altmuslim this week - january 5, 2009 - This week, a new year brings new tragedy for the people of Gaza. What parts do tribalism, US political realities, and the media landscape have to play in the ongoing crisis? 
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Who is a civilian? Who is a terrorist? - When Israel says that "anything affiliated with Hamas is a legitimate target," there is not much difference from the rationale that any Israeli adult is fair game for attack based on their past "affiliation" with the Israeli army. (January 6, 2009)
The preacher and the pop star - What happens when you put together a Muslim convention, an evangelical preacher, and a (lesbian) Grammy-award winning rock star? The answer is an extraordinary and historic day. (December 27, 2008)
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altmuslim review 030 - Free speech - is it something Muslims can live with? In this episode, we talk about how Muslims cope with (and benefit from) free speech in Western societies. Also, an extended interview with Jewel of Medina author Sherry Jones discussing her controversial book. (October 10, 2008)
altmuslim review 029 - A vibrant Muslim media could have an opportunity to restore balance to the Muslim public image - if it can get on its feet. In this episode, we explore the state of the Muslim media. Also, an interview with the creator of "Muslim Cafe", Navid Akhtar. (July 5, 2008)
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Recent and upcoming talks and offsite articles by altmuslim contributors
Shahed will be speaking about Muslims in the political process at the 8th annual Texas Dawah Convention in Houston, Texas (December 27, 2008)
Skyscraping ambition for Mecca, Ali Eteraz, The Guardian (UK), Comment is Free (December 18, 2008)
Zahed will be leading a technology workshop for European Muslim professionals at the Salzburg Global Seminar, Salzburg, Austria (November 16-20, 2008)
Zahed will be a keynote speaker at the inaugural meeting of the Network of European Muslim Technology Entrepreneurs, in Madrid, Spain (November 14, 2008)
Shahed will be a featured panelist at Red Faith/Blue Faith: Religion in the 2008 Election and Beyond at the Center for American Progress in Washington, DC (November 7, 2008)
Let the Global Islamic Conspiracy Begin, Ali Eteraz, Jewcy, (November 5, 2008)
Zahed will be a guest on Press TV's Islam & Life, hosted by Tariq Ramadan, speaking on French and American Muslim experiences (November 3, 2008)
Zahed will be a guest on Irish broadcaster RTE's Spectrum radio show, speaking about Barack Obama and the Muslim factor in the US presidential election (November 1, 2008)
Shahed will be a guest on the nationally syndicated radio show Interfaith Voices, speaking about the "otherization" of American Muslims (October 23, 2008)
Powell's remarks rebut the idea of Muslims as political kryptonite - Wajahat Ali, The Guardian (UK), Comment is Free (October 22, 2008)
Today's Boo Radley: Muslim Americans - Wajahat Ali, The Washington Post (October 20, 2008)
The Republican red scare, Wajahat Ali, The Guardian (UK), Comment is Free (October 11, 2008)
Heritage was mixed a long time ago - Irfan Yusuf, Sydney Morning Herald (September 30, 2008)
Shahed will be a guest on BBC Radio 4's " Sunday" programme speaking about the Jewel of Medina controversy (September 28, 2008)
Dangerous liaisons, Wajahat Ali, The Guardian (UK), Comment is Free (September 27, 2008)
Another attack - in the name of whose Islam? - Irfan Yusuf, The Age (Australia) (September 22, 2008)
Violence against women won't stop until men speak out - Irfan Yusuf, New Zealand Herald (September 12, 2008)
Shahed will be participating in a panel discussion, Sourcing Islam, at the Religion Newswriters Association conference in Washington, DC (September 20, 2008)
Muslims have nothing to fear from this book - Shahed Amanullah, The Guardian (UK), Comment is Free (September 9, 2008)
Rushdie is no believer in free speech - Irfan Yusuf, The Age (Australia) (August 8, 2008)
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Media appearances and analysis featuring altmuslim editors
Domestic crusader - An associate editor of the publication AltMuslim.com—“it’s neither too apologetic nor too antagonistic”—Wajahat exhorts wealthier American Muslims to invest in their own future by creating think tanks and scholarships in art and media instead of collecting luxury cars. “We have to break out of our culturally isolated bubble,” he says.
