Dear President Obama,
Many Iranians, including Iranian-Americans such as myself, were delighted to hear your address to the Iranian people on the Persian New Year this March. We sincerely appreciated your well wishes for the New Year, but we appreciated even more your comments regarding a new American commitment to helping the Iranian people.
Read MoreI’m no proponent of violence, and as a Muslim my faith teaches me to avoid it whenever possible. Still, in the face of oppression, my faith also teaches me that it is not only an option to stand up for myself but a sacred duty. In short, slap me in the face and you can be assured that I’ll slap you right back. And if you’re falsely using my religion to justify slapping me in the face, expect me to slap you that much harder.
Read MoreEvery year, I spend the first half of March hunting for the perfect hyacinth. A staple of the Persian New Year, Nowruz, hyacinths are notoriously hard to control. They’re painfully unruly, always leaning to one side or another, refusing to stand up straight, even when you tie a ribbon around them. Yet they smell like heaven and while their stalks are forever recalcitrant in the directions that they take, each of the tiny flowers that graces those stalks screams of symmetry, beauty and perfection.
Read MoreLast week, Iranian cleric Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedighi–Tehran’s Friday Prayer leader–shook the patience of women worldwide by claiming that promiscuous and immodest women were responsible for earthquakes. Yes, you read that right.
Read MoreWith just over a week left in the current Persian calendar month of Bahman, three significant anniversaries promise to provide the Iranian pro-democracy movement with a massive shot of adrenalin. Thursday marks Revolution Day, the 31st anniversary of the Islamic Revolution; the commemoration of the martyrdom of the revered Shi’a saint Imam Hassan falls two days later, and two days after that marks the anniversary of the martyrdom of yet another honored Shi’a saint, Imam Reza.
Read MoreA talented Saudi poet, Hissa Hilal, has become the breakout star of the popular game showMillion’s Poet–Abu Dhabi’s version of American Idol, but featuring poets instead of singers. Hilal describes her poetry, which she says “has always been provocative,” as a “way to express myself and give voice to Arab women, silenced by those who have hijacked our culture and religion.”
Read MoreBy pushing Russia to consider the option of greater sanctions on Iran in her meeting with President Dmitry Medvedev this week, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton may be endorsing a policy that will end up biting her in the back of her pantsuit. Apart from the fact that Moscow is unlikely to support such a policy given its strong trade relations with Tehran, there’s also the issue of effectiveness. If the past 30 years have taught us anything in Iran, it is that sanctions are not an effective way to change the so-called Islamic Republic of Iran’s behavior, nuclear or otherwise.
Read MoreAs the rest of the world rings in the Gregorian New Year, I watch with jealousy and anticipation. January 1st has never held much meaning for me, and this year, less than ever. My new year is over two months and half-a-world away, and I’ve never been so impatient for it.
Read MoreCountless Muslim women around the world today are standing up and demanding their rights to freedom and equality under both secular and Islamic law. These feminist jihadists can be found in every corner of the globe. From France to Afghanistan to Sudan, brave Muslimahs are refusing to be told what they can and cannot do, say or wear.
Read More'Who here has read Ayaan Hirsi Ali's book, Infidel?' For the first time in three years not a single person raised their hand. At book club meetings, church gatherings, women's groups and Islam presentations across America, countless hands usually shoot up in the air in response to this question.
Read MoreFew things frustrate me more than being told that I don’t look like or can’t possibly be who I know I am. But as a loud and proud peace-loving feminist jihadist, I can’t avoid the accusations: “You don’t look like a Muslim”; “You can’t be a Muslim and a feminist!” and worse yet, “There’s no such thing as a peaceful jihadist.” In an effort to set the record straight, I am dedicating this and blog posts to come to my sister feminist jihadists.
Read MoreAfter nearly a year of organized popular strikes and demonstrations against the Shah, Iran’s Islamic Revolution triumphed 31 years ago this week. Being a fetus at the time, however, I have no memory of this defining historical moment in my homeland, despite the fact that it directly determined the direction of my future.
Read MoreReading the news about Iran, you're likely to miss its biggest story — the story that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei recently said was part of a "soft war," and the reason the regime refuses to allow foreign journalists to leave their offices for the next three days. That is, the story of the Iranian people, as opposed to that of their increasingly militant and illegitimate government.
Read MoreIn the lead-up to his speech at the UN General Assembly in New York on Wednesday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is up to his old tricks. And sadly, the global community seems to be falling for them.
Read MoreThe Iranian people reminded the world on Friday that they will not let themselves be ignored or forgotten. Despite the orders and warnings of the regime against any opposition protests, defiant Iranians poured into the streets in the thousands.
Read MoreMelody Moezzi, a recent graduate ofEmory Law School, an Iranian, MuslimAmerican writes a book setting forth simply, in twelve different chapters, the stories of12 American Muslims. Weaved throughout the stories are personal musings and reflections of Melody.
Read MoreIt doesn’t take an Islamic scholar to see that the so-called Islamic Republic of Iran is anything but, especially today. With increasing accounts of rape, torture, forced confessions, and judicial proceedings lacking even a semblance of due process, the Iranian government is quickly losing any credibility it had left, including any legitimate claim to Islam.
Read MoreWhile the current Iranian uprising began as a green revolution, it is quickly turning red. With each death at the hands of the regime, a martyr is born, and with each martyr, the seed of revolution is planted. According to Shi’a legend, where the blood of a martyr spills, a red tulip will bloom. And in a culture so intensely steeped in symbolism, it could very well be these tulips that determine the next chapter in Iranian history.
Read MoreAn increasingly common call amid the many protests since Iran’s presidential election has become “Join us!” This is not a vague invitation. It is frequently directed specifically at the members of Iran’s volunteer civilian militia known as the Basij. They are subject to the direct orders of the Supreme Leader and the Revolutionary Guard. As plain-clothed militia, their key advantage in policing the Iranian people is their ability to blend in with them.
Read MoreAt the heart of Iran’s Islamic Revolution was a stencil duplicator and a tape recorder. These were the Ayatollah Khomeini’s Facebook and Twitter. He used them to get his sermons into Iran when he was in exile in Iraq and France.
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