hhs world studies - weebly

HHS WORLD STUDIES NAME:_________________________

Objective: Identify the main idea and supporting details in your chosen article. Unit/Concept: Age of Exchange and Encounter/Islam

WHY IT MATTERS TODAY: Islam is the fastest growing religion today/conflicts in the Middle East/deepen knowledge and understanding of other religions and cultures TITLE OF THE ARTICLE: _____________________________________________________________________________

WHO: Important person or people in this reading. Underline the most important person or thing

WHERE: What countries are involved? Where is this mainly taking place? Circle the names of places

WHAT: what is happening to the main person or persons? Use and → and write an annotation in the margin

Every Reading has a subject and a main idea. SUBJECT: Who or What is being discussed. MAIN IDEA: What the author is saying about the subject. 1. Subject: The main topic and concepts of the article. It is broad and not as narrow or specific as a main idea. Subject: ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 2. A Stated Main Idea can be found within the title, the first sentence or repeated words/phrases. Stated Main Idea: ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 3. An Implied Main Idea can be found after gathering all of the details from the reading to make an inference. Implied Main Idea: ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 4. Reflection/Connections: What is at least one new thing you learned? (please write 3-5 sentences, you can continue onto the back side of the paper as needed)


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Pakistan's army finds Malala's attackers By Associated Press, adapted by Newsela staff Grade Level 7 09.14.14 Word Count 570From Newslea

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Teen activist Malala Yousafzai was shot in the head in 2012 for speaking out on educating girls in Pakistan. Since the attack, Malala has become famous around the world. On Friday, Pakistan's army said that it had arrested 10 fighters suspected of being involved in the attack.

Pakistani army spokesman General Asim Saleem Bajwa said the captured fighters attacked Malala, who was 15 years old at the time. The men were acting on orders from Mullah Fazlullah, the head of the Pakistani Taliban, a terror organization.

Now, the Pakistani army is fighting the extremist group in North Waziristan, a region in Pakistan that borders Afghanistan. Extremist fighters have lived in North Waziristan for many years.

"The entire gang involved in the murder attempt ... has been busted," Bajwa said. He added that the "terrorists" were part of Tehrik-e-Taliban. It is a group that includes violent terror organizations across the area.

"This Is Good News"

Malala is a teenage activist who seems older than she is. She had called for expanding girls' education in deeply religious and traditional areas of Pakistan. Her views upset Pakistanis who believe women should remain in the home. Many of the Islamic extremists in Pakistan view education for girls as an evil imported to Pakistan from Europe and the United States.

Because of her views, she was shot in the head in October 2012, while returning from school. Two other girls were also wounded in the attack.

Malala went to a hospital in Pakistan. Later she was flown to a hospital in Britain, where she now lives with her family.

"This is good news for our family and most importantly, for the people of Pakistan and the civilized world," said Malala's father, Ziauddin Yousafzai. He said capturing Malala's attackers is important. It gives hope to "the hundreds of thousands of people whose lives have been affected by terrorism."

Still More Fighters Out There

Malala is from the northwestern Swat Valley area of Pakistan. The region was once home to Fazlullah, the leader of the Pakistani Taliban. Fazlullah became the Taliban leader after its former leader was killed by the United States in North Waziristan.


Fazlullah has been on the run since 2009. At the time, Pakistan started attacking the Swat Valley to kill the fighters. The fighters were trying to overthrow the government and force everyone to obey strict Islamic law.

Pakistan believes Fazlullah is hiding in Afghanistan, and Bajwa said Pakistan's government had raised the issue with the Afghan government. Both Pakistan and Afghanistan have accused each other of ignoring fighters who launch cross-border attacks from their territory.

"We will continue our efforts until (Fazlullah) is arrested or killed," Bajwa told a news conference.

He said the 10 men were captured because of information the Pakistani military got from one of the members of the group.

"The group acted upon the instructions of Mullah Fazlullah who, while based in Kunar, Afghanistan, passed instructions through his two associates," he said. He added that it was a "known fact" that Fazlullah and other "terrorists" are hiding in Afghanistan.

The arrests come at a time when Pakistan's military is carrying out a major attack against Taliban fighters in North Waziristan. Pakistan launched the June 15 operation after the fighters attacked one of the country's busiest airports, in the southern city of Karachi, shocking the nation.

The military says it has so far killed at least 975 fighters.


French government to reach out to troubled suburbs By Associated Press, adapted by Newsela staff Grade Level 9 02.05.15 Word Count 919 In this Feb. 7, 2013, file photo, women walk in the streets of Montfermeil,

outside Paris. French Prime Minister Manuel Valls shocked many this week by referring to a "territorial, social, ethnic apartheid” in the suburbs, or "banlieues," tinderboxes of social discontent where the values that bind the nation are often absent. Photo:AP/Elaine Ganley, File

PARIS — After French-born Islamic radicals shocked the country with three days of terror attacks in January, the French government launched a new effort. It is aimed at healing social and religious fractures by better teaching children about French values and steering them away from violent religious propaganda.

Prime Minister Manuel Valls shocked many by referring to a "territorial, social, ethnic" divide that especially affects the"banlieues," the troubled suburbs where some of France's poorest people live. Many of them are minorities with immigrant roots, and include many Muslims from countries that were once French colonies. These areas are seen as time bombs of discontent where values that bind the nation are often absent.

