POV

Film-Related Websites

Filmmaker Website: New Muslim Cool
Puerto Rican-American rapper Hamza Perez ended his life as a drug dealer 12 years ago and started down a new path as a young Muslim. The filmmaker's website addresses the nuances of being Muslim in post-9/11 America.

Mujahideen Team MySpace Page
The M-Team's MySpace page includes links to all of their videos and songs, as well as a link to purchase their albums.

Muslims in America

AltMuslim
This website provides a multifaceted platform for Muslims and non-Muslims alike to gather news from around the world and express their views on it.

Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)
CAIR was established to enhance understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding. The site includes demographic information, information about civil rights and government relations and a search-by-zip code service for mosques and other Muslim organizations.

American Muslims Intent on Learning and Activism (AMILA)
AMILA (which means "to work" or "to act" in Arabic) is an organization that helps build up the American Muslim community through activism, Islamic education, spirituality and networking with other Muslim groups. The website focuses on its three chapters, which serve the San Francisco Bay Area, Texas and Wisconsin.

Islamic Society of North America (ISNA)
The website of this national umbrella organization includes news releases about current issues (e.g., FBI surveillance of mosques), reports on interfaith projects and more. ISNA is dedicated to bringing more American Muslims into the political system, for the purpose of making sure that U.S. foreign policy is written with an understanding of Islam and in a spirit of cooperation and peace. The website includes a blog, video highlights and an online newsroom.

Muslim Alliance in North America (MANA)
The website of this alliance of places of worship and Muslim organizations includes a variety of essays and resources designed to nurture religious practice and teaching in indigenous North American Muslim communities.

Muslim American Society
The Muslim American Society runs the Islamic American University and supports a variety of other initiatives, including American Muslim magazine. The magazine's website includes an extensive collection of articles on issues related to American Muslims, interfaith work, links to relevant news stories and answers to questions that non-Muslims ask, as well as an action page for Muslims who are interested in taking action.

Muslims for Progressive Values (MPV)
This non-profit organization seeks to "bring together progressive Muslims and friends who share their values: social justice, human rights, economic opportunity and the separation of church and state. " The site includes a list of issues including rights for women and LGBQT individuals and special initiatives in which MPV is involved, including its Anti-Violence Against Women campaign, which was instituted in partnership with Malaysia's Sisters in Islam organization.

Books

African American Islam, Aminah McCloud (New York: Routledge, 1995)
In this book, Aminah McCloud presents an introduction to the varied expressions of African-American Islam in the United States from the point of view of an Islamic scholar. African Americans are the largest ethnic component of the fastest growing religion in the United States, but most Americans know little about African-American Islamic beliefs and practices, or the diversity within the community.

Crescent, Diana Abu-Jaber (fiction) (New York: W.W. Norton, 2003)
This novel details the life of Sirine, a 39-year-old woman, never married, who lives in the Arab-American community of Los Angeles known as Irangeles. One day a handsome professor of Arabic literature, an Iraqi exile, comes to the restaurant where Sirine works, and she finds herself falling in love and in the process starts questioning her identity as an Arab American.

No god but God, Reza Aslan (New York: Random House, 2005)
In this book, Reza Aslan examines the history of the origins of Islam and investigates the circumstances under which it was created.

Red, White and Muslim: My Story of Belief, Asma Gull Hasan (New York: HarperCollins, 2009)
Asma Gull Hasan, author of Muslim: My Story of Belief and American Muslims: The New Generation, has revised her first book about her personal relationship with her religion, adding fresh material in this paperback edition. Hasan strives to engender understanding of Muslim beliefs and traditions by sharing the story of her upbringing as a Muslim American in Chicago. Fareed Zakaria, Newsweek editor and former host of PBS's Foreign Exchange, says, "Asma Hasan will rock your stereotypes about Islam in this refreshing book. Here is a young woman who embraces Islam, modernity, America, her family and her friends — all with enthusiasm and commitment. She sees no contradictions between them and, after you have read this book, neither will you."

The Trouble with Islam, Irshad Manji (Macmillan, 2004)
Irshad Manji offers a practical vision of how the United States and its allies can help Muslims undertake a reformation that empowers women, promotes respect for religious minorities and fosters a competition of ideas.

Interfaith

BeliefNet
This website provides a place for people to explore many different religions and faith organizations and to exchange views and interact in an environment that promotes interfaith interactions and self-exploration without any specific religious agenda.

Cordoba Initiative
Founded in 2002, this multi-faith organization strives to heal the relationship between the Islamic world and the United States through civil dialogue, policy initiatives, education and cultural programs.

The Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago: Interfaith Dialogue in Chicago
This umbrella organization represents a consortium of Muslim organizations in the greater Chicago area. The website offers articles and viewpoints on interfaith dialogue, gives visitors general information about Islam and Muslims, includes links to the different services the council provides and discusses the roles of women and youth in Islam.

