Not Your Mullah's Iran: An Interview with Azadeh Moaveni
It’s a window onto a debate and a world where Islam is being dealt with in an intellectually honest way, and onto a society where the Islamic experiment did not go very well.

The Mullah with X-Ray Eyes: An Excerpt from Lipstick Jihad
I pulled my inkiest, roomiest roopoosh out of the back of the closet for ironing, and wondered whether I was sick, looking forward to a trip that should instill a normal person with dread.

Bringing 'Civilization' to the Kingdom of Wasabia: A New Satire Takes On the World's 'No-Fun Zone'
Buckley is a moralist, and would no doubt openly avow the indictment he makes of fundamentalist Islam as well as the decadence of archaic Arab monarchies.

Wahhabism and the Illusion of a Golden Age
I had high expectations that Algar would blast away the clichés and superficialities and get to the essence of Wahhabism. Unfortunately, this was not the case. Although well written, the work suffers from several major flaws.

What’s Right with Islam? Everything!
[Abdul Rauf] puts forward a new vision for Muslims in the west, and has at last furnished them with the intellectual arguments necessary to renounce the either/or thinking that has made it impossible to reconcile the cognitive dissonance of the supposedly divergent credos of Islam and democracy.

Excerpt from Madras on Rainy Days
On the wedding night, when Sameer discovered what I’d done, certainly he would throw me out. The wedding had to be stopped before that could happen. I ran forward and grabbed Amme’s small hand. She gave me a startled look, but didn’t let go. Together, we trailed behind Abu Uncle.

Meet the New Jack Novelists: Review of Madras on Rainy Days
She is the first novelist to write about Indian Muslims who really gets it.

The Glass House Washington Has Built: The Writing of Pramoedya Ananta Toer
It is for these reasons that Pramoedya Ananta Toer’s ‘Glass House’ should be read and re-read assiduously by all third world intellectuals, activists and politicians today. We are all the unwitting captives of the glass house that Washington has built, and unless and until we realize that our dreams for deliverance will remain an illusion beyond our reach. Fascism and authoritarianism thrive in a climate of manufactured fear: even as captives of this global glass house, we still have our conscience that serves as our final asylum, and it is from this diminishing space that we can hurls the actions and ideas that will break the glass walls that confine us.

A Multifaceted Fraud: Reviewing Irshad Manji's "Trouble With Islam"
Reading her book, it becomes clear that it is not the work of a self-critical individual trying to hold the Muslim community accountable, but a self-congratulatory Westerner, cheering for powerful states and whitewashing the crimes of her "family".

Big Islam for a Small Planet
Farid Esack has given us some pointers on how to live Islam in a way that avoids self-righteousness, moral inconsistency and hypocrisy.

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?”

Sex and the Saudi
Girls are married at alarmingly young ages in Saudi Arabia simply because their fathers are sick of driving them around: they just dump them on some other poor fool, who will then commence a lifetime of chauffeuring responsibilities. Not to mention that many Saudi men have multiple wives, and thus even more daughters—the headache increases exponentially. By the time the Saudi man finally gets home again, it is tomorrow, he’s halfstarved to death, dinner still isn’t done, and he’ll certainly be late to work, and people think the oil money makes them lazy!

Occupied Voices: Excerpts
You should watch Palestinian candid camera. Candid camera is done all over the world, and they did a Palestinian version on Palestinian TV. They want it to be funny, but it is about Palestinians and Israelis. One of the episodes is about a Palestinian guy who is running from the soldiers and he goes from house to house and says, "Can you hide me?" And this is supposed to be funny! The point is that candid camera is supposed to be about day-to-day life, and this is day-to-day life for us.

Mind Over Mullah
Mernissi’s ideas are always challenging but well covered and sensible. To explain the terrifying ascent of terrorist imams, she makes the distinction between the “media imam” (a modern creation) and the “traditional imam” (a reality during the time of the Prophet). The “media imam” is a creation of modern technology. He, in turn, uses modern technology to magnify his presence and bulldoze his rhetoric over the many complex debates the community could potentially participate in. However, the “traditional imam” was vulnerable and utterly challengeable when he failed to secure the rights of each individual in society.

Washing Our Dirty Laundry: An Interview with Omid Safi
I get invited much more frequently to talk at synagogues and churches than at mosques. The national Muslim American organizations don’t take full advantage of Muslim academics. Some people on certain issues will show up, but there is a distrust of scholars who have studied Islamic Studies in the west—it’s that whole "Islamization of Knowledge" garbage.

The Jewish Bin Ladens?
Ultra-Orthodox Jews and the State of Israel
What Shall I Do With This People? Jews and the Fractious Politics of JudaismBy Milton Viorst, Simon and Schuster, 2002, 287 pp. Review by Pat McDonnell Twair “After 2,000 years of strenuous survival in exile, it would be a...