Valls held a special government meeting to tackle this divide in society. The proposals that emerged focus on schools, which Valls calls an "essential link" in transmitting French values of tolerance and freedom.

Selective Moment Of Silence Concern about schools jumped to the forefront of national debate after some children refused to observe a minute of silence for victims of the Jan. 7-9 attacks. Twenty people, including the three gunmen, were killed in the attacks on a kosher market and satirical paper Charlie Hebdo. The three gunmen had lived in neighborhoods in Paris and its suburbs.

Many in the suburbs of Paris understood why some children did not observe the moment of silence, even if they condemn the terror attacks.

"People were killed in the housing projects by police, and there was no minute of silence" for them, said Aly Sacko, a 28-year-old working in Clichy-sous-Bois. Two teenagers from immigrant backgrounds were killed in Clichy-sous-Bois in 2005 while fleeing police, after they hid in a train station and were electrocuted. The deaths sparked weeks of riots in suburbs across the country. Similar incidents have prompted smaller riots in other cities in the decade since.

Starting In The Classrooms

Sacko, a French-born Muslim of Malian origin, said the prime minister's plans to fix poverty and social tensions are a "dream." ''Nothing will change, I promise you," he said.

The plans include special training and testing for schoolteachers about French and European citizenship and more hours of civics classes for students. Teachers will also be trained in teaching a secular attitude. Secularism believes in values that have no religious basis.

Money spent to help the poorest families with schooling costs will increase 20 percent to 45 million euros ($52 million).


Another idea is to teach children to better navigate online media and distinguish between extremist propaganda and facts. Schools will be requested to develop their own radio stations, newspapers, or blogs.

The ideas are not France's first effort to tackle troubles in the suburbs.

Blending In

Unrest first broke out in 1990. Then-President Francois Mitterrand said the projects "provoke rejection, despair" and called it a "problem which will weigh for years on our society."

Violence continued to simmer. The big wake-up call came in 2005 with fiery nationwide riots. France seemed to discover only then that many in the suburbs were living in a different world. Soaring unemployment, a high crime rate and even a lack of access to public transportation to get to jobs fed a deep sense of inequality.

The situation in the suburban housing projects defies France's model for integration. The model assumes that all colors, races and creeds will blend into a single people. It is illegal to count people in France by ethnic or religious background, and diverse populations are expected to blend in — not live separately with just their own race.

Yet it is the French government that pushed immigrants into suburban projects, where today dozens of nationalities mostly cling to their roots and culture.

Plans Got Off Track

When he was president, Nicolas Sarkozy made fixing the suburbs a priority. He created a Ministry of Immigration, Integration and National Identity — since dismantled — and in 2008 unveiled a master plan. It included $728 million to create new trains and tramways, an expansion of "second-chance schools" for dropouts, and professional guidance for thousands of youths wanting to start a company or get on a job track. It also included more police.

The plan grew and changed along the way. The global financial crisis hit, and France had less money to pay for projects, so attention turned elsewhere. There is no clear record of how well the plan worked.

For example, take the housing project that was home to Amedy Coulibaly, one of the gunmen in the Paris attacks in January. It remains a different universe from the government palaces of the capital, just a few miles away. Some doctors and postal workers refuse to venture inside, and even police enter with caution to a zone where drug dealers and teenage thugs hold sway.

Some improvements are visible in suburbs that received attention after the 2005 riots. One of the toughest projects in the Paris region, has seen its high-rises scarred with graffiti demolished, and replaced with scaled-down townhouses.

Waiting For The Train

However, in Clichy-Sous-Bois, where the 2005 riots started, a long-promised train to reduce the 90-minute journey by bus and train to nearby Paris, where jobs are easier to find, may not be finished before 2019.

Samir Ouahfi, a 29-year-old father of three working in a cafe in one suburb, had little hope that the current government would do better than past ones.

"They say there is equality and fraternity," he said, referring to the French national motto. But here on the gray concrete of the projects, he added, "there isn't any."


Mosque reaches into community, focuses on education By Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, adapted by Newsela staff Grade Level 7 01.27.15 Word Count 896 Islamic Center of Pittsburgh volunteer Aleena Moin helps a woman with produce during a food drive on Jan. 16, 2015. Photo: Ralph Musthaler/Pittsburgh Post-Gazette/TNS

PITTSBURGH — At the Islamic Center of Pittsburgh volunteers manned booths before and after the weekly prayer service. They recruited people to work with children, run a food bank, participate in adult education, and recite the Muslim holy book, the Quran, with others.

This push for more volunteers was not linked to the terror attacks in Paris earlier this month. It had been planned earlier. But for Muslims at this large mosque, the recent attacks were on their minds.

They hoped getting young people more involved in mosque activities would help them to learn true Islam. They aim to fight back against violent messages put out by Muslim extremists.

These extremists include the ones who attacked the Charlie Hebdo paper in France. Other groups in the news include Boko Haram in Nigeria, the Islamic State (also known as ISIS or ISIL) in Iraq and Syria, and al-Qaida, which was behind the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks in the United States. All these groups commit acts of violence in the name of Islam.

Separating The Good From Bad Esra Daghestani, 29, was working at a booth to recruit volunteers for children’s activities. She recently graduated from Duquesne University with a nursing degree.

