Though the poem on which Sahar Aryan’s song on Afghan Star was based was composed before the horrific murder of Farkhunda Malikzadeh, Sahar’s performance can be read as a subtle reference to that event…

A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night refutes the “good Muslim” trope by affording its main character her monstrosity. Muslims have long been monstrous in the western imagination…

After achieving independence in 1945, Indonesian leaders began tackling the basic questions that faced all postcolonial state-builders: What principles would guide the state and nation? Communism or capitalism? Secularism or Islam? How could they craft a common national identity from a diverse population? It is against this backdrop that in the April 1954 issue of the popular Indonesian Muslim periodical Al-Muslimun, the editors published an unusual translation of a well-known verse from Sūrat al-Nisāʾ of the Qur’an from Arabic into Indonesian...