Muslim WakeUp! MWU!: Muslim Issues

November 10, 2007

AMERICAN ISLAMIC FELLOWSHIP
On October 18th, we filed for incorporation with the state of Georgia as the "American Islamic Fellowship," an organization dedicated to providing a safe and supportive community for the diverse voices of Muslim Americans. The Islam I have embraced is one that protects the rights of women, is tolerant of multiculturalism, promotes peace among mankind, and encourages spiritual enlightenment through religious practice, critical thinking, and the quest for knowledge. The Islam I practice is egalitarian and just and is not a religion of blind followers, but of conscientious believers. Kelly and I have committed to developing a community through the Fellowship that will encourage studying, discussion, and diversity of thought. We hope to promote cooperation between faith groups and charitable organizations.

November 1, 2007

Reflections on �Engaging� Islam�
Islam has been defined by some as �engaged surrender,� (Wadud, p. 19) an active definition which points to the way which one approaches submission to divine reality, to the practice of the din or religion of Islam. Perhaps no time is this vigor more apparent than during the month of Ramadan. This Ramadan I attended a conference entitled: �Engaging Islam: Feminisms, Religiosity and Self-Determinations,� at the University of Massachusetts in Boston. This conference consisted of a five day submersion within an environment of listening and learning about Islam as a religion, a social code, a mode of governance and law. What emerged from this experiment was a picture of an Islamic religion which contains a multitude of perspectives, inspirations and judgments. As one of the guiding principles of the conference presenting scholars brought the rigorous interrogation characteristic of feminist critique to every topic, most especially towards a definition of Islamic feminism.

October 20, 2007

Culture & Religion: Fusion or Confusion?
America has often been referred to as a �melting pot�, however, more recently the media seems to prefer the term �salad bowl�. A �salad bowl� implies a mixture of strong, individual flavors which somehow blend harmoniously together into a successful end result. How appropriate is this analogy when applied to the American Muslim community which itself is made up of people from different cultures, ethnicities, and varying Islamic practices? More importantly, how do American Muslims define themselves � by their culture, their religion, or a blend of both identities?

June 20, 2007

Islam in the Western mirror
Present-day images of Muslims and Islam in Western media vary considerably. However, since the collapse of the Soviet Union the general drift of Western concerns has been to portray Islam as the main enemy of the West and the Muslim world as a hotbed of terrorism that threatens Western civilisation and its democratic values. Thus in the present-day hegemonic world order -- under which all norms of civilised behaviour in the conduct of foreign policy have been discarded by the Bush Administration and its allies in London and Tel Aviv -- Muslims are associated with terrorism. We have seen over the last few years the expansion of President Bush�s destructive war, the inhuman treatment of captive population of Iraq and Afghanistan, rampant abuse of prisoners from Muslim countries by American and British forces, total indifference towards the human rights of prisoners of war or of those suspected of resisting or opposing the American occupation of their countries and false propaganda to cover up the real objectives and crimes against humanity of the neocon rulers in Washington and London.

May 29, 2007

Myths about Western secularism and politics in Islam
Another dogma needs to be dismantled here � that in Islam, religion and politics are forever joined at the hip and the two cannot be separated for fear of violating a presumed divine commandment. This dogma has grown out of an ahistorical reading of the growth of Islamic political thought that disregards the lack of evidence in the early sources for a notion of sacred or sacralised politics in the Islamic polity. Rather, political governance was deemed necessary for the pragmatic purpose of maintaining order in society and no particular mode of government was understood to be mandated.

April 24, 2007

Muslims are not required to cover up
BY FARZANA HASSAN and TAREK FATAH Originally a source of modesty, the hijab, or Muslim head scarf, has become a political tool. Its latest manifestation came this week with the sight of 10-year old Muslim girls refusing to give up...

February 27, 2007

Khutbah Competition
Additionally, the winners will be invited to deliver their sermons during the first conference of Muslims for Progressive Values, to be held at Sarah Lawrence College June 15-17, 2007. MPV also intends to publish the winning essays in a booklet which will be available to the public. The judges for the first year include: * al-Husein N. Madhany, PhD Program, Medieval Islamic History and Theology, University of Chicago. * Kerry Gearin, lawyer; advocate for abused women and children * Jack Fertig, columnist; head of the San Francisco Progressive Muslim MeetUp Groups * Laury Silvers, Assistant Professor of Religion specializing in Islam at Skidmore College; founder of progressiveislam.org Donations to support the competition are welcome; please click here to donate via paypal. Thank you!

January 30, 2007

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

December 30, 2006

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....

December 4, 2006

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.

