As a theologically conservative evangelical Christian who attends a predominantly White church, it is mind boggling to me that some in our communitywould contend that Islam is not a religion, but a political ideology undeserving of religious freedom. If there is anything that the White evangelical community should be learning during…
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Approximately 1.8 billion people around the globe identify as Muslim today, which makes Islam the world’s second-largest world religion. This is a fact. At the same time, some on the far right in the United States deny that Islam is a real religion. Theologians of different stripes have made this…
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Ramadan decorations are up, new clothes for prayer hang in closets, and menus for family gatherings await deployment at iftars. As Ramadan approaches, Muslims of all nations are preparing for its annual observance. Throughout this scared time of fasting and spiritual introspection, the faithful share a heightened observance of the practices…
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It is said that poverty wears a woman’s face. Today, protest also wears a woman’s face. In contemporary Arab movements for rights and justice, women are at the forefront. This is not unusual, as women worldwide have long been leaders in advocating for peace. In recent days, it has been…
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Increasingly, I find myself unable to follow each ebb and flow of the news cycle. It feels redundant and it creates despair. But I feel a responsibility, personally and professionally to both know what’s going on. It helps if I think in themes instead of occurrences: If I can be conscious that white supremacy…
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Over the past year, particularly after the Supreme Court’s ruling last summer in Trump v. Hawaii (the travel ban case), many Americans have been asking, “Does religious freedom apply equally to all religious communities in America?” The matter again came to the fore with February and March cases involving death…
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As a white convert to Islam, the typical American sees me as a curiosity rather than a threat to their way of life and demographic hegemony. I have the privilege of being seen by most as a young man going through a spiritual phase, “sewing my wild oats,” so to speak,…
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I converted to Islam in the 1990s. At the time, the decision was a radical transformation. It brought my life into a relationship with a moral ideal embodied by the Prophet Muhammad that placed productive demands on my daily life. Becoming Muslim didn’t require submission to a law of violence…
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All human beings want to be seen, heard and valued. It is the most basic of our needs. In the last decade, I have experienced times when I feel like my Muslim faith is not a religion worthy of importance. Two instances that give rise to these feelings are when…
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Farah Pandith served as the first-ever Special Representative to Muslim Communities, appointed by then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in 2009. In this role, she created Generation Change, which gathered young “change makers” together to work on issues such as violent extremism; Viral Peace, an online counter-extremism initiative; and Hours Against Hate, a…
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