Posts under ‘Popular Culture’

In July 2006, Naif al-Mutawa, a Kuwaiti clinical psychologist, launched the first Islamically themed superhero comics. Al-Mutawa began the series “The 99″ to provide Muslim children with superheroes with whom they could identify. Perhaps surprisingly, half of the heroes are females. The name of the series stems from the 99 attributes of God outlined in [...]

I recently listened to a show from “To the Best of Our Knowledge,” a sister program to Inside Islam’s Here on Earth on Wisconsin Public Radio. The show titled “Reclaiming Islam” aired on June 12th, 2009, and featured a number of interesting guests: Reza Aslan, Tissa Hami, Christopher Caldwell, Youssou N’Dour & Chai Vasarhelyi, and [...]

Altmuslimah is a branch of altmuslim, a blog we’ve written about before on Inside Islam that has critical, independent thought on Islam today. Altmuslimah, on the other hand, focuses on the gender divide within Islam and opens up discussion about important issues like the women’s movement for equality in Islam recently launched as The Musawah Movement. Here in this post on Inside Islam, we outlined the emerging debates and global significance of such a movement and invite readers to leave their own thoughts as well.

An emerging trend is the appearance of films about Muslim hip-hop. Today on Inside Islam: Dialogues and Debates, we quickly outline three of them and include their trailers below.

The hijab, one of the most prominent symbols of Islam, is apparently undergoing a modernization. According to a post by Global Voices blogger Jillian C. York, the trend is highly visible online. Blogs dedicated to hijabi fashion and personal experiences of wearing one can be found around the Internet.

Local arts festivals and cultural epicenters like the Dubai International Poetry Festival and the shrine of Rahman Baba are important forums for innovation and passing along traditional values, but could television be a new public space for hearing poetry and improvising new poetic forms that articulate modern values?

Halal-TV, a Swedish talk show hosted by three Muslim women, was the center of a great deal of controversy and confusion recently, resulting from the decision by two of the hosts not to shake hands with a male guest.

Blogger Jehanzeb Dar’s critique of the depiction of Muslim women in comic books provides an insightful continuation to broader discussions of depictions of these women in other venues, such as the showcase of portraits of Muslim women I wrote about in November here on Inside Islam. His two-part essay entitled “Female, Muslim, and Mutant” has been featured on prominent Muslim and non-Muslim blogs alike. You can find his commentary on Racialicious and Muslimah Media Watch. The series also received the Best Post or Series Award in The 2007 Brass Crescent Awards last month.

Lena Khan won the One Nation Film Contest earlier this year with the video above, “A Land Called Paradise.” According to an article by Special Correspondent for American.gov Serena Kim, Khan has received a lot of attention since releasing the video.

The debate about Islamic dress such as hijab and head scarfs has fascinated political and fashion publications alike. Popular culture and political magazine Slate published a piece called “Hijab Chic” by Asra Nomani.* Nomani writes about American interpretations of hijab fashion (as does videoblogger Baba Ali and Tariq Ramadan). Her experience at a retail store [...]