Originally Posted on The Hartford FAVS Dreams, they are an uncertain yet intriguing dimension. The question is, however, are they simply insignificant ramblings of our own incoherent thoughts lying, apparently, dormant in our subconscious, or are they secret eye-opening communications from unseen worlds that we merely just don’t understand? Maybe both, but who’s really to say? Does the answer lie...
Originally Published in The Daily Herald In recent months, we have witnessed an upsurge of anger that has swept throughout the Muslim world — in response to extremely crude acts by anti-Islam elements. It is now incumbent upon the world at large to respond, especially politicians who have failed to place regulation around the exploitation of “freedom of speech” and those who dictate international...
Originally Published in The Finger Lakes Times With the Taliban’s horrific attack on 14-year-old Malala Yousafzai, some insist that Islam permits women’s education. Such a position is downright offensive and wrong. Islam does not permit women’s education – it mandates it. As a board member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association USA (www.muslimyouth.org), I passionately...
Originally Posted on The Hartford FAVS We all know of the upright Patriarch and “Friend” of the Divine (4:126), Abraham (on him is peace), of whom we find an honorable mention in almost every religion. So what’s so special about him? Well, the answer lies within a special commemoration being observed these very days by over one third of the world’s population; ‘Eid ul Adha or the honoring...
Originally Published in The Minnesota Daily. In his Oct. 18 column “Religiously Yours,” Hemang Sharma mentions that: “Islam doesn’t allow bacon, beer, masturbation or pre-marital sex; thus being inherently against everything us Americans love.” True, Islam doesn’t allow these things. In fact, if you look back into the history of faiths, all were established under a climate of persecution and...
Originally Posted on The Hartford FAVS We live in search of truth Yet distract ourselves with lies We blindly shop every bazaar in vain And never hearken to our inner cry What ugliness you haply invite What beauty you let slip away You give up immortality tomorrow Foolishly to satisfy your lust today The answer you seek is tightly enclosed Beyond a gate of icy darkness and fiery light Kindle...
Originally Published in The New Haven Register I was shocked to learn that 15-year-old Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai was recently shot in the head by a Taliban gunman just because she advocated for a woman’s right to an education. Did these trigger-happy extremists know or care that the Prophet Muhammad had said that educating your daughters will earn you paradise? Based on this advice, my...
Originally Published in The New Jersey Record. Regarding “Man held in N.Y.C. bombing scheme” (Page A-1, Oct. 18): As an American Muslim, I strongly condemn Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis’ attempt to blow up the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. He claims that he was inspired by Osama bin Laden’s teachings. While the Quran instructs Muslims not to create disorder in...
Originally Published in The Wisconsin State Journal My first exposure to voting was in 11th grade when my teacher gave us voting registration forms in our government class. She wanted to let us know voting allowed everyone to have a say in who and how this country runs. It is time Muslim-Americans join other groups in America to elect individuals who can better represent all citizens equally and...
Originally Published in The Santa Clarita Valley Signal On Oct. 9, a teenage girl in Pakistan’s Swat Valley, which has been under Taliban rule for years, was brutally shot in a school bus. Malala Yusufzai was an outspoken girls’ education-rights activist and had been a persistent thorn in the side of the marauding Taliban. As reviling and abominable as this act is, far greater is young Malala’s...