As a child, I was blessed to grow up around a remarkable human being by the name of Ale Nabi. He was one of my father's closest friends and someone who I came to embrace just like an uncle. What was remarkable about him was not the status or wealth that he came from, but the nobility and content of his character. As a professor of English he was always admired by his students. As a husband and father of three, he was always loved by his family. As a friend of many, he was always known for his kindness and generosity. He was constant in his devotion to God, through times of ease and difficulty.

Heaven forbid that you should ever have to deal with bureaucracy in Egypt. If you ever find yourself in that situation, you have obviously committed some grave sin against God and not repented, as I seemed to have done last week on my trip there. So, from observation and experience I offer the following tips. They’ll maybe, probably, if you’re lucky, allow you to be in a position of PERHAPS getting someone to think about considering whether or not your paperwork might eventually one day be thought of as something to be placed in the slush pile of forms that make a small mountain in the corner of a forgotten office, drowning what was once a rather empty ‘in’ tray.

Men are poor helpless creatures who can't control their feelings or libidos, or so it seems they want society to think. I'm a believer in the general goodness of most men, but baffled by the attitude that they are helpless in the face of womanly charms and must therefore refer to themselves in derogatory and weak ways.

For Muslim women worldwide, the 21st century is the age of progress and setbacks. The progress is made possible by women themselves; the setbacks are largely courtesy of some vocal clerics and self-appointed representatives, such as the terrorist group al-Qaida, both of whom often masquerade as the "saviours of the ummah".

I had a dream. In the dream I was crying, when three teeth landed in the palm of my hand. I cupped my hand under my chin to catch the three teeth. It was strange to be crying teeth. There wasn't any blood, but I knew they were gone forever, and I was overwhelmed with deep sadness.

Media reports are circulating that an unidentified Muslim cleric in Europe issued a ban on women touching fruits and vegetables such as bananas, cucumbers, carrots and zucchinis because they "resemble the male penis."

Every white guy, be he Muslim or not, should spend a day going around his town wearing the traditional Islamic thobe robe garment. It's fun on many levels. First of all, it's a way to actually feel even more masculine than normal while essentially wearing a dress -- at least a dress by our western ideas. I'm sure Scottish folks see the thobe as merely a longer, thinner kilt. Secondly, they are very comfortable for men. When combined with loose fitting underwear, I'm sure thobes have quite a liberating effect on a man's sperm count. I'd also love to see thobes replace skinny jeans as the garment of choice for rebellious teens. I mean, the average American teenage boy should really consider what will piss off his dad more, dressing like an anorexic chick, or a Muslim?

This year the Women’s Islamic Initiative in Spirituality and Equality (WISE) held its third global conference in Istanbul Turkey. The conference, titled “WISE: Muslim Women Leaders at the Frontlines of Change,” lasted just four days, from October 14 to October 17, 2011. It included panel discussions, debates, and training sessions.