International

“Violence Against Women: A Cross-Cultural Perspective”

Examining public attitudes towards violence against women, this paper provides a wider perspective by discussing violence against women in the Arab world and beyond with a cross-cultural overview followed by a focus on Saudi society. It presents the findings of an opinion survey conducted among men and women in the city of Jeddah. It examines their attitudes towards wife abuse and violence against women in the context of Saudi society.

“Comparative Study of Stoning Punishment in the Religions of Islam and Judaism”

This article undertakes a comparative study of stoning in Islam and Judaism. It states that in Islam stoning (rajm) is a punishment - originally from Hodoud – for adultery. In Judaism, stoning was only one of four different types of penalties used in cases of adultery, sodomy, and idolatry, and the ways in which this punishment is executed are quite different in Islam and Judaism. By comparing the size of the stones and the way it is done, one can say that in Islam the aim of this punishment is to be more painful.

The Bloodied Stone: Execution by Stoning

Baghi discusses stoning from eight different vantage points: human rights, the Quran, traditional Islamic jurisprudence, as a case study, interest of Islam, legal perspective, emotional impact, and historical and sociological perspective.

"The authenticity of Furu al Kafi"

This is a Shia website that challenges Sunni doctrine. This document challenges the Sunni belief that there contains a “lost verse” on stoning. They cite several prominent and mainstream Shia sources:

Study on freedom of religion or belief and the status of women in light of religion and traditions

The conceptual contradiction between the cultural dimension of freedom of religion and the fundamental rights of women as individuals in the light of religion and traditions forms the framework of this study. The author posits that the significance of that contradiction can be understood only after an attempt is made to define religion and explain its relationship with culture and to explore the issue of cultural diversity in the face of the imperative of universality, an exercise undertaken in the three sections of this study.

VNC Online Activism toolkit

The Global Campaign, Violence is not Our Culture (VNC) has published Strategising Online Activism: A Toolkit. The toolkit is available for free download and distribution. Through this toolkit VNC hopes that campaigners will acquire the following skills: An understanding of why and how information and communication technologies (ICTs) can be appropriated by women's rights and human rights groups in their advocacy skills through their use of online tools, including networking and mobile tools for advocacy and campaigning; The ability to develop an advocacy / communication strategy; Knowing what social neworking is and the various spaces and tools they could use in their online activism; An understanding of online privacy and security issues relevant to building their online activism.

Regional Workshop on Sexuality and Sexual Rights held in Rabat, Morocco

The Regional Coordination Office for Africa and the Middle East of the Women under Muslim Laws Network (WLUML-RCO/AME) organized a workshop on the topic of sexuality and sexual rights in Rabat, Morocco from May 5-8, 2009. This regional meeting, which examined the issue of “Sexuality and Sexual Rights”, drew some two dozen participants from a wide range of countries, including Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Sudan, Senegal, Nigeria, Egypt, Uganda, RDC Congo, Lebanon and Pakistan.

Criminaliser la sexualité: Les lois relatives à la zina, une violence à l’égard des femmes dans les contextes musulmans

Ce document par Ziba Mir-Hosseini fait partie d’une étude transnationale sur les lois relatives à l’adultère, commanditée par Femmes sous lois musulmanes (WLUML). La tradition juridique islamique traite tout rapport sexuel hors mariage comme un crime. La principale catégorie de crimes de ce type est la zina, qui s’entend de tout rapport sexuel illicite entre un homme et une femme.

CEDAW & MUSLIM FAMILY LAWS: In Search of Common Ground

This report is based on a Musawah research project on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (‘CEDAW’ or ‘the Convention’) that examined States parties’ justifications for their failure to implement CEDAW with regard to family laws and practices that discriminate against Muslim women.

WLUML Newsletter 11

In the winter 2011 issue of the WLUML newsletter, we feature an article on blasphemy laws and women’s rights in Pakistan, following the death sentence of a Christian woman, Asia Bibi, for blasphemy in November 2010 – the first conviction of its kind for a woman. We also interview Iranian activist and WLUML networker, Mahboubeh Abbasgholizadeh, who won the 2010 Johann Philipp Palm Prize for defending freedom of expression and freedom of the press, on how she is continuing her activism work outside of Iran.