February 12, 2012
Global perspectives on Muslim life, politics & culture
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Created in 2001, altmuslim has been a crucial introspective voice that promotes critical (and self-critical) analysis and commentary on issues regarding the Muslim world. The name is inspired by the “alt.muslim” Usenet newsgroups from the early days of the Internet, where freewheeling online discussions about the Muslim world were born. In 2012, altmuslim joined Patheos, becoming a part of the Patheos Muslim Portal, which is a destination hub for news, blogs, analysis, features, and commentary concerning Muslims, Islam, and Muslims as part of the American and global dynamic.
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Dilshad D. Ali, the managing editor of the Muslim Portal at Patheos, serves as the editor-in-chief of altmuslim at Patheos. For submissions to altmuslim at Patheos, please email her at muslimportal@patheos.com.
Submissions
Dilshad D. Ali, the managing editor of the Muslim Portal at Patheos, serves as the editor-in-chief of altmuslim at Patheos. For submissions to altmuslim at Patheos, please email her at muslimportal@patheos.com.
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: A Moment That Defines An Identity
I lost my appetite after 9/11, which made fasting for Ramadan easier than usual. Waking up to eat my predawn breakfast was easy, too, because I couldn’t sleep well.
The numbers 9 and 11, on their own, don’t mean anything. When I was little, I took pride in numbers. I knew Arab Muslims invented them (hence the term “Arabic numerals”). So-called Muslims changed the numbers 9 and 11 forever by killing 3,000 innocent people — an act of suicide and murder so clearly against Islam and in defiance of the liberating spirit of Islam that guided their ancestors to invent numbers.
The Koran says that killing a person not out of self-defense or in retaliation for a military attack is tantamount to killing all humankind (5:32). The sadness caused by the murder of the victims did kill a part of our humanity. The Koran also says that saving a life is equivalent to saving all of humankind. After 9/11, all the people who reached out to me to learn more about Islam saved my life. I hope, in some small way, I saved theirs. In this war on terror, I am fighting not just for my country but for my faith, too.
Asma Gull Hasan is the author of “Why I Am a Muslim” (HarperCollins Thorsons/Element 2004) and “American Muslims: The New Generation” (Continuum 2000).