Originally Published in The Record Regarding “Atheist billboard draws shrugs from Muslims” (Page A-1, March 8): As the billboard in Paterson says, I have a choice about my religion — and I am an American-Muslim. An atheist group is putting up billboards in Paterson, portraying Islam as not only a religion of myth but also one of compulsion. I have lived in America all my life, and I...
Originally Published in The Chicago Sun Times The Saudi Arabian grand mufti’s desire to eradicate all churches in the Arabian Peninsula indicates religious coercion — an act the Holy Quran wholly rejects [“Saudi grand mufti calls for ‘destruction of all churches in region’ ”]. The Quran promotes universal religious freedom, even commanding to protect the “churches and synagogues and mosques...
Pastor Yousef Nadarkhani is currently on death row in Iran for the “crime” of converting to Christianity from Islam. The charges of his initial arrest in 2009 were for protesting, which were later changed to apostasy and evangelism. In Sept. 2010, an Iranian court verbally delivered a death sentence, which was then delivered in writing a month later by the 1st Court of the...
Originally Published in The Concord Journal The recent school shootings in Chardon, Ohio, may prove instructive for the NYPD its controversial surveillance of mosques. The Ohio teenage shooter was described as a loaner, an outcast and a victim of bullying —qualities studies have shown are typical of such people. Such incidents are often avoided simply by reporting what was about to happen. But...
Originally Published in The Chicago Sun Times The incident of five American soldiers burning the holy Quran in Afghanistan was deplorable, but still does not justify killing of U.S. soldiers. [“Official: Mistakes led to Afghan Quran burnings, “Saturday]). As a Muslim-American who emigrated from that region, I understand why the Afghans are angry and frustrated with our government. But they must...
Monday marks the 26th anniversary of the first observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day. While we commemorate the sacrifices this great leader made, Americans, including Muslim Americans, must remember the spirit of change that the civil rights movement embodied. The same spirit is required today to change the false perceptions of Islam in America. According to a 2010 Pew poll, fewer Americans...
Originally Published in The Columbus Dispatch Boko Haram, a Nigerian militant group that claims to be Muslim claimed responsibility for several church bombings around the time of Christmas. This is the same extremist group that killed dozens of innocent Christians on the New Years bombings last year. Such inhumane acts cannot be justified in the name of Islam. The Holy Quran states that...
Originally Published in The Huffington Post Sardar Anees Ahmad remembers exactly where he was when the second plane struck on 9/11: obliviously walking with his professor, going from one class to another at his college in New York. As the tragedy unfolded, and one after another, a Muslim face and name resembling his, started flashing on TV screens worldwide, the 19-year-old Ahmad felt his blood...
Originally Appeared on The Huffington Post “First you bomb us and now you come suck our blood. What are you gonna do with it, drink it?” These were the words of a young man as he passed by me at the Labor Day Fair in Rutherford, N.J. I was passing fliers at the fair, asking people to donate blood at a 9/11 memorial blood drive hosted by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community a couple of...
IF YOU know a Muslim, you are sure to have heard about Ramadan and the tradition of fasting in Islam. Ramadan is the ninth and holiest month of the Islamic calendar, and it began Aug. 1 in the United States. Millions of Muslims across the country and many more across the world will spend the month fasting. Even though it is singular in its details, the practice of fasting as a form of spiritual...