Jewish-Muslim Dialogue Group of Los Angeles
This website includes a description of how this Los Angeles area group works, ground rules for dialogue and other helpful resources for people wishing to start their own interfaith initiatives.

The National Conference for Community and Justice
Formerly the National Council of Christians and Jews, this anti-bias organization promotes interfaith cooperation.

Union for Reform Judaism (URJ)
The URJ has dedicated a section of its website to understanding Islam. It includes basic information about Islam and excerpts from a guide the URJ created on Muslim-Jewish dialogue.

United Religions Initiative (URI)
This organization was founded in 2000 by a global community committed to promoting enduring, daily interfaith cooperation and to ending religiously motivated violence through a variety of initiatives. URI membership groups, known as Cooperation Circles, create opportunities for intercultural encounter and interfaith reflection; program music festivals; develop educational programs; and participate in a host of other activities. Over 360 circles are active in over 65 countries.

Books

Beyond Tolerance: Searching for Interfaith Understanding in America, Gustav Niebuhr (New York: Viking, 2008)
A former New York Times religion reporter takes the reader on a hopeful journey through America, shining a light on the multitude of congregations that are reaching across theological boundaries not with tolerance, but with respect.

A History of God, Karen Armstrong (New York: Knopf, 1993)
Karen Armstrong, one of Britain's foremost commentators on religious affairs, traces the history of how people's perceptions and experiences of God, from the time of Abraham to the present.

Progressive Muslims, edited by Omid Safi (Oxford: Oneworld, 2003)
The 15 articles by Muslim scholars and activists collected here address the challenging and complex issues that confront Muslims today. Subjects include the alienation of Muslim youth; Islamic law, marriage and feminism; and the role of democracy in Islam.

Hip-Hop and Islam

In Harlem, Reaching Out to Muslims Through Hip-Hop
This profile of Puerto-Rican Muslim hip-hop dancer Shukriy highlights the growing number of Muslim-American rappers reaching out to Muslim young people via the hip-hop beat. (Apr. 24, 2009)

Ilume Magazine: Using Hip Hop to Defeat the Devil
Muhammad Sajid interviews Muslim hip hop artist T-Kash and learns about his journey to Islam. (Nov. 20, 2008)

MSNBC: Muslim rappers combine beliefs with hip-hop
This article discusses how rap is gaining popularity in the Muslim community as the number of artists and fans grows exponentially. (Nov. 24, 2004)

PBS and NPR

PBS Programs

The Muslim Americans
Part of the America at a Crossroads series, The Muslim Americans explores the diversity of Muslims in America today, focusing on communities' experience after 9/11.In the first offering in an ongoing series on the impact of 9/11 on life in the United States, Spencer Michels talks with members of the American Muslim community in San Francisco. (Sept. 4, 2006)

Frontline: Muslims: Portraits of Ordinary Muslims
Yasamin Saeb, a young Saudi-Arabian woman working and living in New York City, shares the story of Muslims Against Terrorism, a group of young professionals she started after 9/11. Also, Dr. Aminah McCloud, who converted to Islam in 1966 and is an expert on Islam and Muslim communities, hosts a discussion with family and friends about tensions within the Muslim American community. (May 9, 2002)

Religion and Ethics Newsweekly: Gustav Niebuhr on Interfaith Understanding
Bob Abernethy interviews Gustav Niebuhr, the author of Beyond Tolerance. Promoting understanding between religions has become Niebuhr's calling. Niebuhr says local interfaith conversations can lead to joint projects and eventually to global peacemaking. Watch the video or read an excerpt from Beyond Tolerance. (Jan. 16, 2009)

Bill Moyers Journal: Perspectives from Muslim Women
The treatment of women under some Islamic systems is among the most contentious of issues faced by American Muslims today. Producer Candace White speaks with four Muslim women in the San Francisco Bay area about being a Muslim woman in the United States. (June 22, 2007)

NPR Stories

Day to Day: Brother Ali: Hip-Hop from a Unique Perspective
Brother Ali raps about being discriminated against, about being poor and about finally achieving success in the hip-hop world. Though the themes may be familiar, they come from an unusual perspective: Brother Ali is an albino Muslim. (June 1, 2007)

Morning Edition: Gaza Palestinians Vent Frustrations Through Rap
Young Arab hip-hop artists are borrowing the sounds and styles of American rappers in order to express their experiences. But the message of the songs is strictly their own. (Oct. 6, 2005)

Generation Next
The 42 million 16- to 25-year-olds in the United States — roughly 14 percent of the population — will have a major impact on American society as they rise into adulthood. In a series of profiles focusing on religious identity, race relations and political activism, Judy Woodruff looks at what makes this generation of young people different from previous generations. (Sept. 14, 2006)

Talk of the Nation: Islam in America
Many American Muslims have transformed the way they think about themselves, their country and the role of Islam in America in the three years since Sept. 11, 2001. Topics include cultural isolation, community outreach and questions of identity. (Sept. 4, 2004)