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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.
October 25, 2015

Ben Carson slanders Islam: Here’s exactly why his claims about Muslims are dead wrong

By Qasim Rashid
4 Min read
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25October

Originally published in Salon In his recent anti-Muslim crusade, Ben Carson promoted a disturbing form of religious segregation, claiming that a Muslim should only be president if he or she “renounces the tenets of Islam.”  Sadly, just as racial segregationists long garnered votes by promoting fear of black Americans, religious segregationists such as Carson today garner votes by promoting fear...

October 4, 2015

To Save Syrian Refugees, We Must Kill Apathy

By Qasim Rashid
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04October

Originally published in The Huffington Post As the old wisdom goes, the opposite of love isn’t hate — it’s apathy. If you don’t understand why that is, look no further than the Syrian refugee crisis. A five-year Syrian civil war rages on that has killed hundreds of thousands and displaced millions. And as the worst refugee crisis since WWII erupts onto the world stage, the...

October 4, 2015

ISIS Really Wants Power—Not Islam

By Qasim Rashid
15 Min read
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Originally published in Patheos Recently The Atlantic published a piece titled, “What ISIS Really Wants.” The lengthy piece makes numerous fallacious claims about ISIS and its relation to Islam and Islamic doctrine. Accordingly, and significantly, it misses the strategy necessary to counter and overcome ISIS terrorism. Perhaps most frustrating about the article is it offers no new insights...

October 3, 2015

Calling ISIS Un-Islamic Is A Fact, Not An Excuse

By Qasim Rashid
7 Min read
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03October

Originally published in The Huffington Post Anti-Islam personalities can demonstrate glaring hypocrisy. On one hand they scream “where are the moderate Muslims and why aren’t they condemning ISIS terrorism?” When Muslims the world over condemn ISIS in word and deed, the first ones to object are ironically anti-Islam personalities. “ISIS is just as legitimate as...

October 1, 2015

5 Reasons Why Nothing on Earth Can Stop the Khalifa of Islam

By Qasim Rashid
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01October

Originally posted in Patheos By now it’s painfully obvious mainstream media loves a juicy terrorism story involving Muslims – but comparatively ignores the vast majority of the world’s Muslims who promote peace. The topic of caliphate perfectly illustrates this double standard. Since ISIS proclaimed their leader as a caliph about nine months ago, the media has given them round the clock coverage...

September 28, 2015

5 Better Ways to Respond to the Charlie Hebdo Atrocity

By Qasim Rashid
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28September

Originally published in Onfaith   woke today to texts, emails, tweets, and Facebook messages of the horrific attack on Charlie Hebdo. The stabbing pain of innocent life lost resonated through my heart. These are volatile times, and this volatile situation only adds to the fire. As one of some 1.6 billion Muslims worldwide, the additional inescapable thought crossed my mind: “Please don’t let...

September 28, 2015

9 Questions You Should Ask Yourself Before Converting to Islam

By Qasim Rashid
10 Min read
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Originally published in Huffington Post   Every Muslim knows several, if not dozens, who chose to convert to Islam as a young adult or even later in life. According to Pew Research, “Two-thirds (67 percent) of all converts to Islam in the U.S. came from Protestant churches, 10 percent came from Catholicism, and just five percent from other religions. Nearly one-in-seven converts to...

September 20, 2015

What Pamela Geller Advocates Is Not Free Speech

By Qasim Rashid
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20September

Originally Published in Time There’s an important history behind America’s free speech laws to which the anti-Islam hate group behind the “Draw Muhammad Contest,” is wholly ignorant. While the Islamophobe leading this hate group believes she’s a free speech champion,remarkably comparing herself to Rosa Parks, in reality America’s current free speech model developed as an attempt to protect — not...

September 19, 2015

Five Race Issues Everyone Needs to Acknowledge

By Qasim Rashid
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19September

Originally published in Faith Street I remember having to explain to my then three-year-old why the Taliban shot Malala. It was a difficult conversation because he loves Malala, but it was easy to explain why killing is wrong and that the Taliban is evil. The world condemned the Taliban and, thankfully, Malala survived. So when my now-five-year-old asked me why “they” killed Eric Garner, and why...

September 13, 2015

The Right Way To Approach Hate And Discrimination

By Qasim Rashid
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13September

Originally Published in The Daily Caller  Here’s a painful reality no one wants to hear. In 2013 Israel forcibly administered birth control injections to Ethiopian Jewish women, and did so without their consent or knowledge. Likewise, more than half of the 135,000 Ethiopian Jews living in Israel live in poverty, and only half even have a high school diploma. The recent police brutality against...