The premise of the new book Mother of the Believers by Kamran Pasha is a familiar one: the book is about one of the most beloved wives of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), Aisha. There was a book last year that was released under much controversy, Jewel of Medina, which focused on Aisha's relationship with the Prophet (peace be upon him).

Israel's disproportionate attacks on Gaza earlier this year resulted in a lot of uproar throughout the world. The horror that everyone felt at these events was compounded by the fact that Egypt closed it's borders to Gaza. Palestinians couldn't escape and humanitarian aid couldn't enter through the border Egypt shared with Gaza.

In Al’ America: Travels Through America’s Arab and Islamic Roots, journalist Jonathan Curiel explores the influence Arab and Islamic culture has had on the United States of America. Curiel provides Americans with an accessible book that forces one to look at America since its inception and recognize that we should not all fear Arabs and Muslims because in fact, many things can be traced back to these origins.

On Saturday, November 22, Santa Clara University was home to a panel presented by Project Greenlight and Omeid International and Illume Magazine titled Connecting Universal Struggles. This event was the last of three events produced by Omeid in an effort to raise money to build an orphanage for children displaced in Afghanistan.

I spent this past Saturday, August 9 at the 4th Annual Muslim Unity Day at Six Flags, Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo, CA. I was there in the capacity of Illume, sitting at the booth and alternating between talking to people about the magazine and people watching, both very interesting activities.

I was at the Coldplay concert last night in San Jose when the inevitable happened, it was Maghrib time.

Salon.com published an article today, The FBI's Plan to "Profile" Muslims and Arabs, about impending new rules from the Department of Justice that will allow the FBI to profile solely based on one's religion and/or race, i.e. will let them legally go after someone just because they are Muslim or Arab. These rules, if they are approved, may go into effect as early as this summer. Journalist Juan Cole writes about how this will allow the FBI to create profiles of people to investigate them without requiring any evidence of wrongdoing.

A lot of us with liberal leanings have never really thought much of the Fox News Channel. Recent actions not only reinforce our views that Fox News reporters were not quite right in the head, but may also prove to alienate those who actually did go to Fox News for, well, news.

I was wandering around the Borders near my work the other day, as is my usual habit during my breaks, and noticed something that disturbed me a bit: A prominent display of "Politically Incorrect" guides. The "Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades)" was at the top. I had the misfortune of flipping through this book a long time ago while in the Middle Eastern history section (what can I say, I was curious) and already knew about the anti-Islam rhetoric that flowed through it, which begins with a few bullet points on the cover.  So all I could