Dalia Mogahed, Executive Director of the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies, helped oversee the largest surveys of the Muslim world, co-authoring Who Speaks for Islam: What a Billion Muslims Really Think in the process. Now, Barack Obama has tapped her to join his Faith Advisory Council. Here, we speak to Mogahed about her new position of influence.
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In the Middle East, a female jiu-jitsu fighter works to eliminate bias against women in combat sports. No historian can say for certain whether the Amazons existed. Some say they lived in a matriarchal society, where little girls were raised as warriors and men took care of the babies. Some…
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In a brightly lit office in Bradford’s Carlisle business centre, on a road lined with charity shops, grocery stores and a green-domed masjid, Bana Gora and her team at the Muslim Women’s Council (MWC) are organising final preparations before a much-awaited consultation about the UK’s first women-managed mosque. At the…
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2015 was an extraordinary year for Muslim women. After being routinely consigned to the sidelines or discussed only for their dress choices, in 2015 Muslim women spoke up on issues ranging from the refugee crisis in Europe to the civil rights movement in America. TV shows and movies showcased the stories of exceptional…
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On many occasions and in many spaces, interfaith work has gotten a bad rap. “It’s all kumbaya and touchy feely stuff,” one friend told me. Another lamented, “People talk and talk, but nothing ever gets accomplished.” And my favorite dismissal of interfaith work is that it preaches to those already…
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Sabina Khan-Ibarra is a Muslim “Feminist” (she is still working on a definition of Feminist that fits her ideology) who advocates and demands equal rights and space for Muslim women in all scopes- leadership roles, on the stage, in the masjids, etc. The lack of Muslim women visible was why she…
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Asma T. Uddin is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of altmuslimah.com, and Co-founder of altFem Magazine and altVentures Media, Inc. She is also a lawyer and scholar specializing in American and international religious liberty. Asma Uddin has traveled across the United States to speak on myriad topics, including Islam, religious liberty, women in Islam. She…
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It all happened after a Muslim woman threatened to sue the police department when they forcibly removed her hijab during her arrest. There’s a police officer in the room with me, and he’s shouting “You don’t know what you’re talking about, ma’am!” I tremble inwardly, but I don’t back down….
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I came to Islam in 1993, influenced by social consciousness in Hip Hop. Artists like Rakim, Sista Souljah, and Public Enemy, all of whom who were popularizing Islam, nudged me closer to the faith through their lyrics. I watched Spike Lee’s Malcolm X (1992) one year before my conversion, and soon after…
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To celebrate their 50th birthdays, Mara Gubuan and her Urbandale, Iowa, high school classmates invited six elite Muslim female athletes to RAGBRAI, the annual bicycle ride that took place this week (July 19-25) across the Hawkeye State. The idea was to “create a counter-narrative” to dispel the misconception that Muslim…
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