“Everything that’s going on around the world is sad,” she said. “The best thing you can do is try to help with the generation that’s coming now."

She added, “It’s important to tell the youth that ISIS and al-Qaida and all these aren’t really related to Islam. They’re just people who use the name of Islam to get attention.”

Sheikh Atef Mahgoub, the imam of the mosque, leads the weekly prayers. He hit on the same theme during his Friday sermon, which was attended by about 500 people.

The terror group in France claimed they were fighting on behalf of the Muslim Prophet Muhammad. The prophet had been drawn in a cartoon in the paper Charlie Hebdo.

The men “were not defending the honor of Islam,” Mahgoub said. “They did exactly the opposite. They have done nothing but defame the image of our prophet. Muslims all over the world are suffering because of this. Innocent people were killed, including a policeman who was a Muslim.”

More Education Is Needed

Mahgoub said he is concerned that violent groups like the Islamic State are trying to recruit people to attack targets in Europe and the United States.


Recently, a 20-year-old man from Cincinnati who supported Islamic State was arrested. He was allegedly plotting to attack the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C.

The best cure for messages of violence is more education, Mahgoub said.

“Go to scholars, go to people who have more knowledge,” he said.

The Prophet Muhammad was a ruler who would sometimes use force to keep public order, Mahgoub said. Still, the prophet never responded to personal insults with violence.

Those who “really want to defend the honor of Allah” should live according to Muhammad’s teachings, Mahgoub said. They must show “mercy" and "gentleness.”

No Excuse For Violence

Most Muslims do not show Muhammad in art at all, because they do not want to commit idolatry, which is worshipping an object instead of God. The French paper Charlie Hebdo published cartoons mocking major religions, including cartoons showing Muhammad in negative ways.

These cartoons offended many Muslims. Mahgoub said this is understandable, but it does not excuse violence.

“You definitely have the right to be offended, but you don’t have the right to respond physically,” he said.

This Pennsylvania mosque, which is the largest in the region, operates a food bank once a month for the needy. It hosts interfaith events where Muslims, Jews, Christians and others can talk together. It also coordinates with other mosques in the area.

“Oftentimes, Islam is on the defensive,” said Shahid Madni, who runs the mosque. He meant that Muslims often have to explain that Islam does not teach violence. “We always tell people we’re not this, we’re not that.”

By reaching out to the community “we don’t have to tell people what we’re not, because people already know us," he said.

Knowledge Beats Propaganda

Groups such as Islamic State produce and distribute propaganda online— videos or articles pushing their message and calling for violence.

Several young Muslim men at the mosque said they had never seen, or been sent, any of the propaganda.

“I’ve never come across any video, email, message” where such views were discussed, said Wasi Mohamed, a University of Pittsburgh student who helps coordinate the food pantry program.

Mohamed guessed that groups or individuals that were becoming more extreme were probably isolated and on their own.

Niaz Khan, 23, recently graduated from the University of Pittsburgh and is planning to go to medical school. He said young Muslims are working to fight against this propaganda by encouraging their friends into mosque activities. The mosque has a study room for students, and many of the food-bank volunteers are students.

“Come to their local mosque and talk to leaders like Sheikh Atef,” Khan said. “Here they’ll get the appropriate Islamic knowledge to handle those kinds of things. In Islamic teachings there are so many examples of oppression being met with forgiveness. That’s the biggest message.”


Ahmad Ali, one of leaders of the mosque, cautioned against seeing moderate, peaceful Muslims the same as extremists who use violence. “When we start fighting among ourselves, the bad guys win,” he said.

Girl basketball players in Saudi Arabia need sneakers, a net, and courage By Associated Press, adapted by Newsela staff Grade Level 6 11.09.14 Word Count 824

In this May 12, 2014, photo, girls play basketball at a sports field in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia. Women’s basketball is gaining in popularity in a kingdom famous for its public restrictions on female movement and activity. For the players, basketball is not merely a sport but an act of defiance in a country where female access to exercise is shunned by ultraconservatives. Photo: AP Photo/Hasan Jamali

JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia — In Saudi Arabia, there are many restrictions on what a woman can and cannot do.

Now, a group of women and girls in the kingdom are pushing back by playing basketball.

Women's basketball is becoming popular in the Middle East's largest country. Women are using basketball to push for greater rights on and off the courts in Saudi Arabia.

"We are an activist team," said Lina Almaeena, who started the first women's basketball team here 11 years ago. In 2006, Jiddah United became the first sports club in Saudi Arabia to include women. The women promoted the sport at a time when the idea of women playing basketball was unthinkable.

Not Just A Sport

For the players, basketball is not merely a sport. It's also an act of rebellion. In Saudi Arabia, ultraconservative people do not believe that women and girls should exercise. Physical education is still not taught to girls in Saudi public schools.

Women are forced to follow strict rules about what they can wear. They cannot be seen by men while jogging in sweat pants and they especially cannot be seen wearing tight or revealing shorts. Most women in Saudi Arabia cover their hair and face with a veil known as the niqab and all women are required to wear a loose black dress known as the abaya in public.

Nevertheless, Saudi women's basketball is on the rise. Women from the conservative kingdom are even playing in other Arab countries. Hadeer Sadagah, who is 20 years old, started playing eight years ago with Almaeena at Jiddah United. She now plays at the college level for the University of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates.

