Updates from shahed RSS

  • shahed 8:58 am on February 20, 2010 | 0 Permalink | Reply
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    This article by the AP’s Rachel Zoll is based on demographic data from my salatomatic.com site. Now that it has been online for five years, we’ve gathered enough data points on US/Canada/UK mosques to do some interesting analyses and hope to put out a comprehensive report soon.

    Here’s a teaser:

    15% of US mosques do not allow women to serve on their boards. In Canada, this jumps to 20%. In the UK, it is 24%. (Data copyright 2010 Halalfire Media)

    This information is reported to us either by the mosques themselves or by people who attend them. Interesting in that I believe an official stance like this is illegal in all these countries.

     
  • shahed 11:30 pm on November 27, 2009 | 1 Permalink | Reply
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    And with 100% of precincts reporting, the voters have spoken.

     
  • shahed 8:14 pm on November 5, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
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    Fort Hood is only an hour from us here in Austin. Local Muslims have already spoken to the media. We are also reaching out to Muslims in Killeen (the town that borders Fort Hood) to offer assistance.

     
  • shahed 7:48 am on November 4, 2009 | 2 Permalink | Reply
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    My latest op-ed regarding the planned biopic of the Prophet is up over at the Guardian.

     
  • shahed 5:17 am on October 1, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: investments

    The AMANA Income Fund has come out on top in a field of over 12,000 funds:

    “As part of our quarterly fund review, TheStreet.com Ratings ranked and awarded letter grades to 12,290 open-end stock mutual funds. Of those, 3,607 earned the equivalent of a buy rating with letter grades of B- or better. Once multiple share classes are eliminated, the number of buy-rated funds drops to 969 unique funds. Only 55 of these funds have maintained a buy rating of B- or better for the last two years by outperforming 70% of the universe of open-end stock mutual funds we rate. Only one primary share class fund, the Amana Income Fund (AMANX Quote) has not dropped below a rating of A- for the past two years.”

    The AMANA income fund is run by Monem Salam (who is featured in the documentary “On a Wing and a Prayer“) and is the leading shariah-compliant fund in the US.

     
  • shahed 9:27 pm on August 26, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , katrina

    Our interview with the Zeitoun family, profiled in Dave Eggers’ new book Zeitoun, is up at altmuslim.

     
  • shahed 9:31 pm on July 8, 2009 | 6 Permalink | Reply
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    My interview with Farah Pandith, State Department representative to Muslim communities worldwide, is up at altmuslim.com.

     
  • shahed 7:01 am on June 19, 2009 | 1 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: documentary music culture

    My interview with the maker of the upcoming PBS documentary “New Muslim Cool” (June 23rd on your PBS station, check local listings) is up at altmuslim.

     
  • shahed 8:47 pm on June 9, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: AMCLI, , , non-profit

    Nominations are being accepted for the second class of the American Muslim Civic Leadership Institute designed to provide training to American Muslim community service leaders who are under 40. The program consists of three 4-day retreats with training seminars and leadership skills workshops. I was part of the first class last year, and I highly recommend it for helping Muslim leaders become more effective and networked. Nominations must be in by July 17th. Contact me if you have any questions.

     
  • shahed 6:32 pm on June 7, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , iphone,

    After weeks of late night programming, I’m proud to announce the release of zabihah for iPhone, which lets you search from 10,000 halal restaurants and mosques directly from your iPhone. Now available on the iPhone App Store!

    (End shameless plug.)

     
  • shahed 7:23 pm on June 1, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , inaccessible content,

    An article I authored (“Technology and the Hajj”) appears in the latest issue of the Georgetown Journal of International Affairs, published by Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service. (Unfortunately, it is not available online – you’ll have to buy a copy.)

     
  • shahed 6:42 am on May 4, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
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    My interview with Reza Aslan is up at altmuslim.com.

     
  • shahed 9:20 am on April 29, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
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    In this article in the Tennessean, I talk about the growth of Halal food beyond just the Muslim market:

    “I don’t think that the people using our site are exclusively Muslim,” Amanullah said. “We know that food is a great cultural exchange medium. It’s the way that a lot of people feel comfortable experiencing something that is not their own.

     
  • shahed 7:24 am on April 10, 2009 | 5 Permalink | Reply
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    Here’s an article about Islam being “insulted” by a mugshot (sans headscarf) of a woman arrested in Illinois. Muslim organizations (save for CAIR) were reluctant to comment, probably because the woman is accused of beating her 2-year old niece to death while in her care. (Nobody seems to want to comment on that aspect, either.)

