Asra Q. Nomani, who will blog for Beliefnet during the week of May 31-June 3, was born in Bombay, India, and came to the United States, where she raised in the foothills of West Virginia. She is the author of "Standing Alone in Mecca: An American Woman's Struggle for the Soul of Islam" and "Tantrika." A former Wall Street Journal correspondent, Nomani has also written for the Washington Post, the New York Times, and Time magazine on Islam. She covered the war in Afghanistan for Salon, and she is the is the founder and creator of the Muslim Women's Freedom Tour.