"I wouldn't be the person I am today without the sport and the team," she said. "It made me be more active in society, school and in studies. It made me more social. It made me confident."

Fun, Friendship, Teamwork

At a recent afternoon basketball practice in Jiddah, girls as young as 4 years old jumped, took shots and ran on open-air basketball courts behind gated concrete walls. Boys played in nearby courts. The children and their coaches stopped for daily prayers.


Almaeena says basketball is becoming popular among Saudi girls because it offers the friendship that comes with joining a team sport. Basketball is also seen by society as more acceptable than other girls' sports. The girls can practice in loose, traditional clothes. And the sport can be played indoors and outdoors.

The sport has grown into a network of teams in different cities. No official league exists. Women's teams play in privately organized tournaments against a handful of other private schools, universities and club teams.

Women's basketball in Saudi Arabia still faces many challenges, though. For one, the kingdom has rules about keeping men and women apart.

Women's teams are not recognized by the government group that oversees sports. Women often struggle to find places to train and are not allowed to attend games in stadiums. In Jiddah, the older female players practice and play in a female-only gym. They only play basketball games in front of other women, and even their male coaches do not attend games.

Complaining About Track Suits

It wasn't until 2012 that Saudi Arabia sent its first female athletes to the Olympics — exactly two of them. But two years later, the kingdom went back to sending only men.

After Almaeena's team played a tournament in Jordan in 2009, Saudi newspapers attacked them for not wearing traditional abayas. They printed photographs of them in modest track suits. They were labeled "immoral" and "satanic," Almaeena said.

It makes sense that Jiddah would become the home of women's basketball in Saudi Arabia. The coastal city is easily the country's most liberal and worldly. It is much more open than other Saudi cities like the capital, Riyadh. People who live in Jiddah are a melting pot of ethnicities whose ancestors settled along an ancient trade route.

"Jiddah is where women are most physically active in society," said Sadagah, the Jiddah-born player.

Jiddah created public spaces where women and young girls walk alongside men in sporty black robes. This is rare in Saudi Arabia, as Saudi women usually exercise in private.

Expensive To Play

However, even in Jiddah it is mostly rich women who play sports.

A club like Jiddah United costs around 600 riyals ($130) a month. Women also have to pay for a driver to get there, because women are not allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia.

For now, women's basketball in Saudi Arabia is far from mainstream. But for players and their parents, it is a welcome way for girls to exercise and build confidence.

Alaa AlShuwayer recently checked out a basketball practice in Jiddah. She was considering enrolling her two young daughters.

"I know 100 percent there's nothing wrong with girls or boys playing sports," she said. "I'd rather they play sports than buy them dresses and earrings."


Afghan women worry their new freedoms may disappear By Los Angeles Times, adapted by Newsela staff Grade Level 8 02.13.14 Word Count 972

Kahkashan Koofi (left) looks at pictures on the phone of her sister Oranous Koofi as they take a taxi with their mother Shahgol Shah (right) to the market in downtown Kabul, Dec. 7, 2013. Photo: Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times/MCT

KABUL, Afghanistan — Shahgol Shah was just 11 when she was married off by her family to a man she didn't choose. She never went to school and spent her life raising seven children.

Today, at age 50, Shahgol Shah still obeys mahram, the Afghan custom that forbids

women to leave home without a male relative. In public, she wears a burka, the long cloak covering her entire body that is worn by some Muslims for modesty. “That’s our tradition,” says Shah, her face cloaked in a shawl.

Her 26-year-old daughter, Ghazalan Koofi, lives a life her mother could never have imagined. She leaves home unescorted every day, working at a government department and attending university classes at night. She speaks fluent English and has never worn a burka. She dresses stylishly but modestly, her wavy black hair peeking out from underneath a head scarf.

Koofi demands the respect of her male co-workers. She insisted on a seat at a recent tribal gathering dominated by white-bearded men in turbans, where women usually have no place. She treasures her “love marriage” with the husband she chose for herself, Shoaib Azizi, a police department employee who calls his wife “a very brave woman.” He helps with housework and caring for their infant son, an act that some male friends consider weak and shameful.

Will Taliban Take Over Again?

Koofi came of age after the U.S.-led military invasion overthrew the repressive Taliban government in 2001. The U.S. went to war against the Taliban because it sheltered Osama Bin Laden, responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks against the United States. The Islamic fundamentalist Taliban did not allow women to attend school, forced them to wear the burka in public and forbade them from going outside their homes without a male relative.

But with U.S. combat troops leaving Afghanistan next year, Koofi and other Afghan women worry that the Taliban will take over and freedoms introduced since the fall of the Taliban will disappear.

“We are entering a very dangerous period for women,” says Koofi. “I’m very worried that we will return to those terrible days when the only place for a woman was in the home, doing housework and serving the men.”

Across Kabul, Shukriya Matin also belongs to the generation of women who have become adults in a world of new freedoms — and fear a future without them.

Matin was in grade school when her family moved to Pakistan in 1996 after she was twice beaten for not properly covering her hair in public. For six long years, she worked as a low-paid child carpet weaver in the neighboring country.

https://www.newsela.com/?tag=Afghanistan


She returned to Kabul after the U.S.-led invasion and earned a high school degree. Now 28, she directs a health care program at a hospital. She feels a sense of dread about the future.

