The Arab Spring surprised many in the West who believed Islam is inherently incompatible with democracy. But the citizens of Tunisia, Egypt and Libya proved them wrong. Reza Aslan and Marc Lynch join us for this last program in our Inside Islam series.

In a country where women have been told their stories do not matter, and have been threatened for telling them, women still muster the courage to write about themselves, even at the risk of severe punishment. The Afghan Women Writers Project is a US based organization dedicated to bringing their stories to light.

How does faith affect eco-consciousness? Is religion more focused on the after-life than on stewardship of the earth? Experts on Islam and Christianity join us for an interfaith conversation about faith and environmental activism. This show will preview an Inside Islam conference on Green Faith that will be held on March 6th at the Pyle Center at UW-Madison.

What’s your image of Muslim women—repressed, oppressed, submissive? Not according to a new collection of stories about love, relationships and dating, written by Muslim-American women. Ayesha Mattu and Nura Maznavi, co-editors of Love, InshAllah, join us to talk about the secret love lives of Muslim-American women.

Milwaukee-born writer Ayad Akhtar’s debut novel, American Dervish, is a coming-of-age tale with a twist. As he tells the story of Pakistani-American teenager, Hayat Shah, Akhtar presents a complex and deeply personal portrayal of what it means to grow up Muslim in America.

In her memoir, The Bread of Angels, Stephanie Saldana wrote about an Italian Jesuit who restored a tenth century monastery near Damascus, and then dedicated it to Muslim/Christian dialogue. Father Paulo was recently forced into exile by the Assad regime, but he’s back. Stephanie joins us with an update.

In the wake of the pro-democracy protests in Tahrir Square, many Western observers are dismayed by the electoral success of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. Dr. Tariq Ramadan, grandson of the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, joins us to talk about what the Brotherhood’s leadership means for the future of Egyptian democracy.

Three principal members of the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s LUBAR Institute for the Study of the Abrahamic Religions join me for a candid conversation about their own personal religious beliefs, how faith illuminates their lives, and what they have learned from one another.

The Taliban announced this week that ten years after 9/11, it is finally willing to talk with the United States. There’s only one catch: in return, the Obama Administration has to release at least five senior Taliban officials held at Guantánamo. President Emeritus of the Center for Constitutional Rights Michael Ratner joins us to talk about prospects for peace, and the future of Guantánamo.

Jesus has a unique role as a divine figure in Islam. He is highly revered and esteemed as a super prophet, on a par with Mohammed, and in certain respects, even above him. An Islamic scholar joins us to talk about how two of the world’s greatest faith traditions differ in their understanding of one of the most important religious figures of all time.