November 30, 2006

ISLAMIC FEMINISM: OXYMORON OR REALITY? BARCELONA CONFERENCE 2006.
The tarnishing of Islam�s image the world over that took on an unprecedented dimension with 9/11 has brought Muslims face to face with the bogey of Islamic extremism. The topic of Islam is no longer confined to personal reflection; it has entered into the political and universal public arena.

November 14, 2006

MUSLIM WOMEN LEADERS LAUNCH GLOBAL MOVEMENT
Manhattan, New York - Over one hundred Muslim women religious leaders, human rights activists, scholars and artists from around the world will meet in New York City on November 17th to 19th to launch WISE: The Women�s Islamic Initiative in Spirituality and Equity to empower Muslim women to play a greater role in their societies worldwide.

November 1, 2006

Clothes Aren't the Issue
However, the kidnapping and killing of my friend and colleague Daniel Pearl in 2002 forced me to confront the link between literalist interpretations of the Koran that sanction violence in the world and those that sanction violence against women.

September 22, 2006

Pope�s Speech: Slander Cannot be Met with Slander
It has to be stated again that the choice of quotes used in the speech by the Pope was anything but enlightened, and that uttered by a man of his standing and delivered before such a public gathering, was bound to lead to a reaction on the scale that we have seen thus far. What is more, it should be noted that apart from the reaction from the Muslim world, there was little unease or disquiet about the Pope�s speech elsewhere. Proof, if any was needed, that there exists an unhealthy tolerance for abuse of Islam and Muslims in many parts of the non-Muslim world today.

September 19, 2006

Pope Benedict's Comments Were Unwise and Provocative, But the Best Course for Muslims is to Turn the Other Cheek
The Pope�s remarks have been criticized the world over and he has apologized. That should be enough. In this crisis, there is an opportunity for Muslims. The Guardian put it best when it concluded by stating, �There cannot be dialogue without rigor and openness. The Muslim world should also take pains to be thoughtful in its response, and perhaps less quick to take offence.� Now is the time for Muslims to turn the other cheek. This is the �greater� jihad.

September 17, 2006

Pope�s Remarks Reveal Need for Dialogue
Rather than fanning the flames of conflict with a nasty jab at Prophet Muhammad, I wish the Pope had instead engaged in a serious dialogue with Muslims, as have the Midwest Council of Catholic Bishops and Focolare, which is a very successful international Catholic interfaith movement. While it is good that the Vatican�s spokespeople have said the Pope regrets that his remarks caused affront, it would be better if the Pope disavowed Manuel�s description of the Prophet, and called for further discussion with Muslims, both in order to understand one another better and to share ideas and strategies about how to tackle the problem of violence in the name of religion and the use of religious rhetoric for political ends.

September 15, 2006

Identity Politics and the Ummah
Muslims must take their faith back into their own hands. It is indeed time for an Islamic Reformation (as scholar Reza Aslan has described), and the first step is for the ummah to stand up to those who bully it. Muslims must think for themselves, rebuff anyone who intimidates them into conforming to his vision of Islam, and never compromise their Islamic values, even in the heat of protest.

June 29, 2006

DENMARK REVISITED � NINE MONTHS ON
The Danish Muslim struggle for recognition in an increasingly xenophobic environment goes beyond a hapless cry of victimisation.

June 15, 2006

The Political Ummah
In a recent survey released on March 9, 2006 the Washington Post reported that in the aftermath of the cartoon controversy, nearly half or 46% of Americans had a �negative view of Islam�, a number ten points higher than in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks.

June 13, 2006

O Canada! We stand on guard for thee
By Shujaat Wasty As a born & raised Canadian Muslim, I take the greatest pride in my country; I proudly wear the maple leaf whenever I travel abroad, I am fluently bilingual in both of our national languages and can...

May 30, 2006

"I Have Found My Place in the Muslim Ummah"
By Brittany Sullivan I'll admit, the way I decide to learn more about Islam was quite silly. But alas, I am thankful for it, for it brought me to where I am now. I had been watching The Daily Show...

May 25, 2006

Islamophobia: Is It Real or an Excuse
With respect to the religion of Islam, the only ones who can taint its image are its designated practitioners; i.e., the Muslims.

May 17, 2006

Redefining Islam
The clergy had disfigured the divine beauty of its teachings and polluted them with their lowly desires.

April 27, 2006

Unfortunately, strangers on a train
"And those cartoons! They get so angry about cartoons but planes flying into buildings? My God. Cartoons," said a woman.

March 17, 2006

Wafa Sultan's Attacks Will Not Bring Positive Change
I'm a practicing Muslim. I'm peaceful. I don't have any intention of killing off non-Muslims, and I don't believe my religion asks me to.