“Only God knows what will happen to women after 2014,” she says in lightly accented English as her 3-year-old daughter plays on the floor.

"Fears And Anxiety"

The arc of Afghanistan’s recent history can be traced through the three generations of Matin’s family.

Her mother, Zahra Matin, 52, was engaged at 9 and married at 13, and never learned to read. “For myself,” she says, “I’m still hoping to take literacy classes and finally become an educated woman.” She dreams of her granddaughter attending college.

But Zahra Matin worries the Taliban, still strong in Afghanistan, will come back and destroy her dreams, and the dreams of her daughter.

“I don’t want that life for my daughter,” Matin said.

The gains Afghan women have made since 2001 are under threat. A human rights commissioner appointed by President Hamid Karzai wants to repeal a 2009 law prohibiting violence against women. That law has been largely ignored and poorly enforced. A recent United Nations report described “fears and anxiety” among Afghan women.

“Signs are everywhere that a rollback of women’s rights has begun,” warned Heather Barr, a senior researcher for Human Rights Watch. The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission reported in January that violent crimes against women reached record levels last year, rising 24 percent over 2012.

Afghanistan is still a deeply traditional Islamic country where some village girls as young as 9 or 10 are forced to marry older men by their families. Some women and girls who flee arranged marriages are hunted down by their fathers and brothers, beaten and sometimes killed.

Death Threats Against Women

There are undisputed gains. Women now have the right to vote and some serve in parliament, the army and the national police force, and there are 150 female judges. Yet the percentage of women in the government workforce has decreased by 4 percent since 2004.

Under the Taliban government, the only education for girls was in home schools, which were illegal. Today, 3 million girls attend school, but that’s still only 40 percent of all school-age girls.

To convince girls not to go to school, Taliban extremists still throw acid in the faces of schoolgirls and burn down girls’ schools. In the last six months, four Afghan policewomen have been assassinated, and prominent female politicians are threatened or killed by extremists.

Last year, the head of women’s affairs was killed by a car bomb. A few months later, her replacement was shot to death on her way to work.

“The situation for women is very fragile,” says Fawzia Koofi, an outspoken member of parliament who taught at an underground home school for girls during the Taliban era. The lawmaker, who is Ghazalan Koofi’s aunt, has been threatened with death by the Taliban, yet she intends to run for president in 2018.

At her home in Kabul, she says, “Our gains could easily be reversed, and we’d have to start from scratch for the simple right to work outside the home or go to school.”


HOOPING WITH HIJAB from Narratively: http://narrative.ly/hoop-dreams/hooping-with-hijab/ Grade Level 10.5 02.13.14 Word Count 1877 As women’s basketball booms around the world, devout Muslim players from Bosnia to the Bronx grapple with a blanket ban on headwear of any kind. B o u n c e . B o u n c e . Elbow in. Knees bent. Sneakers planted. Her feet levitate, her arm extends over her veil, and not a single hair from her head invades the personal space of her eyes, nose or mouth. Her hand follows through as the touch of the rustcolored leather sphere flies from her fingertips. It doesn't merely fly — it soars — following the imaginary curve drawn by the great shooters of basketball legends past until it reaches its peak height. Then it falls and plummets perfectly through the circle.

S w i s h .

Fresh off her college career as the first player to rock the hijab while playing Division I basketball, twentyfouryearold Bilqis AbdulQaadir has a degree in her hand and recently signed with an agent. The high school record holder for most points scored in the state of Massachusetts, AbdulQaadir was recruited for athletic scholarships by multiple colleges, and she played successfully at both the University of Memphis and Indiana State. Playing pro is simply the next logical step. She has hopes of signing with a team overseas to tip off her professional career in the game she has played since she was three. AbdulQaadir grew up in Springfield, Massachusetts, and has worn the hijab — the headscarf worn by Muslim women as a symbol of modesty — since age fifteen. All throughout high school and college, her hijab never gave her serious problems. On the contrary, her teammates and high school community were very supportive when she first played with her hair covered. But when AbdulQaadir opens an email from her agent, there is no news about potential teams — instead, her agent breaks the news that breaks AbdulQaadir’s heart.

Three thousand miles away from Massachusetts, on June 15, 2014, Indira Kaljo, a BosnianAmerican baller who played for Tulane University and professionally overseas, officially makes her decision — she had it on her mind for a while, but now she is certain. Today, she commits to wearing the hijab, and she loves it. She’s happy. She feels closer to her faith, closer to her Islam. There’s one thing though, that wrenches in her gut. Will the hijab interfere with her professional basketball career? Kaljo did not grow up wearing the headscarf, and she played a few seasons as a professional overseas before she decided to cover. She remembers her previous season in Bosnia, when she had to get approval for the tights she put on under her shorts, with the veiled excuse that her legs were cold. The referees gave her some flack, but eventually they allowed it. If tights on her legs — the same thing the basketball greats wear for protection in the elite National Basketball Association — were an issue, then her newly donned hijab could surely be one as well.

