Response to Fareed Zakaria

A Muslim Community, Tarred Again | Racialicious – the intersection of race and pop culture. But even as I rose through the ranks of Washington, DC, I continued to face constant scrutiny over my faith. When I interviewed at a human-rights organization, I was asked more than once if I am willing to condemn suicide bombing and if I am comfortable supporting gay marriage. I told the interviewer that no self-respecting human rights advocate supports suicide bombing and opposes gay marriage. The answer did not suffice. To get the job, I had to spell it out: I am against suicide…

Ta-Nehisi Coates has a piece at The Atlantic that got me thinking. For a white person to vote for Obama is racist. The one drop rule means that they are voting along racial lines. Normally I like Coates’ writing, and I agree with his general sentiment. However, it still seems like we are stuck in the same mode of racial thinking. Obama has one white parent and one black parent. Why is he still considered black? I know there is an element of self-identification involved, but as a society, we treat him as black because of the one-drop rule. Black…

100 Questions About Islam on Vimeo. Current debates about integration, religious freedom and cultural diversity highlight growing levels of tensions between Muslim and non-Muslim communities in the US and Europe—most of which are founded on a lack of information.   For that reason, we have set out to provide a range of answers to questions at the heart of relations between Muslims and non-Muslims today. For example, what is Sharia law? What is the role of religion in the public space? And how have the Arab Spring revolutions begun to change that? What values do Muslim and non-Muslims share? Are we…