Written by Rachel Woodlock, Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations
Sunday, 31 January 2010
The masjid is for men: competing voices in the debate about Australian Muslim women's access to mosques
Rachel Woodlock
Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations, 1469-9311, Volume 21, Issue 1, 2010, Pages 51–60
Muslims in Australia, as in other English-speaking and European nations, live as a religious minority where community infrastructure is still being built, thus intensifying the role of the local mosque as the centre of Muslim religious and community life. Despite evidence that the spatial sunna of the Prophet gave women full access to the masjid, many Australian mosques practise segregation and varying levels of exclusion, which disenfranchises the female half of the community. Segregation and exclusion are defended through use of the fear of sexual fitna trope that arose from patriarchal interpretations of, and interpolations into, Islamic source texts. Nevertheless, fundamentalist and contextualist voices have defended the right of women to fully access mosques. Contextualists in particular base this on the need to provide fresh fiqh interpretations appropriate to the exigencies of modern life, pointing out that many other traditional rulings from the fiqh of mosques have been abandoned or modified in the Australian context.
On Catholic Forums, someone (not a Catholic I think, but one of the anti-bahai polemicists being trained at an institute in Qom), wanted to know what right I had to speak. The underlying issue is: who is part of a community? Who is entitled to have their say?
… while we’re at it, why is a New Zealand resident of Holland and a non-Iranian posting to Iranian.Com, especially one who it is claimed has been disenfranchised by the Baha’i establishment?
I responded (September 23, 2009:
This is off-topic, but easily answered. Anyone who looks at my blog on Iranian.com can see that I am part of the community there mainly because of the Iranian literature connection. I am a Master’s student in Persian, on the editorial board of the Iranian Studies Series, and edit or translate a lot of books relating to Iranian literature or Iranian studies in general. A couple of these are listed on the ‘publications’ tab of my blog. Some of my articles and translations that are available electronically are listed on my blog here.
Iranian.com is open to non-Persians: the site has a magazine format and has created a broad cultural community. I do not need to apologise to anyone for being part of it.
Since I was not actually looking for any sort of leadership, not being on the membership rolls doesn’t affect me very much.
There are links to the only documents there are, on the ‘about Sen’ tab. It looks as if someone sent the UHJ a selective quotation from the Foreword to my book Church and State, at a time when the book itself was not yet available in Israel, and the UHJ thought I was aspiring to some sort of leadership in the Bahai community and removed me by way of precaution. If there’s more to the story, the UHJ is not sharing it so far. I’ve asked several times to be re-enrolled, but didn’t get any further idea from the answers of what the UHJ’s purpose may be, but…
Two Sundays ago I invited some members of our monthly inter-faith group to share, during our Sunday worship service, their tradition’s appreciation of Jesus. The readings from their holy texts about Jesus were deeply affirming, moving, even adoring. The Story of the Magi inspired the invitation, they likely Zoroastrians, who come to “pay homage” to Jesus but with no hint in the text this is a conversation story. Many worshipers wrote to express appreciation. But others wrote to express their dismay, their feeling that Sunday worship was not the right setting for words from other religions, and that I should have reminded all present that Jesus is the only way to God and eternal life. My pondering inspired this blog posting.
The massive and magnificent Baha’i World Center located in Haifa, Israel is octagonal in shape, a magnificent door centered at each of the eight sides, one each for visiting pilgrims of the eight major world religions. Visitors are invited to enter the temple, the presence of God, by “their” door – Jews and Muslims, Christians and Hindus, Jains and Buddhists and so on. In fact, if I am not mistaken, one can become a Baha’i and remain an adherent of their present faith. (I am a “quiet appreciator” of the Baha’i faith, but that is for another time).
I was hoping to write up a little piece today about "Project Runway" contestant Pamela Ptak's Baha'i faith, but she was bid "auf wiedersehen" at the end of last night's show. You see, Ptak, who considers God her favorite designer, was singled out for committing the ultimate fashion sin--making a model look fat.
Challenged to create couture out of burlap sacks, several of the 15 contestants had it in the bag while others completely unraveled. Ptak's design seemed somewhere in the middle: not exactly inspired, but demonstrating excellent craftsmanship. Surely next to Ping' Wu's poorly constructed, buttock revealing, barely beyond burlap creation, Ptak's faux-denim dress would be safe. But, no.
