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Saturday, July 04, 2009 | 12 Rajab 1430  
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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
altmuslim this week - june 29, 2009 - This week, reeling over the death of Michael Jackson (or is it Mikaeel?), a brutal (and brutally unfair?) new film about the stoning of women in Iran, and our good friend Farah Pandith - the most effective behind-the-scenes American Muslim you've never met - is promoted to a new office by Secretary Clinton.
ASIDES
editor's blog
US outreach to Muslims in good hands - Several of us at altmuslim have had the opportunity to work with Farah Pandith, who has just been appointed by Secretary Clinton to be a special representative to Muslim communities worldwide. (June 27, 2009)

Her name is Neda - Many have died tragic - and silent - deaths in the post-election violence in Iran. But one woman, Neda Agha Soltan, became a symbol with her death caught on video. Here, Neda's fiancee, Caspian Makan, comments on her story in comments transcribed exclusively for altmuslim.com. (June 25, 2009)

CONTRIBUTORS
PODCASTS
altmuslim review 032 - Muslim writers everywhere! We speak about the new wave of Western Muslim literature and interview two authors with recently released books. Our own Irfan Yusuf talks about his memoir, Once Were Radicals and Reza Aslan tells us more about his second book, How to Win a Cosmic War (June 11, 2009)

altmuslim review 031 - Oh, Bama! What does the election of Barack Obama mean for American Muslims, who were both courted and shunned during a long campaign? We speak with American Muslim Democratic activists who were gathered in Washington for the historic inauguration. (March 5, 2009)

ELSEWHERE
State-sponsored Sufism, Ali Eteraz, Foreign Policy, June 10, 2009.

Pushing the Envelope Without Breaking It, Shahed Amanullah, The Mosque in Morgantown, June 2, 2009.

Obama in Egypt: Let the unsaid be said, Zahed Amanullah, Patheos.com, May 28, 2009.

Zahed will be a panelist at Divan 2.0, a debate on the future of the Muslim internet sponsored by the Radical Middle Way at the London School of Economics in London, England, May 22, 2009.

Once Were Radicals (published by Allen and Unwin), the first book by Associate Editor Irfan Yusuf, is released in Australia, May 4, 2009.

Shahed and Wajahat will be speaking at the 3rd Annual Leadership Summit presented by the Council for the Advancement of Muslim Professionals in Princeton, NJ, May 2, 2009.

Shahed will be leading a workshop on Media Strategies & Techniques at the Muslim Leaders of Tomorrow conference in New York, NY, April 24-25, 2009.

Bringing it all back home, Wajahat Ali, The Guardian, Comment is Free, April 9, 2009.

Zahed will be conducting a two day workshop on Blogging and New Media for Italian students at the United States Embassy, Rome, Italy, April 8-9, 2009.

Crusading for Modern Islamic Art, Shahed Amanullah, Beliefnet, March 26, 2009.

Wajahat will be speaking at the Muslim Leaders of Tomorrow conference in Doha, Qatar (January 16-19, 2009)

Finding the middle ground, Hesham Hassaballa, Philadelphia Inquirer, January 8, 2009.

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)

IN THE NEWS
Islamic Society reaches out to other faiths - "ISNA is very interested in extending their connections with Protestant groups," said Rafia Zakaria, an Indiana lawyer and associate editor at altmuslim.com, a Web site that looks at Muslim issues. "Having a figure as high profile as him gives them legitimacy to extend those kinds of alliances with church groups that have a significant amount of power in the United States." (June 21, 2009)

American Muslims, Jews rate Obama’s speech - "He was really pressing for people to say in public what they say in private. Everybody knows what the solutions to a lot of these problems are and I think there is vast agreement on what they are going to be. But nobody really talks about it and puts the cards on the table," said Shahed Amanullah, editor of the Web site altmuslim.com. (June 5, 2009)

A place to explore Muslim American life - "The biggest challenge facing us is more internal - asking the deeper question. Okay, now that we know that we are Muslim Americans or American Muslims, whatever you want to call us, what does that mean?" (May 23, 2009)

The great potential for online Muslim media - "A recent study in the US implies a correlation between non-Muslims who fear Islam and those who don't know any Muslims. The more Muslims get to know their non-Muslim neighbours, the more ability they will have to influence them." (April 29, 2009)

Obama’s entreaty to Islam surprises Muslims - "Here's where the American public is going, and here's where Obama is going and trying to head it off," said Shahed Amanullah, editor and publisher of altmuslim.com. The Bush administration asked Amanullah for help in shaping dialogue with the American Muslim community. "He's heading it off on a global level," Amanullah said. "He's starting at a core of the problem. The core of the problem is the crisis overseas." (April 8, 2009)

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The American Muslim
Rafia Zakaria
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Rafia Zakaria
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.
Islamic Relief: A 4-Star Charity

ARTICLES BY RAFIA ZAKARIA

Iran crisis
Leave Iran alone
Despite the cacophony of mock-solidarity echoing from all echelons of the US neo-conservative establishment, when it comes to doing what’s best for the Iranian people and indeed for the world, the US must do nothing at all. (12 comments)

Obama's Cairo speech
The value of words
For all the ensuing media chatter on the necessity of following his beautiful words with beautiful deeds, President Obama deserves credit for his overtures to Muslims around the world in his groundbreaking speech in Cairo. (16 comments)

The Taliban
A response to modernity
In its rigidity, the Talibanised society mimics an authenticity that sounds and feels truly pure and Islamic and is greedily imbibed by a population that is hungry for answers. (83 comments)

Reviving feminism
Making a needed connection
Feminists have remained silent and unwilling to make the connection between exhibitionism of flesh and subjugation of flesh, a commonality that should be a rallying cry. (41 comments)

Women's rights
The perpetual minors
The Saudi veil of piety hides behind it a monarchical state with little respect for the dignity and equality of all human beings so firmly advocated by Islam. (11 comments)

Iran Elections
A worn out utopia
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? (3 comments)

Women in politics
The women on top
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)

Bhutto assassination
Mourning an icon
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)

Karachi suicide attacks
Not the same Pakistan
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)

Book “Banat al Riyadh"
The subterranean life
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)

Labor & Economy
The tower that slaves built
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)

Suicide Terrorism
Lives less worthy?
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)

Pakistan's Lal Masjid
The cult and the crisis
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)

Honor Killing
Saving Banaz Mahmod
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)

Human Rights
Evil Guantanamo, but what about Evin?
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)

Human Rights
Righting Muslim women
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)

Human Rights
Criminal silence on Darfur
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)

Muslim Economies
Saudi Arabia’s schizophrenia
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)

Secular Islam Conference
The great pretenders
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)

Pakistan's Hudood Ordinance
Veils and jails
The Hudood Ordinances of Pakistan expose how Generals past and present have used the regulation of female sexuality to their strategic advantage. (2 comments)

Honor Killing
Crime & abetment
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)

Commentary
Islam and reform
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)

Hijab in Europe
Veil and a warning
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)


American Muslims for Palestine HalfDate.com