What if the birds around us were inviting us to see the world—and ourselves—in an entirely new way?

Daisy Khan speaks with Perin Gurel, a University of Notre Dame professor, about her novel Laleh and The Language of the Birds and its roots in Attar’s Conference of the Birds, real ornithology, and her daughter’s original story idea.

They explore Laleh’s coming-of-age journey after her ornithologist father disappears, the blend of Sufism, ecology, and feminism in the book, and practical ways for teens and adults to reconnect with nature by listening and learning common birds.

01:09 Why Write This Novel

02:42 Birds as Messengers

03:47 Laleh and Her Father

04:45 Disappearance and Growth

06:32 Learning Bird Language

08:12 Bird Dialects and Culture

09:14 Tricksters Like Cowbirds

10:45 Conference of Birds Today

12:20 Birds Hijack Twitter

13:59 Crows and Ecofeminism

15:46 Science Meets Sufi Myth

17:20 Wisdom from a Talking Bird

19:14 Bicultural Identity and Sufism

#ReadToGrow #Wisdom #Iqra #WISEWomenPodcast #GrowthMindset #SelfDiscovery #Motivation #Ornithology

A Texas governor branded a planned Muslim community a "Sharia city" and moved to block its construction. The residents owned the land. Zoning was approved. Every document the Constitution requires was already in order. What followed was the latest chapter in a quiet, decade-long legal war over whether Islam even counts as a religion in the eyes of American law.

In this episode of WISE Women with Daisy Khan with host Dr. Daisy Khan, religious liberty lawyer, author, and Michigan State University law professor Asma Uddin breaks down the specific legal and rhetorical strategy built to disqualify Islam from the protections every other American faith receives. Asma, who has argued cases at the United States Supreme Court and written When Islam is Not a Religion and The Politics of Vulnerability, traces the claim that only twelve percent of Islam qualifies as religion, walks through the two First Amendment clauses now being tested in Texas and beyond, and unpacks post-9/11 courtroom data showing Muslim claimants have been half as likely to prevail as their peers of other faiths. She also lays out the playbook for what American Muslims and their allies can do right now, including deep interfaith coalition building and showing up at zoning meetings where the real damage is done.

The conversation ends with a vision that may be the most radical thing an American Muslim can ask for. Not spectacular. Not symbolic. Just super ordinary.

This episode is part of The Muslim Women Project on WISE Women with Daisy Khan, featuring 100 Muslim women of authority shaping their destiny, community, and society at large. Listen to the full conversation, Like, Follow, and Share WISE Women with Daisy Khan wherever you get your podcasts.

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Author Bio:

Asma Uddin is an Assistant Professor of Law at Michigan State University, a religious liberty lawyer, and an author who has argued cases at the United States Supreme Court on behalf of religious communities across many faith traditions. She is the author of When Islam is Not a Religion: How a Faith Became a Political Category in American Law and Life, and The Politics of Vulnerability. Her work also spans the Aspen Institute, the Freedom Forum Institute, and a Substack on constitutional rights.

What if everything you've been told about Sharia is wrong? In this episode of WISE Women with Daisy Khan, host Dr. Daisy Khan sits down with legal scholar and author Sumbul Ali-Karamali to dismantle one of the most weaponized words in American politics. Together, they trace how a 1,400-year-old ethical framework rooted in protecting life, family, intellect, and human dignity was deliberately repackaged into a political scare word by the Islamophobia industry. Sumbul reveals the evidentiary standards that made punishments like stoning virtually impossible to carry out, explains how British colonizers actually found Sharia too lenient, and uncovers the historical links between Islamic jurisprudence and the English common law system Americans rely on today. They also confront the persistent myth that Sharia subjugates women, with Sumbul pointing out that the Quran granted women rights in the seventh century that Western women would not see for another thousand years.

Fear is profitable, but knowledge is liberation. Tune in and discover why the real threat to American values has never been Sharia.

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#WISEWomenwithDaisyKhan #WISEWomen #Sharia #IslamicLaw #Islamophobia #MuslimWomen #DemystifyingShariah #SumbulAliKaramali #DaisyKhan #FaithAndJustice #AntiMuslimBigotry #WomenInIslam #ReligiousLiteracy #AmericanMuslims #HumanRights

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A thousand years of anti-Muslim tropes didn't stay buried in medieval manuscripts. They followed Christians into modern sanctuaries, Sunday school classrooms, and even progressive interfaith circles. So what happens when two ordained Baptist pastors decide to trace the roots and rip them out?

In this episode of WISE Women with Daisy Khan, host Dr. Daisy Khan sits down with Rev. Dr. Anna Piela and Rev. Dr. Michael Woolf, a married clergy couple who co-founded Challenging Islamophobia Together Chicagoland and recently released their book Confronting Islamophobia in the Church. Together, they unpack how a deliberately distorted medieval Quran translation shaped centuries of Christian perception, why progressive Christians still harbor "soft Islamophobia" toward Muslim women, and what their survey of American Baptist clergy revealed about the deepest theological blind spots between the two faiths.

