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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.
January 23, 2014

Why are Muslims criminalizing the Qur’an?

By Qasim Rashid
5 Min read
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23January

Originally published in The Daily Caller Some 1400 years ago the unjust Meccan government criminalized the Qur’an. They arrested, beat, and murdered those who insisted on reading it. Today, another unjust government has criminalized the Qur’an and once again, those who insist on reading it are arrested, beaten, and murdered. Today, as Dr. Masood Ahmad sits in prison for the crime of reading the...

January 17, 2014

Suicide Bombing and Pakistan’s Double Standard

By Qasim Rashid
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17January

Originally Published in Faith Street We’ve all heard the story of Pakistan’s most courageous teen—Aitzaz Hasan—who stopped a suicide bomber before he killed hundreds. Aitzaz could have run and saved his own life. He could have pretended it wasn’t his responsibility. He could have been selfish. But instead Aitzaz gave his life to save countless more. And as a result, Pakistan and Muslims worldwide...

December 28, 2013

Meet the Muslim Mandela

By Qasim Rashid
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28December

Originally published in Fox News A recent FoxNews.com op-ed asks, “Where is the Muslim Mandela?” While alleging that such a person does not exist, and that Muslims do not seek such a person, the piece provides a laundry list of injustices done by extremists in the name of Islam — and holds 1.56 billion Muslims responsible. While the piece may have been well intentioned, it has...

September 30, 2013

The Irony on Who Speaks for Islam

By Qasim Rashid
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30September

How ironic. I stayed up all night writing a rejoinder to an anti-Islam politician who insists that Islam is a violent faith. Instead, I’m met by Al-Shabab who brutally murder 59 non-Muslims in Nairobi, Kenya, the Taliban who blow up a church and kill 85 Christians in Peshawar, Pakistan, and the Pakistan police who deface and destroy three Ahmadi Muslim prayer places in Sialkot, Pakistan. Each of...

August 22, 2013

Mike Huckabee is wrong about Islam

By Qasim Rashid
4 Min read
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22August

Originally Published in The Daily Caller Al Qaeda, Taliban extremists, and Mike Huckabee have at least one thing in common — all believe Islam is a violent religion. In a recent tirade, Huckabee wondered, “why it is that we tiptoe around a religion that promotes the most murderous mayhem on the planet in their so-called holiest days. … the most likely time to have an uprising of rock throwing and...

August 7, 2013

Mike Huckabee is wrong about Islam

By Qasim Rashid
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07August

Originally published in The Daily Caller   Al Qaeda, Taliban extremists, and Mike Huckabee have at least one thing in common — all believe Islam is a violent religion. In a recent tirade, Huckabee wondered, “why it is that we tiptoe around a religion that promotes the most murderous mayhem on the planet in their so-called holiest days. … the most likely time to have an uprising of rock...

April 23, 2013

Do You Even Hear Muslims When We Condemn Violence?

By Qasim Rashid
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23April

Originally Published in The Huffington Post It took 9,000 officers, five days, and roughly $1 billion in lost revenue for Boston, but suspect one is dead and suspect two is in custody. So let me start with the standard roll call: As an American Muslim, I condemn all violence in the name of religion. Terrorism has no religion and Islam is no exception. If the Tsarnaev brothers are guilty of the...

April 22, 2013

Do You Even Hear Muslims When We Condemn Violence?

By Qasim Rashid
4 Min read
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22April

Originally Published in the Huffington Post It took 9,000 officers, five days, and roughly $1 billion in lost revenue for Boston, but suspect one is dead and suspect two is in custody. So let me start with the standard roll call: As an American Muslim, I condemn all violence in the name of religion. Terrorism has no religion and Islam is no exception. If the Tsarnaev brothers are guilty of the...

March 12, 2013

God’s Man on Earth

By Qasim Rashid
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12March

Originally Published in the Huffington Post Feb. 28 came and went, and thus ended Pope Benedict’s short tenure. According to most, no claimant to Divine office remains on Earth, at least until the next pope is elected. On the contrary, His Holiness Mirza Masroor Ahmad, the world’s only Khalifa and head of the worldwide Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, continues his lifelong Divinely...

March 7, 2013

Who Will Take a Bullet for Sherry Rehman?

By Qasim Rashid
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07March

Pakistan ambassador to America Sherry Rehman’s Twitter bio declares, “Will take a bullet for the motherland but hope our children don’t have to.” But what is an ambassador to do when that bullet comes from Pakistan and strikes her in the back? Last month, Pakistan took the unprecedented step and charged their own ambassador with blasphemy — a crime that carries the...