No compulsion in opinion
Today is May 11, 2008 | 06 Jumada al-Awwal 1429  
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Geeking out at SXSW Interactive - There is no better place to mingle with other geeks than at South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive, one of the largest Internet-focused conferences in the country, where we presented a panel discussion on "Online Extremism - And The Muslims Who Fight It" (March 20, 2008)

Like “Groundhog Day” - What happens when you get 200 academics, activists, policy wonks, politicians, and journalists - all with opinions across the spectrum - into a room to try to determine the best course of action to improve the relationship between the US and the Muslim world? Unfortunately, not much. (February 24, 2008)

CONTRIBUTORS
PODCASTS
altmuslim review 027 - This month, we have a special report from the US-Islamic World Forum in Doha, Qatar. Also, an interview with Dalia Mogahed, co-author of the forthcoming book "What a Billion Muslims Really Think" (March 7, 2008)

altmuslim review 026 - The US presidential race is in full swing, and we discuss Muslim involvement in the campaigns and our attempts at a block vote. Also, a perspective from recently elected San Carlos city councilmember Omar Ahmad. (January 29, 2008)

ELSEWHERE
Shahed will be participating in a panel discussion, Sourcing Islam, at the Religion Newswriters Association conference in Washington, DC (September 20, 2008)

Zahed will be a guest on BBC Radio 4's "Sunday" programme speaking about religious podcasting (May 4, 2008)

Rafia and Shahed will be guests on South Africa's Channel Islam, speaking about interpreting Islam in the modern world (March 28 & April 4, 2008)

Shahed will be speaking at the CAMP International Leadership Summit in Princeton, NJ (March 29, 2008)

Shahed will be a guest on Radio Tahrir, airing on WBAI 99.5 FM in New York, speaking about the Muslim block vote (April 1, 2008)

Shahed will be appearing on The Agenda with Steve Paikin for a recap of altmuslim's SXSW panel "Online Extremism" (March 26, 2008)

altmuslim is hosting a panel discussion at 2008 SXSW Interactive, "Online Extremism (And The Muslims Who Fight It)" (March 9, 2008)

Count blessings, then tally taxes - Hesham Hassaballa, Chicago Tribune (February 24, 2008)

'Busharraf' gets the people's message - Irfan Yusuf, New Zealand Herald (February 22, 2008)

Shahed will be participating in the US-Islamic World Forum in Doha, Qatar (February 17-19, 2008)

Sharia an unlikely threat - Irfan Yusuf, stuff.co.nz (February 13, 2008)

Converts' dangerous pull towards extremism - Irfan Yusuf, Sydney Morning Herald (February 7, 2008)

Safiyyah will be appearing on The Agenda with Steve Paikin for a debate on "Today's Young Muslim Women" (February 1, 2008)

Sidelining the loud-mouthed cultural warriors - Irfan Yusuf, Canberra Times (January 10, 2008)

Safiyyah will be guest writing at the TVO website offering commentary on the two-part TV series Britz (February 2008)

Fault lines of a nation - Irfan Yusuf, The Age (December 31, 2007)

Is there room at the inn for a Muslim holiday in America? - Shahed Amanullah, Chicago Tribune (December 23, 2007)

Can Pakistan's non-violent past save its future? - Shahed Amanullah, Beliefnet.com (December 28, 2007)

Not your father's hajj - Shahed Amanullah, Beliefnet.com (December 17, 2007)

Shahed will be speaking at the MPAC Annual Convention in Long Beach, CA about Muslims and new media (December 15, 2007)

IN THE NEWS
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)

Does the US tolerate anti-Muslim speech? - "You see more hostility towards Muslims now than you did the year after 9/11," says Shahed Amanullah, editor of a Muslim web-zine, AltMuslim.com. He and other observers point to America's failure to capture Osama bin Laden, the continuing difficulties in Iraq and Afghanistan, and news of terrorist plots overseas as reasons why many Americans feel hostile towards Muslims. (December 7, 2007)

In the great Berkeley free speech tradition - [Amanullah] claims no personal agenda other than concerned dad. “I want my children to grow up in a country where they, as Muslims, feel valued,” he says, “and where their religion doesn’t contradict their nationality.” (November 9, 2007)

Shaping the debate on Muslims - The publication [altmuslim.com] promotes critical analysis, discussion, and debate within the Muslim community in the West while also showcasing commentary for non-Muslims who want a sense of the dialogue going on among Western Muslims. (October 19, 2007)

Blogging Where Speech Isn’t Free (.mp3) - Many nations have no tradition of free speech, and in those contexts, blogging can be extremely dangerous. How can those bloggers protect themselves, and how can we help them? (Panel discussion at SXSW Interactive, Austin, Texas, March 11, 2007) Audio available here. (July 9, 2007)

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The American Muslim
Ali Eteraz
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Ali Eteraz
Contributor Ali Eteraz is a full-time writer and formerly an international finance and human rights lawyer. He has lived in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, the Caribbean, and numerous American states. His essays have appeared in Killing the Buddha, The Revealer, Identity Theory, and Counterpunch. His popular personal blog has been quoted in Slate, MSNBC, CBS and the Guardian. He is working on a book about the silence and cruelty in the life of Islam's castaways entitled Children of Dust, in addition to his first novel.

In November of 2006, he founded Eteraz.Org: States of Islam, an interactive web portal dedicated to mobilizing Muslims worldwide on taking real world action on important social justice causes. The site has since been renamed Plural Politics and has a more universal, pluralist approach. He contributes to the Huffington Post and the Guardian's Comment is Free, the largest American and British political blogs respectively.

zabihah.com

ARTICLES BY ALI ETERAZ

Catholic-Muslim relations
The Pope offers lessons for Islamic reform
The Pope is one of the few Western leaders who is recognized as legitimate by Muslims. If he would honestly discuss the the evolution of his views on Islam, Muslims would learn from it (6 comments)

Tariq Ramadan
The state of Islamic reform in the West
Consider, then, the irony: reformers which did not alienate the Muslim community were alienated by the media; reformers which did alienate the Muslim community were embraced by the media. (4 comments)

Muslim Movements
The death of “progressive Islam”
At the end of the day, all practicing Muslims turn to some kind of juridical authority. The fact that the Progressives did not have one to offer was a great cause of concern for me. (82 comments)

Lost in translation
The Quran I hate
The Quran is my favorite novel, favorite poem, favorite recording, favorite creation. But there are those who turn "my preciousss" into pungence; my warmth into fire; my beloved into a blizzard of death. (16 comments)

Occupation and Insurgency
Western Muslim opinion on the war in Iraq
We Western Muslims can oppose the American occupation, but we also have to oppose the way the insurgents are brutalizing and defiling life and human dignity. (1 comments)

Editor Manzoor-ul-Hassan
Shooting a shaykh in the mouth
It is a war between Violence and Reason. One speaks with the authority of bullets and flame; the other through the authority of pamphlet and humility. (5 comments)

Philosophy and Islam
Making men(ds) with method
Would it be that the age of the reprehensible and anachronistic was the one that had waned, and the age of the righteous was at hand? (3 comments)

Novel "Master of the Jinn"
An unearthly Sufi novel
Irving Karchmar's debut Sufi novel, "Master of the Jinn", heralds the arrival of a fresh literary voice to Islam and America. It also signals the revival of Sufism. (2 comments)

Musical Artists Niyaz
The Sufi electronica of Niyaz: Music to smash idols
In the Sufi-inspired music of Niyaz, the serenity of Islamic mysticism exists even if the words were to disappear and only the voice were to remain. (5 comments)



Islamic Relief: A 4-Star Charity