Blasphemy Before God: The Darkness of Racism In Muslim Culture



It is the duty of all conscientious Muslims to speak out against the hypocrisies and contradictions that exist, especially when the integrity of one’s religious tradition is at stake. Legions of Muslims attack the contradictions of Western society with no mind to looking in their own backyard to realize that it is probably even more disorderly and messy.

Going Where I Know I Belong: A Rebel in the Mosque



I had no intention of praying right next to the men, who were seated at the front of the cavernous hall. I just wanted a place in the main prayer space. As my mother, my niece and I sat about 20 feet behind the men, a loud voice broke the quiet. "Sister, please! Please leave!" one of the mosque's elders yelled at me.

Help Needed Urgently for Iran Earthquake Victims



By Karim Esmailzadeh Dear Brothers and Sisters in Humanity, The 100,000+ people affected by the recent calamities in Iran are in our prayers. Those who can afford more or would like to take it a step further, this is...

Heaven Is at the Foot of Your Child



Now that I’m three years into this whole mom thing I’ve decided that in my world, heaven is at the foot of my child. My husband and I have been trying, quite unsuccessfully, to have another child, and with each passing month we grow more and more appreciative of the gift Allah has given us with this one charming soul. We are sure that his presence in our life is a bit of heaven.

Semantics of Empire



It would appear that the indictment of Saddam gathers power, conviction, irrefutability, by adding the possessive, proprietary, emphatic ‘own’ to the people tortured, gassed or killed. What does the grammar of accusations say about the metrics of American values?

The Hijab Hysteria: A Soldier's View



Nothing helps encourage fundamentalism and support for extremists more than when governments suppress free speech or religious expression.

All I Want for Christmas...



It wasn’t until I became a Muslim that I really saw the Jesus in Christmas. Maybe because my conversion forced me to rethink a lot of the traditions in my life. No longer could every holiday ritual, Christian, pagan or otherwise, be taken for granted. If I were going to continue to participate in the celebrations of Christmas I wanted to be clear as to why.

Is There An Islamic Problem?



When did the decline of Islamicate societies become manifest? We must look for the beginnings of this process, as well as its source, not so much in Islamicate societies as in Western Europe. It was Western Europe that gathered speed and moved ahead of all other societies, starting in the fifteenth century. In turn, the ascendancy of the West produced decline and decay in nearly all non-Western societies, not only those in the Islamicate world.

Reconstructing Interpretations of Islam From The Grassroots: Human Rights and The Case of Iran



In the case of Iran, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are beginning to take the lead in formulating an Islamic response to the government’s religious justification of human rights abuses.

The Magic Hijab



I have been ignorant of the truly miraculous ability of the 47-inch, square piece of fabric that is such an essential part of my wardrobe. Indeed, these 47 inches are imbued with mystical, magical properties. Over the years, the secrets of hijab’s magic have been revealed to me by well meaning people from all walks of life.

The Disheveled Democrats: Pro-War Candidates Show Their True Colors, Attack Dean on Iraq



Howard Dean's latest comments regarding the US capture of the bearded Saddam have been right on the mark. The spiteful reaction from his dreary opponents hardly comes as a shock.

Dr. Dean Is Calling, but Are Muslim Voters Answering?



The lack of Muslim participation is bizarre (but not entirely surprising) and remains one of the few compelling mysteries of the early campaign season. After all, it would seem that American Muslims have a double imperative for getting involved. As concerned Americans, we have a responsibility to participate in our country’s political process and to be active citizens. As Muslims, we have the responsibility – if not the outright duty – to help our country become more just and equitable in its dealings with its own citizens and with the Muslim world at-large.

Saddam’s Total Recall: The Story of Another American Crony-Dictator Recalled to the Factory



Saddam Hussein must be regretting the fact that while he was a dictator in Iraq he did not abolish the death penalty. For now he faces the prospect of being put on trial before an Iraqi court, interrogated by American and Iraqi intelligence personnel, sent to an Iraqi jail (one of many that he built) and finally made to stand before a firing squad or forced to walk to the gallows – a fate he reserved for hundreds of his own opponents during his long stay in power. The irony of it all is that this is the man who was also lauded in the West during the 1980s as a great modernizer and the father of modern Iraq.

Capturing Saddam: Surprise in the Night



Not just the name representing the man, but the name as symbol of everything back home: every arrest, beating, torture, lost limb and life, humiliation, secretive whispering, paranoid thought, forced military service, tapped phone call, and missing family and friends. The stuff of division since the war began, the desire to be rid of him sometimes overcame the desire to stop the inevitable further rape and pillage of Iraq.

Fadwa Tuqan: In Her Country’s Embrace (1917-2003)



Enough for me to die on her earth be buried in her to melt and vanish into her soil then sprout forth as a flower

For Islam, Against Patriarchy: Shirin Ebadi's Nobel Lecture



To disregard women and bar them from active participation in political, social, economic and cultural life would in fact be tantamount to depriving the entire population of every society of half its capability. The patriarchal culture and the discrimination against women, particularly in the Islamic countries, cannot continue for ever.

