Asra Nomani

Asra Q Nomani is a Indian-American Muslim journalist, author, and feminist, known as an activist in the Muslim reform and Islamic feminist movements. She is a professor in the practice of journalism at Georgetown University's School of Continuing Studies, leading the [http://www12.georgetown.edu/scs/event_pages/event_pearl_project.html Pearl Project] , a faculty-student investigative reporting project into the kidnapping and murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.

She is the author of two books, ' and ', and of the "Islamic Bill of Rights for Women in the Bedroom, the Islamic Bill of Rights for Women in the Mosque", and the "99 Precepts for Opening Hearts, Minds and Doors in the Muslim World" ( [http://www.muslimwakeup.com/main/archives/2005/03/our_wittenberg.php photo] ).

Biography

Personal life

Nomani was born in Bombay, India and when she was four years old moved to the United States with her older brother to join their parents in New Jersey, where her father was earning a Ph.D. at Rutgers University. At ten, she moved with her family to Morgantown, West Virginia. In her books "Tantrika" and "Standing Alone in Mecca", she identifies Indian Muslim scholar Mawlana Shibli Nomani, known for writing a biography of Muhammad, as a "paternal ancestor," in her extended family tree. Nomani received her B.A. in Liberal Studies from West Virginia University in 1986 and M.A. from American University in International Communications in 1990. She has one son, Shibli Daneel Nomani.

Career

Nomani is a former "Wall Street Journal" correspondent and has written for "The Washington Post", "The New York Times", "Slate", "The American Prospect", and "Time". She was a correspondent for Salon.com in Pakistan after 9/11, and her work appears in numerous other publications, including "People", "Sports Illustrated for Women", "Cosmopolitan", and "Women's Health". She has delivered commentary on National Public Radio.

She was a visiting scholar at the Center for Investigative Journalism at Brandeis University. She was a Poynter Fellow at Yale University.

Nomani is the founder and creator of the Muslim Women's Freedom Tour. She has also defied literalist interpretations of Islam that segregate women from men in prayers at Mosques, and was a lead organizer of the woman-led Muslim prayer in New York City on March 18, 2005, which has been described as "the first mixed-gender prayer on record led by a Muslim woman in 1,400 years."cite news
url=http://www.detnews.com/2005/religion/0507/20/A14-242112.htm
date= July 10, 2005
title=Muslim women take bold steps for role in Islam: Not content with being pushed aside in mosques, some defy the religion's age-old traditions
author=Teresa Watanabe
publisher=Los Angeles Times
accessdate=2007-06-25] [http://www.asranomani.com/mecca/archives/2005/05/washington_post.php] However, recognizing that various mixed-gender prayers have been led by a Muslim woman, including a 1997 funeral prayer led by a South African Muslim feminist Shamima Shaikh. [cite news
url=http://shams.za.org/20jan-shamima.htm
title=Death of a Muslim Joan of Arc
date=January 20, 1998
accessdate=2007-06-25] , Nomani has said the prayer was the first publicly led Friday prayer in modern day history.

In "Standing Alone in Mecca", she describes giving birth to her son as an unwed mother after his father abandoned her in Pakistan, then going to Mecca to perform the hajj in order to investigate and rediscover her religion. The "Washington Post" writes that the title echoes "Standing Again at Sinai" (1990), in which the author, Judith Plaskow, an American Jewish feminist, explored what she saw as the patriarchal origins of Judaism. [http://www.asranomani.com/mecca/archives/2005/05/washington_post.php]

Influence

In November 2003, Nomani became the first woman in her mosque in West Virginia to insist on the right to pray in the male-only main hall. Later, she organized the first public woman-led prayer of a mixed-gender congregation in the United States. On that day, March 18 2005, she stated: :"We are standing up for our rights as women in Islam. We will no longer accept the back door or the shadows, at the end of the day, we'll be leaders in the Muslim world. We are ushering Islam into the 21st century, reclaiming the voice that the Prophet gave us 1400 years ago" [http://asranomani.com/media/archives/2005/03/ap_woman_leads.php] .

