Zahir Mannan is the Head Teacher and Administrative Associate at the Early Learning Program, Inc. at Central Connecticut State University, and a previous Associate Research Scientist at Yale University School of Medicine. He leads a weekly Holy Quran study group at Baitul Aman "House of Peace" Mosque in Meriden, CT, where he also teaches an advanced Holy Quran class for Tahir Academy. He has served the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in diverse capacities including national follow-up coordinator for 1-800-WHY-ISLAM, local Youth President, local Interfaith Outreach Director, local Holy Quran Education and Temporary Devotion Director, and local Youth Publication Director.
Originally Published in The Washington Post and The Huffington Post The straw man of the famous post-Sept. 11 slogan, “Not every Muslim is a terrorist but every terrorist is a Muslim” was debunked by a 2005 FBI report. It showed that only 6 percent of terrorist attacks on U.S. soil from 1980 to 2005 were carried out by extremists calling themselves Muslims. But one group has sustained the...
Originally Published in The Huffington Post “As a Jew, I am offended to my core. Muslims have no right to invoke Moses and Abraham. This is a delegitimization of Judaism. It is offensive and vile. And while Jesus is not my guy, the same thing goes for him. It is a delegitimization of Christianity. These are not Muslim prophets.” This typical quote from Pamela Geller perfectly...
Originally Published in The Finger Lakes Times Last month, we ended a discussion about the philosophy of divine punishment with reference to Prophet Moses (peace be upon him) victory over Pharaoh. The “splitting of the sea” was referenced and deserved its own discussion, to which we now turn. Before analyzing the specific events surrounding the “splitting of the sea,” the reader must understand...
Originally Published on The Miami Herald Prior to 1954, many schools were segregated because of fear and a lack of understanding. Nearly 60 years after the Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education decision we find ourselves in a similar situation with the parents in the Volusia County School District who are pushing to remove chapters on Islam from a history book because, as they see it, Islam...
