Minorities and the Allure of Materialism
By Pamela K. Taylor With Christmas still fresh in our minds, American Muslims are looking forward to our own holiday, Eid ul-Adha, a three day celebration that marks the successful completion of the Hajj, Islam’s annual pilgrimage to Mecca. For...

Sleepless in Los Angeles: Showtime's "Sleeper Cell"
In spite of all its melodramatic hype, the more I watched, the more I was surprised to discover that this is one series that’s more intriguing for the things it gets right than it is for the things it gets wrong.

Bring Back the Christmas Cheer!
If as a member of a minority community, I am allowed to call my festivals Eid-ul-Fitr, Ramadan and Eid-ul Azha, why must Christians be censured for calling their festival Christmas or Easter? Why can't they call the tree, a Christmas tree?

Taking the Christ out of Christmas?
By Pamela K. Taylor Newport News, Va., is getting ready for their annual Christmas celebration, except they aren't calling it that. They're calling it Hollydazzle. And instead of lighting the Christmas Tree, they'll be lighting the “Tree of Illumination.” Who...

What's Wrong with Halloween?
Is Halloween haram, or is this just another negative knee jerk reaction to a harmless diversion?

Jewelry making and the Life of a Woman: Zeinab Khalifa
Antonia Nagy models a Zeinab Khalifa creation By Ginan Rauf Zeinab Khalifa began her professional career as an apprentice to traditional master silversmiths and jewelers in Khan al Khalili, the heart of historical Cairo. In 1990 she began exhibiting...

Looking for a job in Hollywood!
Classic Hollywood poster By Siamack Baniameri Dear Hollywood Agents, Movie Executives, Casting agents and Directors, As a middle eastern actor who has studied his trade in the most prestigious Royal Shakespeare company in London, and the protégée of some...

Losing Myself in your Love
By Elen Ghulam One day I went to bed next to my handsome Palestinian husband. The next day I woke up to find an Israeli man with a hairy back lying next to me . He was sleeping on...

The '24' Conundrum
It is the case, unfortunately, that some angry Americans don't distinguish between terrorists and law-abiding American Muslims.

Masjid Taqwacore: Introducing the Kominas
Basim Usmani’s most recent trouble started when the singer of Riff Raff (“a bald fat kid with Henry Rollins complex” as Basim put it) jumped off the stage and started pushing people, microphone still in hand. Basim was right in front and when the kid pushed him, Basim pushed back.

Out of the Box in America: On the ‘Natalism’ Phenomenon
Natalism is about constructing an identity, one that privileges parenthood as the most elevated human activity.

America Is the Greatest... Schizophrenic Mind
Americans love to talk about how great America is. I heard someone on TV last night saying how "The people were talking and they showed up to vote. That's what makes America so great." Is it just me, or has America actually gone a bit loopy?

Spooky Ramadan
By Ginan Rauf Think of Ramadan in Iraq. One thinks of Ramadan with a heavy heart. Think of the children in Iraq today and then think of how American children celebrate Halloween. Let’s get to the quick here—freedom means nothing...

Meeting with Maysoon: America's First Muslim Female Comic Discusses Palestine, the Good Side of Ashcroft, and Why an ABC Reporter Thought She Needed Therapy
Thanks, Mr. Ashcroft, for getting together all the Arab men under 35 in one place for my viewing pleasure.

Why America Needs Rumi
Perhaps it is somewhat surprising then that one of America’s most widely read and best selling poets has been a devout Muslim mystic born eight centuries ago in Afghanistan – Maulana Jelaluddin Rumi.

“Control Room”: Freedom and Democracy, the Al Jazeera Way
This reluctantly symbiotic relationship—a little-love/little-more-hate kind of thing—between America’s image-makers (both in the media and government) and Al Jazeera is a constant thread running through Noujaim’s brilliant documentary.

Put Your Guns Down for God’s Sake! And Pick Up your Pens... and Guitars
Muslims talk a lot about freedom and liberation. Have they, then, forgotten the libratory potential of the guitar solo? At the risk of being melodramatic, I would argue that the solo, if done with Claptonian precision and passion, frees one’s mind and, more importantly, one’s soul.

Ahmed Ahmed: From Helwan to Hollywood
“Look,” he says, “Jews and Muslims have more in common than any religion ever, if you think about it. Both Jews and Muslims don’t eat pork. We don’t celebrate Christmas. We both use ‘ccchhh’ in our pronunciation. And we’re both hairy creatures of God.”

Ten Years Later: Growing Up With Kurt Cobain
Cobain, like Lennon, was a cultural icon (the kind of guy whose face you can put on a T-shirt). Where Lennon defined the 60s and 70s, Cobain towered over the 90s. If we’re talking about the power of music to express reality then Cobain was certainly a master.

Muslim Daisies Grow in Brooklyn: Girl Scout Traditions Mix with Muslim American Identity
Led by their Girl Scout leader Stacey Salimah Bell, the girls learned how to properly handle, fly, fold and dispose of the American flag.

Brand Name Hitler
Hitler® is a registered trademark and valuable commercial property. It is owned by a small and predictably murky group of powerful individuals and institutions. There are strict rules about the right and wrong ways of using the Brand Name.

War Toys
I am not interested in raising a marksman, a warrior, a mujahid. By steering my son away from weapon play and by teaching him the stark reality of the purpose of weapons, I hope to raise him to be a voice of logic and peace in every conflict he encounters in life.

Green Tea With Imam of the Age
In Iran Peter practiced Islam like a Shia; “it made no sense not to,” he says. Then he tells me that in Java they used to play the adhan on drums because it traveled better through forests (“the voice is for the desert”), but the Wahhabis took over and now every mosque there has loudspeakers atop its minarets just like every mosque everywhere else in the world. But that’s how it always goes.

Happy Masjid
I feel sad about all the people here who don’t have a decent mosque to call their own. I don’t go to the mosque very often, but it is always my own fault and never the community’s. I want to tell you about the happiest little mosque on God’s green earth.

Just Wear It: Because a Baseball Hat Covers As Much As a Kufi
Some enlightened brothers have discovered that a baseball cap covers their head just as well as a kufi, and a baggy Adidas shirt with matching track-pants is as modest as a shalwar kameez (not to mention a whole lot better for your game). They realize, perhaps, that were the Prophet to have dressed in the clothing of the French royal court rather than in traditional, Arabian attire, he would have been unlikely to persuade anyone in Arabia to embrace Islam. Similarly, if you go on the metro standing 7ft. tall with a belly-button-length beard, white shalwar kameez, and a matching brown kufi and vest set, don’t be disappointed if men and women in Western-style suits and teenagers in “Mecca Brand” t-shirts and velour Jay-Z sweat-suits don’t ask you to discuss the din (faith). It isn’t personal.

Progressive Music for Progressive Muslims? How Radiohead and Others Are Blurring the Line Between Music and Politics
But as bad as things seem to get, there always remains a glimmer of hope. There are still quite a few bands out there that are saying something that matters, creating what can actually be termed “art.” Art which makes you think, reflect, question, sometimes even hope and dream.

Rachel Corrie Spotted with Che and Mumia
It came to me as no surprise that a freshly painted Rachel Corrie had joined the ranks of Caesar Chavez and Malcolm X as the young hero of the downtrodden. In this mural she is seen lending her strength and beauty to the struggles of Che Guevara and Mumia Abu Jamal and a host of others.