http://thestory.org/archive/the_story_116_Gender_Jihad.mp3 Dick talks to a Muslim woman who demanded the right to pray with the men, defying the centuries-old gender barriers of Islamic tradition. Plone 2.0 http://thestory.org/archive/the_story_116_Gender_Jihad.mp3/logo.jpg http://thestory.org/archive/the_story_116_Gender_Jihad.mp3 <h4>GENDER JIHAD</h4><p class="imageleft"><img class="image-left" src="resolveuid/ff1214b3f6be51f022d77ac0a9c7021e" alt="asra with veil" height="100" width="100" />Asra with veil<br /></p><p><i></i>Asra Nomani is an American Muslim.  She belongs to a mosque in West Virginia. In most mosques, women are separated from men, sometimes with walls, sometimes with curtains. Asra demanded the right to pray with the men in the male-only main hall, under the threat that the mosque may have to be shut down. <br /></p><i>And my dad literally started choking on his tears. He realized then, as he does now, that the stakes are very high. It's not just about his daughter. It's not just about one or two individuals. It's about whether we as a Muslim society are going to open our doors to all.</i><br /><p><i>- Asra Numani</i></p>Asra believes that what's best about Islam is being overshadowed by ideological conservatives -- who at their most extreme, kidnapped and executed her friend and colleague, Daniel Pearl<br /><p><br />Dick talks to her about how she reconciles her Islamic faith and feminist beliefs.<br /></p><p class="imageleft"><img class="image-left" src="resolveuid/ea9a6cbd01cdff1e83648fb7e954da83" alt="asra" height="100" width="100" />Asra with her son<br /></p><p>Asra is a former Wall Street Journal reporter and  who has written for The New York Times, the online journal  Slate, as well as Time Magazine. Her latest book, <i>Standing Alone: An American Woman's Struggle for the Soul of Islam</i>, is now out in paperback.</p><ul><li>Read some of <a href="http://asranomani.com/writings/" target="_self">Asra's writings</a></li><li>Read Asra's Dad's <a href="http://www.beliefnet.com/story/148/story_14849.html" target="_self">memories </a>of that day at the mosque</li></ul><h4>AHMED'S DIARY</h4><blockquote><i>This was a big week in Iraq. Everyone was waiting for the verdict of Saddam.</i><br /></blockquote><p><br />Ahmed Abdullah recently visited his wife and children who now live in Syria. He returned to Baghdad shortly before Saddam Hussein received his death sentence. His reaction, like those of the people he talked to, is deeply ambivalent.<br /></p><blockquote><i>We already have Sunnis and Shiite killing each other. Now we will have pro and anti Saddam people killing each other. Now everyone has a chance to live or die. I guess this is some kind of democracy.</i><br /></blockquote><p><br /></p> Muslim women feminist Thu, 09 Nov 2006 04:00:00