(October 11, 2008)
National publisher kills Spokane journalist’s book - [Amanullah] sent e-mails to about 200 graduate students in Islamic studies, telling them of Spellberg's "frantic" call and asking if they had heard about the novel. "What I got back was a collective shrug of the shoulders," says Amanullah. "The thing that is surreal for me is that here you had a non-Muslim write a book, and you had a non-Muslim complain about it, and a non-Muslim publisher pull the book." (August 20, 2008)
Self censoring Muslims - "But Amanullah says he never wanted the book pulled. 'I'm upset the book wasn't published,' he said, 'not because I agree or disagree with the book.' For him, 'I don't want to be in the position where we are stifling speech. Preemptive censorship is not in our interest. That's worse than even censorship. We're not going to silence our way out of problems.'" (August 12, 2008)
You still can’t write about Muhammad - "But Ms. Spellberg wasn't a fan of Ms. Jones's book. On April 30, Shahed Amanullah, a guest lecturer in Ms. Spellberg's classes and the editor of a popular Muslim Web site, got a frantic call from her. "She was upset," Mr. Amanullah recalls. He says Ms. Spellberg told him the novel "made fun of Muslims and their history," and asked him to warn Muslims." (August 5, 2008)
Why the silence? - "Both reactionary religion and militant secularism are on the rise, with both displaying a rigid certainty and a desire for power that will do nothing to benefit society. In this context, it is vital that people with open-minded faith speak up and demonstrate alternatives. [altmuslim.com has] set many good examples in this regard." (January 8, 2008)
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US Elections
Dear John McCain
If Barack Obama’s social “palling around" with Columbia University professor Rashid Khalidi makes him an anti-American radical extremist, then John McCain - who gave Khalidi nearly $500,000 - surely emerges as the 72 year-old hybrid incarnate of Hezbollah, Hamas and Al Qaeda.
By Wajahat Ali, October 31, 2008
Dear John McCain, Sarah Palin, the RNC, Charlie Black, the corrosive spirit of Lee Atwater, Rove-ian politics, Sean Hannity, Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, Elizabeth Hasselbeck, Joe the Plumber and other respected members of your respected ilk:
Please stop. Just stop. Enough. No more. Is this how you really want to go out? Do you want the following hate filled gems to be the final symbol of your failed campaign? Is this how you want to be remembered?
According to you, Obama is now a cowardly, pseudo-Muslimy, Iran-first traitor who is more loyal to the “radical Muslim world” than to his own country.
Really? That’s fascinating considering most of the Muslim world has the intelligence and common sense to recognize Obama’s Arabic name neither makes him Muslim nor Arab. And as a Muslim, I should know. We Muslims are like the Borg – we can identify one of our own through innate, radical “Muslim-y” powers. But that’s our little secret. Don’t tell anyone.
Next up, apparently you all believe Obama is a pro-Palestinian extremist who does not support Israel and instead “pals” around with “radical” Palestinian-American academic Rashid Khalidi, a respected Columbia faculty member and scholar whose Palestinian background and “radical” notions that Palestinians might be suffering labels him an extremist. Last April, it was revealed that Obama and Khalidi were friendly acquaintances during their time in Chicago, and Obama even made a respectful toast in praise of Khalidi at the latter’s farewell dinner (Khalidi subsequently left to assume his position with Columbia University).
So, judging from your logic, both Obama and Khalidi are radicals, with Obama automatically absorbing, accepting and endorsing all of Khalidi’s ideologies and beliefs purely by virtue of his social relations with the Palestinian professor.
If indeed Obama’s social “palling around with Khalidi” makes him an anti-Israel, anti-American radical extremist, then McCain surely emerges as the 72 year-old hybrid incarnate of Hezbollah, Hamas and Al Qaeda. After all, as chairman of the International Republican Institute, McCain personally oversaw and approved the funding of Khalidi’s non-militant and academic Center for Palestine Research and Studies organization to a tune of $ 448,873. I mean, that is the natural correlation, correct?
Obama might have had dinners with Khalidi, but unlike McCain, at least he didn’t fund the man with 6 figures.
If these associations and analogies hold logical water, then McCain supporters should demand why their candidate - whose slogan by the way is “Country First”- not only “pals" around with pro-Palestinian rights advocates, but also funds them! (This is of course a logical question only if one assumes that speaking for Palestinian rights and against human rights abuses in Gaza and West Bank automatically makes one unpatriotic and somehow un-American.)
I mean, even moose-hunting, God-fearing, Plain Jane Sarah Palin said, "This is important because [Obama’s] associate, Rashid Khalidi... in addition to being a political ally of Barack Obama, he's a former spokesperson for the Palestinian Liberation Organization."
