Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Thursday, March 11, 2010,
Here is an interesting request from Maureen Dowd who wants the Saudis to open up Medina and Mecca's holy sites to non-Muslims. Tough times call indeed for radical measures, and this is probably one measure Muslims should debate more seriously. This could help at a time of a sharp image crisis to bridge an important gap between Muslims and non-Muslims, particularly for those with a dying curiosity to learn more about Islam. As Dowd said, "In the end, I did see the hajj. When I got home, I went... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Tuesday, March 2, 2010,
Veiled Voices is a rare look into the everyday life of three Muslim women in Lebanon, Egypt and Syria. It's an insightful departure from the exhausted cliche rampant in mainstream media of veiled women=oppressed women. These are religious leaders in their communities who are taking on challenging tasks to preach to other women in mosques and at home. Below is a clip from the documentary which will air on Colorado Public Television tonight at 9. This is quite similar to some of the arguments r... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Thursday, February 25, 2010,
Well here is a more than reasonable thought. Shouldn't Muslim countries like Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, Turkey or any other Muslim country where Al-Qaeda has struck since 9/11, be leading the search for Bin Laden and his lieutenant, Al-Zawahiri. Dr. Fadl, a well-known scholar of Islamic jurisprudence and jihad, thinks both men should face an Islamic trial because they've caused enough suffering to Muslims and sullied the image of their religion. I think that's an excellent idea an... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Monday, February 22, 2010,
Here is an interesting article in today's edition of the Washington Post about what language to use for Juma' (Friday) prayer in American mosques. I don't understand why this should still be an issue. If the point of sermons is to help people reflect, then why do they have to be in a language most don't understand and are only attached to symbolically? This got to be one of the reasons many see the Juma' sermon as a mechanical ritual instead of an inspiring and uplifting experience. Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Sunday, February 21, 2010,
I recently read an interesting article by Newsweek's international editor, Fareed Zakaria, in which he echoes much of what many observers have been saying about jihadism and the Middle East. A debate has raged in the Muslim world about what constitutes Islam after 9/11, but much of that reflection has gone unnoticed in the West. Zakaria sums up very well the need to pay attention to Muslim civil society, including the media, if we're serious enough about combating jihadism. Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Tuesday, February 16, 2010,
I've devoted this blog to revealing new and for the most part promising trends in Muslim media in the hope of challenging the reductionist views some in the West hold of the contemporary Muslim world. I know that for some people these voices don't matter much in the face of a violent extremism that shows no regard for human life and respect for dialogue. But this attitude is precisely what keeps these progressive voices from making a bigger difference in their communities because we think of ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Friday, February 12, 2010,
Here is a story we seldom heard anywhere. After a talk I gave this past Saturday in Carbondale, Colorado about who speaks for Islam, I was approached by a fascinating photographer, Norman Gershman, whose work has been featured in the United Nations and well-known museums around the world. His latest exhibit and book are about Muslim Albanians and Kosovars who provided shelter to Jewish families at grave peril to themselves during WWII. I've been reading the book, Besa: Muslims who Saved Jews ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Monday, January 25, 2010,
I've been listening for the last few months to an extremely interesting series on Islam from Wisconsin Public Radio in Madison. Inside Islam, a collaboration between the University of Wisconsin at Madison and WPR's program, Here on Earth: Radio Without Borders, has featured great guests rarely invited by traditional media, including secular and religious artists, novelists, scholars, comedians, bloggers, journalists, and activists. They have certainly set an excellent example for how the disc... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Sunday, January 24, 2010,
For almost six years the Swiss intellectual, Tariq Ramadan, had been barred from entering the United States, but no more. Thanks to a direct order from President Obama and Secretary Clinton, Ramadan will no longer be denied an entry visa. This is a major victory for critical debate. I'm sure requests to speak at conferences are already pouring in. I saw Ramadan speak at the last American Academy of Religion conference in Montreal and you can disagree with his ideas, but he's a great, construc... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Tuesday, January 19, 2010,
