Action Alert Update: Majid Zamani Released on Bail
Dear Friends, Good news on Thanksgiving and Eid! Majid Zamani has been released on bail. Please visit http://freemajidzamani.com/ for a message from his family. Thank you for your support and for signing the petition. Warmly, Rushda

The Muppets do Persian Music
Technically, Parsi music. Freddie Mercury was born Farrokh Bulsara. I suppose it's also Zanzibari music.

Reading the Qur'n as a Resident Alien
A friend from Harvard has a new article out on reading the Qur'an. If you can get your hands on it, you should read it. Excerpts are below, with citation information. Whitney Bodman, “Reading the Qurān as a Resident Alien,” Muslim World 99, no. 4 (2009): 689 - 706. --- Many will read the Qur’ān casually, out of curiosity. Some will read it with more academic intent and some with polemical intent (a purpose that the Qur’ān condemns, Q 2:176). All of these readers are, in the words of Paul Griffiths, consumers of the Qur’ān. These readers are less likely to understand the Qur’ān as it intends to be un

Plug: America's Next Great Pundit, Final Round
You've invested all this time and effort into Zeba, you know you want to see her win. She deserves this, so final votes in now please. Dear Friends and Colleagues, This is it. After nearly 5000 entries and four rounds of competition, I am competing as one of two finalists in the final round of the Washington Post's "America's Next Great Pundit" Competition. Each round has been decided by online votes so it is because of your help that I have made it this far and I am asking for your help one last time. V

Video: Visualizing empires decline