Politics

9/11, Politics

On Ramadan Eve, Muslims fight for the right to celebrate

As Ramadan sets in, Muslims in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, are fighting for the right to celebrate as faithful Muslims. Yesterday, The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty filed a request for a temporary restraining order on behalf of the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro. Becket’s brief requested that the Islamic Center be permitted to use its newly built mosque in time for Ramadan, the holiest month of the Islamic calendar, during which Muslims fast each day from dawn till sunset.

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Politics

Birth of a democracy

Last week, we celebrated my favorite American holiday. Between the food, family and pyrotechnics, it is a day I look forward to every year. What I love most though, is that it is a celebration of independence, a universally valued human right. July 4th marks the start of our history as a free and democratic nation.

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9/11, Books, Culture, Extremism, Politics

Wanted Women: Faith, Lies, and the War on Terror

Deborah Scroggins’ impressive dual biography traces the lives of two extraordinary and controversial women who became the subjects of a global heated and emotional debate about Islam and the world order. No matter what your opinion about these women, this uncannily juxtaposed book will broaden your understanding of how Aafia Siddiqui and Ayaan Hirsi Ali came to represent radical extremes on the spectrum of Muslim belief.

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Politics

What does Morsi’s presidency mean for Egyptian women?

What will Mohamed Morsi’s presidency mean for Egyptian women? That seems to be the question on the minds of many following the election this past week. A Muslim Brotherhood president seems to be cause for overwhelming trepidation for feminists, specifically, Western feminists. So the announcement that Morsi will appoint two vice presidents – a Coptic Christian and a woman – is being met with cautious optimism. We think the Muslim Brotherhood is basically a bunch of misogynists, so there must be a catch, right?

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Politics

How I learned to stop worrying and love feminists

I used to think feminists were annoying. There, I said it. Once upon a time, as a blissful innocent, I thought gender issues were sufficiently managed, on the right track, and generally last-century, and that we were ready to move into a broader -ism. Humanism, for example. Part of this arose from being thoroughly spoiled–I was never told, growing up, that there were professions or activities I couldn’t participate in because I was a girl, and I never felt like I had fewer opportunities than the boys I knew.

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International, Politics

Why I care about the elections in Egypt

Thirteen years ago, I married a tall, handsome, shambling, funny, religious Egyptian man. Since then, this ancient land of pharaohs and pyramids has never been far from my thoughts. I’ve visited the country twice. Most of my husband’s family still lives there. We are far away from the turmoil here in the United States, but we’re only one Skype call away from his brother, his cousins, his uncles and aunts, his nieces and nephews.

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Politics

Is it a Muslim’s duty to enforce Islamic law?

In the last two years, anti-Muslim activists have produced dozens of “anti-Shariah” bills in nearly half of America’s states. This is supposedly being done to protect American law and shield the country from the onslaught of “Islamization.” Even though American Muslims have just about zero interest in changing the legal system, a vociferous right-wing fringe insists that Muslims are concealing their true intentions, and that their faith demands that they establish Islam as the law of the land.

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Politics

TEDx Mogadishu and the symbolic rebirth of a torn society

During the past three decades, global perceptions of Somalia have for the most part been shaped by images of the country as a disaster area, ravaged by poverty and war. Somalia seems to appear in the news only in the context of humanitarian assistance appeals or of Al Qaeda-inspired militias carrying out their heinous acts across the country.

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9/11, Community, Culture, Politics

Hijab and Havaianas

I am someone who defies convention. I converted to Islam shortly after 9/11. But that didn’t mean I would become a conventional Muslim. I wanted to know God in a way that made sense to me. Every time I pick up the Quran, I’m in awe and feel even more sure that this revelation is how God wanted me to become closer to Him. But that epiphany is far from beautiful and inspiring for the majority of non-Muslims and Muslims I meet. There’s a simple explanation: I don’t wear the hijab (headscarf). My decision not to wear it is not out of defiance, but because it doesn’t work for me.

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Politics

Fear not, “Weekend at Bernie’s” is haram after all

Two weeks ago news outlets began circling a story about the Egyptian parliament considering a law that would allow a husband to have sex with his deceased wife’s corpse up to six hours after her death. The news of this ‘Farewell Intercourse’ law was first reported by an Egyptian state-run newspaper, and soon after the international media jumped on the story, but news outlets retracted the story once it became clear that there was no evidence to confirm that a necrophilia law was ever even under discussion in the Egyptian parliament. Svend White writes:

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