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Today is May 16, 2008 | 11 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)

CONTENT PARTNERS
Islamica Magazine

Beliefnet

Q-News

Illume Media

The American Muslim
Book "Still Moments"
Moments of clarity
“If tyranny and oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.” These words of James Madison, who served as US President from 1809-17, would now seem almost prophetic. If you were to believe your average columnist from the New York Post, America is at war with a foreign enemy represented domestically by millions of Americans who have some link to Islam. You would also read all kinds of justifications for American lawmakers to curb civil rights of some with a view to protecting the freedoms of others. The rhetoric is well-known to us all. Muslims flew two planes into the World Trade Centre in September 2001. Muslims blew themselves up and killed over 50 people in London in July 2005. Muslims are threatening terrorist attacks to disturb the 2008 Beijing Olympics. (No comments)
zabihah.com

LATEST IN REVIEWS

Movie "The Visitor"
“I’ve got to put this character in a movie”
altmuslim's Wajahat Ali interviews director Tom McCarthy and actor Richard Jenkins to find out how they balanced themes from East and West in "The Visitor". (No comments)

Movie "Stop Loss"
Men do cry
Movies like "Stop-Loss," although not perfect by any means, can at least show a society that indeed boys - and even men - do cry, especially those serving our nation in Iraq. (2 comments)

Movie "Rendition"
Nothing ordinary about “Rendition”
A new movie about the controversial practice of "extraordinary rendition" may be more educational than entertaining, but that doesn't make it any less important (5 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)

Musical Composition "The Beautiful Names"
A sacred triumph
Composed by a famous convert to Orthodox Christianity, inspired by a Sufi sage, and performed in a Roman Catholic cathedral, The Beautiful Names is a powerful plea for tolerance. (61 comments)

Sitcom "Aliens in America"
Mad about “Aliens”
Following the lead of Canada's Muslim-themed sitcom Little Mosque on the Prairie, Aliens in America stumbles awkwardly, but amusingly, to America's screens. (2 comments)

Movie "A Mighty Heart"
A nuanced, but fragile “Heart”
"A Mighty Heart," the new film by director Michael Winterbottom starring Angelina Jolie as Marianne Pearl, is well made and well acted, but ultimately unsatisfying. (5 comments)

Book "Zaatar Days, Henna Nights"
The language of the sky
Compelled to explore her Islamic roots, Seattle author Maliha Masood embarked upon a year-long overland trek through the Arab world. Her adventures are chronicled in the new book "Zaatar Days, Henna Nights". Here is an excerpt. (No comments)

Documentary "America at a Crossroads"
Against all fundamentalisms
Choosing those Muslims that look most Western - and thus least threatening - while reviling others as Islamofascist, is a prejudiced and misguided stance (26 comments)

Exhibit "The Legacy of Timbuktu"
Unearthing the lost literary heritage of West Africa
The Legacy of Timbuktu: Wonders of the Written Word breaks multiple stereotypes and introduces the visitors to an Islamic African society known for its tolerance, justice and emphasis on God-consciousness and education. (10 comments)

Visual Artists Mohammed Ali and Asma Shikoh
An edgy take on Islamic art hits the galleries
The fusion of Islamic identity and Western citizenry in the art of Mohammed Ali and Asma Shikoh is the newest example of Islamic art reaching the mainstream. (4 comments)

Movie "300"
How I went to see a war and a Fox News editorial broke out
Is the new movie "300" a thinly-veiled proxy for justifying aggressive policies towards the Muslim world? Or is it more complex than that? (32 comments)

Sitcom "Little Mosque on the Prairie"
Can “Little Mosque” live up to the hype?
"Little Mosque on the Prairie", a Canadian sitcom by talented filmmaker Zarqa Nawaz, launched this week in the midst of a media circus. Does the show live up to the hype? (3 comments)

Musician Ahmad Dhani
Warrior of love
Ahmad Dhani, who fronts the popular Indonesian band Dewa 19, is one of several Indonesians taking on the rise of extremism and terrorism through their art. (1 comment)

