Loving the Promise and Not the Promised Land



Recently I’ve witnessed the all too common phenomenon of people who label anyone criticizing or questioning the Bush administration’s policies on Iraq as America-haters or as unpatriotic. They say that they love America and claim that this love is demonstrated by their support of our government in whatever it chooses to do. It occurred to me that this is the same logic that religious extremists use in support of their position.

New Canadian heroine emerges from Arar case



By Haroon Siddiqui I first heard her on CBC-Radio. She was as calm as the subject matter was unsettling — her husband's unknown fate in a jail in a far-off land of torture. She was as methodical as his...

Thanks, but No Thanks: Irshad Manji's Book Is for Muslim Haters, Not Muslims



It is not often that a person thanked in the acknowledgement of a book turns around and announces publicly, ‘thanks, but no thanks.’ And yet this is precisely what I am about to do. At the receiving end of my rejection is Irshad Manji, the Salman Rushdie wannabe author of the fatwa-shopping, newly released book, “The Trouble with Islam?”

The Prime Minister, the Imam and Me: A Eid Reflection



I am writing this because I have just come home from the mosque. Eid prayers are special to me. When I was a child, they were special because they marked the beginning of a wonderful holiday – filled with food, laughter, hugs and television. When I was a teenager, they were special because they marked a period of truce between my parents and myself, during my turbulent and sensitive adolescence. When I was a university student, Eid prayers were a marker of my precious summer breaks in Malaysia – they marked the valuable time I had to savour with my family and friends before I returned to university for the new semester. Eid prayers still form a big part of my personal and spiritual journey.

Khutbas for Dummies



Dear Brother Pimply, First of all, don’t feel intimidated by those “religious” sisters. You have something extremely important that they don’t. On top of that, you never get a period. They just have to make up for being girls. Be a man: look down on them.

Let the Democrats Drown: Why Nader Is Still a Better Choice



But why would Nader not endorse the Democrats as they attempt to dethrone Bush? Because he knows the Democrats, even if successful, will not radically challenge the policies of the imperial ruling class they are patrons of. Nader will point out that prior to 2002, when the Democrats ruled the Senate, they supported some of the most egregious bills team Bush muscled through Congress.

Not a Leaf Falls...



...not a leaf falls, but He knows it... (Qur'an 6:59)

End-Game



mentally cuckoo how to rectify seeing disparity of islam and muslims "Join Islam! Community!" until you come close

Doctor Hate



The latest tirade by conservative pop psychologist Dr. Laura Schlessinger—her degree is actually in physiology, but who cares about credentials in this era of AWOL-guardsmen-turned-commanders-in-chief--is worthy of mention, if only to illustrate the level of acceptability that this kind of drivel against Muslims/Arabs/South Asians (haters are not big on making fine distinctions between Muslims, Christian Arabs, or Indian Sikhs) garners these days.

Rana's Wedding



Rana’s Wedding is Palestine’s contribution to the art of filmmaking this year. It is every bit a masterpiece as Divine Intervention. Both movies are about a sweet and gentle romance with the cruel and absurd Israeli occupation as the backdrop. Rana’s Wedding lacks the big movie production qualities of its predecessor, but it makes up for it with the sweet lilting pace of an Iranian movie.

A Prayer



The ablution...wudu Walking into the bathroom, already feeling the pull that comes after a long dry spell... A cold winter’s night, saving on the heating bill, heater on low

Islam’s Invisible Frontier: The Muslims of Chinese-Occupied East Turkestan



If I were to announce that a Muslim country, slightly smaller than the size of Iran – but still three times the size of France – blessed with bountiful oil reserves, a rich culture and a long attachment to Islam, was suffering brutal torment, one would justly be disturbed. Perhaps all the more so because one might not know which country I refer to. That, indeed, is the greatest tragedy of Chinese-occupied East Turkestan, bounded to the east by China, the south by Tibet, and the west by Pakistan and the newly-independent Central Asian states, emerging from Russian domination.

Happy Masjid



I feel sad about all the people here who don’t have a decent mosque to call their own. I don’t go to the mosque very often, but it is always my own fault and never the community’s. I want to tell you about the happiest little mosque on God’s green earth.