     
  • shahed 9:08 pm on March 8, 2009 | 4 Permalink | Reply
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    I’m happy to announce, in what remains of International Women’s Day, the launch of Altmuslimah the sister (pun not intended – or was it?) site of altmuslim.com. The tagline is “both sides of the gender divide”, and we’re looking forward to your contributions…

     
  • shahed 12:24 pm on March 5, 2009 | 1 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , , podcast

    The latest altmuslim podcast is out, and many apologies for the tardiness. It covers the election aftermath and has some interviews with Muslims who worked on the Obama campaign.

     
  • shahed 1:56 pm on February 13, 2009 | 18 Permalink
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    Anti-dawah: Muzammil Hassan founded Bridges TV in 2004 to help improve the image of Islam and Muslims. It is a noble effort, but it represents years of well-intentioned work that will likely be overshadowed by his arrest yesterday on suspicion of beheading his estranged wife.

     
  • shahed 5:57 pm on February 9, 2009 | 2 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , journal deadline,

    How has technology affected the hajj, for better or worse? I’m working on a paper that explores the good and bad of the impact of technology – from mobile phones to buying cheap airfare online. Would love some of your thoughts on the matter.

     
  • shahed 5:32 pm on February 9, 2009 | 0 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: , oops

    Self-described reformed extremist Hassan Butt has admitted to fabricating his history. “At no point have I ever been training, have I ever been a jihadi,” he said, adding that he told stories (and made money) saying what “the media wanted to hear”.

     
  • shahed 9:19 am on December 27, 2008 | 0 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: democrat, , republican

    I’m speaking this morning (sorry for the late notice) at the Texas Dawah Convention in Houston, as part of a friendly debate on whether Muslims should ally themselves w/the American political left or right.

     
  • shahed 7:42 am on December 25, 2008 | 0 Permalink | Reply

    Merry Muslim Christmas, everyone!

     
  • shahed 6:05 pm on December 24, 2008 | 0 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: melissa etheridge, ,

    Dr. Rick Warren’s keynote address at the 8th Annual MPAC Convention. Also, Melissa Etheridge’s recount of breaking bread with Pastor Warren at the MPAC conference.

     
  • shahed 7:42 am on December 1, 2008 | 4 Permalink | Reply
    Tags: apple,

    Check this out – in this episode, The Simpsons take on perceptions of a much-maligned religious minority often perceived as being fanatics out to dominate the world. (They also talk about Muslims.)

     
  • shahed 3:05 am on November 30, 2008 | 0 Permalink | Reply
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    Our apologies for being late, but the polls for the fifth annual Brass Crescent Awards honoring the best of the Muslim blogosphere are now open.

     
  • shahed 7:27 am on November 21, 2008 | 13 Permalink | Reply
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    After years (decades?) of being an urban legend, it’s finally true. Michael Jackson has apparently converted to Islam, in the presence of Dawud Wharsnby, Yusuf Islam, and Idris Phillips.

     
  • shahed 9:48 am on October 30, 2008 | 0 Permalink | Reply
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    I’ll be speaking on Friday, November 7 at the Center for American Progress in Washington, DC, on a panel entitled Red Faith/Blue Faith? Religion in the 2008 Election and Beyond. Seeing that it will be just after the election, I will have the luxury of hindsight, so don’t expect anything particularly insightful :-)

     
  • shahed 12:06 pm on October 13, 2008 | 0 Permalink | Reply
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    Here’s an article about the “Sourcing Islam” panel at the Religion Newswriters Association conference last month in Washington (speakers included myself, Dalia Mogahed, and Paul Barrett). Towards the end of the piece is an interesting debate about sourcing articles through Muslim organizations like CAIR (as opposed to sourcing through average Muslims). Would like to hear other thoughts on this.

     
  • shahed 2:27 pm on September 27, 2008 | 0 Permalink | Reply
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    For you Brits: I will be a guest on BBC Religion and Ethics Sunday tomorrow morning, talking about (what else?) the Jewel of Medina controversy, which has been covered to death here on TalkIslam.

     
  • shahed 5:26 am on September 22, 2008 | 3 Permalink | Reply
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    Our interview with Gov. Howard Dean is up at altmuslim. (There’s another five great interviews lined up for the next two weeks.)

     
  • shahed 11:46 pm on September 14, 2008 | 0 Permalink | Reply
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    Andrea and I will be speaking at the Religion Newswriters Association conference this weekend in Washington, DC. I’ll be on a panel called “Sourcing Islam”, where I’ll talk about how to report on the Muslim American community, and Andrea will follow that up with “Boggled by Blogging?”, where she will be talking about her experiences with religion blogging through religionwriter.com.

     
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