By Scott T. Allison and George R. Goethals
For decades, especially since the 9/11 attacks, the Islamic faith has been viewed by some people to be a religion of hatred and violence. The fact that the vast majority of Muslims are gentle, law-abiding citizens belies this criticism. One young Muslim woman has made it her mission to publicize illustrations of the inherent goodness of Islam. On her blog, The Muslimah Soapbox, she calls herself simply the Proud Muslimah. The purpose of her blog is straightforward. She writes, "I am a Muslim woman from Madison, Wisconsin who is on a mission to help spread that Islam is a progressive religion of peace and tolerance."
The Muslimah's Soapbox dispels many negative stereotypes of Islam. In one blog post, the Proud Muslimah sets the record straight about women in Islam, noting that the faith permits women the right to education, to work, to receive equal pay, to vote, and to enjoy the same rights and protections as women in the free world. "So many Americans picture countries like Afghanistan, Iraq and Saudi Arabia as the poster countries for Islam and assume that how they treat their women is at the fault of the religion itself," she says, emphasizing the progressive stance of Islam in gender relations. 
The Proud Muslimah laments how images of women being mistreated in a few Arab nations are "being used to attack a religion which does not support" such mistreatment.
In another blog post, she condemns people who use Islam "to cause hate and murder in the name of Allah," and she urges "more Muslims to try to think of ways to spread peace in the name of Islam. Go out and volunteer, start a study group, hold a picnic, start a blog, ask the cultural anthropology departments in your universities about allowing you or a friend to give a lecture on Islam. Do anything you can to open the eyes of your community. It starts small, my friends, but even if you can enlighten one person, that's one person who wont be grabbing their pitchforks if another atrocity were to happen in the name of our faith again."
One recent addition to the Proud Muslimah's blog is a feature called Muslims Who Make a Difference. She writes: "Every month, I want to provide a small article about a Muslim who is doing their part to make the world a better place for Muslims and non-Muslims alike. I feel this is incredibly important," she says. The goal of this feature is to put "the spotlight on a different Muslim individual every month who actively does what they can to represent the love and peace that Islam truly stands for."
The first person whom the Proud Muslimah believes makes a difference is Ibrahim Abdul-Matin, a well-known environmentalist, author, and speaker. 
Abdul-Martin is described as "a steward of the earth" and author of the important book Green Deen: What Islam Teaches About Protecting the Planet. "Abdul-Matin urges people to understand that environmentalism is rooted deep into our religious responsibility," she writes. His goal is to emphasize that it "is our responsibility to make sure that we are being stewards of the planet. It goes so much further than political affiliations and whether you are Buddhist, Muslim, Hindu, Christian, Jewish, or Athiest. It is your job to do what you can" to be environmentally responsible.
In our opinion, the Proud Muslimah is performing a heroic service by enlightening the world about the positive contributions of Islam as a faith and about Muslims who are making the world a better place. In a time of heightened cultural divisions, the Proud Muslimah is building bridges, illuminating the true loving core of the Islamic faith, and encouraging healthy, productive connections among all the world's people. We applaud her work, support her cause, and eagerly await her future blog posts.
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Do you have a hero whom you would like us to profile? Please send your suggestions to Scott Allison at sallison@richmond.edu.
Im so honored! Thank you so much for writing this! 🙂
We are honored to spotlight your excellent work. Please let us know what we can do to further support your heroic contributions to society. Best wishes to you.
What a wonderful, positive article! Keep up the good work!
This was a great article and brings much-needed attention to an aspect of our culture that, unfortunately, isn’t immediately obvious (and it’s nice to see the young lady herself posting here).
In our current time, Islam finds itself in much the same position as Christianity and other groups. The anti-social extremists and violent maniacs are the ones who define the group. For Christians, it’s the talk radio zealots and the Fox News propagandists and the skinheads and the Klan; for Islam, it’s the suicide bombers and the raving cult leaders and the weird little creeps who hide in caves and brainwash children. It’s unfortunate that the hateful minority drowns out the loving majority; the fact is that the cliche is true: Empty barrels make the most noise.
What the world needs now, more than ever, is people like Proud Muslimah who promote peace, love and understanding. We had a lot of that when I was a kid back in the 60s, but it’s something that’s sadly lacking now. It always makes me happy to see somebody doing good work like this. 🙂
The Proud Muslimah,you are the type of hero that we all can realistically strive to become. What you are doing is simple, yet extremely meaningful. You have shown us that one does not need to save lives of others to be a hero. I hope to see more people like you, contributing to the society by doing good deeds, no matter how small they may seem and how little recognition one may be able to gain from them.
Hi from Turkiye. Selamunaleykum.
Thank you for taking the time to write about the religion of Islam in a very positive manner!
Eid Ul Fitr 2012 Many Muslims in the world will celebrate Eid al-Fitr (also known as Id al-Fitr or Eid ul-Fitr) on the first day of Shawwal
These kind of blogs like Proud Muslimah is writing is very important since Islamophobia has become a serious issue recently. I’d thank both her and Scott Allison.
Asalam o Alaikum!!
I’m really proud on you my sister in ISLAM. “Proud Muslimah” I’m also doing work for the same cause to present the real image of ISLAM…. I’m not a scholar i’m just a simple Muslim who’s clear on his ISLAM that ISLAM is a peaceful religion and teaches us to treat other humans with Love….
I would like to read your blog but it says only invited people can read would you plz allow me to read your blog….
Thnx
Muhammad, thank you for posting your comment, and for helping spread the peaceful loving message of Islam.
Our HEROES blog is open to everyone; no invitation is necessary. I’m hoping you can access all of our hero essays (except for the ones, of course, which have been taken down because they will appear in our forthcoming book on heroes).
Best wishes to you.
Thank you brother Scott… I want to read “Proud Muslimah’s Blog”…. and There i need an invitation to read that one…..
I’m not sure why you cannot read the Proud Muslimah’s blog — perhaps there is some technical error. If you send me your email address, I will be happy to send you a copy. My email is sallison@richmond.edu
Many thanks and best wishes!