Her efforts to allow women to lead mixed-gender prayer (Muslim women have always been able to lead single-gender prayers) have been rebuffed by the mainstream Muslim community-- no mosques or traditional Muslim women's organizations have participated in her mixed-gender prayers; her first prayer event was held at New York's Episcopal Cathedral of Saint John the Divine and the second (at Brandeis University) consisted of six individuals including herself.cite news
url=http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0328/p11s01-wogi.html
title=Muslims split over gender role: American Muslim women challenge the tradition that only men can lead ritual prayers.
author=Jane Lampman
date=March 28, 2005
publisher=Christian Science Monitor
accessdate=2007-06-25]

In other developments, several major Muslim organizations in the United States, including the Council on American Islamic Relations and the Islamic Society of North America, issued their first substantive work aimed at affirming women's rights in mosques, publishing "Women-Friendly Mosques and Community Centers: Working Together to Reclaim Our Heritage." The booklet, written by long-time social activist Shahina Siddiqui and Islamic Society of North America president Ingrid Mattson, was successfully distributed to mosques nationwide.cite news
url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0DE5DF1F3AF931A15754C0A9629C8B63&n=Top%2FReference%2FTimes%20Topics%2FSubjects%2FW%2FWomen
title=Muslim Women Seeking a Place in the Mosque
author=Laurie Goodstein
date=July 22, 2004
publisher=New York Times
accessdate=2007-06-25] [cite web
url=http://www.ildc.net/womens-involvement/WomenAndMosquesBooklet.pdf
title=Women Friendly Mosques and Community Centers: Working Together to Reclaim Our Heritage
accessdate=2007-06-25
format=PDF]

In addition to her books, she has expressed her experiences and ideas for reform in one "New York Times" editorial and in several other publications and broadcasts. She was a friend and colleague of "Wall Street Journal" reporter Daniel Pearl, who was staying with her in Karachi with his wife Mariane Pearl when he was abducted and later murdered by Islamic militants in January 2002.cite news
url=http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1545441,00.html?cnn=yes
title=Fingering Danny Pearl's Killer
date= October 12, 2006
author=Timothy J. Burger, Adam Zagorin
accessdate=2007-06-25] In the making of a movie of the book, "A Mighty Heart", by Pearl's wife, the British actress Archie Panjabi plays the role of Nomani.

The "Washington Post" published a review, by Nomani, of the film "A Mighty Heart".cite news
url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/22/AR2007062201673_2.html?hpid=opinionsbox2
title=A Mighty Shame: It's the Story of Our Search for Danny Pearl. But in This Movie, He's Nowhere to Be Found.
author=Asra Q. Nomani
publisher=Washington Post
date=June 24, 2007] Nomani argued "...that Danny himself had been cut from his own story."

Asra is leading the Pearl Project at Georgetown University and has been a guest on NPR's Tell Me More with Michel Martin on the Mocha Moms segments.Fact|date=August 2008

Views

Pakistani American lawyer, Asma Gull Hasan, and the author of "Why I Am a Muslim: An American Odyssey" admires Asra Nomani.

Asra Nomani has been involved in many controversies. Her critics maintain that although they don't object to Nomani's views, they do have a problem Nomani herself.

One such view is held by Louay Safi, executive director of the Islamic Society of North America's Leadership Development Center in Plainfield, Ind. He points out that many women were unhappy with the Morgantown mosque, not just Nomani. Unlike other women, however, Nomani wanted things to change overnight, says Safi. He also says that Asra Nomani doesn't have the "experience of engaging the community, negotiating and trying to change things gradually."Wiltz, Teresa. " [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/04/AR2005060401646.html The Woman Who Went To the Front of the Mosque] ", "Washington Post", June 5, 2005. Accessed April 20, 2008.]

