Islam
Fired for a Painting
An instructor who showed an Islamic painting during a visual analysis was publicly impugned for hate speech and dismissed without due process. As a scholar specializing in representations of the Prophet Muhammad, it is my duty to share accurate information about the painting at the heart of the controversy.
Canary in the Coal Mine
Honest historians see two different impulses in the chronicles of the West. In one, the West respects what it considers to be “the Other.” But we also know of another side of the West, like the “Reconquista” of Al-Andalus, resulting in a Jewish- and Muslim-free Iberian peninsula.
Two 19th-Century Tales of Muslims and American Slavery
Western scholarly approaches tend to approach African and Islamic studies in separate lenses: “too Islamic” to be a legitimate subject of study for most anthropologists and Africanists, and “too African” to be of interest to Islamicists, thereby causing African-Muslim scholarly voices to fall through the cracks.
Frank Herbert, the Republican Salafist
Taking Frank Herbert’s ideology seriously offers a more precise, if uncomfortable, explanation of how he leaned conservative. It also exposes the American Right’s troublesome alignments with Islamic thought.
Ashure: A Sometimes Rich Pudding with an Always Rich History
As a kid who grew up in a mixed Alevi and Sunni neighborhood in Malatya, I listened to all the stories related to the meaning of the ashure pudding. Before then, I just assumed that the pudding was an Alevi-specific dessert.
The Eva Perón of Afghanistan
Standing next to the king was his wife, Queen Soraya Tarzi, who was to Amanullah what Khadijah was to the prophet. As her husband finished his speech, the queen smiled and looked at the king with pride and affection as she gently tore off her veil, sending shockwaves throughout Afghan society.
Women Warriors of the Early Muslim World
Hind marched with Quraysh to battle, then stormed the field with other women to mutilate the corpses of the Muslims, slashing off noses and ears and fashioning them into necklaces. It’s said that she gouged out the liver of Muhammad’s uncle Hamza and bit into it.