Influencing Culture Change: A Call to American Muslims

I believe that the call to the American Muslims is to influence and change the culture of the community around us as past Muslims have done. Part of our challenge is to become a vital part of our neighborhoods by convening and encouraging formation of future culture that serves the common good. We must become connoisseurs of an alternative way, recognizing and celebrating the good, true and beautiful way of Islam in our communities as an example to all others. Nowhere else does this potential for synergy exist except with the Muslims of America.

BUBBA responds to possible “Honor Killing” in Dallas

What a trip the past two weeks have been? The last week of December as well as the first week of January is usually dead without much going on in the socio-political world I work in. In fact I looked forward to two weeks of unwinding time from the stresses of convention-filled December, reading and […]

British Muslims & their Leadership

John Donne, the seventeenth-century English poet and preacher, wrote in his Meditations: “No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main.” In these lines, Donne expresses a notion more apparent to us today in our globalised world than in the Jacobean age in […]

Islamophobia Part-1: It Exists

Cross-posted on Dailykos.com & Streetprophets.com
In what will hopefully be a series of posts, I will be examining the trend of rising Islamophobia in America, employing a sprinkling of information from the collection of articles in the book with the title, “Islamophobia and Anti-Americanism” edited by Mohamed Nimer (an Amana Publication) mixed . I highly recommend […]

Islamic Jurisprudence Council Urges Western Muslims to Vote (Quran Ring Tones & More)

This is interesting in that usually the anti-vote camp is often composed of folks, who base their opposition on Islamic interpretations emanating from Saudi. So, alhamdulilah, it seems that winds of change are even blowing in this regard and that the ulema all over the world are recognizing the need for Western Muslims to actually […]

Way to Go! Bollinger Displays American Hubris and Insult Guests (Ahmedinejad)

*E-mail your concerns and complaints to Columbia at this email: Curesponse@columbia.edu* (Hat-tip Sr. Zahra)
Let me start off by saying that I am no fan of Ahmedinejad… in fact, I don’t particularly like him at all. But I support his right to speak to Americans… the last thing we want is to engage another country in […]

Update! Pledge of Mutual Respect and Cooperation

Update 9.25.07: List of signatories missed in the first issuance, added below. .
In the Name of Allah, the Ever-Merciful, the Bestower of Mercy

All Praise is due to Allah, and may the salutations of Allah be upon the Beloved Messenger.

Alhamdulillah, a very blessed and important step was recently taken by a number of […]

On Veils, Voting, and More

Here in Canada, the “voting with veils” controversy has resurfaced in the media and political spectrum. Way back in March, I linked to an article that was covering the events surrounding the issue at the time.
That was specifically regarding Quebec, but the latest news has come in regarding federal elections: munaqqabah women will not be […]

Line Up!: A New Measure of Muslim Unity

A few weeks ago, I was sitting in the local masjid waiting for the jumuah khutbah, and an old uncle tapped me on the shoulder and somewhat rudely insisted that I scoot forward. There was plenty of room around me, but he wanted to stand directly on the tape line right behind me to perform […]

Observing the Sunnah in the Professional World

Assalaamu alaykum wa rahmatullaah,
Rather than writing a long article, I had wanted to pose a question to our readers. One of the major obstacles that Muslims living the West face, particularly those of us who must work amongst non-Muslims, is having to be “professional,” according to the Western concept of the word, without compromising our […]