Enough Is Enough: A Blueprint for Enlightened Friday Sermons in Our Mosques



Let’s face it: the average Friday sermon in American mosques is often a complete waste of time, reflecting the abject failure of our imams and scholars to articulate the critical issues facing American Muslims. The predictable hectoring, the hair-splitting arguments, the opportunistic invocation of the moral high ground, all these and more often make us wonder if our leaders can ever deal intelligently with the complex religious and political issues of our times, instead of glossing over them with platitudes or denial.

The Month Of Warfare: Ramadan And The War Against Ourselves



Ramadan is usually seen as the most personal and spiritual of the pillars of Islam. This is so because it is God alone who sees whether or not a person is taking the discipline seriously or not. It is impossible that someone is watching you every moment of everyday to ensure that you are not sneaking a sip of water and nibbling on a falafel.

Imam for a Day: My Trip to ISNA Headquarters



In my first encounter with ISNA I smeared feces on respected leaders and prepared to wrestle Muzammil Uncle on the roof of McCormick Place. How could I top that? Challenge Ingrid Mattson to kegstands? Lock Muhammad Nur Abdullah in the smelly trunk of my car?

Sellouts or Saviors: Saving “Progressive” Muslims from Themselves



There are clear limitations to Progressive Islam as experienced in North America, and specifically in the United States. But there are also important strengths and prospects that need to be understood, and valued.

The Essence of Duplicity: The Reaction to Mahathir's Comments on Jews



Mahathir's speech, taken as a whole, included a plea for tolerance and unity among Muslims, for stepping away from dogmatism and violence—including suicide bombings--and toward a common vision that is worthy of the Prophet Muhammad's message.

Manpads and Wooden Carrots



I am all for banning weapons. Like the time we banned weapons from the Bosnia conflict till all the Muslims were cleansed from the desired areas. Then we brought in the big bombs to punish the bad guys. It was a very complicated war, and ordinary people should not try to understand it, any more than they should try firing missiles at aircraft.

Loving and Leaving Hijab



I quit reading anything at all related to the topic of hijab quite some time ago. Let’s face it, Muslims are never going to agree on the issue. There are hundreds of touching and personal accounts on why women choose to don the headscarf. These “hijab stories” can be especially helpful to Muslim women considering adopting the hijab into their lives. With that said, I’m here to present you with another hijab story.

Guns, Drugs and Arabs



The Taliban and Al-Qaida seem to be flourishing everywhere. They are picking out the new carpet for their branch offices in Kirkuk and Faluja. Your job is to explain how this could possibly happen. There are two very important observations you must report back to Kofi. These people probably have some money, and that money must have come from somewhere. There. Can we all go home now and file our expense reports?

Inside Mecca: A Conversation with Producer Anisa Mehdi



Dealing with the challenges of entering Saudi Arabia with a crew and an ambitious plan of following three pilgrims simultaneously during the most crowded time of year—logistically, it was an ongoing nightmare. Whatever could go wrong did go wrong. But in the end, we were able to make a film that meets the quality standards to qualify as a National Geographic Special. But I am aware enough not to take all the credit. I saw God intervening—no way we could have completed this project otherwise.

Sex, Money, and Pretty in Pink: Savitri's Story



“It would only be a few months' work. ‘Pretty In Pink’ was a high-class place. The clients were mainly lawyers, judges, businessmen, financiers. Guys in suits. Most of them married or with girlfriends. I could work a few shifts a week, and earn around $100 an hour. One shift would pay for my boyfriend’s legal fees. After a few months, I would have enough for a bond, my textbooks and my college fees. A few months would not harm me.”

Hug Jews for a Free Palestine



We are Bay Area Jews, and we want no more blood and injustice in our name. We are not behind occupation or oppression. I support this cause because I believe in justice. Judaism doesn’t support ethnic cleansing. We want the Palestinians, the people who lived on that land much longer and more recently than us, to have the same right of return that we do.

What Shirin Ebadi’s Nobel Means to Progressive Muslims



It is going to inspire the silent majority of Muslims worldwide who simply want to live lives of quiet dignity. Where there are oppressive forces from both inside Muslim society and outside of it now we have a paragon of resistance to look up to. And how I relish the fact that this Muslim recipient is a woman, a strong mother of two children, a judge, and an activist. How many stereotypes about being a Muslim and a woman, an Iranian and a woman, she shatters through the very grace of her being!

Israel May Be Our Demise: Why Democrats Are So Far to the Right on Israel



So what Middle-East direction shall the US take if progressives decide to unite and dump Bush? It’s becoming more and more apparent that Democrats won’t endorse any populist platform like that of Dennis Kucinich or Al Sharpton. If Democratic constituents won’t endorse real progressive candidates, then their party is certainly doomed. Unfortunately, it may signal the demise of our peace and security as well. The largest threats to our security stem from fundamentalism bred in the Middle East; with a direct link to the US backing of Israel.

Hail Arab Nationalism! Thoughts on the Israeli Bombing of Syria and the Arab Reaction



Who knows what those aircraft were carrying! I mean, what would you do if you were in that position? What would America do? What would Israel do? Speed dial the Arab League, there’s a plan and a half. Wake up the despots, dictators and deranged dreamers, all of them, for a lazy afternoon emergency session.

Just a Piece of Cloth: The Headscarf Confounds Germany



It felt as if they hanged a wooden board on my neck with the inscription, “asylum seeker” (that’s how the majority in this country sees foreigners). The events of the twentieth century that brought catastrophe to Germany have made this into a land of “locals” and “strangers.” Unfortunately, the lessons of the past have gone by barely noticed.

Sweet Home Lackawanna



We rose and made lines shoulder-to-shoulder, feet-to-feet. I could not identify the suras he recited after al-Fatiha, but they made me want to cry anyway. In the second after prayer, I began to get up but the brother on my left extended his hand. I greeted the man and sat an extra moment to make du’a for him. Sometimes I think I’m over Islam, but I’m never over Muslims or the feeling I can get at jum’a when the world just slows down for me in the nicest ways possible.

Mourning What Is Said: Memorable Encounters with a Mensch



“So what religion do you follow, Edward?” I asked unabashedly. “I am secular,” he replied. I remember retorting that he was dodging my question. Then he said something that startled me: “I am Muslim,” he said teasingly. For a moment I thought he was playing me, and perhaps he did, for he knew that Islam was an important aspect of my identity. “You mean Islam culturally, right?” I queried. “I am Arab and I am Muslim. I am also American, Brahim,” Edward replied and then went on to explain his complicated identity. As we talked, I got the sense that for him at least, Islam was not a religion, but that his Arab-Palestinian identity implied that his cultural formation was partly Islamic. Years later, I realize that what Edward said to me was a comment in an unguarded moment. He trusted me not to confuse or make any conclusions about his identity or reach any conclusions about his religiosity or the absence of it. I am glad I did neither. But I know he found Freud’s view of Moses, in Moses and Monotheism, as both insider and outsider, to be an extraordinarily fascinating and challenging idea.

Mulla Nasruddin Comes to America



Before returning to his home town in Bokhara, the Mulla asked if I could make his talks available to a wider American public. I did not have the heart to tell the Mulla that his talks, which were stories about his antics, had not gone well (he had not noticed), and it wasn’t very likely that they would be better appreciated by a wider American public.