Kaljo musters up the courage to perform a Google search so she can satisfy her curiosity. Within seconds, she’s met with the same words that have crushed basketball dreams for AbdulQaadir and many others: Article 4.4.2 from the official rules of basketball’s international governing body, FIBA.

https://twitter.com/indirakaljo


“Players shall not wear equipment (objects) that may cause injury to other players. The following are not permitted:

● Finger, hand, wrist, elbow or forearm guards, casts or braces made of leather, plastic, pliable (soft) plastic, metal or any other hard substance, even if covered with soft padding.

● Objects that could cut or cause abrasions (fingernails must be closely cut).

● Headgear, hair accessories and jewellery.”

“I kind of just cried once I found out,” AbdulQaadir says. “I didn't even know if we could take action, trying to get the rule banned. At that point, I thought I couldn't do anything about it.”

The rule requires a little bit of reading between the lines. The hijab is not expressly stated as disallowed. Neither are turbans or yarmulkes. But they all fall under that last bullet: “headgear.” That one word is responsible for shooting down the dream of professional ballerhood for any Muslim who wears a hijab, any Sikh who wears a turban or any Jew who wears a yarmulke. Although it was not put in place to ban followers of certain religions from the basketball court, it has nevertheless created a complicated love triangle that forces a range of players to choose between his or her two passions — faith and sport, lifestyle and career.

“I was in shock, because obviously, I was preparing...and I was looking forward to another season,” Kaljo, now twentyseven, says. “It was like a moment of truth, like, what are you going to do? Are you not going to do anything about it or try to start some kind of petition? And automatically I knew I had to do something about it...so the feeling I had inside, somebody else wouldn’t feel it down the road.” Hijab, a concept very often reduced to only the piece of fabric wrapped around the head of a Muslim woman, is much more than threads stitched together. It is a way of life for both men and women who adhere to the Islamic faith, and it extends far beyond the scope of apparel. Hijab is modesty in speech, behavior and thought. A person committed to hijab cannot simply remove the soft headscarf for the duration of a basketball game. Yet, such is the suggestion players who sport their religious head coverings receive. Back in 2008, the Indonesian National Team recruited Raisa Aribatul Hamidah for their U18 roster to compete at the Asia Championship. She happily accepted, only to discover the following day her headscarf was in violation of FIBA’s rules. She resigned from the team, as her hijab was something she could not sacrifice. Unlike Kaljo and AbdulQaadir, Hamidah has the opportunity to play professionally in her country, with the Women’s Indonesian Basketball League, as it is not governed by FIBA. More recently, Hamidah, now twentyfour, was again called to the national team, this time to compete in the Southeast Asia Games in June 2015. But those games, like the Asia Championship, are under FIBA’s regulations, and she would not be able to play with her hijab. Justice has yet to be served. After AbdulQaadir, Kaljo and Sikh players Amjyot and Amritpal Singh of the Indian National Team spread awareness of the matter through various media interviews, campaigns like Muslim Girls Hoop Too andmultiple petitions on Change.org, FIBA revisited Article 4.4.2 late in the summer of 2014. In early September, headlines read: “FIBA Relaxes Rules on Hijab” and “FIBA Says Yes to Religious Headgear” — but the decision announced was not that simple. The actual Article underwent no modifications. Rather, FIBA authorized a twoyear trial period, which, according to the press release, consists of “relaxing the current rules regarding headgear in order to enable

https://twitter.com/idal_idul

http://www.buzzfeed.com/regajha/let-sikhs-play#.lcwRGVXPb

http://muslimgirlshooptoo.bigcartel.com/

http://muslimgirlshooptoo.bigcartel.com/

https://www.change.org/p/fiba-f%C3%A9d%C3%A9ration-internationale-de-basketball-remove-ban-on-wearing-head-scarf-during-competition

https://www.change.org/p/stop-racial-discrimination-against-sikh-turban-in-fiba-letsikhsplay


national federations to request...exceptions to be applied at the national level within their territory without incurring any sanctions for violation of FIBA’s Official Basketball Rules.” This means national federations can submit applications for players to compete within leagues in their territory and club competitions only. Players wearing such headgear would not be able to represent their country’s national team in international competitions. The problem is, for players like Kaljo and AbdulQaadir, FIBA’s modification came a little late. Just two weeks after FIBA announced its trial period, the Qatari Women’s National Team had to forfeit their match at the Asia Games in South Korea. Many players on the roster wear hijab, and when arriving at the game, they were told to either take off their scarves or forfeit. Kaljo, who visited Qatar and met the players after the incident, said the team knew they would be denied the right to play because of Article 4.4.2. She says they tried to reach out to FIBA prior to the match via email, but they did not receive a response. Instead of giving up the fight, the Qatari team decided to show up at the game anyway.

“They knew they wouldn’t be able to play,” Kaljo says. “However, they still decided to send the message: We’re ready to play, we’re here, but you’re just not letting us.”

When asked about Article 4.4.2 and the related twoyear trial period, a FIBA official insists the original rule does not intend to be a discriminatory ban on players of certain faiths. He describes FIBA as a global organization seeking to accommodate people from multiple backgrounds, faiths and lifestyles for the sake of sport. The lengthy testing period is an opportunity for FIBA to properly assess how lifting the ban entirely will impact the sport and the players. FIBA says the regulations are without any religious connotations. While this may be true, many players around the world feel discriminated against, and their experiences cannot be ignored. These players demanded a change, and FIBA took a step to enact that change, although not as quickly as some hoped.

