Middle Eastern online
John Esposito,Ph.D; Board Member, MCA

After Jews, Muslims are the most educated religious community in the US. Muslim women (unlike their Jewish counterparts) are as likely as their male counterparts to have a college degree or higher. 40% of women have a college degree as compared to 29% of Americans overall, notes John L. Esposito. The recent arrest of five young men from Northern Virginia arrested in Pakistan, suspected of terrorist activities, precipitated new, dire warnings. Some charge that there is an emerging pattern which challenges long-held assumptions that European Muslims are more susceptible to radicalization than better-assimilated Muslims in the United States. This charge clearly leads us in the wrong direction...

Obstacles to understanding hijab, obstacles to understanding Islam

Sarah Harlan, Member of Advisory Board, MCA

Is a woman in hijab[1] more religious than a non-mohajiba[2] Muslim woman? Is hijab indicative of female subjugation? Is hijab backwards? Is a mohajiba woman really capable of being American? For better or worse in our fair nation, when a woman dons hijab the debate about Islam in America comes to her – whether she invited it or not. The hijab issue is one of the most loaded in the discourse on Islam in America, and in observing the perception and reception of hijab by non-Muslim America – what hijab is not and what it is – can help inform the perception and reception of Islam in America. Hijab and ...

Dr. Aslam Abdullah, Ph.D, Vice President.MCA

What is happening in the Muslim world is a cause of serious concern for every conscious being. Internally, most Muslim countries are ruled by despots, dictators and monarchs. A great majority of Muslim people suffer from the lack of freedom, human dignity and human rights. In several countries, poverty, unemployment and exploitation are rampant. Ethnic and cultural minorities face persecution and women do not enjoy the dignity that every human being deserves. Corruption is common. Cities have become overcrowded with unhygienic living conditions for most people. Water resources are scarce and apathy to social ills is widely prevalent. Diseases including AIDS are increasing with almost 45 per cent of the Muslim world population suffe...