MuslimMatters.org Discourses in the Intellectual Traditions, Political Situation, and Social Ethics of Muslim Life

The Qur’an teaches us that wealth, power and social prestige – blessings that almost everyone desires in life – can become a Fitnah or trial of faith if it starts to stand in the way of a person’s embracing Islam completely and acting upon the Deen of Allah. When a person has wealth, he starts to think with certainty that he must be on the right path and that Allah is pleased with him. Moreover, wealth can make a person look down upon and deride those righteous people who are sincere to Allah’s cause but who belong to a lower socioeconomic class. Read More »

Examining how Muslims see ourselves and how we challenge anti-Muslim defamation Read More »

Underlying this push is an unexamined assumption that television is just a tool that can be used with equal facility in the service of good or evil. Thus the problems caused by television were caused solely because it was in the wrong hands and the only thing we need to counter those problems is have more broadcast power in the right hands. With television signals potentially reaching millions of people, we can preach to and educate such vast numbers as had never been possible before. Read More »

"If you see something, say something." Our duty, I believe, is different—to see in a terrorism suspect a person deserving of rights and humane treatment; to speak out against torture when it happens in a New York jail, not just when it occurs overseas; to insist that the Bill of Rights applies to all defendants all of the time. To take responsibility for the ways each of us has become complicit in the civil-rights violations of our era. Read More »

Readers' Opinions is the latest feature on Muslim Matters... finally, you get to exchange ideas and views on dedicated discussion threads. Come on in and see what today's topic is about... we're literally talking our hearts out! Read More »

Undoubtedly, the Prophet (PBUH) was a revolutionary man, who successfully struggled against all forms of rampant discrimination in Arabian society, including racism. However; nuanced forms of racism, such as color blind racism continue to exist among Muslims. Islam is a post-racial religion, and we Muslims must struggle towards that standard. Read More »

The 'Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear' offered an opportunity for Americans to put aside partisanship in favor of restoring decorum in US politics. The event offered plenty of entertainmaint as well as serious critiques of our media culture. Cooler heads prevailed at the end of the day. Read More »

It is entirely within our grasp to stop playing the 'victim of media' card, set the example, create the alternative story, realign the perception. We can take back control of and own our public media destiny if we're willing to do the work. We can blame the media all we want, but what have we offered them as alternatives? Read More »

At first you point at others and say, "How sad." You pity them due to issues that you assume could never affect you. Then you wake up one day and that fire is burning inside your own home. Crisis. One involving family, at that. Even the seemingly devout are struggling. As an Ummah among the many things we must deal with today, family is at the top of the list. When family crumbles, civilizations fall. The irony, is that all we need to repair the situation, is to implement the way of life we call our own, Islam. The lecture below details this issue and talks about the initial steps to putting out this fire. Read More »

A rudimentary lesson in any PR crisis management campaign is to monitor the news about you and address the concerns, esp. in this day and age of lightening fast social media. But CI seems much more interested in flaunting the support that comes their way rather than scrubbing the media to find concerns that need responding to, an imbalance that must be corrected. Read More »