As I watch the devastating pictures of Haiti and read about the horrifying stories of people left to scramble for food, shelter and dignity, I can't help but think of the ritzy extravagance of Dubai and its recent rejoicing over the world's tallest skyscraper which cost more than $1.5 billion (that's the happy story. The sad story is that more than 1,000 workers died while building it). I can't resist asking the obvious question: how much of this money could have been used to help the poor ar... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Monday, January 18, 2010,
A young Muslim businessman in Orange County recently launched onelegacyradio, a 24-hour Muslim radio station in Irvine, Calif. I haven't listened to any of their programs yet, but judging from their schedule and program description online, the topics are quite engaging and very topical, including such issues as youth radicalization, drug use, and many other social problems. One of their live shows is called Objection, a daily talk show hosted by an activist and an attorney specializing in nat... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Friday, January 15, 2010,
It became ever clearer to me after our conference on Islam and the Media that journalists do not work hard to seek out alternative Muslim voices to counteract the extremism of radical Islam. Everywhere you look, the debate on Islam is acrimonious, unidimensional, and excessively security-based. Lots of Muslims have been hard at work creating new spaces for a different kind of debate that is constructive and less polarized. We had many of them here in Boulder during our conference and they cam... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Monday, January 11, 2010,
Yesterday was the last day of our international conference on Islam and the Media organized by our Center for Media, Religion and Culture. Some amazing research is being done in many countries around the world about an interesting and vibrant Muslim media culture (broadcast, print, and digital) that is evolving with its new (mixed with old) production aesthetics, its own political economy, and certainly its own religious authority. We had stimulating discussions about these and many other to... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Friday, December 25, 2009,
For those of you who understand French, you'll find this video of Tariq Ramadan speaking to the parliamentary commission on the burqa quite interesting. He told the 32 members (from both the right and left) of the commission that France was skirting the main problems it has with Muslims by focusing on extreme cases like wearing the burqa. This commission, Ramadan said, would be more productive if it tackled real problems of structural racism and social inequalities in France's suburbs. The ma... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Monday, December 14, 2009,
Here is an interesting take on the implications of the anti-minaret vote in Switzerland. Ian Buruma argues that Muslims painfully remind Europeans of the loss of their own faith. Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Wednesday, December 2, 2009,
I mentioned Christopher Caldwell's book, Reflections on the Revolution in Europe, in a recent post. Here is a very good review by Laila Lalami in The Nation. Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Monday, November 30, 2009,
Here is a video from Ta'Leef Collective, an independent Muslim organization in the San Francisco Bay area, which grew out of a Zaytuna Institute outreach program to help converts to Islam and Muslim youth. The video describes their outreach initiatives in California and raises some interesting and rarely-addressed issues regarding the support provided after someone converts to Islam. This is from their mission statement, "Ta’leef Collective primarily serves seekers actively interested in
I... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Monday, November 9, 2009,
An all too common pattern is emerging in the wake of the tragic shooting at Fort Hood. The media and their so-called experts, woefully unrepentant about their glaring double standards in covering anything "Muslim," are uncritically trumping up the faith card (Even The New York Times is leading today's edition with the surveillance picture showing Major Nidal Malik Hasan in a 'Middle Eastern' attire, further distancing the killer from his American roots. Even if your text is more nuanced, pict... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Monday, November 2, 2009,
