Tikkun and Imam Zaid Shakir

June 22nd, 2009 by Luke

Imam Zaid Shakir is amongst the most respected and influential Islamic scholars in the West. As an American Muslim who came of age during the civil rights struggles, he has brought both sensitivity about race and poverty issues and scholarly discipline to his faith-based work. His article in the current Tikkun, “Obsessed with Defamation and Slander,” rebuts the charges of “Islamofascism” made by the widely disseminated “Obsession” DVD and in much commentary about Islam as a whole.
Imam Shakir is scholar-in-residence and lecturer at Zaytuna Institute, where he teaches courses on Arabic, Islamic law, history, and Islamic spirituality. His essays have been collected in Scattered Pictures (Zaytuna Institute 2005). For more information see his own website. More »

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Mpls artist illustrates new book on extraordinary Muslim women

April 18th, 2009 by Luke


Minneapolis artist Heba Amin was recently featured in a Star Tribune article about her work illustrating a book on female Muslim heroes (some of her illustrations are above). Amin says, “I’m very aware of cultural stereotypes. The image of Muslim women in the United States is of veiled, oppressed people who have no voice. But in fact, Muslim women have a long history of remarkable achievements.” A little-known but very true fact.

The book, “Extraordinary Women from the Muslim World,” was awarded a National Best Books 2008 Award and a Moonbeam Peacemaker Award. More info on the book can be found here.

On a (kind of) related note, EngageMN.com recently published an article on Muslim feminism and Muslim women in Minnesota: “For Muslim Women in Minnesota, Complex Identities”.

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