On Monday, Burmese President Thein Sein is due to visit the White House. The visit represents another milestone in recently burgeoning U.S.-Burma relations, and an opportunity to engage Thein Sein on the significance of respecting international human rights norms -- such as protecting its minority Muslim population's religious freedoms --...

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that." -- Martin Luther King, Jr.

Sometimes expressions of community manifest at unexpected yet necessary moments.

Illustrative is the American response to the recent proliferation of anti-Muslim hate advertisements on government...

The pervasive intolerance, discrimination and violence confronting American Muslims more than a decade after 9/11 hardly comes as a shock to anyone these days.

In fact, according to a 2011 Gallup Research Study, approximately one-half of nationally representative samples of Mormons, Protestants, Catholics, Muslims and Jews agree that the...

Perception is a powerful thing.

Men wage wars on account of it: Iraq had WMDs.

Except, of course, it didn't.

Innocent people are hurt, in a myriad of ways, due to it.

Darker complexioned men with long beards and turbans are presumed to be Muslim and, therefore,...

Few things in life are black and white.

For Wesaam Al-Badry, however, matters concerning human rights -- particularly those relating to women and children -- leave no room for negotiation.

A 28-year-old, Iraqi-born photojournalist who now calls Nebraska home, Al-Badry's childhood experiences helped mold his unrelenting perspective. His...

I love art, in so many of its variant forms. Of course, I am hardly alone.

A number of American Muslims pursue their passion for art more actively, however, transforming their affinity into a vocation. Far from passive observers, they are artists whose works speak distinct messages -- some of...

Does a reference to Muslims trigger thoughts of folks organizing food pantries, park cleanups and low-cost health clinics?

Do you think of global volunteerism and young adults creating -- opportunity and hope -- not destroying?

Do you envision a helping hand?

Allow me to introduce you to Aysha...

Images play a powerful role in shaping our perceptions. Contemplate the American Muslim woman, for instance or Muslim women more generally. She is commonly portrayed by the media and in popular culture as a victim, terrorist or seductress. This Mother's Day, through the personal images of and reflections by and...

Congress recently held a hearing titled, "End Racial Profiling in America." The scope of the hearing was unique in so far as it was not only limited to the experiences of African Americans and Latinos but encompassed the American Muslim one, too.

While African Americans and Latinos have long complained...

In Arabic pop culture, a Sultana is the object of desire in an old Egyptian folk song, "Bint el Sultan," which literally translates...

Islam is often viewed as an inherently violent and intolerant world religion. This misconception is fueled in part by the miscreant deeds of some Muslims, particularly toward those of other faith beliefs.

That conduct is then unfairly imputed to Islamic doctrine and coreligionists globally.

The imputation is unfair...

Muslim women are steeped in stubborn stereotypes as meek, oppressed and in need of rescue. Recurring images beamed into our homes and phones from abroad of Muslim women being denied access to education, the ability to drive or even the right to cast a vote or run for political office...

"In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue..." So we were taught in primary school. But, did you know that the captains of two of the three small Spanish ships comprising Columbus's fleet were in fact Muslim?

Martin Alonso Pinzon the captain of the Pinta and his brother Vicente Yanex...

If the stereotypical Muslim woman is an oppressed one, then the archetypal Muslim male is responsible for her condition. In news stories, popular entertainment media and even video games, the image of the violent, misogynistic or abusive Muslim man is present time and again.

To be sure, bad apples...

Fun.

It means different things to different folks.

But how about Muslim women, particularly those who wear the headscarf -- what does fun mean to them?

About a month ago, I threw out the following question to practicing Muslims in America: "What do you like to do for fun?" And,...

"You boys were so much fun on the 8th grade trip! Thanks for not bombing anything while we were there!" read the yearbook inscription penned by the middle school teacher.

The eighth grade yearbook was littered with similar remarks by classmates linking Omar to a "bomb."

"To my...

About a week or so ago, I was invited to participate in a town hall focusing on religious freedom in America and the contagion of so-called "anti-Sharia" legislation around the country when the topic of Muslim sister wives arose.

By way of background, approximately 50 "anti-Sharia" bills have been...

In 2004, I was working in Washington, D.C. with the largest Muslim civil rights organization in America when I received a telephone call from a distressed American Muslim woman. She reported standing outside her home in Maryland when a car filled with teenage boys sped by but not before throwing...

While 9/11 thrust the American Muslim community into the center of public attention nearly a decade ago, misinformation regarding this group persists against an alarming back-drop of rising Islamophobia.

The following five myths are worth noting. To be sure, many more exist. But I have chosen to highlight these...