Originally published in Twin Cities Daily Planet On Monday, May 25, Ohio based cardiologist, Dr. Mehdi Ali was assassinated in Pakistan. According to a report in the New York Times: “An American doctor volunteering at a hospital in eastern Pakistan was shot to death on Monday in front of his wife and 3-year-old son in the latest attack on a follower of the minority Ahmadi faith at a time of...
Originally published in Indy Star On May 26, Dr. Mehdi Ali Qamar, an American cardiologist from Columbus, Ohio, was killed in front of his wife and 2-year-old son in Pakistan. He was on a mission trip to provide free medical care to the people of Pakistan. His crime? He was the member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community. I can use the word Muslim to describe this community as I am not in Pakistan...
Originally published in The Chicago Tribune I would like to take time to remember the fallen soldiers who have served throughout our country’s history. These powerful men and women sacrificed their lives, their wealth and their time for the sake of their country. As a Muslim American, I feel as though it is my duty to honor and salute these fallen soldiers this Memorial Day for their...
Originally published in The Asbury Park Press I was born in Pakistan but immigrated to the United States in 1998. The primary reason that I left Pakistan was the persecution that I faced because of my religious beliefs. In fact, an amendment to the Pakistani constitution in 1974 declared my sect, the Ahmadiyya Muslim community, “non-Muslim,” thereby opening the door to state-sponsored persecution...
Originally published in The Baltimore Sun I believe the government should be allowed to collect metadata on our calls (“Judge upholds NSA phone scrutiny,” Dec. 28). I find Washington Judge Richard J. Leon’s rejection of NSA spying as “almost Orwellian” and New York Judge William H. Pauley’s acceptance of the practice easily reconcilable. It is human nature to...
Originally published in Cincinnati Enquirer Persecution of Ahmadi Muslims in Pakistan is just as severe as it has always been. A sect of Islam that played an essential part in the founding of Pakistan is now being bitterly persecuted by extremists and the government is implicit in the persecution. In the last 4 years, 137 Ahmadis have been killed at the hands of persecutors who are backed by anti...
Originally published in Times of Trenton and Asbury Park Press I was born in Pakistan, but immigrated to the United States more than a decade ago. The primary reason I left Pakistan was the persecution that I faced because of my religious beliefs. In fact, an amendment to the Pakistani constitution in 1974 declared my sect, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, “non-Muslim,” thereby opening the door to...
Originally published in the Daily Herald I would like to take my time to remember the millions of fallen soldiers who have served humanity 24/7, 365 days a year, throughout our country’s history. These powerful men and women sacrificed their lives, their wealth and their time for the sake of their country and nation. As a Muslim-American, I feel as though it is my duty to honor and salute...
Originally published in the Orange County Register Boko Haram is another example of a terrorist organization spitting in the face of the religion it tries to represent. The abduction and imprisonment of innocent girls misrepresents Islam. The group’s actions are a blatant violation of the Qur’anic injunction: “O ye who believe! It is not lawful for you to inherit women against their will; nor...
Originally published in Dallas News Yet again, a terrorist organization defaces the beautiful religion of Islam with their heinous actions. This time we are in Nigeria, where so-called “Muslims” from Boko Haram abducted 276 schoolgirls because they claim Islam disallows the education of women. You can read that over and over again because I can’t wrap my head around the logic behind this. As a...