March 3, 2006

The Rage Game, Rethinking Muslim methods
The Rage at Injustice. By Mike Glier By Imam Abu Laith Luqman Ahmad Anyone who hasn�t capitalized on the recent malicious caricature portrayal of the Prophet (SAWS) to express their outrage, promote their organization, get their name in the...

February 22, 2006

I'll have a multifaith Danish (with lavish sprinkles of tolerance, respect and humor)
Danish Rack. 8"x10" Oil. By Trent Gudmundsen By Raheel Raza A non-Muslim friend from my interfaith group has just left me a voice mail thanking me for guiding him to a seminar about the life of Mohammad, which was...

February 15, 2006

French Islamic Scholar to Join Female-Led Prayer in Toronto
Former Marseilles Mufti to also Address Cartoon Controversy TORONTO - A leading Muslim scholar of France, the former Mufti of Marseilles, Soheib Bencheikh, will be in Toronto on Sunday, February 19, where he will address a press conference on the...

February 11, 2006

PMU Statement on Cartoon Controversy
We must defend the right of cartoonists to draw satirical, biting, even blasphemous commentary, and the right of papers to publish items which may be offensive or perceived as heretical by some. A society without such freedom rapidly becomes poisonously repressed and out of balance.

February 7, 2006

Cartoons, Ships, Danes, Italians, Egyptians & Saudis
By Ayman S. Ashour I woke up yesterday to morning papers and internet news showing pictures of angry people on the streets of Cairo. A boatful of poor Egyptian laborers returning from Saudi Arabia to the South of Egypt...

February 4, 2006

What Would Prophet Muhammad Have Done?
This posturing by Arab governments and Islamist movements is not in the tradition of Islam. These zealots should ask the question: What would Prophet Muhammad have done when faced with this insult?

January 25, 2006

Why I Don't Buy the Concept of Identity Politics
By Najad Abdul-Aziz 1. Because I really couldn�t give a rats arse as to who exactly is conservative or progressive. Yes, labels do suck, but so does the notion of dividing lines when it is these times we should all...

December 9, 2005

Wrath of God? The Qur�anic View of Natural Calamities
On the basis of the Qur�an it is not correct to regard ordinary natural disasters as the acts of chastisement or punishment from God.

October 27, 2005

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

October 18, 2005

Nourished by the Waters of Indigenous Islam
The Honorable Noble Drew Ali, Inheritor, Guide, and Transmitter of Indigenous Islam By Laury Slivers Simply said, American Indigenous Islam in all its forms should be properly honored and respected by the Muslim community as part of the history...

October 14, 2005

A Different Kind of Jihad in Kashmir
Let us hope that those radical imams who fuel Muslim anger learn to fuel Muslim charity.

September 7, 2005

ISNA Thugs
ISNA asserts that it is the �only representative of Muslim Americans from all walks of life� but fails drastically short of representing anyone but a fringe of the Arab community and an even smaller percentage of the South Asian one.

July 26, 2005

On a Wing and a Prayer: Toronto Helps Make Woman-Led Prayer a Reality
The little prayer that shook the world will truly succeed when similar prayers become just another expression of human love and worship for God, without all the spectacle, without the TV cameras, without the huge controversy. That is why the prayers that took place in Toronto were so important.

Equality As Reality, Not Clich�, in Toronto
Pamela Taylor reinforced the cherished Islamic ideals of equality, love for all, tolerance and universal brotherhood.

Prayer with a Purpose
I felt the heavens smiling on us and I took a deep breath of peace. The time for Friday prayers was near.

July 23, 2005

The War Between Common Sense and 'Text Sense'
There is a huge vault between us. It is a divide between people consumed by religious thinking and see everything through a religious prism and people of humble common sense who see things as they are.

July 21, 2005

Traditionalist View on Sex Slaves
According to traditional schools of thought, not only was slavery permitted, but they also approved that every male master had the right to force any of his female slaves to have sex with him. This fact not only shatters any illusion one might have about the dignity a slave enjoyed according to traditional schools, it also smashes any hope to find a social or economical rationale for it.

June 22, 2005

Gay Marriage: A Necessary Freedom
If we as Muslims strive for equal rights within this country, then are we not hypocritical to go against the equal rights of others?

June 19, 2005

�As You Are, You Will be Led�: Khaled Abou El Fadl Leads a Town Hall Meeting on Woman-Led Prayer in Los Angeles
PMU put on its first such town hall meeting in Los Angeles on June 5, and invited UCLA Law Professor Khaled Abou El Fadl to give the keynote speech.

June 18, 2005

Liberties of the Faithful: Nigerian Muslim Activists Look Beyond Hudud to Shariah�s Social Justice Mission
People are finally making it clear they want more than a law-and-order Islam imposed by the state; what they want, rather, is a society that makes viable social and gender justice.

May 24, 2005

Lily Munir on Indonesian Islamic Liberation Theology
By Yoginder Sikand Lily Zakiyah Munir is a leading Indonesian Muslim human rights activist. She is the director of the Jakarta-based Centre for Pesantren and Democracy Studies that works with the �ulama and students of Indonesian Islamic boarding schools...

May 21, 2005

Who's Your Daddy?
Photograph by Sumeia By Sumeia M Several year's ago, my husband I were invited to another family's house for dinner. The wife was a good friend of mine and she'd just had a baby. The pregnancy had been a...

May 17, 2005

The soft pornography of personal secularism
By Jawad Ali A nice young Muslim woman submitted something to MWU! for publication. She added a note saying please don�t put it in the soft porn section. This put a smile on my face. My response to her...

May 16, 2005

A Different Sort of War Movie
"Kingdom of Heaven" (2005, 145 min.), directed by Ridley Scott. By Pamela K. Taylor I went to see Kingdom of Heaven this week � after all, friends, family, neighbors, and co-workers were bound to ask me what I thought...

May 7, 2005

New Muslim Groups: the Ugly, the Bad and the Good
By Hussein Ibish In the wake of a number of seismic changes to conditions facing the American Muslim community in recent years, including the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the subsequent backlash against the community, a massive increase in defamation against...

April 21, 2005

No One Owns Islam
In past Muslim societies distinct from those existing today, advocates of any single interpretation could not successfully claim exclusive ownership of Islam. There were dissenting majorities who were able to withhold recognition from such claimants. This produced a balance of ownership between alternative interpretations of Islam.

April 18, 2005

The Woman-led Prayer: Views from Europe
By Amine Tais A month after the historical woman-led prayer in New York, the reactions are still pouring from all over the Muslim world. In this article, I want to highlight the opinions of two North-African Muslim intellectuals residing in...

April 17, 2005

The �Non-Debate� in the Muslim World: Revisiting the Ethics of Difference in Islam. (part 1)
By Farish A. Noor and Dyala Hamzah �What many Muslims forget is that positive social solutions are offered by societies, and change cannot come about unless these ideas are realised through debate and social interaction. What is required here is...

April 5, 2005

What is Progressive Islam?
The whole Safi clan, in Tehran restaurant, in Montreal. From the left: Roya, Baba, Jacob, Amir, and Holly By Omid Safi The various understandings of Islam which fall under the rubric of �progressive� are both continuations of, and radical...

March 30, 2005

Men of Real Honor: An Open Letter to Somia el-Alfy, Ahmed el-Fishawy�s Mother
By Ginan Rauf In a column that appeared in the Egyptian newspaper sawt al umma, you raise an important question about what you call a �new religious project� or mashru din jadid. Your comments seem to imply--and please correct me...

March 25, 2005

Erudition as dead-end: Hina Azam and the perils of legal dogmatism
By Hussein Ibish Dr. Hina Azam�s A Critique Of The Argument For Woman-Led Friday Prayers, which challenges the legitimacy of the March 18 mixed-gender congregation prayer in New York City led by Dr. Amina Wadud, is a perfect example of...

March 21, 2005

First Fruit of the Prayer
I don�t care how conservative you are, how much you say you�ve never wanted to be imam: Every girl has been to that place. That place of bewildered pain at the misgiving that you might be rated less worthy by God.

March 19, 2005

This Luminous Path of Islam Cannot Be Dominated by One Gender
This luminous path of spiritual liberation that is called Islam cannot be dominated by one gender, or one class or one ethnicity. The prophet Muhammad, may Allah shower glorious peace upon him, is the Mercy to all the worlds.

Huggable Islam
The jamaat was mostly segregated with women on the right and men on the left, kind of blurred in the middle. I sat in the back by HijabMan and looked at all of us, and felt alright.

March 18, 2005

Thank You Sheikh Gum'a
By Ahmed Nassef While most North American Muslim organizations remain either silent or come up with bizarre arguments against it, Mufti Sheikh Ali Gum'a, Egypt's top Islamic authority, has declared that woman-led prayer of mixed-gender congregations is permissible, so...

The Waiting Room
Dedicated to the hesitators who care about the issue but won't declare their support for today's Jum'ah.

A Prayer Toward Equality
By standing behind Amina Wadud today, we will be clearing the deck of distractions and acknowledging the egalitarianism that permeates Islam.

March 15, 2005

Muslims in the West Must Be More Vocal for the Sake of the Young
How much choice did Shabina have in this? Listen to what the judge in the case that Shabina lost had to say about the influence of her brother: "One wonders why it should have been her brother who articulated what she was perfectly capable of saying herself."

March 13, 2005

A Statement from the Organizers of the March 18th Woman-led Jum�ah Prayer
Fundamentally, this event is about Muslim women reclaiming their rightful place in Islam. It is not about any specific person or personality. Our sole agenda is to help create Muslim communities that reflect the egalitarian nature of Islam.

Not Heroic Enough?
The abysmal situation of Muslim women in their societies is fundamentally linked to the decision to organize this woman-led prayer. In many parts of the Muslim world, women are treated as inferior on ideological and theological grounds.

March 12, 2005

No, We Don�t Have More Important Issues: In Support of Women-Led Prayer
I demand to know where the Muslim Women�s League stands on this issue. I demand to know where the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) stands on this issue. I demand to know where the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) stands on this issue. And KARAMAH, the American Sufi Muslim Association, Women in Islam, Azizah Magazine, and other groups who speak for Muslims and Muslim women. Please tell us clearly what you think.

March 10, 2005

What Would the Prophet Do? The Islamic Basis for Female-Led Prayer
The March 18 event is an excellent opportunity to outline the evidence in support of women�s position as spiritual equals and leaders, as well as responses to some of the most commonly used arguments against women leading congregational prayers.

March 8, 2005

Iddah
By Aisha Sharif It�s five in the morning and Uzair is beating down Asma�s front door. She�s still his wife. Where is your gun, Asma? No fooling around. Uzair�s wives welcomed Asma. They never felt burdened. This month has been...

March 3, 2005

Will a Muslim woman ever be more than what she wears?
I felt like screaming with anger and frustration when I heard about Shabina�s case because once again a Muslim woman is in the headlines only because of what she wears. When will this madness end?

March 2, 2005

Our Wittenberg: A Historic Call for Compassion Posted on a Mosque�s Door
This kind of thing is seen as crazy only because it hasn�t been done yet, at least not on the proper scale. Thanks to the Asras brave enough to carry it out, it gets less crazy every time. Someday Shibli will know better mosques than his mother, and wonder why it was ever seen as radical at all.

99 Precepts for Opening Hearts, Minds, and Doors in the Muslim World
The Inspirer. It is not for human beings to judge who is faithful and who is not.

March 1, 2005

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.

February 25, 2005

�Tough Love� and Moral Policing
I would like to raise a deeper theoretical question about the relation between the State and Morality, and ask if the state has any business in legislating and enforcing the morality of the nation in the first place.

February 24, 2005

Are European Muslims Painting Themselves into a Corner?
Muslim minorities the world over have to understand that their problems can only be addressed and solved in the context of a wider, broader civil society.

An Islamic Renaissance?
Should Islam be reformed? Does the current rise in violence by Muslims reflect a problem within Islam? Or is it a malpractice of Islamic doctrines found in religious Sharia laws?

February 23, 2005

Amina Wadud Responds to Tarek Fatah
I did NOT experience racism at Noor. My blatant and blunt response to your question on racism was INTENDED to cut like a knife.

February 18, 2005

Western Muslims Must Get Tough on Extremism in Our Community
The presence of a persistent anti-western extremism within a small minority of Western Muslims exacerbates the plight of Western Muslims and undermines all their efforts to improve relations with the broader western communities and allay fears that Islam in the West is a threat to democracy and security.

February 16, 2005

Black History Is Our History
Muslims in this country can learn a great deal about themselves and their future in America by understanding the struggle of African Americans and lessons of Black History.

February 11, 2005

'I am a Nigger, and you will just have to put up with my blackness,' Professor Amina Wadud Confronts Her Hecklers in Toronto
Her voice quivered. Barely concealing her anger, Professor Amina Wadud's words bellowed across the hall, "I am a nigger and I can't do much about it."

February 8, 2005

Are Opponents of Shariah Anti-Islam?
The controversy over the introduction of Shariah law in Ontario, Canada, continues to divide the Canadian Muslim community in ways that are unprecedented.

February 3, 2005

The Closed Doors
"The Closed Doors" (Al-Abwab Al-Mughlaqa) (1999, Egypt, 110 min.), directed by Atef Hetata. In Arabic with English subtitles. Free Screening: Friday, February 4, New York City I definitely believe that the best way to avoid fundamentalism is to be...

February 2, 2005

Canadian Muslim Group Endorses Same-Sex Marriage Legislation
The Muslim Canadian Congress, a Toronto-based grassroots organization, has welcomed the legislation presented by Justice Minister Irvin Cotler that re-defines marriage to include same-sex partners, and has urged Muslims and other minority groups to stand in solidarity with gays and lesbians.

January 26, 2005

Let Them Be Scandalized: An Egyptian Woman Challenges Society's Ideas of Dishonor
The unabashed openness of her act makes of the mother a responsible adult and of the father a cowardly boy copulating in hiding.

January 19, 2005

�Buyer Beware�? Since when was justice a consumer product? A Muslim woman's Open Letter to the Premier of Ontario
As Muslims we believe that what Ms Boyd is recommending under the cover of "Muslim principles" is in fact "Shariah by stealth."

A Call Against Hate: On the Massacre of a Coptic Family in New Jersey
e can't keep saying those who say the nasty things about Copts are not true Muslims and those who force conversions, or kill innocents, are not true Muslims and wash our hands. We have to own up to the fact that Islam and other religions are being hijacked by ignorant extremists.

January 7, 2005

Answering Fear: Calling All Defenders of Freedom of Expression
In this small corner of cyberspace, I found a collective symphony of voices inviting me to join in their song. In acknowledging � frankly and honestly � the multiple realities of living as a Muslim in various specific contexts, MWU! allowed Muslims like me the chance to approach a deeper understanding of ourselves.

January 6, 2005

Ramadan Does Boxing Day in the Sydney Opera House
Ramadan laments the fixation which Muslims in Europe and Australia have with being minorities. It�s as if we want to receive strange looks because we are dying to be different.

January 4, 2005

Islam Needs a Martin Luther
Let a Muslim Martin Luther step to the front of the line and represent the way of truth, freedom, justice and equality.

December 31, 2004

Sharia Is Neither Islamic, nor Canadian
While the proponents justify the Sharia Board in the name of equal opportunity for the Muslim community, the opponents regard such a move as being contrary to Canadian constitution and anticipate gross violations of Muslim women's right to custody, inheritance and post-divorce alimony.

December 28, 2004

Stop the Hate: Islamo-Fascism's Battle Against Moderate Muslims
That these hoodlums hiding behind the sullied cloak of pseudo-religiosity can denounce others as murtad (apostates) is bad enough; to add insult to injury they have gone that extra step by issuing death-threats as well.

December 20, 2004

New American Muslim Group on Policy Planning Formed, AMGPP Seeks Role in Public Diplomacy
AMGPP will work to bridge the three crucial gaps between the US and the Muslim World, the US policymaking and American Muslims, and between American Muslim interests and their capacity. In all cases the initiative will seek to educate, inform and advise without actually indulging in advocacy.

December 6, 2004

Miss Overtly Charming Barza Muslim Sister
Was this an "arranged marriage?" Yes. This was an extra special arranged marriage. The bride and her network of American Muslim peers arranged it very carefully so that the groom and his family matched the exact socio-economic, religio-cultural arrangement of her first generation immigrant parents.

December 1, 2004

A 'Creative Actualization' of the Qur'an: Is It Possible?
Is the Qur'an amenable to �creative actualization� or re-interpretation? Which Muslims might feel free to embellish or re-write Qur�anic passages to better reflect their own struggle with text and tradition? Are there any historical antecedents for such practices?

November 22, 2004

'Just Like Khadija': The Sisters Are Coming
I sat in the back of the room, looking around, trying to match faces with the names that have figured so prominently in my life over the past two years.

November 18, 2004

Statement on the Atrocities in Fallujah and Darfur
As Muslims, we are called to acknowledge the dignity of all human life, Muslim and non-Muslim, male and female, rich and poor, gay and straight. We are to stand with the suffering of the marginalized regardless of whether Muslims are the victims as in Fallujah or some of the oppressors, as in Darfur.

November 16, 2004

Why We Are Launching a Progressive Muslim Union
We stand for the idea that to be a Muslim is not simply to follow an unquestioned corpus of laws, or to subscribe to a narrow reading of the faith, but rather is an act of self-identification with a great spiritual, philosophical and civilizational tradition. We embrace the simple proposition that you are a Muslim if you say you are a Muslim -- for whatever reason or set of reasons -- and that no one is entitled to question or undermine this identity.

October 18, 2004

Zaytuna's Smelly Kebabs
At the retreat, we were not allowed to refuse what was being fed to us. All I knew was that I was not going to eat the kebabs I did not want.

October 13, 2004

Enough!
women and dogs not allowed i wanna bruce lee their bullshit which is mine too

October 12, 2004

Husband and Hijab
"Oh, no, you don't have to do that! You will be living in America; we are free to practice our religions the way we want. You can still wear it."

October 11, 2004

Trying to Tell the World How It Should Spin: Finding the Axis of Malaysia's 'Islam Hadhari'
The Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi�s new approach to Islamic discourse, Islam Hadhari, has created tantalizing ripples of interest inside and outside Malaysia.

October 6, 2004

The Miseducation of Muslim Kids
With all the ills of our umma, you would think her teachers could find something more relevant to discuss in class.

September 30, 2004

�What Do You Think You�re Fighting for?� An Interview with Anwar Ibrahim
There is a pressing need for us to look closer at ourselves and ask how and why our societies and political systems could have allowed this to happen. For me the absence of democracy, transparency and dialogue within the Muslim world is one main reason.

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.

September 29, 2004

Asghar �Ali Engineer's Quest for an Islamic Theology of Peace and Religious Pluralism
Engineer�s creative approach to the Qur�an offers us an alternate way of imagining Islam and Islamic rules for relations between Muslims and others.

September 28, 2004

Wahhabism and the Illusion of a Golden Age
I had high expectations that Algar would blast away the clich�s 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.

September 22, 2004

Inner Stability that Accomodates Change: Towards Multiple Understandings of the Qur'an
Generally it is believed by many, if not all, Muslims that there is one authentic interpretation of the Qur'an. It is far from true.

September 21, 2004

Measuring Justice by One Yardstick: Muslims Should Hold Muslim Governments Accountable for Injustices
Even when one can not make a difference materially, it is still important to speak out against all atrocities. And it is more difficult�therefore, more important�to speak out against atrocities committed by one's own kind.

September 18, 2004

Struggling, and Finding Compassion
Then, in what seemed like a determined effort to embarrass me, he said to no one in particular, �I remember him from when he was a young angry man, always talking about fighting. Now he talks about compassion.�

September 17, 2004

The Bizarro Umma
Welcome to the Bizarro Umma, where down is up, forward is backward, and wrong becomes right.

September 13, 2004

Can You See My Voice? A 'Modest' Manifesto
Muslim women are being used, with or without their consent, to wage a resistance movement designed to use them as props in counteracting western colonialism.

September 9, 2004

The Voice of God is Hamza Yusuf: The 2004 ISNA Convention
This year the ISNA people gave me complimentary registration and an invitation letter from Secretary General Sayyid M. Syeed. And my books now had smooth covers, perfect binding, bar codes and an ISBN number. So yeah, punk is dead.

September 8, 2004

"An Example to Live By": Asra Nomani at the ISNA Convention
As this petite, lovely woman spoke in a gentle and measured tone, I noticed how she kept her head held so high, so regal, as if she was aware of what was about to come.

Time for Muslim Organizations to Campaign for Women's Rights in Mosques
Islam is at a crossroads, much like the place where the Prophet Muhammad found himself when he was on the cusp of a new dawn with his migration to Medina from Mecca. Medina became �the City of Enlightenment� because of the wisdom with which the Prophet nurtured his community, or ummah. In much the same way, the Muslim world has the opportunity to rise to a place of deep and sincere enlightenment, inspired by the greatest teachings of Islam.

September 6, 2004

Counterfeit Cleric: Religion and Crime in Modern-Day Iran
Jaded and increasingly apathetic toward the Islamic Republic, many Iranians nowadays often find amusement sneakily mocking clerics on the streets of Tehran. Behind closed doors, Iranians have ridiculed mullahs and their triteness. With the release of The Lizard (Marmoulak), the subject is no longer private, breaking the long-established taboo of making fun of the Iranian religious authorities in public.

August 31, 2004

Be Who You Are: An Interview with the Banned Tariq Ramadan
We have to start with a principle�whoever, woman or man, says, I am a Muslim, and feels that he or she is a Muslim is a Muslim and should be considered as such. We have to stop judging each other.

August 27, 2004

Clash of Fundamentalisms
When I was asked to review two movies, one about "Muslim fundamentalism" and one about the Gujarat massacre in India, I thought it would be great � two movies with lots of similarities. I was wrong.

August 11, 2004

Muslim Men Beating Women: Help Re-Open Baitul Salaam
As a result of the lack of support from the Muslim community, and even threats and harassment from a group of Muslim men, Baitul Salaam has temporarily shut down their shelter program.

August 7, 2004

Madonna and the Mullah vs. Madame Rose: On Art, Sex, and Love
Stringent laws and traditions evolved to remedy what the Madonnas and Mullahs of our time have done, albeit in profoundly different ways, in reinforcing what should have long become the archaic notion that the human body is divorced from its mind and soul, and that its physical impulses have a mind of their own independent of its soul that must be set on either a carnal or cardinal course.

July 28, 2004

Stop Debating Semantics: Darfur Needs Our Help Now
Muslims both here and abroad are expending great energy in a debate over whether the situation in Sudan truly constitutes genocide instead of taking action to bring relief to the victims of Darfur and pressuring others to do the same. The debate should stop. Now.

July 25, 2004

Canada�s Media and Muslim Organizations Ignore Country�s First Muslim Woman Elected to Parliament
The question is this: How could the national media miss such a historic milestone for Canada's 600,000-strong Muslim community?

July 22, 2004

Muslims and Gay Marriage: Is a Loving Commitment Between Two People Such a Bad Thing?
It is too often easy to use Islam to justify personal and cultural prejudices rather than to challenge them as we should.

July 16, 2004

Choking on Genocide in Darfur
What is happening in the Darfur region of Sudan is genocide. This is the official MWU. No lawyers were involved. Don�t let the State Department and the Holocaust Museum throw dust in your eyes.

July 15, 2004

Forging an American Muslim Identity: Time for Alternative Muslim Institutions
It is time for progressive, forward-thinking, passionate, globally-minded, and tolerant Muslims to develop alternative institutions to articulate a self-critical community.

July 14, 2004

Funky Maulana Down Under: Farid Esack's Refreshing Speaking Tour in Australia
Recently, Sydney was abuzz with news that a fresh face was arriving to take the student-and/or-revert dawah-circuit by storm.

July 12, 2004

The Ugly Ironies of France's Muslim-Jewish Problem
A recent spate of hate attacks in France�s Alsace region has left a number of cemeteries desecrated with swastikas. At first glance, this may appear to be the latest report on anti-Jewish acts in France, but it actually refers to vandalism against Muslim gravestones that is believed to have been committed by Neo-Nazis.

July 9, 2004

On Belief and Disbelief: The True Meaning of Idolatry
Though the western scriptures tell us not to bow to statues, is this necessarily the most common or dangerous form of idolatry?

July 4, 2004

The Terror of Beheadings: Who Is Responsible?
Today, the terror tactics used by the British and other European colonizers to break the will of their captive populations are being used by a new group of people�the Al Qaeda terrorists who have infiltrated the freedom fighters trying to get rid of new occupations.

June 30, 2004

The Myth of a Conservative Muslim Majority: How CAIR Plays with the Numbers to Serve Its Narrow Agenda
CAIR�s questionable research methodology holds the key to unraveling the myth of an overwhlemingly conservative American Muslim population.

June 29, 2004

Defenders of the Faith, Destroyers of Life
The gruesome beheading of Paul Johnson marked a new low in Al Qaeda terror tactics and a further descent into barbarism. Yet there are hopeful signs that the spectacle of violence may be alienating more and more people in the Arab world.

Shame on Us All: Killing of Translator Kim Sun-il Is a Tragedy of the Highest Order
The killing of a translator under whatever circumstances is tantamount to burning bridges, and as such is an act of violence of the highest order: it negates not only the life of the victim, but also the possibility of dialogue and reconciliation.

June 26, 2004

Betrayal-2000 and the 2004 Elections: US Muslims Leaders Still Haven�t Learned Their Lesson
Traditional US Muslim leaders still seem to be asleep at the wheel, denying any change in direction and ignoring trends among their rank and file.

Canadian Muslim Leaders Are Misusing Mosques for Partisan Political Agendas
Although this election�the first after 9/11�provides us an opportunity to assert our strength, and send a message of solidarity with people who stood shoulder-to-shoulder with us in our darkest days, the traditional Canadian Muslim leadership has unwisely chosen to use the country�s mosques to serve short-term partisan ends.

June 17, 2004

Felt Up in Tehran: Sexual Harassment, Modesty and the Politics of Color
This is that nightmare I keep having where something horrible is happening and I need to scream to draw attention to myself but I�ve lost my voice. This is me, awake, being violated. And Gagging.

June 12, 2004

It�s �Fanatics Week� in Malaysia!
Now it appears that �fanaticism� has become a major problem in Malaysia�so dangerous is it that the powers-that-be have seen fit to direct the state-controlled media services to run a week-long series of mini �info-teries� on TV (at prime time no less) to educate and warn the public about the dangers of religious extremism.

June 10, 2004

The Wahhabi Threat to Islam
It is long past time for Muslims to question the Wahhabi ideology that is pulling the rug out from under Saudi life, for it is that same ideology that has been involved in militant movements throughout the Muslim world for years.

June 9, 2004

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.