As I said a few times on this blog, this question is very common now and even if it's a rhetorical one, it's quite useful to think with because it generates a healthy debate about the diversity of voices who speak on behalf of Islam. Link TV is continuing its series on Who Speaks for Islam with some interesting guests from actors, authors, tv producers, Hollywood screenwriters, comedians to pollsters. I also came across this passionate debate between Irshad Manji and Dalia Mogahed (from last ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Thursday, October 29, 2009,
The Council on American-Islamic Relations issued yesterday an editorial entitled, "Islamophobia Machine Targets American Muslims," describing what it sees as the mainstreaming of anti-Muslim rhetoric in America. Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Tuesday, October 20, 2009,
Four members of Congress made some ridiculous allegations against the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR). Reps. Sue Myrick of North Carolina,
Trent Franks of Arizona, Paul Broun of Georgia and John Shadegg of Arizona accuse this largest Muslim advocacy group in the United States of spying on Congress by placing interns with lawmakers who have access to critical security information. I can only laugh at this and share with you this hilarious video made by the comedians of the Axis... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Thursday, October 8, 2009,
A quick post to inform those of you in the Boulder area that Iranian human rights lawyer and 2003 Nobel Peace prize laureate, Shirin Ebadi, will be in Boulder on Friday and Saturday this week. Ebadi has been invited by Naropa University's Peace Studies Department and the Cordoba Initiative to participate in an international symposium on women's leadership and activism in the Muslim world. She'll be keynoting on Friday, October 9 at 7 p.m. at Naropa University. Her speech is entitled, "Human R... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Tuesday, October 6, 2009,
 Be wary of words By way of emiliewood.com
As I mentioned earlier on this blog, there seems to be a paranoia about Muslims in the West, and some misguided observers have been taking advantage of this fear warning the West of a so-called Islamicization of their societies. For years now, Daniel Pipes, a prime spokesperson of the anti-Muslim lobby in America, has tried to convince us that 'Muslims are coming...' because they demand halal meals for their kids in public... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Friday, September 18, 2009,
A few starchitects like Norman foster and Zaha Hadid have been delegated last year to redesign the Masjid Al-Haram in Islam's holiest city, Mecca. The first designs have been revealed and they look very ambitious. The main concern for the Saudis is understandably the safety of 2.5 millions of pilgrims who flock to Mecca every year. As more Muslims around the world can afford the haj, modernization of the mosque and the area around it is not a luxury. Currently, the mosque holds about 900,000 ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Monday, September 14, 2009,
A Malaysian manufacturing company recently created the first automatic Wudu machine for Muslims to perform their ablution (washing) ritual before praying. You might be asking yourself: seriously, is this the most urgent thing Muslims need these days? But the company is clearly interested in tapping into an extremely lucrative halal market that is making large inroads among Muslim consumers around the world. The global halal market today is worth more than $640 billion and growing at a rate of... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Monday, September 7, 2009,
Finally, a voice of wisdom from Saudi Arabia is calling on Imams to cease praying for the destruction of unbelievers at the end of Friday sermons. I hope Imams will heed the call and stop this irresponsible practice. Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Monday, August 31, 2009,
A British media production company has recently launched an online comedy series called, Living with the Infidels. This is how the producers describe it: "The series centres around a bumbling,
Bradford-based terror cell. Initially set on a path to martyrdom, Yorkshire's jihadi warriors discover the West isn't as
bad as it seems. Tempted by the likes of Man U, cable TV and ample Abi
upstairs, what's a man to do? Will they find Paradise
in the arms of seventy-two virgins, or is Shangri-La [utop... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Wednesday, August 26, 2009,
So many are urging the
so-called liberal media to pay attention to the Ohio Muslim teenager who fled
to Florida for fear her Pakistani-born parents might harm her for converting to
Christianity. Yes, cover it, but be fair in your loud outbursts for equitable
cove... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Wednesday, August 26, 2009,
British scholar and journalist Kenan Malik, author of the interesting book,
From Fatwa to Jihad: The Rushdie Affair and Its Legacy, has been exploring how perceptions of Islam are
shaped by the media in an excellent series on BBC Radio 4. You can listen to
Malik’s series, Islam, Mullahs and the Media here.
Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Wednesday, August 19, 2009,
An impressive industry seems to have formed around the topic of Islam in the West. Write any incendiary propaganda and you're almost guaranteed publication. Christopher Caldwell in his recent book Reflections on the Revolution in Europe: Immigration, Islam, and the West (positively reviewed here in The New York times By Fouad Ajami and critiqued here by Eboo Patel), is hell-bent on the idea that Islam has always been and will always be the archenemy of Europe, and by extension the West. Brush... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Saturday, August 8, 2009,
A few weeks ago, the Ministry of Culture in Egypt awarded the state's highest prize in the social sciences to Sayed al-Qimni, a controversial historian and sociologist who has received death threats for what many believe is heresy in his writing and for strong denunciation of what he calls the intellectual bankruptcy of Islamic extremists. That decision has opened wide gates of fire as some Egyptians and other Arab Muslims on satellite television scurried for places to call for the withdrawal... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Thursday, August 6, 2009,
"Who speaks for Islam?" has become the ultimate question to ask in the post 9/11 world. Some ask it without really looking for fresh critical voices or invite them but give them 3 or 4 minutes in between commercial breaks to explain the crisis of religious authority in Islam. Others, like here on Link TV, genuinely seek to understand how that authority is legitimated today in the Muslim world. Ray Suarez, one of the smartest journalists in this country, invited a number of people you don't al... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Friday, July 31, 2009,
Now there is a comic book with heroes like Sami-The Listener from the Sudan, Jabbar-The Powerful from Saudi Arabia, Musawwira-The Organizer from South Africa, Widad-The Loving from the Philippines, and Hadya-The Guide from the UK. These are the superheroes of the first comic strip based on Islamic archetypes, The-99, created by Naif Al-Mutawa, a clinical psychologist from Kuwait and CEO of Teshkeel Media Group, a Middle East based company its Website describes as "focused on
creating, re-engi... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Thursday, July 16, 2009,
The Sociology of Islam and Muslim Societies has a new website. It has a number of interesting features like reflection pieces by scholars in the field, a forum where registered members can post questions and comments, interviews and many useful announcements. Currently, the site features a short piece by Charles Kurzman lamenting the sudden and narrow interest in Islam in sociology, an essay by Rachel Woodlock on the interpretation of hijab and authority in Islam, and an interview with Tzvi L... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Thursday, July 9, 2009,
Masaryk University's Journal of Law and Technology has just published a special issue on religion and technology edited by Vit Sisler and Robert Geraci. Here is the table of content:
-Robert M. Geraci: Technology and Religion
– An Introduction to the Special Issue -John G. Whitesides: Religion, Genetics, and the Evolving American Experiment with Bioethics (7-32)-Jens Kutscher: The Politics of Virtual Fatwa Counseling in the 21st Century (33-50)-Vit Sisler: European Courts’ Authority Contes... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Tuesday, July 7, 2009,
Al-Jazeera English has recently been picked up by a major cable company in the Washington D.C. area after a long battle with U.S. cable operators across the country and fierce anti-Al-Jazeera campaigns led by various groups. They're apparently working on more agreements with other cable companies across the US, and soon millions of Americans will be able to see for themselves if Al-Jazeera is the dangerous channel many in the West have warned us against. There is no perfect news channel, but ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Saturday, June 27, 2009,
Some western media have been asking about Arab reactions to the post-election turmoil in Iran. If we're talking about Arab leaders, well, as Mona Eltahawy wrote on the Washington Post, what do you expect from dictators who have clamped down on their own people on many occasions and would be as heavy-handed as Iranian authorities if their iron-fist rule were to be challenged in the same way? The silence of Arab leaders is no surprise, but I find the silence of Arab streets quite intriguing. If... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Tuesday, June 16, 2009,
If you're trying to get some good on-the-ground reporting on the massive post-election protests in Iran, try The Independent's Robert Fisk in this article. Iranian bloggers and twitterers have been doing a brave and remarkable job covering these drastic events as they unfold in the streets of Tehran and Isfahan. It's rather amazing to see how Iranian students and other Moussavi's supporters are working around the massive media (old and new) blockade ordered by Ahmadinejad's embattled governme... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Tuesday, June 9, 2009,
In a surprising statement this last weekend, French President Nicolas Sarkozy said he fully agrees with Barack Obama that Muslim veiling is a right each country must respect. Coming from the leader of a country that has instituted a ban on wearing visible religious symbols (the veil being the prime target here) in public offices, this is quite intriguing. "In France, every young girl who wants to wear the veil can do it. It's her freedom," said Sarkozy citing some limitations in a secular (la... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Monday, June 8, 2009,
I've been following news of a Muslim college by the Zaytuna Institute in the Bay area for some time now, but I thought it was going to be years before it started. Apparently, enough funds have been raised and the first Muslim college in the US will open as soon as the Fall of 2010. It will first use rented buildings at Berkeley before it reaches its goal of raising an endowment of $30 million and another $20 million to purchase properties. This is important in two major ways: this is part of ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Wednesday, June 3, 2009,
Some food for thought as President Obama prepares to deliver his speech to the "Muslim World" tomorrow. Should we be talking about a Muslim world as if there were a unified one? Doesn't that, as this FP article says, raise the specter of 'us vs them'?  Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Wednesday, June 3, 2009,
 Al-Azhar University was founded in 988.