Hannah Seligson has some interesting commentary and information on The Daily Beast about the courting habits of the under 40's. Some of the reasons that people participate in long-term relationships but don't necessarily marry or marry much later are included below:
We want it all.
We are looking for someone to be our gym buddy, career counselor, best friend, lover, creative inspiration, and therapist. In short, the intimacy expectations of young people today are off the charts. The soul mate fetish has given way to lines like: “I want to be as excited to see him in 30 years as the day we first met.” According to the National Marriage Project at Rutgers University, an overwhelming majority (94 percent) of never-married singles between 20 to 29 agrees, “when you marry, you want your spouse to be your soul mate, first and foremost.” And that quest for “certainty” and that magic mix of qualities can take years of dating to uncover.
The role of faiths and their stances on other people’s sexuality, such as homosexuality, bisexuality and sodomy, will be discussed in “Is My Religion Cramping Your Sex Life?”
Several diverse faiths will come together over the next month to debate where religion fits into some of the most contentious issues in our society.
The Interfaith office is holding a series of public discussions with representatives from the Christian, Jewish, Baha’I, Wiccan, Muslim, Hindu and Buddist faiths, as well as different First Nations faiths. The representatives will debate the religious issues implicated within freedom of speech, environmental policy and people’s sex lives.
Reverend Lucy Reid, UVic’s Anglican Chaplain and priest at St. Michael and All Angels Church in Saanich, says that one of the aims of the series will be to dispel stereotypes about theological debate.
I can't believe this one came up. More so, I can't believe I'm writing about it. Not that I find it offensive or anything, but just that it seems so unusual I'm not sure a lot of us can relate to it. It is interesting, though, and well worth the thought of the implications.
And, as I've said before, I'm not afraid to tackle the tough questions.
...if he is considered a woman, then he would be expected to marry a man. This would give the appearance of a gay marriage to virtually everyone who saw them.
There is a very good friend of mine who asked me about the Faith, and specifically asked a couple of very interesting questions. I must admit, despite my twisted approach to the Writings, and bizarre manner of seeing odd connections, I never thought of this one.
These questions should go to the Universal House of Justice, but I'm just too embarrassed to write them. I'm not sure why, but I am.
Written by Leva Mottahed. Translated by Nizam Missaghi. Facebook / HRA News
Sunday, 17 January 2010
The Bahá'í Affairs Committee of the Human Rights Activists in Iran
The trial for the former Bahá'í leaders of Iran was finally held in Tehran’s Revolutionary Court on Tuesday January 12, 2010, after a 1.5-year detention period and postponing of three previous trial dates. This trial was held behind closed doors and the immediate families were not allowed to be present. Even the lawyers representing the defendants had to work their way into the courtroom after significant persistence. The lawyers were able to finally meet their clients in person for the first time on the day of the trial. Despite being held behind closed doors, there were camera crews present in the courtroom, although it was not immediately apparent with what agency they were associated or who had granted them permission to record the proceedings.
In one of its paragraphs, the text notes that the defendants had “confessed that they had held meetings at the homes of ambassadors from Western countries.”
The most prominent feature of the trial was its true nature as a show trial. This was most apparent in the inadvertent release on January 11, 2010, of a report of this trial a day before its actual date. The report was apparently pre-written and sent to news outlets for publication on Tuesday afternoon, after the session’s adjournment. However, despite well-rehearsed “instructions” regarding the timing of the publication, a major semi-official news source entitled “Young Journalists” published the report at 17:50 on Monday, January 11, on its front page, and, within two hours, another website entitled fararu.com published the same article and referenced the original publication. The original article was available for viewing on the front page of “Young Journalists” website but was promptly removed at 09:05 on January 12, presumably once the gaffe was discovered. The site did not, however, realize that their article had been cross-posted and referenced on fararu.com. The original URL for the Young Journalists website is now a broken link.
O rulers of the earth! Be reconciled among yourselves, that ye may need no more armaments save in a measure to safeguard your territories and dominions. Beware lest ye disregard the counsel of the All-Knowing, the Faithful.
Be united, O kings of the earth, for thereby will the tempest of discord be stilled amongst you, and [...]
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Since I was not actually looking for any sort of leadership, not being on the membership rolls doesn’t affect me very much. 
A small donation will help pay the hosting fees for this site. This tiny form allows you to pay using PayPal and credit card. (Or you can 
