Top 10 Posts of 2009 on MuslimMatters.org

The year 2009 was a “sustaining the success” year. Our layout took on quite a bit of popularity, and was copied by a few other sites.For the 2nd year in a row, MM won the best group blog in the Brass Crescent Awards, in addition to “Honorable Mention” for overall best blog of 2009. We also ranked #1 in one of the more comprehensive blog-ranking.

Alhamdulillah, all praise is to Allah and we would like to thank you for your support and constructive criticism along the way.

The following posts are the top posts by view count.  We did not say “best” posts… View-count is an interesting beast. Sometimes the most mundane post takes a life of its own if it gets viral. Sometimes posts can picked up in the heat of some big event.

So, we’d like to hear from you… what were your favorite posts of the year 2009?  And feel free to chime in as to what you would like to see more of!

Here are the top 10 posts for 2009 by view count. Check ’em out if you haven’t already!

#10. Dealing With Homosexual Urges: Yasir Qadhi to Muslim Student – Yasir Qadhi

Shaykh Yasir tackles a sensitive topic in a tactful manner. It’s not sufficient to simply hammer haraam, haraam, haraam, but to give help to Muslims who are genuinely struggling with same-sex attraction.

#9. A Conversation with a Jinn: The Exorcism Experience – Umm Reem

In this Top 10 from 2008 as well, Umm Reem describes her attempt at exorcism and the conversations that occurred during this experience. The post continues to raise some controversy. Some have had a bit of their faiths rejuvenated with the post, while others don’t agree with the experience itself or the need to describe it.

#8. To Blair or Not to Blair, That is The Question (Tony Blair, Yasir Qadhi & a Classroom in Yale) – Yasir Qadhi

Yasir describes his experiences in a class that he took where Tony Blair gave a few lectures. Some folks were rankled by Shaykh Yasir’s presence in a room with a person who joined Bush in the unjustified war on Iraq… others found such a presence beneficial, esp. as YQ asked some probing questions.

#7 Yasir Qadhi: My Conversion – Admitting One’s Mistake and Moving On– Yasir Qadhi

More Yasir Qadhi! Many folks were stunned to see the title and felt a choking feeling until they were relieved in the end. Humor at its best!

#6 UPDATES (1/13) ACTION-GAZA: Can we Spare 60 Minutes? Can we Walk the Talk? -Amad S.

Muslims joined together to implement small steps in bringing to light the Gaza massacre. This month marks the memory of the massacre of around 1400 innocent men, women and children at Gaza one year ago. Just like the world insists on remembering 9/11, as it should, it must never also forget what happened to Gaza last year.

#5 Muslim Scholars—West’s Natural Allies in Fighting Scourge of Terrorism – Tawfique Chowdhury

Likely one of the most controversial posts of 2009 in addition to being quite high on hits. Shaykh Tawfique’s message of why scholars are necessary in fighting homegrown terrorism was appreciated by some and despised by others. That folks, is blogging.

#4 UPDATE! Picture Stories: Hamas Terrorists Caught on Camera *SNARK* [Caution: Graphic Images] – Amad S.

Picture stories of the Gaza massacre. The snark title likely brought in a lot of Israeli online foot soldiers, only to find images of the children murdered by the terrorist state of Israel.

#3 With Scholars Like These… – Yasir Qadhi on “Shaykh al-Azhar” Tantawi / Niqaab Incident – Yasir Qadhi

When Tantawi allegedly humiliated and mocked a young girl for her niqaab, the Muslim world was shocked and the Islamophobes emboldened. Shaykh Yasir took on Tantawi in a probing piece that mixes sarcasm with truth.

#2 Hookah / Sheesha (Shisha) Smoking: Safer than Cigarettes? Haram or Halal? -Amad

For the second year in a row, this post remains in the top-10 and has now become the most viewed post of all time. There is nothing that special about the post except it addresses an ongoing important issue of the hookah fad. Step aside cigarette smoking, there’s something cooler in town (for our youth to destroy their bodies with)! Different flavors, different settings, a “Muslim export”… how cool is that? Actually not cool at all. And what’s worse is that some Muslims are actually promoting this lifestyle.

#1 UPDATE #3: Did Michael Jackson Die As A Muslim? -Saqib

2009’s top post covers one of the most media-frenzied event of the year: pop-king MJ’s sudden demise. Rumors of Islamic funeral, Islamic songs, etc. spread like wild-fire. The post takes a stab at some of the rumors and refutes them.