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)
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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)
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Recent and upcoming talks and offsite articles by altmuslim contributors
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)
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Media appearances and analysis featuring altmuslim editors
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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Rafia Zakaria
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ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Rafia Zakaria
Indianapolis, Indiana USA
Rafia Zakaria is an attorney currently completing her doctorate in Political Science at Indiana University, where she is the John Edwards Fellow (2007-2008). Her research focuses on Muslim identity specifically as it relates to Sharia law initiatives and multiculturalism in Western states. She teaches courses on US Constitutional Law, Political Philosophy and Islam and Politics. Rafia also works on the Middle East Country Group of Amnesty International USA. She is the Associate Executive Director of the Muslim Alliance of Indiana and a Board member of ibtida, (an NGO that builds schools in rural Pakistan) and ANAA, an NGO dedicated to advocacy for female victims of violence in her native Pakistan. In addition to being Associate Editor at altmuslim.com since 2006, Rafia is a weekly columnist for Daily Times in Pakistan, she writes frequently for US and international publications, her work has appeared in Frontline India, The Nation, Reason, Arts and Letters Daily, and numerous other publications. | |
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Iran Elections
A worn out utopia
By Rafia Zakaria, March 16, 2008 In evaluating the course of Iran’s path since the 1979 revolution, one must ask why a revolutionary force has became as administratively inept, increasingly repressive and suspicious of dissent as the order against which it mobilised?
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Women in politics
The women on top
By Rafia Zakaria, January 28, 2008 Feminists should not hold real examples of female leadership, such as the late Benazir Bhutto and Hillary Clinton, to a stricter standard than that applied to men who have the same aspirations ( 4 comments) |
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Bhutto assassination
Mourning an icon
By Rafia Zakaria, December 29, 2007 Even though Benazir Bhutto was helped along by the political legacy of her father, her continued commitment to democratic politics and to the women of Pakistan demonstrated that silence and submission are not the only choices for Pakistani women. ( 13 comments) |
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Karachi suicide attacks
Not the same Pakistan
By Rafia Zakaria, October 19, 2007 Violence and death are no strangers to Karachi. Yet, this act, come as it did at a time when national reconciliation is on the table, suggests the re-aligning of Pakistani politics along a paradigm different from in the past. ( 8 comments) |
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Book “Banat al Riyadh"
The subterranean life
By Rafia Zakaria, August 25, 2007 Is Western feminism is truly applicable to women in Muslim countries? Raja Alsanea’s book “Banat al Riyadh” (Girls of Riyadh) explores this issue through the eyes of four Saudi women. ( 2 comments) |
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Labor & Economy
The tower that slaves built
By Rafia Zakaria, July 31, 2007 Skyscrapers and fancy malls exist all around the world, but the Gulf States are unique in creating a system of labour exploitation where workers are treated as mere chattel. ( 13 comments) |
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Suicide Terrorism
Lives less worthy?
By Rafia Zakaria, July 23, 2007 Perhaps the world can come to realise that the real war is between those who believe in the ultimate sanctity and value of a human life and those who do not. ( 37 comments) |
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Pakistan's Lal Masjid
The cult and the crisis
By Rafia Zakaria, July 13, 2007 The Lal Masjid debacle raises the question of what exactly the relationship is between Islam and Pakistan, and between the state and the citizen. Is Pakistan a secular or a sacred state? ( 45 comments) |
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Honor Killing
Saving Banaz Mahmod
By Rafia Zakaria, June 14, 2007 The case of Banaz Mahmod shows that some segregated immigrant communities exert draconian control over women in order to act out the frustration of feeling helpless in a foreign land. ( 4 comments) |
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Human Rights
Evil Guantanamo, but what about Evin?
By Rafia Zakaria, June 03, 2007 Iran's Evin prison is the sordid site where hundreds of Iranian human rights activists, philosophers, journalists and student leaders are being imprisoned under chilling and ghastly conditions. ( 3 comments) |
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Human Rights
Righting Muslim women
By Rafia Zakaria, May 29, 2007 The American Right follows the condescending strategy that naïve Muslim women will somehow forget the tragedies unleashed on them when thrown a few comforting words. ( 7 comments) |
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Human Rights
Criminal silence on Darfur
By Rafia Zakaria, May 15, 2007 Because of the intra-Muslim nature of the conflict, the suffering of the Darfuri people has failed to become the subject of religious sermons in the Muslim world. ( 16 comments) |
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Muslim Economies
Saudi Arabia’s schizophrenia
By Rafia Zakaria, April 10, 2007 While economic prosperity and its attendant manifestations have come to Saudi Arabia relatively easily, religious, socio-cultural and political reform continues to be rejected. ( 11 comments) |
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Secular Islam Conference
The great pretenders
By Rafia Zakaria, March 09, 2007 The speakers at the "Secular Islam Conference" reduced the necessity of dialogue between Muslims and Westerners to a profiteering activity that cashes in on fear and intolerance. ( 57 comments) |
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Pakistan's Hudood Ordinance
Veils and jails
By Rafia Zakaria, September 01, 2006 The Hudood Ordinances of Pakistan expose how Generals past and present have used the regulation of female sexuality to their strategic advantage. ( 2 comments) |
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Honor Killing
Crime & abetment
By Rafia Zakaria, August 09, 2006 European Muslims continue to remain silent on horrific crimes within the community, citing fear of fuelling Islamophobia as the reason. This should not be an excuse. ( 17 comments) |
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Commentary
Islam and reform
By Rafia Zakaria, June 10, 2006 Unless any recipe for reform is able to win a constituency in the hearts of those that must change, it is likely to die an unceremonious death on the shelves of Western bookstores. ( 1 comments) |
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Hijab in Europe
Veil and a warning
By Rafia Zakaria, February 10, 2006 The mysterious death of Norwegian politician Samira Munir is a chilling deterrent to Muslim women who speak out about the violence against women in their communities. ( 2 comments) |
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