Shahed Amanullah
|  |
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Shahed Amanullah
Austin, Texas USA
As editor-in-chief of altmuslim.com, Shahed Amanullah is an award-winning journalist who writes regularly about the challenges and opportunities facing Islam in America. Named one of ten "Muslim visionaries" by Islamica Magazine, Shahed's work and writings have been featured in magazines (Newsweek), newspapers (New York Times, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune), radio shows (BBC News, National Public Radio, and major websites (BeliefNet.com). Television appearances include "Nightline with Ted Koppel", CNN Headline News, the "Today Show", and "Hannity & Colmes". Shahed is the founder of Halalfire Media, a network of Islamic-themed websites with nearly 6 million visitors annually. Along with altmuslim.com, signature properties include zabihah.com, salatomatic.com, halalapalooza.com, and unitedmuslims.org. He has also served as a board member for the United Muslims of America, the Muslim Public Service Network, and the Muslim Youth Camp of California. He is a general partner in Zakat Community Ventures, a startup "venture philanthropy" fund dedicated to promoting Islamic charitable values. | |
|
|
|
|
 | | | Muslim Americans | |
Confronting radicalization online By Shahed Amanullah, December 23, 2009 The best possible antidote to extremist thought online is to propagate a compelling Muslim American narrative that instills pride and purpose among susceptible minds, and then connect them to mainstream efforts to address U.S. policy in Muslim countries.  ( 8 comments) |
|
 | | | Biopics | |
The pitfalls of filming Muhammad By Shahed Amanullah, November 9, 2009 Unfortunately, the Matrix producer Barrie Osborne's planned biopic on the life of the Prophet Muhammad won't illuminate Islam in the same way 'The Message' did 33 years ago. Instead, there are plenty of other stories yet to be told on film.
( 49 comments) |
|
 | | | Special Representative to Muslim Communities Farah Pandith | |
“It’s not about the American flag being waved everywhere” By Shahed Amanullah, July 8, 2009 For the first time, the Department of State, under Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, has created a new position to engage with Muslim communities worldwide. Its head, State Department and National Security Council veteran Farah Pandith, speaks to us here in her first official interview. ( 2 comments) |
|
 | | | Filmmaker Jennifer Taylor | |
“There are so many things that surprised me” By Shahed Amanullah, June 19, 2009 Filmmaker Jennifer Taylor gives some insight into the people at the heart of her documentary film "New Muslim Cool", talks about avoiding the typical traps found when telling stories about Muslims, and explains how labels become meaningless for a community that increasingly blurs the lines between ethnicities, beliefs, and cultures. ( 2 comments) |
|
 | | | Movie "The Mosque in Morgantown" | |
Pushing the envelope without breaking it By Shahed Amanullah, June 17, 2009 Asra Nomani, deserves credit for bringing light to the issue of gender inequity in American mosques. But since there is widespread agreement among Muslim leaders for the need for change, is Nomani's approach the best way to create it? ( 5 comments) |
|
 | | | Author Reza Aslan | |
“We are fighting a war of the imagination” By Shahed Amanullah, May 4, 2009 For much of the past decade we have been fighting a "cosmic war" under the guise of a "war on terror," according to author Reza Aslan. In it, there lies a never-ending battle between almost mythical forces of "good" and "evil," skewing real-life history with a fantasy element with no practical resolution. ( 10 comments) |
|
 | | | Assalamu Aleikum, Mr. President | |
The third time’s a charm By Shahed Amanullah, November 9, 2008 As everyday Muslim-Americans take their political destiny into their own hands, they find a degree of success that wasn't possible with top-down organizing. ( 4 comments) |
|
 | | | Comedian Azhar Usman | |
Allah made him funny By Shahed Amanullah, October 3, 2008 We speak to Muslim comedian Azhar Usman, whose concert film with fellow comedians Preacher Moss and Mohammed Amar, Allah Made Me Funny opens in select theatres today. ( 1 comment) |
|
 | | | Author Sherry Jones | |