The message the Qatari Women’s National Team sent in South Korea last September is not only true for the hijabclad women on their team, but for basketball players around the world. Hamidah in Indonesia is ready to represent her country. AbdulQaadir is ready to sign with a professional team. Kaljo is ready to do the same. The only thing these women are not ready to do is compromise their faith, their very personal decision to wear

the headscarf, and their relationship with God. * * *

B o u n c e . B o u n c e . “To see the basketball go through the net and hear that sound and the rhythm of you bouncing — it’s complete joy,” says Kaljo, who, with all the uncertainty surrounding her professional playing career, recently took a job with the Arabian International School in Taif, Saudi Arabia, where she teaches physical education to girls. “When you’re in that moment, you’re playing against a team, and you hit a gamewinning shot or hit a shot that mattered, or even just sweating, running up and down...everything about it is fulfilling.”

S w i s h . “I want all women worldwide to be able to experience that at the highest level,” Kaljo says. “Represent their countries and be able to tell stories when they are eighty years old about how they played for their country, for the national team, wearing the hijab.”


That’s all any of them want — nothing but net, peace, and happiness with a ball in their hands and a scarf on their head. “Insha’Allah [Godwilling], I feel like it’s going to happen sooner rather than later.”

* * *

Habeeba Husain is a hijabwearing journalist based in New Jersey who works as an editorial assistant for SLAM Magazine and in the athletics department at her high school alma mater, NoorUlIman School, following her graduation from Rutgers University in May of 2014. Connect with her on Twitter @HabeebaHusain and read more of her basketball writing for SLAM here. Chris Russell lives and works as a special educator in New York City. He is the contributor illustrator for Stonecutter: A Journal of Art and Literature, and his work has been featured in Higher Arc and 92Y's Podium, among other publications.

http://www.slamonline.com/author/habeeba/


Saudi women, forbidden to drive, turn to popular rideshare apps

By Los Angeles Times, adapted by Newsela staff 04.14.15 Grade Level8 Word Count 898

A woman waits beside the road in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on April 8,

2015. Since women are not allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia, they

often hire cars, which can be expensive. A woman riding alone in a

public taxi is frowned upon, so Uber taxis are gaining in popularity.

Photo: Carolyn Cole/Los Angeles Times/TNS

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — When Hala Radwan

returned to Saudi Arabia with a business degree

from France, she found a job in the marketing

department of a big international company. There was just one problem: How would she get to and

from work in the only country in the world that does not allow women to drive?

Saudi Arabia offers little choice in mass transit. Hiring a chauffeur was very expensive and she didn’t

want to deal with the negative comments she would face if she tried to hail a cab. In Saudi Arabia,

traditionally, a woman using public transportation on her own is often seen as lacking morals.

“It was a nightmare,” she said.

Friends tipped her off to a solution: Uber and a regional competitor called Careem.

Driving Independence

Smartphone-based ride services like Uber and Careem are becoming increasingly popular in Saudi

Arabia’s major cities, especially among the large number of tech-savvy young people. Customers

include foreign businessmen who don’t want to deal with the country’s sometimes confusing taxi

system. But more than 80 percent of individual users are women, the app companies say.

The apps have increased the ability of women to move around freely and become more independent.

Otherwise they have to rely on a male relative to ferry them around in the country that believes in a

strict form of Islam. However, with the prices starting at about $5 a ride, even supporters of the apps

admit that it is not a solution for the poor.


Radwan, 29, spends nearly $700 a month on rides from Careem.

The cost is slightly higher than for a taxi, but she finds the apps safer and more reliable. Both Uber

and Careem use GPS technology to track their cars. With a few taps, she can see who will be driving

her, the type of vehicle he uses and his customer ratings.

Better still, no one can tell she is not using a private car.

User Numbers Growing Like Crazy

At least four ride-booking apps are available for download in Saudi Arabia, with more said to be in

the works. While the technology is the same as that used in the United States or Europe, there are

some important differences in approach.

None of the companies work with drivers who use their personal cars to ferry passengers for cheaper

prices than a taxi or limousine service. This practice has created conflict with taxis services and

regulators elsewhere. In Saudi Arabia, they say, they get their cars and drivers from licensed

companies and charge similar rates per ride.

“We’re trying to be good citizens and stay within the rules and offer a better quality of service,”

Careem’s founder, Mudassir Sheikha, said.

His company, which has its headquarters in the United Arab Emirates city of Dubai, was one of the

first to enter the Saudi market in 2013. It now has nearly 100,000 users in the kingdom, a figure

growing at about 40 percent per month, he said. The service is available in five cities, including the

capital, Riyadh, and the commercial hub of Jidda.

“There are some (women) that take five to 10 trips with us every day,” Sheikha said. “We don’t see

that kind of traffic anywhere.”

Women Need Not Apply

San Francisco-based Uber, which operates in more than 300 cities in 56 countries around the world,

entered the Saudi market a year ago. In that time, the number of users has increased 20 times over,

said Majed Abukhater, who serves as the company’s regional general manager.


There is no actual law banning women from driving in Saudi Arabia. However, as a result of fatwas,

or religious orders issued by Muslim clerics in the country, the government will not grant women

driving licenses.

Families who can afford it will hire a chauffeur to take female members to work, to school, out

shopping or to friends’ houses, but even that option has limitations.

