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AuthorQasim Rashid

Qasim Rashid is a best-selling and critically acclaimed author, practicing attorney, visiting fellow at Harvard University's Prince AlWaleed bin Talal School of Islamic Studies, and national spokesperson for Ahmadiyya Muslim Community USA. Qasim’s new book #TalkToMe: Changing the Narrative on Race, Religion, & Education is due out in December 2015. #TalkToMe is a non-fiction memoir on how the power of dialogue can overcome racism, xenophobia, intolerance, and violence. Previously, Qasim published EXTREMIST: A Response to Geert Wilders & Terrorists Everywhere (2014), which became an Amazon #1 Best Seller on Islam. Qasim’s first solo-authored work is the critically acclaimed book, The Wrong Kind of Muslim: An Untold Story of Persecution & Perseverance (2013). Qasim regularly publishes on TIME, The Huffington Post, Washington Post, Daily Caller, and CNN. His work has additionally appeared in USA Today, The Daily Beast, National Public Radio, Virginia Pilot, among various other national and international outlets. He also regularly speaks at a variety of universities and houses of worship, and interviews in a variety of media including the New York Times, FOX News, Pittsburg Post-Gazette, Muslim Television Ahmadiyya International, Huff Post Live, Al Jazeera, NBC, CBS, Voice of America, among several other national and international outlets.

Tolerance vs. Sept. 11 terrorism — a victory of pluralism over prejudice

Originally Published in The Washington Post “You don’t have to do this! You shouldn’t have to. It’s a disgrace.” At the height of the 2010 Park 51 “Ground Zero Mosque” controversies, I, along with thousands of Muslim American youth nationwide, was engrossed in a massive “Muslims for Peace” flyer distribution. Days before the ninth anniversary of Sept. 11, I met my match at a Wisconsin State Fair...

The Honorable Lord Krishna: A Prophet Of Allah

Originally Posted on The Huffington Post Hindus worldwide will soon observe Krishna Janmashtami, a celebration of Lord Krishna’s birth. While many recognize the differences between Islam and Hinduism, few may appreciate that according to Islamic principles and Prophet Muhammad, Lord Krishna was a true Prophet of God. The obvious question that emerges is that if the same God sent Lord...

Standing With Our Sikh Brothers This Ramadan

Originally Posted on The Huffington Post I was fasting but had to fight the incessant urge to vomit, as my Twitter feed spiked with tweets about a shooting at a Sikh Gurdwara. Hoping against hope it was a mistake, my heart began to race and my teeth clenched as several news reports confirmed the incident. Another terrorist attack against innocent souls, this time just south of Milwaukee, but an...

The Wrong Kind of Muslim: An Untold Story of Persecution

Out of the silent night, two men moved swiftly through the mosque’s front gate. Magazines loaded and safeties off, one stopped at the front door, the other proceeded through. All that separated a fully loaded Kalashnikov in the hands of a madman from 50 innocent worshippers was a straw curtain that hung helplessly in the doorway. “In the end, they killed eight of my brothers, and shot...

Geert Wilders, Marked For Death: A Muslim’s Response

The inside back-cover of Geert Wilders’ anti-Islam book, “Marked for Death,” says it all: “Expelled from Britain, banned from Indonesia, denounced by the UN Secretary General … Wilders is unbowed and unapologetic.” After having read his book, another word to describe Wilders comes to mind: uninformed. Wilders promises many things in his book, above all that...

The Wrong Kind of Muslim: An Untold Story of Persecution

Purchase the book here:  Why Write This Book? May 28, 2012 was the 2-year anniversary of the Taliban’s attack on two mosques in Lahore, Pakistan. That day, the Taliban murdered 86 Ahmadi Muslims and 1 Christian. The Pakistani Police watched it happen from a safe distance, and even now have made no arrests. Why? The Wrong Kind of Muslim is the first book of its kind. It relates these untold...

Pakistan’s Failed Commitment: How Pakistan’s Institutionalized Persecution Of The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community Violates The International Covenant On Civil And Political Rights

By Qasim Rashid* “My guiding principle will be justice and complete impartiality, and I am sure that with your support and cooperation, I can look forward to Pakistan becoming one of the greatest Nations of the world.” – Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Pakistan’s Founder and First Governor General at the Presidential Address to the Constituent Assembly of Pakistan on 11th August, 1947.   ABSTRACT: The...