Anna draws on her background as an Islamic feminist scholar to challenge the persistent stereotype of Muslim women as lacking agency, while Michael makes the case that reading the Quran with generosity can actually deepen Christian faith. They also share practical steps, from interfaith iftars to their own "Don't Burn the Quran, Read It" initiative, that any congregation can adopt today.

Listen to WISE Women with Daisy Khan because every story matters. This conversation is an invitation to move beyond assumption and into an authentic relationship, one shared meal and one honest question at a time. Listen, Like, Follow, and Share WISE Women with Daisy Khan wherever you get your podcasts.

#WISEWomenwithDaisyKhan #WISEWomen #ConfrontingIslamophobia #InterfaithDialogue #IslamophobiaInTheChurch #ChristianMuslimDialogue #AntiMuslimBias #HolyEnvy #InterfaithSolidarity #MuslimWomenLeaders #IslamicFeminism #SoftIslamophobia #ReadTheQuran #InterfaithIftar #FaithInAction

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In this episode of WISE Women with Daisy Khan, with host Dr. Daisy Khan, Dr. Denise Ziya Berte, Executive Director of the Peaceful Families Project and a licensed clinical psychologist specializing in trauma, torture, and interpersonal violence, dismantles the myth that domestic violence is a Western problem.

She examines how the power and control tactics used by dictators operate identically inside abusive households, confronts the misuse of Verse 4:34 to justify spousal violence, and exposes the community silence leaving victims without support. The Peaceful Families Project's "In Their Names" campaign has documented over 45 Muslim domestic homicides in two years, with 80 to 90 percent occurring during separation or divorce. Dr. Berte also addresses why 25 percent of Muslim children raised in the United States leave Islam and why working equally with perpetrators and survivors is an Islamic obligation.

Dr. Denise Ziya Berte's work through Peaceful Families Project spans imam trainings, youth programming, parenting education, and a nationwide network of over 50 culturally competent service providers. She did not accept the silence. She built the infrastructure to end it.

Listen to WISE Women with Daisy Khan because every story matters. The qualities that sustain us through difficulty often become the very gifts we offer to the world. Like, follow, and connect with Dr. Daisy Khan.

#WISEWomenwithDaisyKhan #WISEWomen #PeacefulFamiliesProject #EndDomesticViolence #MuslimWomen #FamilyViolence #IslamicJustice #DomesticViolenceAwareness #InTheirNames #NotOurDeen #MuslimMentalHealth #FaithAndJustice #IslamicLeadership #Oppression #MuslimCommunity #Podcast #DrDeniseBerte

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Dr. Denise Ziya Berte, PhD, is a licensed clinical psychologist with over 30 years specializing in trauma, torture, oppression, and interpersonal violence. She serves as Executive Director of Peaceful Families Project, a 21-year-old national initiative addressing family-based violence in Muslim communities through an Islamic legal framework. Dr. Berte has served as expert witness in criminal, family, immigration, and human rights law. She is the mother of eight children and grandmother of five.

WISE Women with Daisy Khan

Where Muslim voices rise, bridges are built, and history's unsu

When a Grammy-connected Malaysian songwriter lost her music to religious gatekeepers who banned female voices and forbade instrumentation, she did not walk away from Islam. She walked straight into it, through theology, human rights law, and eventually the United Nations.

In this episode of WISE Women with Daisy Khan, with host Dr. Daisy Khan, singer, activist, and the founder of Muslims for Progressive Values, Ani Zonneveld traces a life built at the intersection of music, faith, and social justice. When Muslim retail stores refused to carry her album because a woman's singing voice was deemed forbidden, that rejection sent her into Islamic theology and human rights advocacy. She and Dr. Daisy Khan debates whether the word feminist belongs in Islamic spaces, why Prophet Muhammad was the original feminist, and why secular framing consistently fails communities anchored in faith identity. She closes with her hoped-for legacy: a musical theater production called Welcome to My Eid.

Ani Zonneveld's work spans the UN, Africa, Afghanistan, and American living rooms, everywhere Islam is used as a political instrument and everywhere people are quietly reclaiming it for justice. Ani did not leave Islam when it was used against her. She went deeper into it, and that decision changed what progressive Muslim advocacy looks like.

Listen to WISE Women with Daisy Khan because every story matters. The qualities that sustain us through difficulty often become the very gifts we offer to the world. Like, follow, and connect with Dr. Daisy Khan.

#WISEWomenwithDaisyKhan #WISEWomen #MuslimWomen #MuslimFeminist #IslamicFeminism #ProgressiveIslam #WomensRights #FaithAndJustice #SocialJustice #InterfaithDialogue #ReligionVsCulture #AmericanMuslim #MuslimCulture #HumanRights #Podcast #MPVUSA #AniZonneveld #IslamicHymns

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