Inside Islam Radio Series

This interactive series on Muslim issues and ideas recently received a Brass Crescent Award. But we want to know what you think about it. Are we hitting the mark? Are your questions and concerns about Islam being addressed in this series? Join us for a mid-year open line with Inside Islam producers and advisors.

As we try to make sense of the Fort Hood tragedy, how should we understand the Muslim faith of the alleged gunman, Nidal Hasan? We discuss our national and personal reactions with inter-faith expert and inter-cultural advocates.

One of the world's longest-lived religious rites, the hajj to Mecca, is even older than Islam. It has been described as a universal journey for transcendence and peace, but will that change this year given the fear surrounding H1N1? What does it mean to 1.5 billion Muslims worldwide?

Muslims and Christians together comprise over half of the world’s population. A group of Muslim scholars and clerics recently sent an open letter to Christians around the world proposing a search for common ground to which a group of scholars at Yale’s Divinity School responded. Jim Wallis joins us to talk about this historic encounter and how we can move beyond a polite ecumenical dialogue to make peace between Christians and Muslims.

Does the Sunni/Shia conflict contribute to the image of Islam as a violent religion? How much does it account for the violence in Iraq? We look into the origins of the Sunni/Shia split, consider the bombing of the Shia shrine in Karbala, and talk with a Muslim scholar working on promote intrafaith harmony.

Why is fasting common to almost all faiths? Why do Muslims the world over look forward with joy to a month of fasting? What are the special challenges that American Muslims face? And what are the Ramadan specials that Arab Muslims are watching on satellite TV?

Christopher Caldwell’s Reflections on the Revolution in Europe has been called a how not-to book about immigration. P.J. O’Rourke says “Thanks to Caldwell’s careful reporting and keen analysis we know exactly what we shouldn’t do when new people move to our country.”

With his adversaries boycotting the ceremony, and thousands of riot police in the streets, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was sworn into office for a second term last Wednesday. Meanwhile, a mass trial of more than 100 reformists is underway. Will the president be able to hold onto power? We will ask Hooman Majd, author of The Ayatollah Begs to Differ.

Kamran Pasha will join us for our next Inside Islam program to talk about his book, Mother of the Believers: A Novel of the Birth of Islam. This novel tells the story of the rise of Islam through the eyes of Aisha, the Prophet Muhammad’s youngest wife and one of the most influential women in Islamic history. As Mother of the Believers shows, Aisha is more than the controversy around her age; she was a teacher, political leader, a warrior, and, with her incredible memory, an invaluable source of information on all aspects of the Prophet Muhammad’s life.

The German poet Novalis once wrote that the only real temple in this world is the human body. If that is true, Joumana Haddad, who just launched Jasad magazine in Beirut (Jasad means Body in Arabic), is doing her best to restore the body to its rightful place, and raising a lot of eyebrows in the process.

Having grown up female in Iran just prior to the 1979 Revolution, Nahid Rachlin knows a thing or two about social unrest, Iranian politics and what the experience of both are like for women. Author of the memoir Persian Girls and a professor at the New School University, Nahid Rachlin joins us to provide context and insight into the current Iranian controversy.

Richard Harwood of the Harwood Institute for Innovation has a knack for reading a crisis as an opportunity. He calls this “The Compelling Moment,” citing what is going on in Tehran, Detroit, and elsewhere in these worst of times and best of times.

Iranians are taking to the street to contest the results of their recent election. Leaders around the world are speaking up in support of the protesters. Obama, however, seems to be laying low. We discuss the pros and cons of cautious diplomacy with Iran and why Twitter is popping up in stories about Iranian protesters.

They say the world is shrinking, so what can we do to feel more comfortable with our neighbors? Travel! Acclaimed travel writer Rick Steves’ new book argues that we can’t understand our world without experiencing it. Travel as a Political Act will teach us all what it means to travel with our place in the world in mind.

Since his days on the campaign trail, President Obama promised a speech to the Muslim World to define US policy and change perceptions of America. Did his speech in Cairo succeed? We analyze Obama’s speech and look at the international reaction as we talk with Prof. Uli Schamiloglu, Director of the Middle East Studies Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Michael Muhammad Knight, an Irish Catholic who converted to Islam, is considered a heretic by many American Muslims for having written the Taqwacores, a novel about a group of Muslim punk-rockers, as fiercely independent as they are devout. The book went viral and inspired a movement.

