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Posted by Wendy King on 03/29/2010

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Saudi woman openly criticizes Muslim Clerics

A Saudi woman, who participated in a popular poetry reading contest in Dubai, openly criticized conservative and hard-line Muslim clerics for their religious edicts and restrictive policies. Dressed in a burqa, she simultaneously surprised and raised the audience to cheers with her verse and courage. Her reading has placed her in the finals of the poetry competition and has brought her stardom and, unfortunately, threats of violence and ridicule by extremist Muslims. In an interview with The Associated Press she said “My poetry has always been provocative. It’s a way to express myself and give voice to Arab women, silenced by those who have hijacked our culture and our religion.” Further details can be found in the Los Angeles Times article Protesting in verse: A Saudi woman criticizes Muslim clerics’ in a TV poetry contest.

Posted by Wendy King on 03/29/2010. Filed under International. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry