Community

Community

‘Unmosqued’ Debate: Muslim Millennials explore the problem with American mosques

Muslim millennials joined host Caroline Modarressy-Tehrani on Huff Post Live to discuss the exclusivity of many American mosques, as captured in the upcoming film “UnMosqued” by Ahmed Eid.
More and more American Muslims find themselves at odds with the culture in their mosque communities, particularly as many of these places of worship retain strong ties to homelands that self-identified American Muslims may not relate to, say many of those interviewed in “Unmosqued.”

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Community, Mosque

Capturing “beautiful,” “adequate,” and “pathetic” women’s spaces: An Interview with Hind Makki

<< From the Altmuslimah archives >> The Tumblr blog “Side Entrance” describes itself as a collection of images “from mosques around the world, showcasing women’s sacred spaces, in relation to men’s spaces,” showing ”the beautiful, the adequate and the pathetic.” Sarah Farrukh talks to project founder and community activist Hind Makki about the significance of the collection and its implications for mosque reform.

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Community

Muslim Men: Please shut up about women!

A recent Pew Research Center study indicated how “people” in various Muslim countries “prefer” Muslim women to dress. The results are varied from fully veiled dress to no veil at all. There seems to be no turning away from public interest in Muslim women and the flurry of commentaries from public intellectuals has begun. Beyond the polemics of discussions on Muslim women, I’m interested to interrogate the notion of “preference” in this matter and ask, “Who are these ‘people’?”

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Columns, Editorials, Interfaith

Unity Amongst the Faiths

Youth Groups Connecting Through Faith and Compassion: Interfaith youth groups cement relationships which intend to enlighten members of the various religions represented. One such group, based in the Washington, D.C. metro area is made up of Jewish, Christian, Buddhist and Islamic members. They came together in 2011 to serve dinner at a women’s shelter in Washington, D.C. and decided to form an organization called Capital Area Interfaith Friends (CAIF) to learn about each others faiths while doing meaningful and rewarding community service throughout the D.C. metro area.

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Community

I am not a lollipop or a pearl

Last week, a national religious organization, which focuses on proliferating accurate information about Islam, shared a photo on its Facebook page depicting two lollipops- one bare, with a swarm of flies and one in a wrapper with a solitary fly. Predictably, the photo likened the lollipops to women- those uncovered and those covered. Following a frenzy of angry comments, the photo was promptly removed, but of course once on the Internet, something is never truly erased and so this photo continues to surface on every social media platform imaginable.

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Community

The shock jock Imam and the “Brown Man’s Burden”

A shock jock Imam. Who would have thought it? And yet, there he was, Al-Maghrib’s very own Ustadh Abu Eesa Niamatullah, tweeting away crass jokes about women and feminists on International Women’s Day, a day some set aside to recognize (even protest) the struggles of women in establishing political and social rights in various societies. Comments only got worse as men and women alike started to call him out on his misogynistic tone on Twitter and Facebook.

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Community

The Shaykh and the F Word

What Bakwaas is this? Muslim [American] Twitter is currently ablaze with condemnations, support and whatever else in between over sexist comments made by UK-based Shaykh Abu Eesa Niamatullah, affiliated with the Al Maghrib Institute. On his public “personal” page, Niamatullah decided to commemorate International Women’s Day (March 8th) by denigrating it as a “bakwaas day” (bakwaas means ‘bullshit’ more or less in Urdu).

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Community

Wa’Mutasima!

A couple of years ago, while discussing the Arab spring uprisings and their implications, a good friend commented to me, “Isn’t it interesting that all these men are risking their lives protesting for their rights and dignity, the same rights and dignity they often withhold from their own women?” It was an astute observation about the broad dynamic between Muslim men and women today in many countries across the world.

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altMommy, Community

Muslim Mom Network: A Virtual Village

I’ve been asked numerous times where the idea of the Muslim Mom Network (MMN) came from. I’d love to say it was a grand, noble vision of serving my community, but truthfully my reasons for launching this Google group were purely selfish. I was a new, struggling mother – often times lonely, tired, and insecure. Friends, family, the media and even our faith tend to focus on the joys of motherhood—and there are many; however, its darker side is often swept under the rug.

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