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Interview on NPR on Riyaaz Qawwali

I was recently interviewed on NPR about Riyaaz Qawwali, a group out of Austin, TX. Hussein Rashid, a professor of religion at Hofstra University, says that many qawwaliartists working in South Asia today have limited themselves. He believes this American group is bringing the music back to its roots.  “You know, I think there’s been so much concern about what is Islam, and what isn’t, politically speaking and artistically speaking,” Rashid says, “that there’s been a push in modern qawwali to actually sanitize it and make it very sterile — and almost rule-bound — rather than ecstatic and devotional. For me, I think…

Question on Tikkun Olam

What is the Muslim equivalent? I know we have one, it’s embedded in our conception of khalifa. But do we have something as pithy? I ask, because now must repair. Now we must heal. The world is un-wrought, it is distraught, it is with anger fraught.

Islamophobia is Real, Mr. Mayor—A New York City Muslim Explains | Religion Dispatches

Islamophobia is Real, Mr. Mayor—A New York City Muslim Explains | Religion Dispatches. In fact, one of the amazing elements of Islamophobia is the denial of its own existence—as Nathan Lean explains. In his article, Lean also offers several examples of the impact Islamophobia has had on the lives of Americans; Wajahat Ali has written about the fear and death that an Islamophobic environment sanctions; Erik Love gives us sociological background on the impact of Islamophobia. I want to offer a reflection of what a New York Muslim sees and hears as Islamophobia becomes so normalized that it becomes an institution.