“…I wasn’t quite sure what witches did, but that’s what I wanted to be when I grew up. I was about four when I decided upon it. It was probably a pretty spot-on thing to be. Witches are outsiders – classic outliers – and I in no way felt connected to my community. Little did […]
“Even when CAIR is not successful in silencing critical Muslim voices, there are thousands of other Muslims who step back deeper into silence, afraid of being publicly harassed by CAIR.” Published with The Forward In our quest for tolerance, religious spaces often take the lead in showcasing voices of change. But sometimes, those who […]
You may have heard the phrase Islamic reformation, used most recently by politicians to push their agenda, often with little to no interest in the people or communities impacted by their policies. There is no such thing as an “Islamic” reformation, which is a loaded term that implies the faith needs to change. Many of […]
Click Here to Sign Up for the Toke for Tolerance Wait List What if the hippies were right? What if we really could strip down all the barriers, hang-ups, inhibitions and social conditioning that inhibits honest dialogue and just have an open and honest conversation with each other about the most controversial topics in the […]
*View on desktop New generations of Muslim American families struggle to keep Muslim holidays relevant or exciting — especially when competing with a glitzy Christmas or a fast-moving culture that only slows down between Thanksgiving and New Year. The struggle for Muslims is most starkly felt during fasting month of Ramzan (also referred to as Ramadan), […]
Those claiming “Islamophobia” must be willing to have a conversation on how monolithic representations of Islam and Muslims alienate a vibrant Muslim subculture. Published in The Federalist On April 18, well-known Muslim reformer Maajid Nawaz appeared on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast to announce that the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) had quietly removed its list […]
Editor’s Note: With rare public support and a united front, we countered CNN’s one-size-fits-all version of Islam. We are proud to see our statement resonate with the American Muslim community. The areas where it has created controversy is a very good steppingstone and moving ahead in unifying Islam as a religion accommodating of everyone and not a […]
Six U.S. imams have openly promoted Jew-hate in mosques between July 2017 through early 2018. The sermons calling for a final apocalypse against the Jews were triggered by minor security conflicts between Palestinian militants and Israeli security forces on Temple Mount. American Muslim Jew-hatred mirrors rising conflict in the Holy Land — and those tensions will […]
Muslim reform, or Islamic reform, is personal to many reformers. While most modern reformers advocate for progressive values in keeping with Universal Human Rights, many of us prioritize reform uniquely. For me, Muslim Reform is where philosophy and scholarship blend with love for an Intelligence greater than holy men and holy books.
Early Muslim American roots includes evidence of Muslim settlements and travels through North America. It includes anthropological findings of a Muslim school system dating back to 700 C.E. to forgotten tenth through thirteenth century Muslims explorations of North America via Mississippi River. Arabic script letters found in dating to America early settlements and accounts of […]
Transcript: Zuhdi Jasser: This is Zuhdi Jasser sitting in the chair for Seth and Chris, who are away today. Thank you for joining me in our last hour now. A major federal case in Detroit had some big news out this this week of a charge that was dropped. I’d like to introduce […]
By Shireen Qudosi and Zainab Zeb Khan, UNA Women The United Nations has been influential in shaping the current global policy framework on women’s empowerment and gender equality. The last of these significant milestones took place twenty years ago. In 1995, the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action crowned the series of 4 “World Conferences […]
Note: The following blog post has been curated with permission from ongoing conversations between myself a retired member of the military/intelligence sector who has requested to remain anonymous. This entry is not intended to be an intelligence summary nor serve as an article. It is a conversation. On February 8th, 2018, Vox published a piece on […]
[Originally published with Women’s Voices Now] In what can only be called the year of women, 2017 saw an increase in dialogue on women’s rights, including gender violence against women. Cresting that conversation is a landmark FGM trial in Michigan. The defendants include American-born Dr. Jumana Nagarwala, of the Detroit Bohra Muslim community, who is […]
[Originally published with Women in the World] Empathy is the act of putting yourself in the shoes of another in order to reach an emotional state where the other person’s emotions are not only understood, but are also felt with equal pain and grit. Radical empathy reaches further, to break up the layers of the […]
