EID MUBARAK!



All of us at MWU wish our readers a wonderful and happy Eid on Eid ul-Adha! For more information about the meaning of Eid ul-Adha, please click here:Eid ul-Adha....

Notes on an Islamic Education



A woman’s piety is her chastity. That is the entry point to heaven. Faith itself is a man’s game. The rules are there to keep us in that theater, happy with the fiction and oblivious to the fact that movie stopped playing long ago.

The "G" Question



"Mommy, what if there isn't a God," Ali recently asked on our drive home from Bingo night, his elementary school's umpteenth fundraiser. I raised the volume on the radio Disney station Ali listens to when I need some down time. "What if there isn't a God, then what?" he shouted over one of those midriff-baring pop singer's vocals. My diversionary tactic hadn't worked. This time, I heard the fear in his voice. It was the same tone he used when he was three, asking, "What if the monsters get you and Baba at night?"

Copenhagen Sharia Conference Celebrates “Heresy”



By Mona Eltahawy COPENHAGEN – This summer at the end of a day-long conference in Copenhagen on freedom of expression in the Arab world a young man with slightly faltering Arabic asked to speak to me. “Would you give me...

My Road to Wisconsin Was Paved With Good Intentions: A Muslim-American Reflection on the Civil-Union Ban



It was a simple question, did I feel strange being here as a Muslim? Did I feel strange doing this? And what was this? This was my commitment to social justice, as a Muslim, as an Indian-American, as a person who believes in human rights. This was my desire to prevent the government from dictating the expression of faith and sexuality. Although I believe that homosexual acts are not permissible in Islam, I do not want the government to espouse or express these religious views. Such entanglement with religion is dangerous. After all, marriage is culturally sacred, and for many, it is a recognition of a monogamous commitment between two people in the eyes of God. The state should not dictate the nature of this process. It is that simple.

When Women Get Together



Dr. Massouda Jala, a psychiatrist and pediatrician from Afghanistan, provided medical care to women for 23 years. With the Taliban kicked out, her community asked her to run for office. They put her name on the ballot the day before the elections, resulting in her becoming the representative of Kabul in the 2002 loya jirga. At that point she decided that for her to be effective she needed to work to create laws prohibiting discrimination against women; thus, the Women’s Affairs Ministry (Secretariat) came into being.