Even though this claim is an outright, vacuous lie, which lacks all notions of credibility, perhaps we should ask why McCain, as chairman, helped fund the spokesperson for Yasser Arafat’s organization? Inquiring, moose-hunting patriots demand to know!
In an April 2008 Los Angeles Times article, at least Khalidi distanced himself from Obama when it was revealed that he “strongly disagrees with Obama's current views on Israel, and often disagreed with him during their talks over the years.”
For the uninitiated or for those running as the Republican Vice Presidential candidate, that means Khalidi and Obama “strongly” disagree on Israel.
However, I have yet to hear such a stinging disagreement between Professor Khalidi and John McCain over this same issue. Surely, McCain’s silence means consent and agreement with Khalidi’s opinions, beliefs, writings and declarations. After all, the Senator did fund this “radical” organization. Aha! The red herring, the bloody glove, the smoking gun, Keyser Soze!
Dear rabid hate mongers, do you see how ridiculous you sound?
There is less than week left in these historic elections. Who knows who will win? Whatever the result, please be assured that somehow life will continue. Yes, the Earth will rotate around its axis. Starbucks will still overprice their mediocre coffee and compete against itself by opening the same, exact branch across the street. Angelina Jolie will yet again adopt another child and officially become her own United Nations. Britney Spears will inevitably do something crazy. And, a Republican senator will resign over corruption or a sex scandal or both.
However, you will have to live with yourself, your actions and your well-earned legacy of promoting and stroking prejudice, fear and hysteria in an already tenuous and volatile global climate.
And to quote King James, "For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?"
Associate editor Wajahat Ali is a Pakistani Muslim American who is neither a terrorist nor a saint. He is a playwright, essayist, humorist, and Attorney at Law, whose work, “The Domestic Crusaders” is the first major play about Muslim Americans living in a post 9-11 America. His blog is at http://goatmilk.wordpress.com. He can be reached at
We try to remove any comments that do not conform to our netiquette guidelines. If any comments remain that are in violation, please let us know. The presence of offending comments does not necessarily reflect the views of the editors of altmuslim.
What the McCain-Palin camp is doing is disgusting, and its pretty clear that although McCain is becoming desperate, the main force driving this smear is Palin and the likes of her in the campaign. This woman is not only ignorant, what's worse is that she's proud of it, and lacking any intellectual curiosity she will never truly understand the Arab- Israeli conflict. Her shameless pandering to the Jewish vote by going on and on about how much she loves Israel- this from someone who got a passport when she was forty- goes far deeper than a desire to simply garner as many elderly Jewish votes in swing state Florida as possible. She is doing this out of religious belief, being an devout Evangelical Christian she truly believes that she is commanded to extend unconditional support for Israel. Her position is not radical amongst far right zealots, but it also isn't congruent with the more moderate elements of the Republican Party, especially someone like John McCain, and yes even George Bush. This is because both Bush and McCain, though they pretend otherwise, are not that all that religious, and can be pragmatic when it comes to the Middle East- this is something a extremist Israel-worshiping Palin can never do. I knew this woman was bad news from the first minute, I hope Palestinians in Florida realize this too before its late- please don't vote with your pocketbooks this time!!!!
- Posted by nadia86 on October 31, 2008 at 06:22 AM
Wajahat, I'm not sure McCain should be lumped into the likes of Sean Hannity et al. I think he's lost control of his campaign and does not drive the anti-Muslim sentiment let alone believe in it. Do note, he did refute the woman who said she wouldn't vote for Obama because she thought he is Arab. Of course, his refutation was imperfect and contained some undertones, but at least it was decisive and set the stage for Colin Powell's perfect statements on Meet The Press.
- Posted by OmarG on October 31, 2008 at 10:34 AM
YYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WHOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!
OBAMA! OBAMA! OBAMA!
SO MUCH FOR THE IDEA THAT MUSLIMS IN AMERICA ARE CONSERVATIVES!!!
I worked the voting polls yesterday from 5:30AM to 10PM.
I was at the front information desk, and looked at countless ID cards- and so many many many many many Muslims came in to vote.
At the end of the night, we counted the votes in the machines-
Obama got a solid 66% of the votes.
We have the Senate
We have the House
And we have the Presidency!
LIBERAL DEMCORATS RUUUUUUUULLLLLLLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have never seen anything like this in my life.
YYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
- Posted by MRS.A on November 5, 2008 at 12:40 PM
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