Originally published in Pakistan Daily Times I was living in New Jersey in the summer of 2011 when Governor Chris Christie appointed Sohail Muhammed to the bench of the Superior Court of New Jersey. Almost immediately, the governor faced a serious backlash from the conservative right, which attacked his move to appoint a US Muslim judge to high office. Governor Christie was unmoved. With the...
Originally published in The Huffington Post I was in high school when my parents bought a goat in 1984, Pakistan. I named it, fed it, walked it, and then within a week, witnessed it getting slaughtered. It was a heart-wrenching experience at Eid-ul-Adha, a major Islamic holiday which honors Prophet Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his only son for God. The incident taught me a lesson: Be...
Originally published in OnFaith A horrifying tragedy in Oklahoma has been hijacked to become a tool of partisan politics, and lost is the practice of an intelligent discourse. Last Thursday, 30-year-old Alton Nolen brutally attacked co-workers at a food processing plant, killing and decapitating 54-year-old Colleen Hufford and attempting to kill 43-year-old Traci Johnson. Let’s get some facts...
Originally published in The Oregonian President Obama has presented his strategy for dealing with the menace known as ISIS, which has continued to perpetrate some of the most heinous acts imaginable – disregarding all international laws and even the dictates of human decency. As much as I commend the United States for stepping up to confront ISIS, I am befuddled at the Muslim world’s...
Originally published in the Huffington Post Religious clerics in Pakistan celebrate September 7th as a day of victory for Islam and Pakistan. Officially dubbed the “Khatme Nubuwwat Day” or “Finality of Prophethood Day,” many mosques come alive with celebrations this day, sweets are distributed andintense speeches are made in large religious gatherings. Forty years ago this...
Originally published in the Huffington Post My name is Kashif Chaudhry. I am a Pakistani immigrant to the United States. Currently, I am completing a Cardiology fellowship in Boston. While speaking at Yale a few days back, Ayaan Hirsi Ali declared war on me. But why? To provide some perspective, I am a Muslim who belongs to the Ahmadiyya sect of Islam. The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community is the single...
Originally published in the Huffington Post It is no secret I’ve been critical of Muslim leadership for their deafening apathy and silence over the 125-year worldwide persecution of Ahmadi Muslims. To add insult to injury, every time a new atrocity emerges I’m bombarded with standard anti-Ahmadi talking points in a shameless attempt to justify the violence. Just recently in...
Originally published in the Huffington Post While President Obama reveals his plan to obliterate ISIS with force, and Bill Maher continues his ignorant rant to tie ISIS to Islam, New York Times journalist David Brooks provides the correct counter to ISIS in his September 4 column, “But, ultimately, [ISIS is] a spiritual movement that will have to be surmounted by a superior version of Islam...
Originally published in the The Santa Clarita Valley Signal On this anniversary of 9/11, it seems there is more to be concerned about now than to alleviate us from the wounds inflicted 13 years ago. Sept. 11 has come to symbolize terrorism, cruelty and injustice. Over the course of the previous year we have seen an astounding rise in all of these vices around the world. The Israeli-Palestinian...
Originally published in the Express Tribune Religious clerics in Pakistan celebrate September 7th as a day of victory for Islam and Pakistan. Officially dubbed the “Khatme Nubuwwat Day” or “Finality of Prophethood Day,” many mosques come alive with celebrations this day, sweets are distributed and intense speeches are made in large religious gatherings. Forty years ago this day, Pakistan passed...