Some critics charged that the prayer events were being staged to promote her book.Traditional Muslims often note her lack of involvement with Islamic practice or the Muslim community prior to 2002. [http://www.beliefnet.com/story/148/story_14849_1.html] Her critics also find her child out of wedlock to be objectionable behavior.

Nomani broke the news regarding Random House's decision not to publish "The Jewel of Medina", a historical novel about Aisha, wife of the Prophet Muhammad.cite news |first=Asra Q. |last=Nomani |title=You Still Can't Write About Mohammad |url=http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121797979078815073.html |work=The Wall Street Journal |publisher=Dow Jones & Company |date=2008-08-06 |accessdate=2008-08-09 ] She expressed disappointment in Random House's decision.

Works

Books

*. ISBN 0-06-057144-6
*"." ISBN 0-06-251714-7

Articles

* [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/04/AR2005110402306_pf.html Washington Post: A Gender Jihad For Islam's Future]
* [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/04/AR2005060401646_pf.html Washington Post:The Woman Who Went To the Front of the Mosque]
* [http://asranomani.com/writings/archives/2005/12/post.php#more Sojourner magazine: The Islamic Reformation has begun]
* [http://www.slate.com/id/2128906/ Slate magazine: How retailers are marketing to fashion-conscious Muslim women]
* [http://asranomani.com/writings/archives/2005/03/daily_news_my_a.php Daily News: My answered prayers]
* [http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&name=ViewPrint&articleId=9206 American Prospect Magazine: Pulpit Bullies]
* [http://asranomani.com/writings/archives/2005/03/struggle_for_th.php#more Sojourner magazine: Struggle for the soul of Islam]
* [http://asranomani.com/writings/archives/2005/02/who_really_kill.php#more Salon Magazine: Who really killed Daniel Pearl?]
* [http://asranomani.com/writings/archives/2004/05/new_york_times.php#more New York Times: Hate at the local mosque]
* [http://asranomani.com/writings/archives/2003/12/washington_post.php#more Washington Post: Rebel in the mosque]
* [http://www.brandeis.edu/investigate/events/AsraNomanifullpage.html Brandeis University Article on Asra Nomani] Includes Photos

Anthologies

* [http://livingislamoutloud.com Living Islam Out Loud]
*Because I Said So, ISBN: 0060598786

References

External links

* [http://www.asranomani.com Asra Q. Nomani's website]
* [http://www.asranomani.com/mecca/archives/2005/05/washington_post.php "A Pilgrim's Progress"] by Leila Ahmed, "The Washington Post," May 1 2005
* [http://www.detnews.com/2005/religion/0507/20/A14-242112.htm Muslim women take bold steps for role in Islam] by Teresa Watanabe, "The Detroit News," 10 July 2005. (Photo caption: "Azmeralda Alfi unsuccessfully attempts to make Asra Nomani move to the women's area of a Los Angeles mosque.")
* [http://www.sawnet.org/books/reviews.php?Standing+Alone+in+Mecca] Review of "Standing Alone in Mecca" on Sawnet
* [http://tallerediciones.com/cuza/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=136 La Cueva de Zaratustra] Essay by Eugenio Gallego about "Standing Alone in Mecca." In Spanish.
* [http://www.beliefnet.com/story/148/story_14849.html Excommunication From the Mosque?] Article by Asra Nomani's father, Zafar Nomani, on 'Beliefnet.
* Siddique, Sadaf. "With Faith in Her Heart." "Hyphen" 11, Spring 2007.

Videos and audio

* [http://kbak.sitestream.com/7_27_5_muslim.vsml?package=1841976 News story on Asra Nomani]
* [http://www.booktv.org/AfterWords/index.asp?segID=6055&schedID=367 Book TV interview with Asra Nomani]
* [http://www.npr.org/dmg/dmg.php?prgCode=ATC&showDate=29-Aug-2003&segNum=13&NPRMediaPref=WM&getAd= NPR audio commentary of Asra Nomani]