By Mona Eltahawy Common Ground News Service Sept. 14, 2010 New York – I have developed an overwhelming urge to tell everyone I meet I’m a Muslim. As a Muslim woman who doesn’t wear a headscarf, I’m often mistaken for a Latina and other ethnicities that my features match. But as anti-Muslim sentiment has risen [...]

Every day during Ramadan, I shared a book from my shelves which has influences me and helped me on my journey towards a better understanding of Islam and faith. Here are the recommendations compiled into one list: Day 1 recommendation: “Islam and the Secular State: Negotiating the Future of Shari’a” by Abdullahi An-Nai’m. The Quran [...]

By Mona Eltahawy IslamComment Sept. 13, 2010 I’m a big fan of offense. It was offense that drew me to Park51, the proposed Islamic community centre and mosque in Lower Manhattan, two blocks from Ground Zero. But not for the reasons you think. For once, Muslims are not the ones offended but the ones being [...]

By Mona Eltahawy Toronto Star Sept. 10, 2010 Offence drew me to Park51, the proposed Islamic community centre and mosque in Lower Manhattan, two blocks from Ground Zero. But not for the reasons you think. For once, Muslims are not the ones offended but the ones being accused of offence by choosing to build Park51 [...]

Common Ground News Service Sept. 7, 2010 I live in Harlem on a street that is home to three churches and a mosque. The mosque is next door to one of those churches and when male congregants mingle on the sidewalk, it’s impossible to tell who had just been in church and who in the [...]

The Jerusalem Report September 13, 2010 When the planes flew into the World Trade Center in New York on September 11, 2001, I was living in Seattle, on the other side of America. My brother and his wife were visiting me. We did not leave the house for two days because we were worried that [...]