Islam

Where are the peaceful Muslim leaders? Fox News knows.

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In the years since September 11th, I’ve often heard radio-talk-show hosts / callers, chatterers at family gatherings, and TV pundits asking “Where are the peaceful Muslim leaders?” as though there were none out there condemning violence and encouraging friendship and peace. Whenever I have a chance to directly answer that question I’m very happy to have some solid examples of incredible Muslim leaders who have spoken out and continue to work for peacemaking and friendship. On September 11th, one of my closest friends and colleagues helped organize a gathering outside the White House, lighting the night for peace and friendship. This event, like many such gatherings which have been put together over the years, didn’t get the same kind of coverage as violence or loud protests typically do.

Gender and Sexuality

Ramadan: A wife’s perspective (and a husband’s)

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This post was written by Zehra Rizavi and Yusif Akhund for altmuslimah.com. I think it helps non-Muslims understand the Ramadan experience from an insider’s perspective, while also raising questions of how different interpretations of gender roles may change each couple’s experience of Ramadan. When my husband finally makes his way down the stairs, my frustration abates and he and I sit across from each other and share our early morning meal. We speak intermittently and keep one eye trained on the clock to ensure we finish our food by the time dawn prayers begin. Despite the sparse conversation and the hurried meal, I enjoy the feeling that we are both beginning our obligatory fasts together, as a unit.

Christianity

The Evolution of God

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I’ve been reading a fascinating book, Robert Wright’s The Evolution of God. Wright is the author of Nonzero and The Moral Animal, both of which have received great acclaim. I was led to The Evolution of God through an interview in Salon, which led me to the book’s website. The website serves as a wonderful teaser: Wright has the opening thousand words to each of the book’s twenty chapters, which are divided into four sections, one on the birth and growth of gods, and one on each of the Abrahamic religions. Be warned: by the time I finished the third, I knew I was going to buy the book.

Islam

the "bad speech" dilemma – does intolerance lead to violence?

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“A woman who loses her chastity is worthless,” lectures the sermon-giver at Asra Nomani’s mosque in Morgantown, West Virginia. Nomani carefully jots down this statement in her notebook, right alongside the speaker’s other assertion that “Jews are the descendents of apes and pigs.” Nomani, a former Wall Street Journal correspondent who came face-to-face with extremism when her colleague and close friend, Daniel Pearl, was murdered in Pakistan, is certain that these statements of intolerance in her local mosque are intrinsically related to acts of violence. Thus begins Nomani’s “struggle for the soul of Islam,” a struggle showcased by Brittany Huckabee in her recent documentary, The Mosque in Morgantown. As Huckabee’s movie follows Nomani’s fight for women’s rights, it shows how her struggle against conservatism becomes intertwined with her repugnance with extremism.

Islam

Spiritual Wisdom of the Week

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This week’s spiritual wisdom is from Jalal al-Din Rumi’s Mathnawi story of the man who swallowed a snake, in a version by Coleman Barks:
Jesus on the lean donkey,
this is an emblem of how the rational intellect
should control the animal-soul. Let your spirit
be strong like Jesus. If that part becomes weak,
then the worn out donkey grows to a dragon. Be grateful when what seems unkind
comes from a wise person. Once, a holy man,
riding his donkey, saw a snake crawling into
a sleeping man’s mouth!

Buddhism

Interfaith Weddings in a Unitarian Universalist Landmark

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I perform weddings as a lay minister at First Unitarian Society in Madison. Frank Lloyd Wright built our original church, so many non-members want to get married there — too many for our professional ministers to handle. As a result, I often have the opportunity to perform interfaith weddings where I put my Unitarian Universalist (UU) principles to work. UU’s believe in the “inherent worth and dignity of all people,” “acceptance of one another,” and “a free and responsible search for truth and meaning.” Instead of a creed or dogma, what holds us together is a set of seven principles, three of which I just listed for you.

Culture

Religious pluralism in today's Muslim world

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In his 4 June speech to the Muslim world from Cairo, US President Barack Obama started his discussion of religious freedom by pointing out that “Islam has a proud tradition of tolerance”. Citing its long history of protecting religious minorities as well as his own experience growing up in overwhelmingly Muslim Indonesia where Christians worshipped freely, he then drew upon the present, turning his attention to those vocal Muslims among whom “there is a disturbing tendency to measure one’s own faith by the rejection of another’s”. He urged his Muslim listeners to continue the spirit of tolerance that is reflected throughout their history. The rejectionist Muslims whom Obama referred to are but one part of the vast Muslim world. Surveys conducted in 44 countries as part of the Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes Project show that people in Muslim countries place a high value on free speech, free press, multi-party systems and equal protection under the law.

Culture

The 'beating' verse

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New on Altmuslimah:
Jurists have created a contradiction that is not in the Qur’an by encouraging divorce and discouraging marriage. In other words, a Muslim woman who wants a divorce must be set free without using force against her, but a Muslim woman who wants to remain married does so under the threat of being beaten. What woman would want to stay married under such circumstances?

Inter-Culturalism

American Muslims Challenge China

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Wajahat Ali, playwright and friend of this blog, sent us this press release today. My eye was caught by the phrase “American Muslims thrive because of the Constitution’s protection of religious freedom,” which I am sure Thomas Jefferson would be happy to hear if he could:
American Muslims Call on Chinese Govt’ to Protect Religious Freedom
In response to the outbreak of violence in Xinjiang, China, in early July, 2009, American Muslims across the country will speak out for religious freedom in China during their July 31, 2009 Friday sermon
SAN FRANCISCO – A collection of American Muslim professionals, journalists and community and religious leaders, are calling for American Muslim leaders and religious figures to speak up during their Friday, July 31, sermon for religious freedom in light of the brutal crackdown by the Chinese on Uyghur Muslims in July and a history of repression of religious groups including Christians and the Falun Gong.In response to the collective concern of the American Muslim community, imams and religious leaders across America have been asked to speak out for religious freedom in China and promote awareness of the plight of Uyghur Muslims to their congregations. Members of this collection of the American Muslim community are currently contacting imams and religious leaders at major religious centers and mosques, and are encouraging sermons addressing the importance of bringing attention and support to this embattled community. They are encouraging sermons that bring attention and support to this embattled community while also addressing the importance of religious freedom for all people, including Uyghur Muslims, and the right of all Chinese religious communities to enjoy self-determination and the preservation of cultural identity. Resources to promote awareness about the struggle for religious freedom in China, the repressive situation of Uyghur Muslims, and the difficult situation in Xinjiangare available at the facebook group “American Muslims Support the Uyghurs on July 31.”

Gender and Sexuality

The Difficulty of Being a Modern Muslim Woman

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First published on May 1, 2009
Growing up Muslim and female in America was, and remains, a tumultuous process. While Islam generally is under tremendous scrutiny, there is probably no issue in greater contention than that of gender relations in Islam. With the media constantly spewing out images of oppressed Muslim women and angry Muslim men, the world looks on with both fascination and disgust. The Muslim gender dynamic – supposedly a singular, unchanging construct – has become a spectacle for everyone to gawk at, comment on, and ultimately use to ridicule the larger Muslim community. But it is not just our neighbors who are gawking; Muslims often find themselves feeling awkward as well, especially as the news becomes stranger and more prevalent.