From the Author of American Islam: The Struggle for the Soul of a Religion

American, Islam, Progressive, Paul Barrett, Religion

Many readers of Muslim Wakeup know the name Siraj Wahhaj. Many have probably heard the charismatic African-American imam speak—perhaps at a Muslim Students Association conference or a fundraiser at a well appointed suburban mosque. But I’d guess that few Muslim Wakeup fans have encountered Wahhaj on his home turf in Bedford-Stuyvesant, a struggling neighborhood in Brooklyn, N.Y., where his threadbare Masjid At-Taqwa occupies a heavily trafficked corner. As a part of the reporting for my newly published book, American Islam: The Struggle for the Soul of a Religion (Farrar, Straus and Giroux),

The hidden cost of free congressional trips to Israel

Israeli lobby, Rep. Barney Frank, Jim Abourezk, South Dakota, Jim Abourezk

In my own experience as a US senator in the 1970s, I saw how the lobby tries to humiliate or embarrass members who do not toe the line.

Has the U.S. Abandoned Egypt’s “Impatient Patriots?”

Cairo, Beirut,Israeli-Palestinian, Ayman Nour, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, Mona Eltahawy

President Hosni Mubarak might seem to be a reassuring return to business as usual but it is surely nothing but a temporary stop-gap. American professions of support for democracy in the Middle East are usually paid little heed but some of the region’s “impatient patriots” who dared to take to the streets throughout Cairo, Beirut, and other cities thought things were a little different in 2005. Some took the Americans at their word, such as the Egyptian who told me quietly that he had sent U.S. President George W. Bush a letter of congratulations for winning a second term in office. He was happy the Americans had overthrown Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and thought that meant a warning to the region’s dictators.

Little Mosque on the Prairie

Little Mosque on the Prairie, Mike Ghouse

This is one of the funniest sitcoms made on Muslims, and it must be acknowledged as TV production at its best while building bridges between the communities. In its premier episode, the sitcom has dealt with crucial elements, busting myths about Islam and Muslims, while creating in a humorous way, a desire to know more about the culture and religion.

Virgil Goode, the “bad” American

Virgil Goode, Keith Ellison, Democrat, Muslim, Mona Eltahawy, Muslim Americans

Muslim Americans – precisely those very same people that Rep. Goode wants to keep out – are uniquely positioned to tell these stories of America. The local and the personal stories that give a human face to Muslims and to America. And Keith Ellison, precisely the very same Muslim and American that Goode refuses to acknowledge – is uniquely positioned to help erase the “bad” American from Muslim imagination.

Why the rush to execute Saddam?



Four days after the ugly and degrading execution of Saddam Hussein, neither Prime Minister Stephen Harper nor any other Canadian politician has the courage to comment or say anything on the matter. The execution, which was more reminiscent of...

The Brawl for it All

Mike Knight, Ibrahim Hooper, Islam, Muslim WakeUp, Blue-Eyed Devil, Andrei Codrescu, Michael Muhammad Knight

Ibrahim Hooper’s a bully, and the only way to deal with a bully is to show that you’re not afraid of him—not in the courtroom, not in the ring, not on the yawmul-qiyamah.