The Mosque and the Mezzanine



I haven’t been to the mosque in years. Nothing that the mosque stands for today speaks to me in any way. In fact, the mere thought of going to the mosque creates a churning discomfort in my stomach. The last time I set foot in one was when we had the riot police hot on our heels, pelting us with abuse and tear-gas.

Palestinians Do Not Exist



Under a banner that read Never Again A troubled people sought a space An uninhabited desert Rocky soil, hilly terrain Home to no one An empty place

A Good Mosque: Masjid Muhammad in Washington, DC



My favorite mosque in the Washington, DC area is Masjid Muhammad. The masjid is a Warith Deen Muhammad community masjid, and the attendees are majority black, though there are always white and brown people there too. Does this mean we feel uncomfortably white/wheatish-to-fair when Svend and I go there? Not in the least.

Anti-Ahmadi Hysteria: Will Bangladesh Act to Stop Sectarian Violence?



The Ahmadi (Qadiyani) community in Bangladesh, a small religious community, is facing serious threats of communal violence and destruction of property, according to press reports over the past week. Yet, instead of moving to stop impending violence, the Bangladeshi government continues to turn a blind eye.

The Responsibilities of the Muslim Intellectual in the 21st Century: An Interview with Abdolkarim Soroush



Muslim intellectuals still talk about Islam as if it were a simple, unified entity; a singular object. But in reality the history of Islam, like the history of other religions such as Christianity, is fundamentally a history of different interpretations. Throughout the development of Islam there have been different schools of thought and ideas, different approaches and interpretations of what Islam is and what it means. There is no such thing as an a-historical Islam that is outside the process of historical development. The actual lived experience of Islam has always been culturally and historically specific, and bound by the immediate circumstances of its location in time and space. If we were to take a snapshot of Islam as it is lived today, it would reveal a diversity of lived experiences which are all different, yet existing simultaneously. Religion, like all human phenomena, needs to be understood in this context. There is always a plurality of 'Islams' as there is a plurality of other human phenomena—this also happens to include modernity.

Awaiting Mahdi



You Yazid! (grows silent). Oh, wait...you want to attack me? This...this might be doable. Go ahead then. Attack me. Go right ahead. I urge you to. My people are used to your people's attacks. In fact, I urge you to make a martyr out of me. My people like martyrs. Shall I present my neck or can you shoot from there?

A Woman’s Ballad



Today is her day oh dear woman who sighs At night she bears angry hands, voices that cry At dawn comes the calling, she wakes in disguise Bent down in prostration, her soul comes to fly

Finding Elijah: A Journey through American Muslim Mythology



I’m roughly 200,000 words into a new novel and have considered sending my protagonist, a slob-drunk punk named Bombay Unger, on a journey to Elijah Muhammad’s grave. It could make a decent conclusion for the character, searching as he is for a historically-rooted sense of American Islam and the journey that Islam has taken in this hemisphere. For better or worse, Western Muslims owe a great deal to Elijah Muhammad. Even if Saint Malcolm outgrew Elijah’s racist doctrines, Elijah made him first. I could see this Bombay Unger character standing where Elijah’s bones rest, by plan or by accident, and coming to a heightened appreciation for the drama that’s taken us this far.

From Bombs to Candy? “Soft Cultural Diplomacy” Makes a Comeback in Washington



As the America media is warned not to show images of US troops being killed and wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan, and as Washington slowly comes to realize the painful truth that it has not been able to consolidate and capitalize on its rapid military successes there, policy-makers in America have been working day and night to find new ways to save face and to make a graceful exit from the countries that are now in chaos thanks to US intervention. It should be obvious by now that the latest American adventures abroad have been dismal failures. Rhetoric and self-congratulation aside, the US administration cannot hide the fact that more US troops have died in Iraq today than in the course of the invasion of the country. Like it or not, the body bags are real and they simply cannot be wished away.

In the Name of Allah, I Want to Blow You Up: "T for Terrorist"



There are two things I hate in this world, I used to joke as a teenager: One is bigotry in all its forms; the other is them sand niggers. I would use this tired and foul joke every time I was too bored to have a prolonged discussion of race and ethnicity with my fellow freshmen. I used to love watching Siskel and Ebert duke it out in their movie reviews. I was excited when I saw that they were doing a special show on hateful stereotypes in the movies. They went down the list of Hollywood’s racist and sexist offences one by one: blacks, Italians, women, gays. It was a long and sad tale of degradation and shame. And then they got to the part I had been waiting for: Arabs and Muslims.

Little Mosque Poems



In my little mosque there is no room for me to pray. I am turned away faithfully five times a day. My little mosque: so meager in resources, yet so eager to turn away a woman or a stranger.