More on Saudi gender Oxymorons

Next Time You Are in … Cairo – TIME. A walk down the main thoroughfare of Darb al-Ahmar is a fascinating, raucous look at daily life in the Egyptian capital: you get honked aside by trucks and motorcycles, sideswiped by donkey carts and greeted enthusiastically by children. The area is home to the poorest population in the city, but these days many of its once decrepit mosques and palaces, from the Fatamid to the Ottoman eras, are being restored under the auspices of the Aga Khan Development Network’s (AKDN) Historic Cities project.

The Philadelphia Weekly has a good long piece on being Muslim in non-Muslim societies. While short, I think the author outlines some of the key issues facing Muslim immigrants and why they might turn to a hateful understanding of Islam. Technorati Tags: Islam in the West

On Religion – Muslim Prayer Room Was Part of Life at Twin Towers – NYTimes.com. On any given day, Mr. Abdus-Salaam’s companions in the prayer room might include financial analysts, carpenters, receptionists, secretaries and ironworkers. There were American natives, immigrants who had earned citizenship, visitors conducting international business — the whole Muslim spectrum of nationality and race.  Leaping down the stairs on Sept. 11, 2001, when he had been installing ceiling speakers for a reinsurance company on the 49th floor, Mr. Abdus-Salaam had a brief, panicked thought. He didn’t see any of the Muslims he recognized from the prayer room.…