Originally published in FaithStreet I often hear the phrase “Only 20,000 people?” as a critique of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community in America, and I was not surprised when this phrase resurfaced after the Ahmadiyya Muslim Caucus launched this month. People may think that a group of 20,000 Americans do not deserve a caucus. If 20,000 Americans signed a petition on the White House website, the White...
Originally published in The Daily Caller Imagine if you picked up your morning paper and the news story read “Judaism’s inadvertent effects on adherents.” Imagine if article’s non-Jewish author wrote, “The Torah strictly bans the consumption of pork, leading to the virtual disappearance of domesticated pigs in Jewish-majority areas, then their replacement by sheep and goats. These herds have...
Originally published in The Northwestern The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community is holding a ‘Messenger of Peace’ conference to discuss Prophet Muhammad, the most sacred figure in Islam. The goal of this conference is to explain the life and achievements of Prophet Muhammad and how they are relevant in a contemporary context. In a media-saturated environment, it is sometimes difficult to tell fact from...
Originally published in The Huffington Post March 8 is International Women’s Day. One crime against women that continues to plague humanity is FGM, i.e female genital mutilation. Experts estimate that some 3 million women suffer through FGM annually. The following is an excerpt from my upcoming book titled EXTREMIST. This excerpt specifically repudiates the barbaric myth that Islam in any...
Originally published in The Daily Bulletin The purpose of my Dec. column was to show from the clear statements by God and Jesus how it goes against the majesty and omnipotence of God that He could be or ever was a weak human being who was humiliated, disgraced and spat on by his enemies, and then condemned by a worldly court as a criminal, savagely whipped and then nailed to a cross to...
Originally published in Delaware County Daily Times As I look around, I see our youth deteriorating day by day and wonder what the future will be like. School shootings are increasing, teenagers are having babies, teenage violence is rising, the amount of drugs used by our kids is increasing and test scores are falling. What has happened to our youth? Why do our kids look up to Kobe Bryant and...
Originally published in Pittsburgh Post-Gazette February is Black History Month. This month provides us an opportunity to recognize the contribution of black Americans to American history. We should appreciate their role in making America what it is today. As a Muslim imam, I reflect on Prophet Muhammad’s teaching, “One who is not thankful to his fellow human being is not thankful to God at all.”...
Originally published in Queens Press I am an American Ahmadi Muslim middle school student. I was born in America and will never leave it. I love this country, America, because this country is my homeland. For me, loving my homeland is like loving my mother. Loving my country is part of my faith. This is the teaching of my beloved religion, Islam. Islam not only teaches to love your motherland but...
Originally published in The Northwestern The Richard Sherman — current cornerback for the Seattle Seahawks — saga was a complete portrayal by the media through the looking glass of Twitter and other social outlets. The excoriation that he received from them labeled him as a thug, a racially biased stereotype of the persona of an angry black man. In his words he described the use of the word...
Originally published in Religion News Service (RNS) Sentenced for professing his atheism, Alexander Aan was recently released after 18 months in an Indonesian prison. Masood Ahmad has already served over two months in a Pakistani prison for reading the Quran as an Ahmadi Muslim. Pastor Saeed Abedini languishes in an Iranian prison for preaching Christianity. They are but a sliver of the...