Qanta Ahmed, MD

The Wall Street Journal's recent article on 'The Sleepless Elite' reminds us a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing. "Sleep may be a waste of time," quips the lede. Sadly, the article conveys little more than a myopic message woefully removed from our highly sleep-disordered American reality....

In the years that I lived in Riyadh, my devoted driver was an Egyptian from Cairo. Like me, he was a guest worker in the Kingdom. A Coptic Christian, Zachariah was the first to tell me Egypt is known affectionately in Arabic as Ummah Duniyah -- Mother of the World...

Recently, Representative Peter King (R) NY announced his decision to hold hearings on the radicalization of Islam among American Muslims. I gave the matter some thought, captured in an article published by The Wall Street Journal. My thanks to the editors at WSJ. You can read the full...

New Year's Day, New York -- This week's news reports out of Egypt of a suicide bombing targeting Alexandria's Coptic Christians in a New Years Eve mass are a sobering start to the New Year. At the present time seventeen are reported to have been killed and...

In East London, I examine the emaciated boy. His pigeon-chest rasps with each mechanical breath. Finely etched features remind me of Saudi camel sellers, once my patients. Wisps of hair peep through his unbuttoned thobe, betraying a still-lingering puberty. An untrimmed beard and skullcap are final clues: my patient is...

This article was originally published in 2010 Summer Issue of the World Policy Journal edited by David Andelman. An original account of this incident first appeared as part of the Center of Islamic Pluralism's Parliamentary Report A guide to Shariah...

On a domestic flight earlier this year, I found myself next to a sleek woman and her wide-eyed toddler. The stylish mother tended to her daughter. Industrial zippers on leather sleeves clinked softly against her slim, bangled wrists as she held a juice box for the thirsty child. Discretely, the...

When my publisher informed me that a focus group of executives in D.C. had selected the name for my book to be In the Land of Invisible Women, I had something of a tantrum. I found myself upset at the...

This summer as a Templeton-Cambridge Fellow in Journalism I was engaged in multidisciplinary seminars focusing on science and religion moderated by speakers from all over the world, of every religious persuasion. One of the most memorable speakers this year was Noah Efron, of Bar...

New York City -- It's my favorite time of day, favorite place in the world: Gridlock, Midtown. At the wheel of my car, I am engaged in Manhattan traffic in my black hybrid. Jay-Z and Alicia Keys blast out an Empire State of Mind on the sub woofers, animating the...

Cambridge, England

Against the backdrop of leafy quadrangles, to the sounds of British birdsong in a rainy English Spring, I have been thinking about religion, belief and morality. Over the past two weeks here in Cambridge, I have enjoyed the company of some of the most animated minds focusing on...

L'Hivernage, Marrakech, Morocco -- It was unusually blustery as I hurried to dinner. I pulled my silk coat closer to my throat, unaware I would soon be as unsettled as the weather.

Itamar Marcus was in town, and instructions were that we had to eat "Kosher Kosher." Surprised to find...

The past week has seen a flurry of controversy centered on the speculated implied depiction of at least one Messenger of God as a cartoon disguised in a bear suit. Dissertations on the issues of formal and informal fatwas have followed in serious newspapers and on animated literary sites. It...

Hissa Hillal is the voice for countless 'Invisible Women." She is the Saudi woman who has captured the Arab world's attention through her poetry on Abu Dhabi's televised poetry competition broadcast by Emirati. Watched by millions, analogies to American Idol readily follow. Her poetry focuses on the abuse of Islam...

In past weeks, all things I touch lead to Jerusalem. I pick up a random book and find within a map of the Holy City. I drift off to sleep in a guest room of a loving home, the last image before I lose consciousness is of a child's Torah....

Recently, I attended the burial of an important friend. My friend was a Rabbi. Rabbi Avner Bergman was an extraordinary guide and, even though I am Muslim, I considered him to be my very own Rabbi. At the encouragement of a Jewish American friend in DC and an Israeli friend...

The Talmud describes Jews as rachmanim b'nei rachmanim: a compassionate people who are sensitive to human suffering. They are unable to sit by and ignore the terrible drama of human misery. Instead, they get up and do something about it.

As the world learned the news about Haiti one Tuesday...

This article first appeared in the Jerusalem Post on January 13th 2010 and is reproduced here by permission of the Post - www.jpost.com

We wouldn't have enough time.

We would meet at the height of summer; we would worship in a Southern Fall...

I recently wrote about the paradigm-shifting experience of exercise when I stumbled upon SoulCycle. I read about it when Chelsea Clinton held a Haiti fund-raising event there. I thought two things: wow, Chelsea has time to exercise? And cool, what is this exercise Chelsea does? I had to know and...

Americans are sleepless, and are worse for it. The current economy is driving a rising prevalence of sleep complaints, particularly insomnia, at a time when few Americans cannot afford to either lose sleep or absorb new costs in investigating and treating it. Much of the treatment of sleep disorders involves...