Common Ground News Service

Independent News Source

by Kiran Ansari Chicago - When 30,000 people participated in Project Bread's walk to eradicate hunger in Boston on 5 May, there was a group among the...

Paul Stoller

Professor of Anthropology, West Chester University; Author, 'The Power of the Between'

When Islamic militants took over large swaths of northern Mali they forced the local inhabitants, who tend to follow moderate Sufi approaches to Islam, to accept a reactionary Taliban version of The Prophet's religion.

Kelly James Clark

Senior Research Fellow, Kaufman Interfaith Institute, Grand Valley State University

Muslims around the world are in favor of peace, harmony, liberty, and tolerance. The stereotype of the Muslim terrorist must finally be laid to rest -- this is the view of a very small minority. Those in the West should stop judging Islam in the light of this very small minority.

Daoud Kuttab

Palestinian journalist

Whether the Jordanian government likes it or not, the Jordanian-Palestinian agreement and the mood of the people regarding Jerusalem require it to tak...

Common Ground News Service

Independent News Source

by Naazish YarKhan Chicago - Like all parents, Muslim parents have their fair share of do's and don'ts for their children. Unlike most parents though...

Malik Siraj Akbar

Editor in Chief, 'The Baloch Hal'; Author; Contributing Writer

By excluding the Ahmadis from the elections, Pakistan's democracy is indeed missing something very important on the election day.

Dr. Faheem Younus

Muslim, professor, doctor and philanthropist

On May 11, the world's second most populous Muslim country, Pakistan, marked a historic election. But as Pakistanis rushed to the polling stations to cast their vote, more than 4 million people sat home, separated and disenfranchised.

Amb. Ufuk Gokcen

Ambassador and Permanent Representative, Organization of Islamic Cooperation, United Nations

While international efforts establish legal protections for freedom of expression and other freedoms, it is important not to end the discussion there. We must promote engagement and dialogue that remains focused on matters of human dignity.

Nedda Alammar

Humorist and essayist

When I first visited the Middle East as a 30-year-old woman on the verge of an identity crisis -- am I too Jersey for Jordan? -- I thought my American openness would relieve my relatives from cultural restraint, thus helping them reveal to me all their forbidden escapades -- their loves and desires.

Davide Mastracci

Journalist, Student

I am an atheist because I tend to not believe in things I have no evidence for. Yet New Atheists believe scores of myths, with no evidence, about Muslims and Islam.

Saleem H. Ali

Professor of environmental studies, University of Vermont; Research director, University of Queensland, Australia

As a Pakistani-American, I have sadly become a bit numb to terrorist attacks in Pakistan itself which are an almost routine news story. However, the terrorist attack on the Boston Marathon hit me far more acutely.

Ali A. Rizvi

Pakistani-Canadian writer, physician and musician

Just like Judaism is a religion that can exist independently from Jewish ethnicity or Jewish culture, Islam is a religion, and even though Muslims are ethnically and racially varied, there really is such a thing as a Muslim culture that can exist separately from Islam.

Khaled A. Beydoun

Critical Race Studies Faculty and Fellow, UCLA School of Law

"Gay and Muslim American," for both Muslim and non-Muslim Americans, reads like an oxymoron. Yet, is a largely harmonized yet hidden identity that characterizes the experience of many Muslim American men and women.

Melissa Hapke

Community Standards Manager, Huffington Post Media Group

The Missouri legislature passed three sweeping bills late Wednesday that will help create jobs for the state. Wait, what? They didn't actually do that?

Rabbi Marc Schneier

President, Foundation for Ethnic Understanding; Vice President, World Jewish Congress

Shavuot, holiday commemorates revelation at Sinai when the Jews were chosen by God to receive the Ten Commandments, will commence Tuesday evening. This idea, that the Jews are the chosen people, is one of the most misunderstood concepts in history.

Magda Abu-Fadil

Director of Media Unlimited in Lebanon

I met her once, but I already knew her. Roula Ayoubi was that distinctive voice I heard countless times on the BBC's Arabic Service newscasts reporti...