“I have a driver, but sometimes he is too busy bringing my sisters from school,” said Gamar al-Douh,

24, who comes from a family of three girls with no brothers to help with the driving. “If I don’t have

someone to take me, I use Uber.”

From Point A To Point B

Radwan and her husband considered a chauffeur, but decided against it, because they just got

married two years ago and are trying to save money to buy a house and raise a family.

Her husband could give her a lift to work, but that would take him out of his way.

Radwan used taxis while living abroad but avoids them in Saudi Arabia. Many cars are old and dirty,

she said, and in most cases, the meters do not work, leaving passengers to haggle over the fare.

She and her friends used to be always exchanging phone numbers for good drivers, but she said

they were not always available.

“If you can’t find a driver, you have to wait for your husband. If not your husband, then your brother.

And you know sometimes everyone is just so busy that going from point A to point B is really

difficult,” she said. “You can’t even walk because (often) there’s no sidewalk, so you’re afraid of

getting hit by a car.”

Now, the conversation with her friends has changed. If one of them needs a driver, they tell her,

“Why don’t you take Uber or Careem?”


Muslim baker finds huge fan base while sweeping British TV show contest

By Associated Press, adapted by Newsela staff 10.16.15 Grade Level8 Word Count 724 Right: Nadiya Hussain was crowned the winner of the fifth season of "The Great British Bake Off" TV show. Around 13.4 million people in Britain, about one-fifth of the population, watched the program, making it the biggest TV audience of the year. Photo: BBC One/Facebook. BOTTOM: Hussain is pictured with a book about the show. Photo: AP Photo/Frank Augstein LONDON — "The Great British Bake Off," a televised baking contest for amateur pastry chefs, has become one of the most popular shows in Britain. Nadiya Hussain, the show's latest winner, has become an icon.

Hussain beat out two other finalists and was crowned winner of the contest on a program Wednesday night that was watched by 13.4 million people, one-fifth of the British population.

Hussain lives in Leeds, in northern England, and is a 30-year-old student and mother of three. She is also an immigrant and a practicing Muslim who wears a traditional headscarf. Famous for her baking abilities, she has also become a symbol of Britain's immigrant communities.

Hussain said on Thursday that winning the show was "one of the best moments of my life."

Making Up For Lack Of Her Own Wedding Cake She said she made her winning creation, which she dubbed her "big fat British wedding cake," because she didn't have a cake when she got married in Bangladesh 10 years ago.

Millions of fans followed Hussain's progress through the series. They winced when her vol-au-vents, a tricky French pastry, failed to come together. They gasped at her impressive chocolate peacock cake. Her victory on Wednesday over 41-year-old photographer Ian Cumming and 30-year-old doctor Tamal Ray was widely celebrated.

For many, Hussain represents the face of 21st-century Britain. In recent years, more and more immigrants have become part of the British population. As a result, British culture has become more varied, even as many British traditions continue to be passed on.

Miniature Version Of Britain's Changing Culture Since it first aired in 2010, "Bake Off" has been reflecting these changes. Contestants bake old-fashioned British treats, but the contestants themselves are gay and straight, male and female and from a wide range of ethnic backgrounds.


One fan of "Bake Off" is Prime Minister David Cameron. He backed Hussain to win and called Britain the "proudest multi-racial democracy on Earth" in a speech Wednesday.

Others in Britain have a less favorable view of immigration. In the last decade, hundreds of thousands of newcomers have arrived from all over the world, and they have not always been warmly welcomed.

Victory Among AntiImmigrant Sentiment An anti-immigrant political party known as the U.K. Independence Party has gained millions of votes in local and national elections. Meanwhile, Theresa May, a government minister, gave a speech this week in which she said that mass immigration was incompatible with a united society.

Muslim immigrants are often singled out. Certain extreme Muslim groups have committed large-scale violence in recent years. As a result, Britain's 2.7 million Muslims are viewed with suspicion by some, even though the vast majority of Muslims worldwide are peaceful.

As a Muslim immigrant, and Britain's new "Bake Off" champion, Hussain has made her community proud. The Muslim Association of Britain said her victory "has demonstrated the connection that young British Muslims have with British society."

It is somewhat surprising that the slightly hokey "Bake Off" has become such a cultural sensation. Contestants toil over baking challenges in a large tent on the lawn of an elegant country house. They then present their creations for judgment to cookbook writer Mary Berry and master baker Paul Hollywood.

Two hosts, comedians Sue Perkins and Mel Giedroyc, add encouragement and humor. Unlike most reality shows, the tone is supremely good-natured.

From Humble Beginnings To National Sensation The show had a modest start, but ratings rose from about 3 million viewers for the first season to 10 million by the fifth. Every weekly episode is the subject of conversation on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. Sales of baking books and cake pans have soared as a result of the show's popularity. The format has even been copied in other countries, including Australia, Sweden, Turkey, France and the United States.

Josh Abrams is a lecturer at London's Roehampton University who specializes in food and performance. He described "Bake Off" as perfect for an "age when we're all digitized and spending so much of our time in front of screens." He thinks the old-fashioned tone of the show is refreshing for people.

"The idea of getting your hands dirty — whether physically in the dirt of your back yard or mixing things in a kitchen — speaks to a nostalgia for a notion of a simpler time," he said.

Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. AP material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or

redistributed.

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