Sept. 11 was a twisted way to introduce Islam to most of America. On reflection, though, it might have taken nothing less than a cataclysm for Americans to think about my religion at all.

During the decade before, I'd been writing about the need for Muslims to reform ourselves....

In the past two years, we've all learned that citizens as much governments must do more than pay lip service to ideals. It's necessary that individual investors ask questions of our financial advisors. It's imperative that drivers switch to fuel-efficient transport.

And it's urgent that citizens step up to...

This week, among the most important movies of my generation, The Stoning of Soraya M., comes out in DVD and Blu-Ray.

The Stoning, starring recent Emmy-award winner Shohreh Aghdashloo, dramatizes the true story of an Iranian village wife whose deceitful husband sets her up for execution so that he...

Relax - I'm not telling you who to vote for. That's your business. Rather, this blog is about what it means to be connected to the common good. It's an expanded version of my Oct. 31 op-ed in The New York Times, posted here with their permission. As someone...

For now, forget who he'll pick for vice-president. Barack Obama first has to fill a different job vacancy.

That's because his Muslim outreach coordinator, Mazen Asbahi, has just resigned. I can't say I'm disheartened. He'd been embraced by groups like the Muslim Public Affairs Council and the Islamic Society...

I realize that a lot of you will deem me a pinhead (to use Bill O'Reilly's favorite word), but here goes:

The magazine cover from hell should be treated as manna from heaven. In shocking people with so many fierce images at once, the New Yorker has handed Barack Obama...

First tribal Arabia. Then Africa. Next, South Asia. After that, Europe. Last year, Canada. Now, America. "Honor crimes" have arrived in the land of the free and the home of the brave.

On the outskirts of Atlanta, a South Asian man has been charged with killing his daughter. She reportedly...

There's something poetic, unnerving, or both about the fact that Barack Obama has secured the Democratic presidential nomination in the same week as we're remembering Robert F. Kennedy.

Tomorrow marks the 40th anniversary of Bobby Kennedy's assassination. Hillary Clinton took an absurd amount of flak for mentioning him and the...

The London transit bombings happened on a Thursday. Islam's holiest day of the week is Friday. That's when the most important sermons -- known as khutbas -- are delivered in mosques everywhere.

And that's why Muslims everywhere face a test in the next several hours. Assuming we're serious that...

It’s just after 10 am on the West Coast and already my piece in the LA Times today, based in part on my blogging of yesterday, is getting tons of responses. The sassiest and wisest reaction so far? From my very own webmaster, Luke Murphy, a witty Irishman...

Last week, I was interviewed by CNN International about the Quran desecration report - and in particular about the riots in Jalalabad. I said that if the allegations were proven true, then we're dealing with a gratuitous provocation of Muslims. I stand by that answer. But TV doesn't give you...

All the negativity that Americans are expressing about the Iraq war goes to show just how much democracy you still enjoy. Bush may have lied or sincerely believed somebody who told him lies. I don't know. What I do know is that he hasn't shut down your freedom of expression...