9/11

When bigotry came to my book reading: A Muslim feminist’s love letter to Cambridge

It happened. A heckler. At my first solo book reading.
I was promoting my debut novel, Painted Hands, at Cambridge’s Porter Square Books. Though I was an attorney in a past life, I was ridiculously nervous. It’s one thing to participate in moot court, or lead a seminar on contract negotiation. But to stand before a crowd of strangers and read your work–the pages that you have poured your heart and soul into for years? When you’re new to it, it can border on terrifying.

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Hijabi for a day

February 1, 2013 marked the first World Hijab Day, a day organized by New Yorker Nazma Khan to allow women to experience the hijab firsthand. Citing discrimination from Muslims and non-Muslims alike, she conceived of the idea so that those who have never worn hijab themselves could walk in the shoes of women who have.

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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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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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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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Ten reasons why surveillance of Muslims makes no logical sense

Revelations about the NYPD’s extensive surveillance of Muslims have provoked heated debates about whether spying on mosques, Muslim-owned businesses and university students is justified by national security interests. In order to clear up some misconceptions, we here at AltMuslimah have compiled a list of ten key reasons why profiling American Muslims has no rational justification. Please help us get the word out by sharing this with your friends and colleagues!

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The complexity of Muslim identity, 10 years after 9/11

With the tenth anniversary of 9/11, Muslims and non-Muslims alike are reflecting on what we, as Americans, have achieved since that fateful day — and all that is still left for us to do. For Muslims, this conversation is happening at multiple levels, as we struggle to make sense of not just the socio-political issues facing our faith community, but also the deeply personal, spiritual questions 9/11 has posed for us as individuals.

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Looking at the mother of a nation

When discussing prominent Pakistani women, references are usually made to former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, human rights activists Asma Jahangir and Hina Jilani, or even entertainers like Zeba Bakhtiar and Nazia Hassan. Pakistani women like Mukhtaran Mai or Asia Bibi have also rightly garnered media attention for different reasons. Fatima Jinnah, sister and confidante of the founder of modern day Pakistan Mohammed Ali Jinnah, is not as often referenced by western media.

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