The long-established authority of Al-Azhar University has recently come under heavy attack by Islamic radicals and secularists alike. Some strange fatwas by professors there in the past couple of years have been publicly ridiculed, and radicals have long denounced its tamed theology under heavy state control. There are signs the one-thousand-year-old religious institution might be striking back. It was announced today that Al-Azhar is preparing to launch... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Wednesday, May 27, 2009,
 
A couple of years ago, JWT, the world's leading ad company came out with a report indicating that the purchase power of American Muslims was $170 billion. It was believed that many companies would scurry to court this important segment of the population, but only few brands have tapped into this market fearing backlash over what still appears to be an extremely sensitive issue. Remember Rachel Ray's Dunkin Donuts' commercial which was quickly removed after some conservatives complained the s... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Thursday, May 21, 2009,
If you were impatiently waiting for the premiere of PBS' documentary New Muslim Cool on June 23, you'd be treated to yet another interesting documentary on Islam on the same network a week earlier (June 15). The Mosque in Morgantown, a verite-style film by Brittany Huckabee, chronicles the struggle of journalist and activist, Asra Nomani, as she takes on the male leadership of a mosque at her hometown over fundamental issues in Islam today. You might be familiar with Nomani if you read her b... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Tuesday, May 5, 2009,
Just a quick note to let you know about the debut of Patheos.com, an extremely interactive site with impressive religious content. Think of it as somewhere between beliefnet and Religion Dispatches. Both the religious paths and the public square are much needed features to better focus the very disjointed discussion on religion Online. All the contents in their library are peer-reviewed. You can watch their overview video at the bottom of their main page. If you were curious about what a reli... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Monday, May 4, 2009,
As I said in a recent post, I'd rather focus my critical energies on how Muslims can get out of their long monumental crisis, but this video below, Muslim Demographics, on the threat Muslims pose to the Western world is so ludicrous and shocking it deserves at least a quick mention. A quick preview: Islam will soon take over Western Europe and North America because the fertility rate of Muslim women in the West is much higher. In 39 years, the video claims, France will become an "Islamic Repu... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Tuesday, April 28, 2009,
The New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristoff wrote last week about a Quran conference he attended at the University of Notre Dame. I don't usually agree with what Kristoff writes about, but this time much like him, I find it deplorable that conferences like this one (The Quran in Historical Contexts held last week) never take place in a Muslim country. What's even more lamentable was that Arab/Muslim media never bothered to cover such an important event. Not even a marginal mention at the b... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Wednesday, April 22, 2009,
Ahmed Abu Haiba, the Egyptian mastermind behind Islamic entertainment television at Iqra' and Al-Resalah tv channels, has recently launched what many have dubbed the 'Islamic MTV'. 4Shbab (for youth), which is available through satellite in the Middle East, North Africa, Europe and soon in the United States, is the latest attempt to create a global Islamic pop culture scene. Viewers can watch the latest videos from Muslim artists in the United States, Africa, Egypt, in Arabic and English. Abu... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Friday, April 17, 2009,
  Dalia Mogahed Rashad Hussain
As I mentioned on this blog a few weeks ago, President Obama was given a book of resumes of some of the brightest Muslim Americans for jobs in his administration. Well, some of these posts have been filled recently: Dalia Mogahed, the executive director of the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies, was appointed to the new White House Faith Advisory Council. And so was Eboo Patel, the founder and executive director of the Interfaith Youth Co... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Thursday, April 9, 2009,
The Financial Times recently published an article on the Dubai World Cup, a lavish meeting of horse racing. In a story about horses, why is it that the first thing readers see before even getting to the first sentence is this picture? Come on, reporters. Keep your focus. Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Thursday, April 9, 2009,
For those of you who don't know who Sami Yusuf is, he's probably one of today's most recognizable Muslim singers. Born in Iran and raised in London by Azeri parents, Yusuf blends different musical styles and is not afraid to innovate where others think it's haram (forbidden) to tread. In 2003, Yusuf revolutionized the world of Nasheed (God and Prophet praising) singing by introducing stringed instruments and percussion. Here is what it sounds like in Yusuf's music. Reactions to his songs have... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Monday, April 6, 2009,
Gary Bunt, author of the forthcoming book, iMuslims: Rewiring the House of Islam, has an interesting article in The National about digital Islam. Bunt will be keynoting at our conference on Islam and the Media January 7-10, 2010 at the University of Colorado-Boulder.
Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Thursday, April 2, 2009,
 
The New York Times had an interesting take on a recent book entitled God is Back: How the Global Revival of Faith is Changing the World by John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge, The Economist's editor-in-chief and Washington bureau chief, respectively. The reviewer, the well-known literary critic Michiko Kakutani did not like the thesis of the book that religion is back and that "the great forces of modernity-technology and democracy, choice and freedom- are all strengthening religion rathe... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Wednesday, April 1, 2009,
The Rev. Ann Holmes Redding, an Episcopal priest in Seattle, has been told to recant her faith in Islam if she wants to keep the priesthood. Redding insists she can be both Christian and Muslim and sees no disharmony in maintaining both faiths at the same time. She was officially removed yesterday from her ordained ministry. This reminds me of another Episcopal priest in Michigan, Rev. Kevin Thew Forrester, who practices Zen meditation and received a lay Zen ordination from a Bhuddist communi...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Monday, March 30, 2009,
Fox News unveiled a new Web site The Fox Nation today. As expected, the populist, anti-Obama machine that is Fox News does not tire. Headlines on the frontpage read like we're heading for doomsday tomorrow, which is literally what Glenn Beck, the channel's new star host, believes. With a strong and growing primetime audience, thanks to the explosive trio: O'Reilley-Hannity-Beck, the channel now has twice as many viewers as CNN and MSNBC.
Note the comment on a recent book of resumes presented ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Wednesday, March 18, 2009,
PBS will be broadcasting an interesting documentary, New Muslim Cool in June. It chronicles the story of Muslim rapper Hamza Perez, a former drug dealer from Puerto Rico who moved to Pittsburgh to set up a new religious community for Latino and African-American Muslims. Here is a blurb from the documentary description:
" New Muslim Cool takes viewers on Hamza's ride through the
streets, projects and jail cells of urban America, following his
spiritual journey to some surprising places - where ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Monday, March 9, 2009,
Here is a call for papers for an international conference we're organizing in Boulder that will address many of the questions raised on this blog on Islam and the media.
