From Reuters
TEHRAN, Feb 13 (Reuters) - Young Iranians abandoned thoughts of sanctions, nuclear power and economic hardship on Tuesday in favour of shopping for gifts and making dinner plans to celebrate love on Valentine's Day.
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World Now is launching a new feature we're calling "See the world." Every day we'll highlight a remarkable shot from somewhere in the world.
Today our photo comes from the Muslim holy city of Karbala, Iraq, where Shiite Muslim women in black abayas are shopping for Valentine's Day.
Iraq has embraced Valentine's Day this year, the Associated Press reports. Though conservative Muslims have frowned on the holiday as "an encouragement of perceived Western decadence and premarital sex" -- the BBC reports it was banned in Uzbekistan this year -- it has nonetheless become popular in Dubai, Beirut and cities in Iraq.
Teddy bears, silken nighties and lip-shaped pillows are appearing in Baghdad storefronts.
Valentine's Day puts many of us in mind of the romantic sentiments etched on candy hearts: Be Mine. Together Forever. Love Conquers All. Love even conquers ethnic and religious differences, or so we want to believe.
As a nation, we have come to accept diverse relationships. According to the 2006 General Social Survey, 25% of U.S. households identified themselves as "interfaith," a rising trend in our increasingly diverse society. About 8% of American marriages are now between partners of different races, and a much higher proportion, 37%, are between individuals of different religions. Indeed, approximately one in four Jews and Catholics in the USA marry outside their faith.
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Sweden first Muslim woman police in hijab | Muslim Women News
December 9, 2011
"Sweden’s first veiled police recruit, Donna Eljammal, 26, does not regard her traditional Muslim hijab as a hindrance but rather an asset for her future career within the Swedish police force."
'via Blog this'
To gather together as a community of individuals who identify as Muslim culturally, religiously, ideologically and/or politically and also as lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT), while reconnecting with our faith, our community and with ourselves.