In his new book How to Win A Cosmic War, Reza Aslan recommends that we strip the religious rhetoric out of the war on terror and focus instead on the war we can win: the battle for the minds and hearts of young Muslim men.

Dalia Mogahed, the Executive Director of the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies, came to Madison as a guest of the Lubar Instittute for Abrahamic Studies to talk about the findings of Gallup’s unprecedented survey of Muslims worldwide.

Writer, blogger and director Parvez Sharma is openly gay. He also identifies as a Muslim. In producing his latest documentary, A Jihad for Love, he interviewed gay and lesbian Muslims all over the world. A Jihad for Love played in Madison as part of the Inside Islam series within the 2009 Wisconsin Film Festival.

“If the Nuremburg laws were applied, then every post World War American president would have been hanged.” Noam Chomsky said that. He’ll paid Here on Earth a visit during his stay on the UW-Madison campus.

Can we win the war in Afghanistan? How do we engage with Iran and Pakistan? Western society, according to celebrated blogger Juan Cole, is suffering from Islam Anxiety, a hangover from the Bush years and a product of fearmongering and misinformation. He reveals how we can repair the damage of the last eight years and forge a path of peace and prosperity with the Middle East.

The barriers for women’s sports are high in Iran. While practicing and playing, the women’s soccer league must wear headscarves at all times and men are not allowed to watch the women play. Nevertheless, they managed to compete against a German team in an historic match which was captured on film. Football Under Cover played in Madison as part of the Inside Islam series within the 2009 Wisconsin Film Festival.

E.O. Wilson in the introduction to his latest book, The Creation, urged the leaders of all world religions to put the environment on the top of their agendas. Muslim theologians and clerics are responding in kind, developing Islamic guidelines and initiatives based on their reading of the Koran and an ancient Islamic environmental ethic that began in the Arabian desert.

Author Daniyal Mueenuddin and UW-Madison Professor Venkat Mani joined us on this show on real life in Pakistan. In his brilliant debut collection of short stories, Mueendiddin took us behind the headlines and across class lines into intimate encounters with real Pakistanis, rich and poor, highborn and low, trapped in a crumbling feudal system, torn between tradition and modernity.

Jasvinder Sanghera, founder of Karma Nirvana, author of Shame and Daughters of Shame, helps women escape from forced marriages and honor-based violence.

For a tale of love and anguish in the Islamic Republic that is part memoir/part investigative journalism brimming with political insights, join us with Time magazine correspondent Azadeh Moaveni, the author of Lipstick Jihad and Honeymoon in Tehran.

Shelina Janmohamed, author of the chic lit memoir Love in a Headscarf said, “If you want to tell a universal story, the best story to tell is the story of love.” We aired juicy snippets of love stories from Muslims living in Madison, WI, and talked with Shelina Janmohamed and Navid Akhtar, the producer of the BBC series, “Modern Muslim Marriage.”

Although Americans hear about Islam on a daily basis, there remains no clear explanation of Islam or its people. Jean Feraca talks to a scholar of Islamic law about growing up in California and balancing her South Asian, Muslim, and American identities.

To westerners, the lives of most Afghan women are shrouded in mystery. To find out what life is like behind the doors of the women’s quarters, in all its richness and its poverty, join us for Hidden Lives: The Women of Kandahar.

You’ve heard of kosher meat, but do you know Halal Meat? This hour on Here on Earth: Radio Without Borders, Jean Feraca talks with a Muslim woman, the creator of “Faith in Place,” a Chicago-based food cooperative that specializes in everything halal.

Can Barack Obama’s administration reach out and create real change in the Muslim world? Uli Schamiloglu, Abdulkader Sinno, Zeyno Baran, and Hady Amr joined host Jean Feraca for a frank, informal discussion about President Obama’s Inaugural address and his promise to the Muslim world to create a common vision for peace and “a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect.”

After a rough election season for American Arabs and Muslims, Jonathan Curiel of the San Francisco Chronicle has an antidote. In his book, Al America, he traces the roots of Islamic influence in quintessential Americana, from the Alamo, to the French Quarter, to the Mississippi Delta.

