Former Wall Street Journal reporter Asra Nomani will hold a public reading at 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 2, at the Aull Center (formerly known as the Garlow House) next to the Morgantown Public Library on 351 Spruce St.
During the program, the West Virginia University graduate and noted Muslim author will present excerpts of her new release,Standing Alone in Mecca: An American Womans Struggle for the Soul of Islam.
The book is a personal narrative that tells the story of Nomanis journey to Mecca on the holiest of pilgrimages, the hajj.Standing Alone in Meccaexamines the changing face of women in Islam, interweaving political analysis, cultural history and spiritual travelogue.
According to a Booklist review, it isa life-changing experience that she chronicles with compelling detail, candor and passion.
The program, part of Nomanis Muslim Womens Freedom Tour and sponsored in part by the WVU Center for Women Studies, a program within the WVU Eberly College of Arts and Sciences, will be followed by a book-signing.
We also co-sponsored the Daughters of Hajar program that Asra organized last June,said Barbara Howe, director of the Center for Womens Studies.These events are important parts of our community outreach effort, as well as excellent opportunities to introduce our students to the work of a WVU alumna. In 2002-2003, we co-sponsored, with FACDIS (Faculty and Course Development in International Studies program), a program on Women in Islam that received funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities, so this also provides another opportunity to continue to discuss that timely topic.
Nomanis book tour will also take her to Potomac State College of WVU , where she will present a talk at 6 p.m. Thursday, March 10, in Academy Hall 210. Copies ofStanding Alone in Meccawill be available for sale.
Community members may remember Nomani from the WVU Council for Womens ConcernsWomen of Color Day Luncheon held in the fall.
She was also one of many Muslim community members recently interviewed for a one-hour PBS documentary that looks at how the debate over reform in Islam plays out in a small West Virginia town.
The documentary,The Mosque in Morgantown,is being funded under the Corporation for Public BroadcastingsAmerica at a Crossroadsinitiative, a new program that supports films about the post 9/11 world. Producer Brittany Huckabee said the films will air on PBS stations over the next few years.
We are witnessing an important moment in the history of Islam, not just overseas but also here at home,she said.In this country, there is a great need for a better understanding of the religion and of the dynamics in Muslim communities. I wanted to make a film that would tell the story of contemporary American Islam on a local scale and with a human face. Thanks to the generous cooperation of Asra and many others in the local Muslim community, �€~The Mosque in Morgantownwill hopefully be able to do this.
During the making of the documentary, Huckabee filmed portions of WVU s tsunami community forum, which featured Nomani as a panelist speaker.