Reciprocal Silence: Egypt’s Christians and America’s Muslims



I wonder, 21 dead, yet over 90 suspects were set free and only 2 were convicted, with only one receiving a sentence of over 10 years. It just does not add up. Could it be the local police force had colluded with the killings and refuses to self implicate?

An Urgent Message from MWU! Editors



Assalamu Alaykum Dear Friends, When we started this magazine back in January, we had a vision. It was that we weren’t alone. We knew in our hearts that there were countless others out there with a yearning for progressive media...

Looking for Saddam



By Ahmad Abou-Saleh Saddam Hussein's potential whereabouts: 1. The Mediterranean hairy mustachioed man serving you your road kill kebabs. 2. He is currently in Syria sipping strong coffee, enjoying the company of Osama Bin Laden and Bigfoot while using...

Voiding the Palestinians: An Allegory



Perhaps this single rape-murder is significant. The voiding of a people necessarily involves suffering on a monumental scale. The Zionists built their Jewish state by destroying the lives of millions of Palestinians over three generations. The scale of this suffering has been documented in reports, in statistics of villages destroyed, houses demolished, and men, women and children evicted from their homes, robbed, incarcerated, bombed, shot at, tortured, killed. However, statistics do not tell stories; they will not grip the reader with the pain of the victims. As the Holocaust reveals its hellish intent in images and artifacts, so the narrative of Palestinian voiding must be conveyed in images, metaphors and allegories, each of which contains in miniature, in essence, the great pain that the Palestinians have endured for more than eighty years.

Peace Process: Palestinians Need Security Too



Palestinians too have a need to security. They too will be giving up or sharing land for peace. This lack of symmetry (explicit concern for Israeli but not Arab security, for example) is designed to ensure a nuclear-armed Israel ends up next to a mandatory unarmed Palestine. Palestine will have no way to prevent a massively armed Israel from bullying its way back to the current situation.

Facing the Facts: Time to Demand Women's Rights



Anti-Muslim bigotry has become acceptable in the mass media. And yes, women are still exploited and discriminated against in the West. But these phenomena do not erase the very real problems that exist in contemporary Muslim societies.

Boxed In by a Bit of Cloth



Ten years ago, at the age of 25, I took off my scarf in Cairo and went out in public with my hair showing for the first time since I had turned 16. It is difficult to overestimate the guilt I felt.

Will One of You Please Woo Me: A Not So in Depth Analysis of Why I’m Not Backing Any of the Candidates for the US Presidency Yet



The next Presidential election is a little over a year away, so it seems like it’s time to start paying attention to the list of candidates, perhaps getting behind one of them. But not a single one is wooing me. Is it wrong for me to want my candidate’s words to move me, to make me feel like there is hope or to even, as far fetched as this may be, make me proud of my government?

They Can Take You Away & Tell No One: The Case of Maher Arar



What befell Mahar Arar could be your, my fate. What is to stop the FBI from throwing a blanket over your head, putting you on a plane to Jordan with U.S. Marshals as your escort, and dumping you in Syria to be tortured? Not a damn thing as I can see it. Keep in mind, that your family and friends won't know about any of this, you won't have any access to an attorney and, if and when you are released and in the slim chance return home, you won't have any redress against the federal government. For the government will deny that it ever happened.

Is That a Fridge Underneath Your Turban? Fighting America While Hooked to a Dialysis Machine



The most powerful army in history is plagued by pesky guerilla attacks in Iraq and Afghanistan. The opposition in each case is led by a man hooked to a dialysis machine.

Why Do Those People in Toledo Hate America So Much? The National Media's Fear of Reporting the Truth



The media blackout of the Tiger Force story is indicative of the state of corporate journalism in this country. The real embarrassing question to the national media here is not just about their lack of coverage; it is why did it take a small newspaper in Toledo to break this story? Where were the legion of New York Times, Washington Post, and TV network reporters?

September 11 and History



Twelve hundred years later, we come across another document, The Declaration of Independence which proclaims the “self-evident” truth that “all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness.” It is time to ask again how faithfully have we upheld this self-evident truth in this our United States, and, more pertinently, in our policies towards Africa, Latin America and Asia?