Asra Nomani
Asra Nomani is a Muslim-American writer, author, and activist who has advocated for a more liberal understanding of Islam and supported government surveillance and profiling of Muslims. In 2016 she voted for Donald Trump and has been very involved in controversies surrounding the use of critical race theory and gender ideology in American schools. 1 2 3 4
Contents
Career
Asra Nomani was born in Mumbai (then Bombay), India, and immigrated to the United States when she was four. She spent most of her childhood in Morgantown, West Virginia, and attended West Virginia University. 5 6
Upon graduation, Nomani began to work as a journalist, writing at several outlets including Reuters, Salon, The Hill, the Daily Beast, and the Federalist. She was a staff reporter at The Wall Street Journal for 15 years from 1988 to 2003. 5
Nomani is also the author of two books. Standing Alone in Mecca: An American Woman’s Struggle for the Soul of Islam, detailing her personal hajj to Mecca from her perspective as a liberal Muslim and criticizing non-liberal Islam. 7
Political Views
Islamic Activism
Nomani characterizes herself as a liberal feminist, and in the mid-2000s began to criticize what she considered to be radical and misogynistic strains of Islam. She was briefly profiled in 2004 in the New York Times due to her insistence on praying in the main hall of her mosque, rather than in the room designated for women. 1 In 2004 she also authored an “Islamic Bill of Rights for Women” that stated that Muslim women have, among other things, the right to enter the main door of the mosque, the right to address any other members of the congregation, and the right to hold leadership positions, including as imams. 8
As part of this activism, she has defended government surveillance of Muslims and mosques to monitor for potential extremism. 2 She has also advocated profiling Muslims at airports. 9
Nomani is a participant in the Muslim Reform Movement that advocates for gender equality in Islam and calls for secular governance. 10
Support for Donald Trump
In November 2016, Asra Nomani revealed that she had voted for Donald Trump in the presidential election, citing concerns about radical Islam, Hillary Clinton’s involvement with the governments of Qatar and Saudi Arabia, and the state of the economy. 11 This admission led to a row with left-wing Georgetown professor Christine Fair, who teaches in the School of Foreign Service, after Fair attacked Nomani on social media with vulgarity and harsh invective for her decision to vote for Trump. Nomani had taught for one semester at Georgetown from 2007-2008, co-teaching a journalism class on the kidnapping and murder of her former Wall Street Journal colleague Daniel Pearl. Nomani requested that Georgetown discipline Fair and make her undergo sensitivity training. 5 12
Education Activism
In February 2021, Nomani was hired as the vice president of strategy and investigations at Parents Defending Education, a right-of-center activist group that is opposed to critical race theory and gender activism in schools around the country. 5 However, she left position in March of 2022 after a confrontation with the Fairfax County School Board at which she accused the board of being racist and pointed out that all of the Board’s members were white. According to her account of events, Nomani was fired for bringing racial identity into her activist efforts, though she claims that she was doing so ironically. She was fired eight days after her speech to the school board. 4