Originally Posted on The Hartford FAVS Instead of shopping this Black Friday, why don’t we consider the ones who lost everything? My Ahmadi Muslim brothers had the best response after Hurricane Sandy devasted homes. We traveled to New York and joined volunteers with Humanity First and the American Red Cross. We dove right in to aide several families, removing rubble from destroyed homes. “An...
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 Huffington Post After a gruesome reelection campaign, President Obama should unwind. And instead of playing basketball, he should watch a movie. How about the 2007 biographical drama, “Charlie Wilson’s War”? It’s about the period when the United States was leaving Afghanistan after wrapping up its covert anti-Soviet operation there. Tom Hanks...
Originally Posted on The Hartford FAVS “Labbayk” or “Here I am and ready to serve” was what we exclaimed when Hurricane Sandy made her devastation known. Four of us from the Meriden- based Connecticut chapter of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community energetically left for New York on Saturday (Nov. 3) for a three hour trip to provide assistance to those in need. On the way we filled...
Originally Published in The Huffington Post There are many similarities between the candidates vying for the District 5 seat on the Prince George’s County (Maryland) Board of Education: they are both women, both members of minority groups, both long-term residents of the county and both highly qualified. Yet there is a key difference: Age. Raaheela Ahmad is the 19-year-old maverick...
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 Published in The Daily Times, Pakistan. On October 30, Pakistan took the proverbial human rights ‘hot seat’ in Geneva at the United Nations Human Rights Council’s second ever Universal Periodic Review (UPR). This unique process mandates that all 193 UN Member States submit to an examination of their human rights record once every four years. In the span of four hours, all UN Member...
Originally Published in The Richmond Times-Dispatch The presidential debates are history, leaving us cherishing Big Bird, binders full of women and horses and bayonets. America’s future now rests in the voters’ hands. Yet, about 90 million of us won’t vote this November — a trend that stretches back for decades. Americans have not broken the 60 percent voter turnout barrier for...
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...