The past year has definitely been a whirlwind journey and so much has changed for me personally and professionally. These changes have clearly influenced my writing, or rather lack of writing over the past 5 months. I’ve spent a lot of time adjusting to a the culture of an East Coast city, for the most part making quiet observations about the benefits and downsides of living in a city where Islam is so normalized. I came out of an intellectual milieu in the Bay Area, as a graduate student and a product of a well organized community center. I also developed as a Muslim in the shadows of Zaytuna, especially considering that I have followed the Maliki school of law ever since I took a woman’s fiqh class taught by Hamza Yusuf in 1997. For a muslimah with my inclinations and leanings, Philadelphia proven to be especially barren in terms of intellectual and social opportunities. Being an outsider as I have been for a number of years makes me a bit more sensitive and more guarded.

After writing my scathing social commentary about expat communities in Kuwait, and my harsh critique about the few immigrant women who do not return salaams in Philadelphia, I decided to take a break from my social critiques. Many bloggers feel that they have said what they needed to say and that what issues that should have been brought to the fore has moved from backburner, others feel that we need to move away from solipsistic ramblings that we bloggers tend to indulge in. Just as my husband has noted that his blog is going in a new direction, I too have thought considerably about the future direction of my writings. Race, gender, and religion will still be important topics on my blog, however I am currently rethinking approaches that will be more beneficial for both my readers and myself. In the next couple months, I plan on doing a complete revamping of my blog. I can’t say that I’m not going anywhere, rather at this intersection of my life I’m going in some new directions. I hope you check in from time to time.

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Just some food for thought from Indonesia: Obama speaks to the Arabs, not the Muslim world

In raising the spectre of nuclear Iran, Obama committed the very sin which Americans have so jealously guarded against in public life: The infusion of religion into the body politic.

What does the issue of Iran’s nuclear program have to do with Islam?

Obama did the right thing in raising the plight of Palestinians, and his remarks will receive a heartfelt welcome. But the prism of pain by which Indonesia and others perceive the issue is not of Islamic solidarity but of decolonialization and injustice.

It is the same sympathy felt for people subjected around the world.

Obama did the right thing in raising the plight of Palestinians, and his remarks will receive a heartfelt welcome. But the prism of pain by which Indonesia and others perceive the issue is not of Islamic solidarity but of decolonialization and injustice.

Other scholars have noted that it is a bit offensive that people didn’t consider Obama’s speech in Turkey as an address to the Muslim world. That is ironic since modern day Turkey rose from the ashes of 5 centuries of the Ottoman empire, the world’s last Caliphate. So, just for a friendly reminder that the face of global Islam is far more divorce than people imagine it to be, I thought I’d share some stats from the Largest Muslim population centers:

1 Indonesia 182,570,000
2 Pakistan 134,480,000
3 India 121,000,000
4 Bangladesh 114,080,000
5 Turkey 65,510,000
6 Iran 62,430,000
7 Egypt 58,630,000
8 Nigeria 53,000,000
9 Algeria 30,530,000
10 Morocco 28,780,000

Indonesia alone represents 15% of the entire Muslim population. And this short list indicates that the face of global Islam has a lot of Asian features. Yet we do not look to Indonesia and Malaysia, as major Muslim centers, to understand the successes and challenges Muslims face in social and political life. Sadly, the reality is that Obama was addressing the imagination of many Muslims. Like this article indicates, many see Arab issues as Muslim issues, as opposed to the political struggles as largely secular issues. Our solutions to today’s problems, however, should be informed by and imbued with our religious ethics. At the same time, we often see Arab practices as normative Islamic practices. By doing so, we undermine our own agency in applying universal Islamic beliefs and practices in ways that address the cultural and social conditions in our own communities and societies. Insha’Allah more on that later.