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AuthorKashif Chaudhry

Kashif Chaudhry is a Physician, Writer and Human Rights activist. He has served as Chairman of the Muslim Writers Guild of America, and has been published in various American newspapers and foreign publications. He also blogs at the Huffington Post. His interests in life include Cardiology, Interfaith Dialogue and Human Rights
November 21, 2015

Challenging the ISIS and Islamophobe Narrative on Islam

By Kashif Chaudhry
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21November

Originally Published in The Huffington Post In the wake of the recent Paris attacks, new atheist writer Ayaan Hirsi Ali is screaming out at her loudest again. “Islam needs reform,” she insists. But is she right? We must understand that Muslims are not a monolith. They come in all colors and sects. I, for instance, identify with the Ahmadiyya sect of Islam. The Ahmadiyya Muslim...

November 14, 2015

What if Allama Iqbal had remained an Ahmadi?

By Kashif Chaudhry
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14November

Originally posted on The Express Tribune  Sir Chaudhry Muhammad Zafarullah Khan was one of the leading founding fathers of Pakistan. You know, the Pakistan Resolution that our national struggle was based on? He drafted it. He was the first foreign minister of Pakistan. He was known for his eloquent representation of Pakistan at the United Nations and is the only Pakistani to have served as the...

November 2, 2015

Thank you, Hamza Ali Abbasi, for supporting my right to be Ahmadi

By Kashif Chaudhry
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02November

Originally published in The Express Tribune Mr Abbasi stated that judging someone’s faith – whether they were Muslim or not, and how ‘true’ of a Muslim they were – was a prerogative of God alone. Human beings must not judge others, or at least not punish and hurt others based on their own judgment. This is a very simple concept. But in Pakistan, where narrow-minded intolerant religious scholars...

October 3, 2015

Why is ‘Islamophobia’ on the rise in America?

By Kashif Chaudhry
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03October

Originally published in The Express Tribune This weekend, fliers threatening Muslims with mass murder were left at a bus station minutes from my home near Boston. The warning on the fliers: Muslims in America be ready to face death if ISIS did not surrender within the following three days, as if Muslim Americans command and control the actions of the terrorist group. This unfortunate incident...

October 3, 2015

America’s Islamophobia Problem

By Kashif Chaudhry
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Originally published in The Huffington Post This weekend, fliers threatening Muslims with mass murder were left at an MBTA station minutes from my home in Revere, Massachusetts. The warning on the fliers: Muslims in America be ready to face death if ISIS did not surrender within the following three days, as if Muslim Americans command and control the actions of the terrorist group. This incident...

October 1, 2015

Christening our Muslim land with blood

By Kashif Chaudhry
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01October

Originally posted on The Tribune Five years ago, I lost close friends in one of the most gruesome terrorist attacks on Pakistani soil. In twin attacks on two major Ahmadi places of worship in Lahore, 88 worshippers were martyred by the Taliban. It was a painfully bloody day. This weekend, I woke up to sad news from Pakistan that made me relive some of that pain. Fourteen worshipers were martyred...

September 28, 2015

Mr Prime Minister, do you support religious bigotry?

By Kashif Chaudhry
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28September

Originally published in The Express Tribune Dear Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, I hope this letter finds you well. I am sure you are busy; so let me cut to the chase. You know well that Pakistan’s Ahmadi community has long faced the wrath of extremist religious clerics. Despite succeeding in hijacking Jinnah’s vision, and pressurising the state into incorporating anti-Ahmadi bigotry into the...

October 27, 2014

Of Free Speech, Islamophobia and New Atheism

By Kashif Chaudhry
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27October

Originally published in the Huffington Post Ayaan Hirsi Ali is an extreme anti-Islam critic, well known for her bigoted views and dishonest generalizations of the Muslim faith. When she was invited to speak at Yale’s Buckley program recently, some student groups — including the Yale Humanist Community — issued a statement criticizing the invitation. In their statement, thegroup...

October 17, 2014

I disagree with Sam Harris and Bill Maher

By Kashif Chaudhry
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17October

Originally published in the Express Tribune I read a fellow blogger’s post on why she agrees with Sam Harris and Bill Maher. I am sure the writer has her heart in the right place and I completely agree with her principal argument – that the Muslim world needs serious introspection and reform. Except this is not the argument Maher and Harris put forth. They believe that the Islamic faith, not...

October 13, 2014

Why a Muslim and an Atheist Are Fighting Side by Side

By Kashif Chaudhry
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13October

Originally published in the Huffington Post I was born in Pakistan, completed my medical school there and then moved to the United States for higher medical training. I also moved to escape the horrid persecution my Islamic sect — the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community — faces back home. In America, I could enjoy all the freedoms I was denied under Pakistan’s law, most importantly the...