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Maureen Fiedler, S. L. Photo courtesy of WAMU, via National Carholic Reporter
Twenty Years After 9/11
September 10, 2021
This week we begin a three-part special reflecting on the 20th anniversary of 9/11 and the origins of Interfaith Voices. Dalia Mogahed and Dr. Sylvia Chan-Malik share their insights.
Dalia Mogahed. Image courtesy of the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding.
“I Just Got Angry and Had to Do Something" September 10, 2021
Not long after the Federal Communications Commission repealed the Fairness Doctrine in 1987 -- radio programming began to change.  They became dominated by one point of view and that concerned Maureen Fiedler, an activist nun who was not afraid of creating change.   We begin this week’s episode by revisiting the origin story of Interfaith Voices.  Although it officially launched in February of 2002 --  the very first pilot episode took place exactly one week after the 9/11 attacks. Maureen hosted a 3-hour live call-in at WAMU, the Washington, DC affiliate of NPR.  After that day, explains how she felt called to build a program to combat the rising anti-Muslim bias and misinformation.  

On September 10, 2001, Dalia Mogahed was planning to move the following day from Cincinnati to Pittsburgh with her young family. The next morning she watched the news with horror and fear. The hijab-wearing, Egyptian American mom delayed her eventual move.  In this non-narrated personal reflection, Mogahed describes her trajectory into public life, answering a new calling.  She set out to use her skills in consumer research to gather data and educate fellow Americans about what Muslims actually think.  From publishing a book to appearing on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Trevor Noah to her Ted talk online that generated more than 4.5 million views,  Mohged shares what she’s learned and why she’s not done.

Sister Maureen Fiedler, Ph.D. S. L. Activist and a member of the Sisters of Loretto. She is a progressive, activist within the Roman Catholic Church. She has a long history of working with interfaith coalitions on a variety of issues including social justice, peace, anti-racism work, gender equality, human rights, and female ordination in the Catholic Church. She holds a doctorate in Government from Georgetown University. She was founder, executive producer, and host of the Interfaith Voices–before handing over the mic to Ambereen Khan. She now resides in the Loretto Motherhouse in Kentucky, USA.



Ambereen Khan and Maureen Fiedler

Dalia Mogahed. Director of Research at the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding, where she leads the organization’s pioneering research and thought leadership programs on American Muslims. Mogahed is former Executive Director of the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies, where she led the analysis of surveys of Muslim communities worldwide. With John L. Esposito, she co-authored the book Who Speaks for Islam? What a Billion Muslims Really Think. She completed her undergraduate studies at the University of Wisconsin and her MBA at the Joseph M. Katz Graduate School of Business at the University of Pittsburgh.

Dr. Hogahed has presented both TED and TEDx talks.

Who Speaks for Islam: What a Billion Muslims Think, by Dalia Mogahed. Gallup Press 2008
Who Speaks for Islam: What a Billion Muslims Think
Gallup Press
Sylvia Chan Malik Image courtesy Rutgers University.
“What changed...the engagement in activism, organizing and artistic expressions” September 10, 2021
Distinguished American Studies scholar Dr. Sylvia Chan-Malik widens the lens and puts Dalia Mogahed’s work and leadership into context.  Reflecting on the 9/11 anniversary, Chan-Malik shares how the last twenty years have led to greater introspection and reflection about identity, race, gender, and ethnicity among U.S. Muslim communities.  And greater public engagement in contrast to the years prior.  She points out that the disproportionate attention and discourse about Muslims given their size defies the logic applied to other belief traditions and, in her opinion, offers evidence of the long history of anti-Muslim stereotypes and bias in America’s racial history.

Dr. Sylvia Chan-Malik Ph.D. Associate Professor at Rutgers University and a scholar of American studies, Critical Race and Ethnic Studies, Women's and Gender Studies, and Religious Studies. Her research focuses on the history of Islam in the United States, specifically the lives of U.S. Muslim women and the rise of anti-Muslim racism in 20th-21st-century America. She received her undergraduate, Master's, and Doctoral degrees from the University of California, Berkeley, and an MFA in Creative Writing from Mills College. She is the author, most recently of, Being Muslim: A Cultural History of Women of Color and American Islam, from NYU Press.

Being Muslim: A Cultural History of Women of Color and American Islam, from NYU Press
Being Muslim: A Cultural History of
Women of Color and American Islam

NYU Press






Our theme music is by MC Yogi

This week's closing music, New Hope, by Audiobinger,
used under a Creative Commons By Attribution 4.0 license.

All additional music by Blue Dot Sessions.

Remixes and sound design by Dissimilation Heavy Industries
.