The original hijab fashion, hijab style, beauty and entertainment blog for Muslim women

Ummah Films is releasing a full length film tomorrow (July 18th) on their website.

Click here to go to it.

The trailer preview is below. We’re super excited! Are you?

There’s a new show coming up on The CW this summer called “Plain Jane.” A fashion expert transforms what they call “the girl next door” into a confident person who will ask out the guy she’s had a crush on.

While the show doesn’t concentrate completely on a fashion makeover — there are  also “confidence-building exercises” — I still have issues with this concept.
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I just finished reading “Zeitoun” by Dave Eggers, which seems appropriate, since there’s another tragedy in Louisiana.
But anyone who compares the oil spill to Hurricane Katrina must have forgotten what that storm was all about. While the spill is horrible, the horrendous things that took place during Katrina were pretty mind-blowing.

For those who don’t know, “Zeitoun” is about a New Orleans Muslim family’s experience during the hurricane. Eggers paints a great picture of what they experienced.

While the storm itself was horrible and the after-effects are still being felt, the Zeitouns’ experience differed because of their heritage.

Abdulrahman Zeitoun, a Syrian immigrant, decided to stay behind while his family evacuated New Orleans so he could help other residents in their time of need. His wife Kathy, who had converted before meeting her husband, takes her children to stay with her family and, then later, friends.

While they’re gone, Zeitoun (as his friends call him) gets arrested on charges of looting and suspected terrorism. It’s not clear whether or not he’s arrested solely for being Muslim, but the general state of the law in New Orleans at the time is eye-opening. The justice system was basically thrown aside, and it’s horrible to see how people were so mistreated in a time that they needed help.

But it’s also nice to see a book written about Muslims that portrays them in a normal way. I’m very hard-pressed to find books and movies that show Muslims how I see them, but Eggers explores the Zeitouns’ background and why Kathy decided to convert. There’s no judgment, just an explanation of Islam and how it affects their lives.

It’s refreshing to see a version of Islam that reflects how I live my life. Maybe more Muslim stories like this one will become mainstream.

Pop Culture Hijabi is a weekly column by Nadia Malik. Malik is a former newspaper reporter based in Chicago who’s now making her way as a freelancer. She spends entirely too much time watching TV and reading pop culture, fashion and TV blogs. She also occasionally consumes serious books and news. No, really. You can reach her at info@hijabtrendz.com with “pop culture hijabi” in the subject line, follow her at www.twitter.com/nadiamalik or simply leave a comment below.

We were recently sent a link to this piece that apparently aired recently on MTV about Saudi Arabia.

Note: it runs about 1 hour in length.

Click here to be taken to the video

Our particular interest is on the girl in the documentary who wants to design “colorful” abayas as opposed to the black ones that dominate the market.

We like her hijab style and we find the whole video to be rather intriguing. It seems like women will never win whether they live overseas or here in the West. Can’t we just wear whatever we want?

What do you think of the piece? Do you think there are exaggerations or is it pretty accurate?

Warning: Possible “Lost” spoilers ahead

So six years of “Lost” have finally come to an end.

I wrote about this ending the day before the episode aired, and now I’ve had a week to think about the finale.

I’ll say what I’ve been saying since Sunday: I thought it was a good ending to the SEASON, but I didn’t necessarily like it as an ending for the SERIES.

I think the episode did an excellent job of wrapping up the Sideways world. It was a creative way to do it, and it made a lot of sense. I also loved the last shot. It was very appropriate to end where they started: on a close-up of Jack’s eye, only closing this time instead of opening.
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