I was asked to share my thoughts for a Huffington Post Religion piece that came out this week, on the diverse spiritualities of African Americans. It’s an engaging piece and I was honored to share my thoughts for it. I identify as black, African and American, so I don’t feel completely out of place sharing my perspectives. However. While America’s diverse black Muslim voices are equally authentic and immigrant-origin black Muslims share experiences of racism and prejudice with our African... Read more

This week, those of you on Twitter may have noticed your Muslim friends using the hashtag #BeingBlackAndMuslim to describe their experiences – both beautiful and sad – of being, well, black and Muslim (here’s a great Storify that sums up the conversation). This online discussion is part of a larger conversation catalyzed by Muslim ARC, the Muslim Anti-racism Collaborative which was publicly launched this week. I’ve often said that the three largest challenges facing American Muslim communities are misogyny, racism... Read more

In my entire life, I have never watched an American football game (my friends make fun of me when I say that, but, really, it’s the best way to differentiate it from the football that is played using one’s foot and with an actual ball: Fútbol. “Olé!), nor have I ever participated in the national religious ritual known as Watching The Superbowl. My American football references are limited to what I learned from watching Friday Night Lights, the excellent documentary... Read more

In 2013, the photo blog I curate on women’s prayer spaces in mosques around the world, Side Entrance, reached thousands of people and helped to spark a dynamic online and off-line conversation about the spaces Muslim women occupy in our mosques in particular and in our communities in general. Here are 13 of the most talked about photos, videos and quotes from the year: 13. Duke University prayer room where women and men pray in the same space, with no... Read more

By now, the Muslim blogosphere has erupted with congratulations and condemnations, excitement and judgement, mud slinging and intellectualizing, over a stylized and unnarrated 2 and a half minutes video set to Jay-Z’s “Only in America.” The clip portrays 12 American Muslim women in fashionable clothing, taking selfies, skateboarding, fencing and strutting around America’s urban jungles like the fierce fabuladies they are. The women are journalists, entrepreneurs and athletes and seemingly ethnically diverse. They don’t speak in the video, but let... Read more

Last month I had the pleasure of moderating a panel discussion among Haroon Moghul, Wajahat Ali and Imam William Suhaib Webb – who are, in my estimation, three of America’s most engaging Muslim public intellectuals. The panel, which was hosted by Northwestern University’s Muslim Students Cultural Association, asked each of the speakers to address the question, “Does Religion Still Matter?” to a full house. Though there was some [valid, in my opinion] critique of having an all-male panel, composed of... Read more

Those of us who find ourselves living at the intersection of race and popular culture have long known that diverse audiences are eager to consume diversity in media and the arts. The massive popularity of ABC’s hit show Scandal can be measured not only by Nielsen ratings, but also by how it dominates Twitter, with fans, actors, and the show’s writers live-tweeting the action every Thursday night. Central character Olivia Pope is portrayed by African American actress Kerry Washington as... Read more

I recently participated in an interfaith panel with some of Chicago’s most distinguished religious leaders. We discussed the local context of religious diversity in America, especially as it relates to fighting crime and strengthening communities. Our audience was a small group of visiting Germans: a couple of law enforcement types, three Muslim leaders, and a couple of interfaith/intercultural folks. At the end of the conversation, one of the German cops said that when he’d seen the title of our discussion... Read more