Being Muslim in America

Letter to Malaysia-Today by Tricia Yeoh, Centre for Public Policy StudiesThe Centre for Public Policy Studies views with concern the recent majority decision of the Court of Appeal in Subashini v Saravanan where the Courts effectively required a non-Muslim to submit to the jurisdiction of the Syariah Court to have the theological laws of Islam applied to her in order to remedy unconstitutional orders from the Syariah courts in respect of their non Muslim marriage. In this ruling, the majority...Read Full Story

I live in Harlem and I have faced many Muslim corner-store and liquor-store owners - many of them from Yemen - about selling alcohol in the community. The excuses that I have heard are weak and unacceptable for a Muslim, excuses like: “The Yemeni Business Committee allows the selling of alcohol to non-Muslims…” I’m not sure how true this is, but I doubt there is any validity to these claims at all. Its frustrating because my neighborhood has a small number of Muslims (West Africans, African...Read Full Story

I was born in Michigan and it is true, there is a very large presence of Muslims living in Michigan, it is very beautiful to see such a clear shift from the ethnic norm emerge nearly out of nowhere. To be immersed into a cultural collage of non-domestic origins is truly beautiful, in my opinion. While looking up some things concerning my birthplace Michigan, I found an NPR article suggesting that there has been an influx of “vandalism” in the Muslim majority city of Dearborn, MI: “In...Read Full Story

Man, America’s bigotry towards Islam is crazy. Rachael Ray, the less sexy version of Oprah, had her Dunkin’ Donuts commercial yanked for wearing a traditional Arab scarf. A serious presidential candidate (Republican Herman Cain, aka Clayton Bigsby) said he would not appoint a Muslim to his cabinet unless he or she takes a loyalty oath. Anti-First Amendment people in 26 states have sued to stop mosques from being built in OUR communities. The term “Muslim” itself has been used to slur...Read Full Story

Image of Islam given more weight than reality of deeds committedIslamophobia Legislation: Who'll protect us from the protected? The International Islamophobia Conference of Muslim "thinkers and scientists," meeting in Istanbul to fight misperceptions about and injustices against their benevolent "religion of peace," ended Sunday. Declaring Islamophobia a "crime, just like anti-semitism," their closing statement called for immediate national and international legislation to protect its victims...Read Full Story