“I did all this in the service of a truth” By Shahed Amanullah, September 4, 2008 Jewel of Medina author Sherry Jones speaks to us about her book, a semi-fictional novel based on the life of Prophet Muhammad's wife Aisha pulled by her publisher Random House, and what led to a firestorm of controversy described by many as the next Satanic Verses. ( 34 comments) |
|
 | | | Perspectives | |
Free speech is a two-way street By Shahed Amanullah, August 7, 2008 Some of the more abrasive encounters between Muslims and others have not centered around politics or foreign policy, but in the arena of free expression. It doesn't have to be this way. ( 37 comments) |
|
 | | | US Elections | |
Blocking the vote By Shahed Amanullah, March 18, 2008 Block vote proponents are faced with two bad choices: either tell Muslims to abandon the candidate that the majority supports, or take credit for a block of votes they had nothing to do with creating. ( 5 comments) |
|
 | | | Public diplomacy | |
Karen, we hardly knew ye By Shahed Amanullah, November 12, 2007 Karen Hughes' public diplomacy administration was certainly better than her "brand America" predecessors. Too bad an unchanging US foreign policy precluded any meaningful improvement in US-Muslim world relations. ( 3 comments) |
|
 | | | 44th ISNA Conference | |
Ready for a close-up By Shahed Amanullah, September 4, 2007 Though the Islamic Society of North America still attracts accusations of extremism from some on the right, the group's annual conference last weekend showed a determination to make full integration irreversible. ( 27 comments) |
|
 | | | The Nation of Islam | |
The final call? By Shahed Amanullah, August 12, 2007 With the stepping down of Louis Farrakhan and the stepped-up pressure of WD Muhammad, the Nation of Islam faces a fork in the road - shift towards orthodox Islam or face an uncertain future. ( 3 comments) |
|
 | | | Opposing terrorism | |
What would marches against extremism achieve? By Shahed Amanullah, July 29, 2007 If Muslim-Americans were able to pull off a grand protest, would it curtail the rise of extremism? Would the terrorists care what we thought? And would it make the average non-Muslim American feel more secure?
( No comments) |
|
 | | | Preventing homegrown terror | |
Seeing eye to eye on extremism By Shahed Amanullah, May 16, 2007 American Muslims and the US government are often on opposing sides when it comes to combating extremism. By depoliticizing the issue and promoting a cooperation of equals, it doesn't have to be that way. ( 15 comments) |
|
 | | | Musician Kareem Salama | |
“There’s something reverent about country music” By Shahed Amanullah, April 17, 2007 For Oklahoma native Kareem Salama, the Islamically-inspired country music he creates is no novelty. We speak with the budding country singer about why his varied influences mesh so well. ( 10 comments) |
|
 | | | Muslim journalism | |
Western Muslims need a “fourth estate” By Shahed Amanullah, April 9, 2007 We started altmuslim.com because we could no longer tolerate the absence of an independent Muslim media. We would be happy if the emergence of one made us redundant. ( 11 comments) |
|
 | | | Promoting civic involvement | |
Introducing unitedmuslims.org By Shahed Amanullah, March 21, 2007 With the launch of our new sister site unitedmuslims.org, we hope to broaden the base of Muslim activism in the West by addressing real world issues that benefit everyone. ( 12 comments) |
|
 | | | Muslims in India | |
The new “untouchables”? By Shahed Amanullah, December 20, 2006 India's Muslim population, once thought to be relatively integrated, has been found in a recent report to be in many cases worse off than the "untouchable" dalits. ( 8 comments) |
|
 | | | Talk show host Dennis Praeger | |
The extremists among us By Shahed Amanullah, December 7, 2006 Which is the extremist threat in America? The Muslim American bogeyman that everyone talks about but nobody can find? Or the thousands of Americans who openly declare their intent to fight their Muslim neighbors? ( 27 comments) |
|
 | | | US Elections | |
The lessons of Keith Ellison By Shahed Amanullah, September 14, 2006 There are Muslim leaders, and then there are leaders who happen to be Muslim. In Keith Ellison, we are finally witnessing the ascendance of the latter. ( 32 comments) |
|
 | | | 9/11 Anniversary | |
Still caught between two hells By Shahed Amanullah, September 11, 2006 Sometimes it seems like the average Muslim American, caught between the extremists on both sides, just can't win. But there is a way out. ( 77 comments) |
