A COUPLE days after the Paris attacks, I found myself in Connecticut praying in a mosque with fresh bullet holes. This mosque is just like one in Lynnwood, it hosts blood drives in honor of the 9/11 victims, donates turkeys to food shelters for Thanksgiving and participates in gift drives during Christmas. There was a chill in the air that day and it wasn’t because the holes in the walls let in...
The attack in San Bernardino, which left 14 dead and many others wounded, was a terrible and tragic incident. As an Ahmadi Muslim and a human being, I must strongly condemn the shooters for this heinous crime which violates humanity and the religious teachings of Islam. Neither this incident nor any incident involving lunatics committing acts of murder should ever be politicized or...
The recent slaughter in San Bernardino by a couple who had apparently pledged allegiance to ISIS was a terrible tragedy. In the aftermath, the American Muslim community has condemned the violence whereas voices on the right target the Islamic faith itself, while most Americans grapple to come to terms with the reality behind this ordeal. For us to do real justice to our fallen brothers and...
Originally published in The Huffington Post I am a Pakistani immigrant to the United States. With the recent rise of Islamophobia here in America, we Pakistanis have suddenly become experts on minority rights. My social media timelines are filled with my friends urging the West to accommodate Syrian refugees escaping persecution, and be more accepting of pluralism. I also see them condemning the...
Originally posted on APP Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump released a statement on Monday calling for a “total and complete shutdown” of Muslims entering the U.S. until “our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on.” Trump’s campaign slogan is “Make America great again!” I wonder if he truly understands what makes America great? It is our Constitution, rooted...
Originally published in the Loudoun Times I am writing this piece in light of the recent shooting in San Bernardino. As an American Muslim, I am providing my perspective on ISIS and the kind of leadership Muslims need in these troubled times. Muslim leaders need to advocate the true Islamic teachings of peace and tolerance. The horrific incident at San Bernardino last week sent a shock wave...
Originally posted in The News & Observer The shocking massacre at San Bernardino that killed 14 innocent souls and wounded 21 people unfortunately adds to the tally of the mass shooting epidemic in the country and must be condemned under no uncertain terms. This time around, the perpetrators were Muslims with links to an ISIS terror group and thus have inflamed the already volatile...
Originally posted in The New York Times As a Muslim-American, I completely agree with President Obama’s comments that Muslim leaders must speak out against not just acts of violence, but also those interpretations of Islam that are incompatible with the values of religious tolerance. Muslim leaders have a major role to play in the war against terrorism. Perverse interpretations of Islam are the...
Originally posted on NewsWeek The great Indian scholar and immigrant Muslim missionary, Dr. Mufti Muhammad Sadiq, was immediately detained upon arriving in Philadelphia in 1920. In a racially charged nation, at a time when the KKK was 4 million strong, Sadiq—an Indian missionary for the worldwide Ahmadiyya Muslim Community—had little chance of equal treatment. The immigration police feared he...
Originally published on Time.com I’m a Muslim American. On Nov. 15, two days after the Paris attacks, I boarded a plane from Newark to Houston. I had just returned from a formal event, so I was wearing a plain white “shalwar,” a shirt that stops at the knees and is commonly worn by South Asians. As is my routine, I purchased in-flight WiFi to catch up on emails. But the WiFi was out on the plane...