Musician Yoriyos
So, Mr. Islam has a new album out…
The real surprise this month is not a new record by a musically rejuvenated Yusuf Islam, but one by the son who inspired him to play guitar again. Meet Yoriyos. (3 comments)

Documentary "Murder in Amsterdam"
Dutch dilemmas
"Murder in Amsterdam" is a thought-provoking account of the assassination of Theo Van Gogh that makes readers question politically tainted Enlightenment values. (9 comments)

Movie "Death of a President"
Be careful what you wish for
While controversy simmers around a fictional assassination of President George Bush, the new movie "Death of a President" is really more about the system surrounding the man. (1 comment)

Movie "Man Push Cart"
Life, class, and art
Ramin Bahrani deserves credit not only for creating a film that implores us to ask important questions but also reminds us of why it is so easy to ignore them. (1 comment)

Novel "The Terrorist"
John Updike: Quranic exegete?
The latest book from John Updike (and statements he has made) provokes a question: Exactly how is the message of the Quran interpreted by those educated in the West? (2 comments)

Documentary "Islam: What the West needs to know"
A Pythonesque view of reality
Zahir Janmohamed tells you what you need to know about a new documentary that purports to, well, tell you what you need to know about Islam. (9 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)

Film "Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World"
Look for comedy elsewhere
As offensive and racist as Brooks' humor often is, the most offensive part of his film is that it fails to deliver what it searches for: comedy. (7 comments)

TV Drama "Sleeper Cell"
Sleeping cell
Perhaps if we know our enemy, we will know ourselves and become the "good Muslim" and the "good American." Too bad most of us are sleeping. (1 comment)

Book "Living Islam out Loud"
A diversity of feminism
I yearned to land a book where women enunciated their life with such insight that even those deaf to feminism could hear it. It has come from the most unlikely place. (5 comments)

Book "Blindness"
Chronicling an epidemic of blindness
Jose Saramago's "Blindness" makes use of the allegory of God, the All-Seeing, guiding people to what they cannot see. (No comments)

Conferences
A review of the “Conference on Spiritual Activism”
We have to ask our corporations, institutions, and churches if they are actually expressing and supporting kindness, generosity, truth, and life. (No comments)

TV Drama "Sleeper Cell"
TV series aims for balanced portrayal
Another show about Muslim terrorists living among us? Perhaps, but inside word about the Showtime series "Sleeper Cell" is that is isn't as bad as it looks. (3 comments)

Film "Crash"
From wisdom comes collisions
I cannot promise that the movie "Crash" will move everyone. But it will, at the least, provide a mirror to examine our own prejudices. (No comments)

Movie "Kingdom of Heaven"
One Muslim’s perspective of “Kingdom Of Heaven”
If Ridley Scott's movie "Kingdom of Heaven" stimulates Americans' intellect then it is worth the price of a few ruffled feathers. (2 comments)

Film "Baghdad Blogger"
The “Baghdad Blogger” makes an unsteady leap to film
What made Pax's blog powerful was his humor, clarity and remarkable emotional restraint. His film, however, lacks these qualities. (1 comment)

Book "Standing Alone in Mecca"
Fighting second-class status
Ms. Nomani's methods may not be the least intrusive means of dealing with these problems, but they certainly are very promising. (6 comments)

Movie "The Hamburg Cell"
Buying into HBO’s hard “Cell”
A controversial new film portraying the events leading to the September 11th attacks finds its way into American living rooms and shows Muslims and non-Muslims what they may not want to see. (7 comments)

Calligrapher Mohamed Zakariya
Writing The Sublime
Mohamed Zakariya, a self-taught expert in Islamic calligraphy, is using his work to bridge gaps between Americans of different faiths. (No comments)

Exhibit "Homeland"
Homeland Security meets “Homeland”
Contributing editor Naeem Mohaeimen reviews "Homeland", a New York art exhibition featuring "double-barreled political art with no holds barred." (No comments)

Movie "Kandahar"
Darkness at noon
Covering Afghanistan's grim reality with documentary realism, Mohsen Makhmalbaf's film "Kandahar" haunts us long after the film is over. (No comments)


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