|
 | | | Muslim bookstores | |
Intolerance or incompetence? By Shahed Amanullah, July 20, 2005 Having a community full of bad businesspeople, however unfortunate, is preferable to having a community full of people who support terrorism. ( 45 comments) |
|
 | | | Playwright Wajahat Ali | |
A Muslim family takes center stage By Shahed Amanullah, July 14, 2005 Are American theater-going audiences ready to plumb the depths of the American Muslim experience? Playwright Wajahat Ali, a recent graduate of UC Berkeley, thinks so. ( 1 comment) |
|
 | | | July 7th Attacks | |
In the wake of shame, reject extremism By Shahed Amanullah, July 13, 2005 This week, the worst fears of secular Europeans (and European Muslims) came true. As a result, Muslims must expose and reject the extremists among them. ( 31 comments) |
|
 | | | Reflections | |
Yearning for a peaceful Ramadan By Shahed Amanullah, October 14, 2004 Ramadan today is very different than it was ten years ago, before Muslims came into the media spotlight. We lost a very special part of it. ( No comments) |
|
 | | | A murder in Saudi | |
Yes, it’s our problem too By Shahed Amanullah, June 18, 2004 Muslims should not dismiss the murder in Saudi Arabia of American contractor Paul Johnson as "not our problem". It very much is our problem. ( 24 comments) |
|
 | | | Anti-Muslim hysteria | |
Protocols of the Elders of Islam? By Shahed Amanullah, April 28, 2004 The way that anti-Muslim commentators describe what they think is in the minds of Muslims reminds one of an infamous book of long ago. ( 11 comments) |
|
 | | | Defining halal | |
If it’s not organic, it’s not halal By Shahed Amanullah, January 9, 2004 With the emergence of "mad cow" disease in the US, the only way to insure meat is truly halal is to use organic or "free range" animals. ( 4 comments) |
|
 | | | Honor killings | |
Condemnations are not enough By Shahed Amanullah, December 16, 2002 The Muslim world's collective silence regarding "honor" killings is symptomatic of our continued inability to "enjoin the good and forbid the evil". ( 2 comments) |
|
 | | | 9/11 anniversary | |
Evaluating Muslim responses to 9/11 By Shahed Amanullah, September 11, 2002 After 9/11, we sought to convince Americans that we oppose terrorism and tried to stave off discrimination and hate. One year later, it is clear that we have failed. ( 49 comments) |
|
|
|
|
altmuslim this week - august 23, 2010 - This week, is there a connection between the heated rhetoric over Park51 and increased hate crimes against Muslims? Also, parallel struggles against anti-Muslim protests in Bradford, England and the innovation (and integration) on display in the 30 Mosques, 30 States and 30 Nights, 30 Grants projects.
|
How Miss USA will push the secret Muslim agenda - A leaked memo confirms a nefarious plot to infiltrate America using the one weapon we can't resist: Total hotness. (May 17, 2010)
South Park: The controversy continues - In a special for Salon.com, our Associate Editor Wajahat Ali offers his take on the controversy over South Park. If you think South Park's Muslim brouhaha was messy, you should see what's going on in the neighboring town of East Park. (April 28, 2010)
|
|
| |
|
altmuslim review 033 - We're baaaaack! We speak about the ongoing controversy over Park51 and what means for the future of lower Manhattan. Also, a discussion with Farhad Chowdhury of the M100 Foundation, which seeks to change the way Muslims pay zakat (August 13, 2010)
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)
|
|
Recent and upcoming talks and offsite articles by altmuslim contributors
It's the occupation, stupid, Wajahat Ali, Salon.com, June 4, 2010
Sex and the City 2's stunning Muslim clichés, Wajahat Ali, Salon.com, May 28, 2010
Draw Muhammad Day: Collectively Punishing Muslim Americans, Shahed Amanullah, Huffington Post, May 25, 2010
Shahed will be a guest on the BBC World Service's World, Have Your Say discussing the proposed French ban on niqab (and fines for husbands who compel their wives to wear them) on May 18, 2010.
Even Controversial Views Should Be Protected by Freedom of Speech, Asma Uddin, The Huffington Post, May 7, 2010.
What I understand about Faisal Shahzad, Wajahat Ali, Salon.com, May 6, 2010
No freak out about South Park, Zahed Amanullah, The Guardian, Comment is Free, April 23, 2010.
