Egypt: Deny, deny, deny.

Iran? I don't see Iran. per Hosni Mubarak.

In an interview with the Egyptian national television, the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has predicted that Hamas-Fatah disputes would be settled in four weeks, the London-based Arabic newspaper Asharq Alawsat said on Wednesday.

In response to a question about the role of Iran and Syria in Gaza, he said, “There are many rumors but we have no solid evidence in this regard and I can not accuse anyone.”

However, the Egyptian foreign minister had earlier said that Iran’s moves had encouraged the Hamas to do what happened in Gaza, and this is a threat to Egypt’s national security as the distance between Gaza Strip and Egypt is very short.

Egypt: Universities can't bar niqab

These gals look a little hot under the curtain to me.

From Newsweak but worth a longer look if the thought of the niqab makes you crazy. More at the linky.

It was a risky—and frightening—experiment. Taxis refused to stop for me, but male drivers kept pulling over to compliment my eyes (the only part of my body on show) and inviting me into their vehicles. Others just stared. Why the unwelcome attention? Because I was wearing a niqab, the full face veil, on the streets of Cairo. Egypt may be a Muslim country, but its government places numerous restrictions on those who make this religious commitment. That, however, may be about to change in the wake of a decision earlier this month by Egypt’s High Administrative Court.

Egypt’s battle against the niqab has a long history. Authorities originally banned students from wearing it to school in 1994, saying that it violated security standards. Dozens of pupils were suspended in the decade that followed. In nearly all cases however, the court overturned the decision and allowed the girls to return to class. More recently, Cairo University, with the highest enrollment in Egypt, has allowed students to attend wearing the niqab. However, the American University stayed firm, refusing to permit even the niqab-wearing mothers of graduates to attend the commencement ceremony, according to some students. (A more lenient attitude is taken toward the hijab, which covers the hair but leaves the face visible.) The university says the decision is not a religious one, but was made “because all members of the AUC community have a basic right to know with whom they are dealing, whether in class, labs or anywhere else on campus.”

Some women insist that it is nothing more than an “outfit.” One even suggested to me that if young women in the West can mimic the fashions of pop icons “like Britney Spears,” she too should be able to dress like her icon—the wife of the Prophet Mohammed. “We are not coming from a repressed household or a repressed society,” says Sarah El-Meshad, a graduate of the American University in Cairo who took on the face veil after graduation. “This is just a little something extra I am doing for my religion, but I am no different from any other girl.”

That's been brainwashed and repressed by a death cult. Keep putting it out there for Allah, honey.

The Mullahs speak about the female condition

Iranian Mullah Hot-to-trot Hassani: If his wife's a donkey, I guess that makes him an ass.

From Gateway Pundit: What do women and mass transit have in common?

Quite a lot, according to Iranian Mullah Hojatolislam Hassani. In last Friday's sermon about the crackdown on Iranian Fashion Victims, the Islamic hardliner divided women into three groups--

The first group... he said are the women who are badly veiled who are like buses who everyone and anyone can ride.

The second group... are women who are wearing scarves without the Islamic overcoats; they are like taxis who only pick up certain passengers.

And finally, in the third group... there are women like my wife who are like donkeys who let only one person ride them!

Bonus fatwa: Breast feeding among adult co-workers okay.

Ezzat Attiya had issued a fatwa, or religious edict, saying adult men could breast-feed from female work colleagues as a way to avoid breaking Islamic rules that forbid men and women from being alone together.

In Islamic tradition, breast-feeding establishes a degree of maternal relation, even if a woman nurses a child who is not biologically hers. It means the child could not marry the nursing woman’s biological children.

Attiya - the head of Al-Azhar’s Department of Hadith, or teachings of the Prophet Muhammad - insisted the same would apply with adults. He argued that if a man nursed from a co-worker, it would establish a family bond between them and allow the two to work side-by-side without raising suspicion of an illicit sexual relation.

Sorry, boys. Before you go rushing off to the break room - he has since recanted.

Hijab wearing actress returns to small screen

"The Emotions of an Educated Area"

From Al Bawaba:
Egyptian actress Hannan Turn has given her initial approval to star in the new television drama series “Awatif Mantika Ta’lemieh” (The emotions of an educated area), scheduled to be aired during Ramadan. The actress had made her decision after turning down and postponing other projects, in particular nominations for a number of films, which Hannan felt conflicted (!) with her wearing the Hijab, Islamic Headdress.

The new drama falls into a comical atmosphere and each episode lasts up to 20 minutes, but is not considered a sitcom. No doubt sitcoms are haraam.

Better title IMO: "My Mother The Sheet."

The silencing of Sand Monkey

What a shame. He will be missed.
Cairo, 30 April (AKI) - The Egyptian Sand Monkey - one of the country's most popular and straight talking blogs - has closed down his site. In a farewell message, the blogger explained "that there has been too much heat around me lately," adding he feared for his anonymity with "State Security agents lurking around my street and asking questions about me." He went on to say that his bowing out was also due to changes in the Egyptian blogosphere, "too much media attention, too much hype," and the need for a period of reflection.The news of the farewell to the web of the "sand monkey" because of alleged repression by the Egyptian regime, has captured the interest of the local media and on Monday the story was carried by most of the main Arab-language dailies.

Wear the Hijab, b*&^%

Yaser Sami denies insulting Ruby
(it's a good thing he didn't call her a diaper headed garden implement. ask Imus.)
Syrian director Yaser Sami denied intentions to insult controversial Egyptian singer Ruby in the song he directed “Ithajabi” (Wear the Hijab), and refused to be undertaken by her threats to sue him. The song makes a political statement against music videos that feature scantily clad singers and dancers, which Al Hajj believes sends a negative message to viewers.

Sami asserted that he will launch the video clip in the very near future on several Arab satellite channels without deleting or changing any of the scenes.

He stated that the clip is in no way a direct attack against anyone and particularly Ruby.

According to the Qatar based daily, Al Raya, Ruby is threatening to sue the director for filming the video clip that features a little girl preparing to pray and in the process turns off a television set that is playing one of Ruby’s music videos.

The singer has launched a major campaign in the hopes of changing her image, and removing her label as an indecent singer. Her latest album is the first step in the right direction for Ruby as she presents a series of high quality songs.

Ruby’s music videos were previously banned from a local Egyptian television channel after the administration deemed they were inappropriate for the average viewer due to their provocative nature.

You decide.

Curtain Munchers get a Dutch rub...Egypt tries to fight the trend...Iranian women continue to get squeezed.

It looks like the good people of Holland have decided that the burka is a terror risk and are taking steps to ban the damn thing. I say good on Holland...

In Egypt an Egyptian minister cites the increase of 'conservatism' (I prefer to call it islamism)for the dramatic increase in curtain munchers and calls it 'regressive and backward'. Well, the Muslim brotherhood ain't happy with that - they call for the minister's resignation because of it. Given that it is the Muslim Brotherhood, I guess he should be happy they aren't calling for his head.

Meanwhile back in Iran, women are being squeezed into tinier and tinier boxes:
"...women must now work in separate rooms from men, and may not attend meetings with their male colleagues. Segregation in the school system has been extended to teachers as well as pupils: at all levels, girls' schools may only be staffed by female teachers, who may not teach at boys' schools and institutes.In universities, where male and female students have for some time sat in separate areas, CCTV cameras have been installed to monitor contact between the two sexes. The first woman-only hospitals are due to open soon, the health ministry has announced."