Islam and the MediaJanuary 7-10, 2010 The Center for Media, Religion and Culture School of Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Colorado, Boulder
The events of September 11, 2001 have unleashed an unprecedented period of global re-thinking of issues in media and religion. Islam has emerged as a major focus of inquir... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Wednesday, March 4, 2009,
One of the pitfalls for any ethnic group or religion to be constantly in the news- mostly in a negative light- is that most of their members’ valuable energy is consumed trying to defend or react to newspaper headlines. Muslims often find themselves in private conversations or on TV shows easily unnerved by what they see as consistent vilification of their faith. The truth is we Muslims have been mostly reactive and our defensiveness has deprived us of a vital quality: constructive self-cri... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Friday, February 27, 2009,
I just finished watching a documentary on French television on some French youth of North African origin who emigrated from the economically worn-out suburbs of France to the glitzy Doha, Qatar in search of lucrative economic opportunities. These are talented French-educated architects, photographers, entrepreneurs, engineers, and doctors who faced tremendous racism when they applied for jobs in France. All those featured in the documentary talked about how Qataris were impressed with their q... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Thursday, February 26, 2009,
Senator John Kerry is holding hearings on "Engaging with Muslim Communities around the World" today at the Senate. I wholeheartedly support initiatives like these and I command the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee for taking such an important step. I hope, however, this initiative will be different from the ill-conceived public diplomacy of the Bush administration which produced media fiascos like Radio Sawa in the Arab world, Radio Farda in Iran, Hi Magazine in the Middle East, and th... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Friday, February 20, 2009,
Some rather promising news has been coming from Saudi Arabia these days. First, the replacement of Saleh al-Lihedan, the chief of the Supreme Council of Justice who made headlines last year when he declared it was permissible to kill Muslim satellite television owners if their programs were morally deviant. Then last week, a number of other appointments of moderate Saudis to important posts were announced like the head of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Friday, February 20, 2009,
Wiley-Blackwell has recently suspended publication of the Encyclopedia of Christian Civilization and ordered a full revision of the text, allegedly because of historical errors and, at times, extreme evangelical language. George T. Kurian, the editor of the encyclopedia says the publisher caved in to pressures from an "anti-Christian lobby" of academics who wanted the 4-volume publication to be less Christian. According to some scattered reports in the blogosphere (the mainstream press hasn't... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Tuesday, February 17, 2009,
Journalists have to stop covering fatwas as if they were legally binding rules all Muslims must heed. The point is they're simply not. So what if some short-sighted Mufti in Malaysia or Indonesia has decreed that yoga is not halal? Or that some cleric in Saudi Arabia has decided Mickey Mouse was the work of Satan? Or that some British Muslim has declared Valentine roses and candle dinners to be sordid acts of the devil? No legal due process has followed or will ever follow these fatwas. It's ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Sunday, February 8, 2009,
More than 300 young progressive Muslims from 76 countries met in Doha for the third Muslim Leaders of Tomorrow Conference this past month. The point behind this effort is to foster a stronger culture of civic engagement among Muslims globally. These are extremely-committed activists, some of whom have given up their careers to organize their communities around faith-based social, economic, and cultural projects. A short profile of this year's leaders is worth reading. They include comedians, ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Friday, February 6, 2009,
I'm always amazed at how superficial the coverage of Muslim Americans is in the U.S. media. Except for some notable journalists like the New York Times' Andrea Elliott who created a new beat called "Muslims in America", much of the coverage remains unoriginal and largely pat. We often hear the persistent question: where are the moderate Muslims? If journalists continually fail to seek out this growing segment of the population or discover them only around topical issues of terrorism and the t... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Tuesday, January 27, 2009,
It felt a bit surreal to listen to President Obama's interview (Part 1- Part 2) on Al-Arabiya news television yesterday. It was not so much because he called for treating the Muslim world with respect and listening to its people- President Bush said the same thing many times- but mostly because for the first time, a U.S. president told an Arab/Muslim audience that he not only lived in the Muslim world but has Muslim family ties as well. As a public diplomacy initiative, this is quite effectiv... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Thursday, January 22, 2009,
As one of the most prominent signs of Islam, the veil has been the subject of a heated debate both among Muslims and non-Muslims-some of it quite valuable and much of it just inflammatory and ignorant. But we rarely hear from the women who wear it themselves. Much has been said on their behalf about their religious conviction or their lack of voice. Some young Muslim male singers have dedicated songs to them. Yet, we don't know much about their experiences living with the veil, particularly i... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Tuesday, January 20, 2009,
I'm starting my blog "Islam in a New Media Age" today and I'm hoping it will help nurture an emerging discussion about Islam and Muslims beyond the customary fixation with extremism and fanaticism. You've probably heard and read about how religion has found technology, but what does that imply for the way religious beliefs and practices are discussed and re-imagined as new media are adopted? The interpretation of Islam is no longer the prerogative of a few learned scholars who've spent years ... Continue reading ...
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About Me
| Nabil Echchaibi |
| Boulder-Colorado |
I was born and raised in Morocco. My research focuses on the intersections between Islam, Arab popular culture and the media. I'm currently an assistant professor in the School of Journalism at the University of Colorado-Boulder.
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