Editors’ Note: This article is part of the  Public Square 2014 Summer Series: Conversations on Religious Trends. Read other perspectives from the Muslim community here.  Earlier this year, ISNA, a national Muslim umbrella group has identified addressing challenges to mosque inclusion and the promotion of remosquing as a major priority to tackle this year. A lack of adequate women’s spaces, convert care and youth inclusion are all reasons why people across the country are unmosquing and this organization has developed an institutional body to address... Read more

In the last few days, several people have put their two cents in about whether Muslims are condemning ISIS, why these condemnations aren’t reaching those who need to hear it, and what Muslims can do to reach the media. A tumblr page has been created documenting instances of Muslims condemning things. This question, “Why don’t Muslims condemn terrorism,” is one that nearly single Muslim leader, activist, public intellectual, interfaith speaker, has had to answer multiple times, especially since 9/11. This... Read more

Even though I’m Unmosqued*, Ramadan is the time of year when I wholeheartedly immerse myself in a constant Muslim community. Sometimes, that community is not mosque-based, like when I experienced Ramadan and Eid with Chicago’s convert community 2 years ago. But typically, I will visit the same mosque every night for Taraweeh, the extra prayers that Sunni Muslims offer in community every night during Ramadan. I will get to know the women who pray near me, we will bring each... Read more

Unique among Western and industrialized nations, the US boasts a high rate of people who say they believe in God. Not all of these people regularly go to church, synagogue , mosque or temple, but over 90% of adult Americans say they believe in a Divine Being. The US is the most religiously diverse country in the world and the most religiously devout country in the West. I believe that this is because religion has remained in the realm of... Read more

This week has seen an uptick in activism – social and on the ground – and awareness raising of the situation of nearly 300 school girls who were abducted by the Nigerian terrorist group Boko Haram last month. Protests have been planned in capitols around the world, a hashtag campaign #BringOurGirlsBack has trended on Twitter, and I’m beginning to see articles and photos in the mainstream press depicting the nature of this tragedy (though some of the framing has been... Read more

I came across this article (2012) which is about the salaries American imams receive as compared to their Jewish and Christian counterparts and read it with eyes that had recently watched the new documentary Unmosqued*. The film dives into the deeply discomforting question of why Millennials, Generation Xers, converts and women seem to be giving up on American mosques, and the third spaces they are creating in the absence of regularly attending mosques. I will write a more detailed review... Read more

Last week, an anonymous British Muslim group, The Honesty Policy, released a video of diverse Muslims in London clapping, dancing, shimmying, laughing and smiling in their own version of Pharrell’s viral hit, Happy. Unsurprisingly, there was a social media backlash to the video (which has since reached more than a million views on YouTube and garnered much mainstream media attention) among some sectors of the Muslim community. My colleague Dilshad Ali, who authors Patheos’s The Muslimah Next Door, wrote about... Read more

Early last week, the mosque down the street from my house was shot at by persons unknown during early morning prayers. Approximately 40 worshipers were in attendance, and thankfully none of them were hurt during the attack. I’ve written before about local resistance to the building of this mosque. In 2004, a series of contentious town hall hearings reflected the post-9/11 trend of local communities trying to block the building of new mosques in residential areas. However, years later, the... Read more

The Muslim social media world is abuzz this week about a certain British religious teacher’s deeply misogynistic “jokes” about International Women’s Day, his morally repugnant responses to the people who took offense to his attempt at humor and his organization’s decision to close ranks and support their employee. Intrigued? Don’t know what I’m talking about? Read on! I round up this week’s news and views in a series of Linksies, just for you. As far as I can tell, Dr.... Read more

One night during my freshman year of college, a friend of mine and I were discussing the bitter breakup of Prince Charles’ and Princess Diana’s marriage. My memory is hazy as to the beginnings of this conversation, but I clearly remember confidently saying to her that religious Muslim men would never hit their wives. Before I could go on on, she cut me off by saying, “My father is religious and he used to beat my mother.” My comment to... Read more