ISNA selects new sets of buttocks



Iman Magid gets appreciated by FBI officials By Jawad Ali ISNA is the big and conservative Muslim organization in America. They just elected Ingrid Mattson as their leader. This is good news. I am a big fan of women...

Rapture Now!



Rev. Jerry Falwell predicted present-day conflict in the Middle East will ''serve as a prelude or forerunner to the future Battle of Armageddon and the glorious return of Jesus Christ.'' Miami Herald By Jawad Ali In politics there are...

Excerpt from Mohja Kahf's New Novel, The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf



ISBN-13: 978-0-7867-1519-0 $15.95 (Canada Yes) Trade Paper 448pp, 5 1/2 x 8 1/4 Fiction/Literature FICTION / Literary FIC019000 Spring 2006 Rights: W Carroll & Graf release date Aug. 23 2006. There had always been the telephone, providing its staticky...

Because the Night



What am I doing to my body? This habit of smoking makes me feel nauseous and gives me headaches. This isn’t what I want. And yet, what else is there to do? I can’t stop the war or protect my family. I can’t have back the man I once loved. The thought of seeking temporary solace in the bodies of strangers is no longer exciting to me. I know that smoking is linked with infertility in women, with damage to the ovaries, lungs, and thyroid. I know that inhaling this poison, contrary to its surface mirroring of sex, is a negation of life. I’m crying when I open the Quran for the first time in years and read about Maryam, the woman who begged God for release from the pain of childbirth. In his distant mercy, God sent her nourishment, angels, protection from slander. I don’t see why I should care about fertility. My time to have children is running out and I am no Maryam. I used to hate kissing people who were smokers. Now my mouth tastes like ash and I think that it doesn’t matter, because no one is going to kiss me.

Avoiding a Clash of Civilizations



For the bloodshed in the Middle East to stop, the only superpower in the world, the U.S., must do more talking and less fighting. America must dialogue with the international community, even with our enemies like Syria and Iran, which it accuses of supporting terrorist groups in the region.

It's Time for Jewish Dissenters to Challenge Israeli Policies



I grew up Jewish in Beirut. Although I left nearly 40 years ago, my memories of Lebanon -- vibrant and multicultural -- have stayed with me. And so, my wife and I had started talking about taking a trip there. I would show her the neighborhood where I grew up, the beaches where I swam in the warm Mediterranean waters and the small mountain hotel we loved to stay at in the summer. I would also show her my school, where Jewish, Christian and Muslim children learned and grew together. After the past few weeks, we may never be able to take this trip. Israeli bombings have killed more than 700 Lebanese civilians. Hundreds of thousands -- more than one-fifth of the population -- have become refugees, uprooted from their homes. Lebanon's civilian infrastructure has been systematically destroyed.

Good Girl



by Jennifer Ziska Zobair Cloistered for her own protection she is told as he roams free streaking gold and green in a waltz of pirated dominion. A bout of leapfrog rots into years. I swallow her choice; it is so...

Irreconcilable Narratives from 1967 to 2006



European media including CNN International which is in competition with BBC World rather than Fox News and most people I talked to believe Israel’s version of the events on Lebanon but not Gaza. A relatively small minority buys the current hostility as part of the WoT, indeed most don’t see Iraq’s war as part of WoT either. There is a fair amount of sympathy for the Palestinians but not necessarily Hamas and Hezbollah is negatively viewed as a repressive terrorist organization that provoked Israel and was responsible for so much kidnapping, death and destruction for many years. The view of Israel is less glowing and there is tremendous sympathy with the Lebanese people and anger at both Hezbollah and Israel for killing civilians.

The Israelyville Horror



By Mohja Kahf Have you ever seen Poltergeist? Or The Amityville Horror? The family that moves into the house in each of those movies thinks they are innocent. Why oh why do they keep getting hit in the face with...