Shahed will be a guest on the BBC World Service's World, Have Your Say discussing the South Park controversy along with Zarqa Nawaz (Little Mosque on the Prairie) and other guests on April 22, 2010.
Shahed will be a guest on NPR's State of Belief discussing Barack Obama's outreach to the Muslim world, April 17, 2010.
Zahed will be attending a panel discussion entitled " Are Islam and Free Speech Compatible?" in London, England on Friday, March 26, 2010 sponsored by The City Circle. He will be accompanied by Riazat Butt (The Guardian), Hamid Khan (Consultant in Offender and Youth Development), Abu Muntasir (JIMAS), and Dr Usama Hasan.
'Jihad Jane': not the usual suspect, Wajahat Ali, The Guardian, Comment is Free, March 18, 2010.
Al-Awlaki, a new public enemy, Zahed Amanullah, The Guardian, Comment is Free, December 30, 2009.
Islamophonic: Review of the year, Riazat Butt, Zahed Amanullah and David Shariatmadari, Cif Belief (The Guardian), December 18, 2009.
Fort Hood has enough victims already, Wajahat Ali, Comment is Free (The Guardian), November 6, 2009
The pitfalls of filming Muhammad, Shahed Amanullah, The Guardian, Comment is Free, November 4, 2009.
Children of Dust (published by HarperOne, an imprint of HarperCollins), the first book by longtime altmuslim.com contributor Ali Eteraz, is released in the US, Canada, and the UK on October 13, 2009.
Shahed will be attending the m100 Sansoucci Colloquium in Potsdam, Germany, September 14-16, 2009. He will be moderating a panel discussion on the Danish cartoon crisis with Denis MacShane MP, Jasim Al-Azzawi (Al Jazeera English), and Flemming Rose (Jyllands Posten).
Associate Editor Wajahat Ali's play "The Domestic Crusaders" is having its premiere at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe in New York City, NY, September 11, 2009. The play will continue through Sunday, October 11, 2009.
Shahed will be moderating or participating in three panel discussions at the Islamic Society of North America's annual convention, including Muslim Journalists: The View from the Inside, Supporting Social Entrepreneurs and Civic Leaders, and Blogistan: Muslim Americans on the Web in Washington, DC, July 3-6, 2009.
State-sponsored Sufism, Ali Eteraz, Foreign Policy, June 10, 2009.
|
|
Media appearances and analysis featuring altmuslim editors
Helping U.S. reach out to young Muslims worldwide - Soon after Farah Pandith was named last year as the State Department's first special representative to Muslim communities, she sat down with the editor of an independent Muslim website for her first official interview. Altmuslim.com, a forum for opinion and analysis about current issues facing Muslims, was a fitting choice. Pandith has said a strong focus of her work is to reach out to younger Muslims around the world, often those most likely to use the Internet for news and networking. (June 5, 2010)
Censorship is in the ascendant - Zahed Amanullah, associate editor of altmuslim.com, has argued in a national newspaper blog that, since the warning came from an unrepresentative group, the media interest was not justified. As for events of the past – the fatwa on Salman Rushdie, the Danish cartoons, the murder of van Gogh – they were "three incidents over a 20-year period from amongst 1.6 billion people. These things do happen. But we all need a bit of perspective." (April 30, 2010)
Muslims say new security rules unfair, ineffective - ''Muslims are doing their duty. Muslim parents are being attentive. It's the TSA that's not being attentive. It's the TSA that's not doing its duty," said Shahed Amanullah, an editor at the Web site altmuslim.com. "There's nothing more that Muslims can do than turn in their own families." (January 7, 2010)
US Muslims & media… Lost love - "We have a big problem; it’s that other people are shaping the story about us," Shahed Amanullah, editor-in-chief of altmuslim.com, told IslamOnline.net. (December 16, 2009)
Moves to Seize Mosques Spark Outrage - "I'm extremely skeptical that the link between these mosques and this organization is so strong as to merit the seizing of a considerable amount of assets that do a lot of good for the Muslim community," says Shahed Amanullah, a prominent Muslim blogger based in Austin. "The government better be prepared to make a very good case, because this is unprecedented." (November 17, 2009)
|
|