Reports of young girls killed in the name of sharia led host Jean Feraca to ask, “Who speaks for Muslim women?” Asifa Quraishi, Amna Butar, and Norhayati joined the show to help answer this question. According to their reports and others from countries around the world, Muslim women themselves are speaking out against past abuse and creating positive change as activists, intellectuals, and politicians.

With the city of Mumbai in mourning over the November 2008 attacks, attention turned to finding those responsible. The accusations are flying between India and Pakistan. Can the countries heal wounds and find a solution, or is war inevitable?

Last week al Zawari, Osama bin Laden’s top deputy, issued a blunt personal attack against President-Elect Obama, calling him a House Negro and a traitor to his race, and comparing him unfavorably with Malcolm X, the 1960’s black Muslim leader. Malcolm X’s followers are fighting back. Join us to unpack Al Quaeda’s message.

In his first televised appearance since the election, President-Elect Obama told CBS 60 Minutes that he intends to close Guantanamo Bay prison and end the practice of torture. It turns out that it is not going to be so easy. There are 50 inmates at Guantanamo, some of them violent extremists. We explore Obama’s options and look into the success rate of Islamist rehabilitation programs with Christopher Boucek in the Middle East Program at the Carnegie Foundation.

Host Jean Feraca explored what The New York Times described as a growing movement of young people trying to change the face of Islam with new media. Reza Aslan, Baba Ali, and Hana Rahman joined Jean to offer their own perspectives on the digital revolution in the Muslim world.

He is called the Sinbad of Literature and his latest novel is set on a college campus in post 9/11 Chicago where Egyptian and American lives, Arab traditions and American mores collide. Jean Feraca talks with Alaa al Aswany, one of the best-selling authors of the Arab world.

Is creationism contagious? For years, this peculiarly American movement seemed to be contained within our borders. But in the last several years, creationism had become a global phenomenon, as readily exportable as hip-hop and bluejeans. Science historian Ron Numbers joined us along with WPR’s Steve Paulson who just returned from a trip to Turkey, one of the country’s where creationism is taking hold.

Hooman Majd, born in Tehran and grandson of an ayatollah, serves as translator for Iranian president Ahmadinejad. He unravels the conundrums of his native country in his book The Ayatollah Begs to Differ.

Scholar Mark LeVine and director Saroosh Alvi joined Jean Feraca to discuss Muslim youth and heavy metal. Playing in concerts throughout the Middle East, heavy metal bands express their frustration with religious traditions and ongoing violent conflict through music. Metal heads represent Islam today just as much as their peers praying in a mosque, studying at the madrassa, or even training to be al-Qaeda extremists.

In the spirit of Ramadan, we fasted this Friday. Instead of our usual food feast, we broke our tradition to offer you something even more enticing: an invitation to join us in producing our exciting new media series on Muslims and Islam.

How does it feel to be a problem? W.E.B. Du Bois first posed this question in his classic, The Souls of Black Folk, and now, over a century later, Moustafa Bayoumi explores the same question through the first-hand accounts of seven young Arab and Muslim Americans.

Sadia Shepherd grew up in Boston, the daughter of a Protestant father from Colorado and a Muslim mother from Pakistan. Then, when she found out that her grandmother was actually Jewish, the descendent of a community thought to be one of the lost tribes of Israel shipwrecked in India, things really got complicated. So let’s see, that makes her a Jewish Christian Muslim Hindu, right? Her parents tell her, “You choose.”

Refered to as the Saudi “Sex and City,” a novel about four upper-class Sunni Muslim women caused a furor in the Middle East. This hour on Here on Earth: Radio Without Borders, Jean Feraca talks to the author of the novel.

In Salman Rushdie’s latest wild and whirling novel, The Enchantress of Florence, a refugee from Florence ends up in the court of the Mughal emperor Akbar: A Muslim vegetarian, a warrior who wants only peace, a philosopher king and the first great Indian secularist. Jean Feraca talks with Salman Rushdie this hour on Here on Earth: Radio Without Borders.

Vying with bearded Hizbollah commanders for the hearts and minds of Middle Eastern youth is a well-funded and altogether better looking army: a gang of half naked girls. Can the clash between conservative Islam and porno devils produce a third way in the Arab world? Jean Feraca talks with the author of Muhajababes.