March 27 – April 2

Ahmed Kathrada: anti-apartheid titan jailed with Mandela dies at 87

The Guardian

Ahmet Kathadra, South African Anti-Apartheid activist who was jailed alongside Nelson Mandela in the 1964 Rivonia trial, has passed away.
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Trump has vowed to eradicate ‘radical Islamic terrorism.’ But what about ‘Islamism’?

The Washington Post

Shadi Hamid and Rashid Dar argue that Islamism poses an intellectual challenge to Western liberalism that security professionals have incorrectly diagnosed and conflated with terrorism.
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Arab, Latino leaders have tense meetings with Homeland Security chief

Detroit Free Press

Department of Homeland Security chief, John Kelly met with Arab-American and Latino leaders in Dearborn Michigan in a tense meeting about profiling and its effects on communities.
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Maajid Nawaz’s Radical Ambition

The New York Times

Maajid Nawaz is a fundamentalism anti-extremist activist whose public engagement is controversial to many.
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Scholar or retailer of import goods? Reza Aslan, his guru, and his critics

The Immanent Flame

Reza Aslan’s new show, Believer, profiles different religious communities including traditions that fall outside of the “monotheistic” taxonomy. Michael Altman asks what issues are elided when religions becomes the focus of a television series.
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Hijab and Sex: Does Islam Respect Free Choice?

MM

How do notions of autonomy and free choice determine the kinds of responses people have to Muslim social and sexual ethics? Muslim Matters addresses these questions in response to the believer and the skeptic alike.
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California Today: Muslim Candidate Says He’s ‘Triple Threat to Donald Trump’

The New York Times

Asif Mahmood is a pulmonologist who is running for lieutenant governor of California in response to the campaign and administration of Donald Trump.
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Islamophobic crimes rose after Westminster attacks, police reveal

The Independent

Hate crimes from right wing groups targeting Muslims have increased in light of the London Westminster Bridge attack.
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China Uighurs: Xinjiang ban on long beards and veils

BBC News

The Chinese government has used extremism as an excuse to impose harsh laws targeting Uighur Muslims in China’s Xinjiang province.
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Being a Muslim under Trump is risky. That's why many are hiding their identity

The Guardian

Khaled Beydoun discusses Muslim dissimulation of religious identity in order to avoid threatening situations provoked by Trump’s Islamophobic policies. Downplaying one’s religious identity, Beydoun says, is not new.
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Arab summit: Arab leaders oblivious to Arab realities

Al Jazeera

Arab leaders met in Jordan last week to discuss difficulties by addressing “big political issues,” only to ignore some of the most pervasive domestic issues facing their communities.
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The Future of Religion and U.S. Foreign Policy Under Trump

The Berkely Center

Peter Mandaville, Maydan’s advisory board member, discusses the history of the Office of Religion and Global Affairs (RGA), the role it has played in international politics, and the grim future it might face under Trump.
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Britain courts the Muslim world as European ties fray

The Economist

The Economist analyzes Britain’s foreign policy toward the Muslim world as the country takes yet another step to finalize its divorce from the EU.
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Maydan editors selected some of the most thought-provoking news items on issues around Islam, religion and public-life for you. Let us know what you have been reading. Drop us a line at mediaroundups@themaydan.com!