Aysha Khan
Aysha Khan is a Boston-based journalist reporting on American Muslims and millennial faith for RNS. Her newsletter, Creeping Sharia, curates news coverage of Muslim communities in the U.S. Previously, she was the social media editor at RNS.
All Stories by Aysha Khan
Faith groups urge State Department to abolish new ‘unalienable rights’ commission
By Aysha Khan — July 24, 2019
(RNS) — A coalition of 430 human rights, foreign policy and faith-based organizations, leaders and scholars has asked Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to disband his controversial new human rights commission.
Attack on Hindu priest in New York leads to call for hate crime investigation
By Aysha Khan — July 22, 2019
(RNS) — Faith leaders are calling on New York City police to launch a hate crime investigation into a violent attack on a Hindu priest near his temple in Queens.
Muslim group launches campaign to take Fridays off for Jummah prayers
By Aysha Khan — July 18, 2019
HARRISBURG, Pa. (RNS) – “Some weeks Friday passes and we don’t even realize it was the day of Jummah,” said Imam Azhar Haneef, missionary-in-charge of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community USA, during his Friday sermon at the group’s annual convention.
In ‘Seculosity,’ David Zahl traces society’s search for righteousness outside of the church
By Aysha Khan — July 17, 2019
(RNS) — You may not follow a religion, David Zahl says. But chances are your life — from your phone to your dinner plate to the way you raise your kids — is still ruled by some sort of a religious impulse.
On Prime Day, Muslim workers and activists are organizing against Amazon
By Aysha Khan — July 16, 2019
(RNS) — With Amazon’s much-hyped Prime Day sale underway, Muslim workers and faith-based activists are leading major strikes and boycotts of the online retail giant’s biggest discount event of the year.
Hindu activists urge Wayfair CEO to stop selling beds to migrant camps
By Aysha Khan — July 11, 2019
BOSTON (RNS) — A progressive Hindu organization calls on Niraj Shah, of home goods retailer Wayfair, to vacate a reported agreement to provide beds to furnish a new Texas detention camp for migrants seeking asylum.
Muslim scholar catches flak for serving on new State Department rights panel
By Aysha Khan — July 10, 2019
(RNS) — Sheikh Hamza Yusuf, one of the world’s most prominent Islamic scholars, is drawing criticism from some Muslims for his participation in the State Department’s newly announced Commission on Unalienable Rights.
Pastor surveilled after ministering to migrants sues US government
By Aysha Khan — July 9, 2019
(RNS) — A New York pastor, the Rev. Kaji Douša, has filed a federal lawsuit alleging that U.S officials violated her religious freedom when she was put on a watchlist over her ministry to migrants at the border.
‘Unmatched wickedness’: Reports allege child separation, organ harvesting against China’s Muslims
By Aysha Khan — July 9, 2019
(RNS) — A new report found that Chinese authorities are quickly building thousands of military-style full-time boarding schools for Uighur children whose parents are detained.
Sikh activists ask Kamala Harris for apology over beard ban for California prison guards
By Aysha Khan — July 2, 2019
(RNS) — In 2011, as California’s attorney general, Harris fought to defend a policy that prevented state prison guards from keeping beards for religious reasons. Now, Sikh activists want an explanation.
Iraqi refugee in New Mexico leaves church sanctuary after two years
By Aysha Khan — July 1, 2019
(RNS) — The 66-year-old Muslim refugee from Iraq, who has lived in the U.S. for decades and trained tens of thousands of U.S. soldiers, spent two years inside an Albuquerque church’s basement seeking sanctuary from deportation.
Civil rights advocates, victims’ families urge support for new hate crime reporting bill
By Aysha Khan — June 28, 2019
(RNS) — The bipartisan NO HATE Act would address underreporting in hate crime data submitted to the FBI by state and local law enforcement agencies.
After fascist threat to Houston mosque, Texas Muslims call for increased security
By Aysha Khan — June 18, 2019
(RNS) — A 4chan user threatened to use Houston’s Baitus Samee Mosque to re-create the massacre that left dozens dead at two mosques in New Zealand.
California church sues after removal as polling place over Black Lives Matter banners
By Aysha Khan — June 13, 2019
(RNS) – The church's lawsuit claims that when it refused to remove its two Black Lives Matter banners, a county election official illegally removed the church from the list of polling places.
Muslim comedian awarded $4.1 million in defamation lawsuit against neo-Nazi site
By Aysha Khan — June 12, 2019
(RNS) — A federal judge has ordered the Daily Stormer's publishers to pay $4.1 million in damages to Muslim comedian Dean Obeidallah for falsely accusing him of terrorism.
