Islamists and Hindutva Fascists: Two Sides of the Same Coin
Islamists and Hindutva fascists cannot survive without each other despite claiming to be the most inveterate foes.

Omar Ahmed: Napster, Florida Pilots & The FBI
Then he whipped out a badge, identified himself as FBI and asked if he could talk to me. I asked why and he said it was based on an anonymous phone call. I was wondering who I pissed off enough to call the FBI.

Afghan Women’s Struggle Continues: An Interview with RAWA's Sahar Saba
The most important thing is that Afghanistan shouldn’t be forgotten. It is still a tragedy.

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.”

“Sometimes Our People Can Overreact Unnecessarily”: An interview with ISNA Secretary General Sayyid M. Syeed
They have misunderstood. I don’t know exactly what we told them. In this situation, we tell them we will help them and so on. It does not mean we’re a member.

"We Have Too Many Mexicans": An Interview with ISNA's Anti-Alcohol Partner, Howard Lydick
"If we let the entire world move here, our cities will begin looking like New Delhi. We have too many Mexicans coming here. They don't want to be good Americans. They still celebrate Cinco de Mayo instead of the Fourth of July."

The Adab of Dissent and Dialogue: Interview with Khalid Masud
The fear that dissent will divide us has been so strong that our ethics of dialogue became very authoritarian and conservative. Ironically, it has not prevented schism, but has rather fostered a kind of mutual mistrust which is more dangerous than even anarchy. Muslims have lost their sense of adab as well as the urge and ability to speak to others. Instead political concerns have come to dominate our interaction with each others and those outside our faith community.

Unveil Your Mind: An Interview with Nawal El Saadawi
God is not a book. God is justice and freedom and love and honesty. That is what my father taught me—to be honest.

Bleeding for the Imam: Heartbreak and Catharsis in Muharram
Part of me just wanted to soak in some deliberate heartbreak, manifested through a man that happened to be Prophet Muhammad’s grandson. And part of me wanted to bleed again, because it had been a long time and I almost missed it.

Islam, Feminism and Living as the ‘Muslim Other’: an Interview with Asma Barlas
Incidentally, drafting “moderate Islam” on its side does not mean empowering Muslims or rehabilitating Islam. Indeed, Washington’s embrace of “moderate Islam” comes at a high cost. Since friends can and do differ, the administration wants “moderate Islam” not so much to be an independently-minded ally as it obedient and unquestioning henchman

The Sedition: An Interview With Omar X of Rogue Nation
Muslim punk to me, rejects all the material aspirations that their Muslim community hammers into them and takes the diffrent route to become a weapon against kfr america and does whatever he can to fight the ideas of opression, capitalism, materialism and everything else that "America" (Canada included) stands for.

The 99 Names of Allah
As-Sabur. The Patient One By Jawad Ali Hafeez is a painter and a graphic artist who lives in New York. He recently completed a series of 99 paintings depicting the names of Allah. This is his contribution to making...

The Responsibilities of the Muslim Intellectual in the 21st Century: An Interview with Abdolkarim Soroush
Muslim intellectuals still talk about Islam as if it were a simple, unified entity; a singular object. But in reality the history of Islam, like the history of other religions such as Christianity, is fundamentally a history of different interpretations. Throughout the development of Islam there have been different schools of thought and ideas, different approaches and interpretations of what Islam is and what it means. There is no such thing as an a-historical Islam that is outside the process of historical development. The actual lived experience of Islam has always been culturally and historically specific, and bound by the immediate circumstances of its location in time and space. If we were to take a snapshot of Islam as it is lived today, it would reveal a diversity of lived experiences which are all different, yet existing simultaneously. Religion, like all human phenomena, needs to be understood in this context. There is always a plurality of 'Islams' as there is a plurality of other human phenomena—this also happens to include modernity.

Ummah WakeUp! Interview with Ani
My biggest frustration with the Muslim community has to do with the mental blocks people have. In the Qur’an, the mind is supposed to be our biggest asset, and we should use it.

Dreaming in Two Languages: An Interview with Natacha Atlas
She has the most magical voice this side of Umm Kulthum, she’s bringing Arabic music to Europe and North America by creating a synthesis with western beats that still keeps the music real, she belly dances, and she’s politically aware. I’m hooked. And so is Ali, my four-year-old.

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.

Can Muslims Handle the Truth? Amina Wadud Talks About Islam, AIDS, and Tolerance
Islam has the capacity to respond to a wide variety of things. There can be an Islamic response to HIV and AIDS that is compassionate, tolerant, supportive, and inclusive. But what is considered an Islamic response now is unacceptable to me. Others are making more viable responses, and Muslims are sitting on the sideline. Meanwhile, AIDS continues to grow in our community. We need to step up to the plate as Muslims.

Hug Liat Weingart
MWU!: And who are these progressive Jews? LW: I must tell you that being the child of an Ashkanazi Jewish mother--aka a Yiddish Mama-- makes us behave in certain ways. I have organized workshops on how to use guilt to get what I want. Every other month my colleagues and I gather to evaluate the status of the romantic relationships in our organization, and then we coordinate demonstrations when we don’t approve. I'm only kidding of course.