Originally Published in OnFaith “There is no compulsion in religion” (Qur’an 2:257) Throughout the dark ages and the periods before this, Europe was very intolerant toward religious differences. The Puritans faced persecution in England and consequently migrated to the Americas to seek out religious freedom. However, this did not immediately lead to religious freedom across North America. In...
Originally Published in Patheos Is anyone surprised that hate crimes have increased 31% in 2016? This year has been exceptionally revealing in terms of hidden, hateful sentiments. But hate based crime isn’t just an American issue. Unlike apple pie, hate based crime is on the rise globally as well. My religious community, The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, is especially familiar with violence...
Originally Published in Patheos By: Ibrihim Ahmed “The death toll has now risen to 60 people, and gunmen are still inside the two mosques, carrying out continuous killings”, said the news anchor. I was watching the television with horror along with my two younger sisters. My mother called us from work telling us to stay calm and that everything would be alright. What concerned me was that my...
Originally Published in Dallas News By: Nayyar Ahmed Recently, pictures of French police ordering the removal of a burkini worn by a woman at a beach have gone viral on media. In a separate incident, a mosque construction in a Georgia county is facing strong opposition from locals. To add insight, the caliph of Islam Mirza Masroor Ahmad (fifth supreme head of the Worldwide Ahmadiyya Muslim...
Originally published in The Columbus Dispatch By Abdul-Muizz Kamal-Muili ISIS gained relevance on the international scene in the last decade. Prior to this time, Saddam Husain, though admittedly an oppressive ruler, kept relative law and order. However the situation in Iraq changed after the western world invaded the country on flawed and over-exaggerated evidences of Iraq creating a nuclear...
Originally published in The Roanoke Times “Make America Great Again!” a quote used by the GOP front runner Donald Trump repeatedly where he is aiming supposedly to make America great but so far all we have heard from the candidate is to ban Muslims or remove Muslims from America. I would like to let Trump know that it is not the Muslims that America is at war with but it’s this radical extremist...
Originally published in the Huffington Post With last week’s release of Charlie Hebdo’s newest edition, marking the one-year anniversary of the infamous terrorist attack on its offices that killed 12 people, once again the debate about free speech has been ignited. In its recent publication, the editors at the magazine decided to take aim at all religion and blame God for terrorism...
Originally published in the Hufington Post You’re seven times more likely to be shot by a right wing extremist in the United States than you are to be shot by a Muslim extremist. But I guess facts don’t stop many Americans from being deathly afraid of all Muslims. I know it’s crazy to think that just because a few radical extremists do something horrifying, the faith of Islam is...
Originally Published in The Huffington Post Imagine a local bookseller in the United States being arrested by the federal government in his own bookstore and being charged with a federal crime. His crime: the sale of books deemed hurtful or hateful to another religious group’s beliefs. His punishment: eight years in prison. Any American would find this unbelievable and absurd for something...
Originally published on Patheos This is a challenging time for all Muslims in America as the despicable actions of a few put Islam in a terrible light. This situation is not made any easier when there is blatant hate being spread by educated members of society. Recently Joe Walsh, a former US Congressman of Illinois, put a video on his Facebook page where he says, “I think Islam has a real...