number of cases recently re the right to wear religious jewelry in school or on the job. Here's a new case in which a jeweler is accused of refusing to hire a Muslim woman because she wears a head scarf. This press release includes the whole court complaint.

Posted by jat at 06:10 PM | Permalink

From Overheard in New York:

Older woman: Excuse me, miss?
Younger woman: Yeah?
Older woman: Your veil, your burqa is very beautiful. I didn't know your people were allowed to wear it in bright colors.
Younger woman: It's not a burqa, it's a poncho. I'm Jewish. It's for the rain. I got it at TJ Maxx.

Posted by jat at 08:28 PM | Permalink

From popular Muslim blogger Sunni Sister, advice on how "New Muslim Bling" can help build local religious communities:

Make up bags of things to give as gifts to new Muslims: English translations of Qur’an, a book and / or video (preferred) about the five pillars, a tape of simple Qur’an recitations that they can learn for the prayer, a hijab or prayer outfit or kufi, a misbaha, a booklet with addresses and phone numbers for area masajid, halal stores, restaurants, and Islamic bookstores, as well as URLs for good websites.

Posted by jat at 01:12 PM | Permalink

Posted by jat at 01:33 PM | Permalink