“Star Academy Arab World” - have you ever heard a title so appealing and filled with glamour, anticipation and excitement? If you watch “Big Brother”, “American Idol”, “America’s Got Talent”, “Britain’s Got Talent”, then - um, well - yes. 

Egypt in the twenty-first century is “Om ul-Dunya” as the Egyptians like to say- the Mother of the World. People have spent centuries excavating and digging into the past, but the present is just as rich. Picture this...you are traveling on horseback across the desert in about 112F weather, but you are parched. You are so close to the Pyramids now that there is simply no going back. You can feel the heat of the sun as you breathe in the thick, dusty desert air. But it’s ok...because your Egyptian tour guide brought along some nice, refreshing Coca-Cola cans! 

Spiritual re-invention through conversion to Islam is the true essence of the Muslim religion. The very first Muslims, including the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), all declared shahada and converted to Islam. The hero of the celebrated new film New Muslim Cool, Hamza (Jason) Perez is no different. At the young age of 21, when most people are trying to find a purpose in life, Hamza realized his own struggle against himself and gave up a life of drug dealing and hustling to embrace Islam.

More than 20,000 Muslims attended this year’s much buzzed-about ISNA (Islamic Society of North America) convention, which celebrated its 46th anniversary in the nation’s capital over July 4th weekend. The convention’s main theme of “Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness” was the perfect way to capture the spirit of the country’s Independence Day for Muslims, not to mention the location in our nation’s capital. Congressman Keith Ellison of Minnesota, ISNA President Ingrid Mattson, singer/songwriter Yusuf Islam and many others came together to give motivational speeches for Muslims.

From New Muslim Cool to The Stoning of Soraya M., it looks like nuanced portrayals of the Islamic world beyond the days of Die Hard are all the rage in American film today. But although these expressions of cinema are making waves in the U.S., what about the output of the Arab world itself? The Egyptian film industry, for one, is proving to emerge as a major cinema player, with the Cairo Film Festival making increasing strides as the oldest film festival in the Middle East, and new transformations that are putting Egypt on the world cinema map. 

With the June 20th interview with Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper, President Obama became the first US President to speak directly with a Pakistani media outlet while still in office. The occasion marks a huge shift from previous administrations in dealing with the Muslim world. When Obama talked about a new kind of dialogue with Muslims, it’s nice to know that talking directly to one of the most important Muslim countries in the world was on his radar. All in all, this is definitely a positive first step to placing the Muslim community on an equal level of conversation.