Originally Published in Patheos In 2016, we witnessed an unprecedented level of violence against citizens. Men and women who have sworn to defend the community during day and night as well as adverse weather conditions tragically lost their lives in the line of duty. At unprecedented rates, civilians with no training or possession of firearms lost their lives at the hands of some law enforcement...
Originally Published in Patheos Is anyone surprised that hate crimes have increased 31% in 2016? This year has been exceptionally revealing in terms of hidden, hateful sentiments. But hate based crime isn’t just an American issue. Unlike apple pie, hate based crime is on the rise globally as well. My religious community, The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, is especially familiar with violence...
Originally published in The Huffington Post On July 8, 2016, prominent American Muslim cleric Imam Omar Suleiman gave a brilliant speech at the Dallas Police memorial: My faith requires me to speak out against hatred and injustice of all sorts… (O God!) We stand before you, ready to stand up … against any oppression, in any name, for any cause, from any position, and against any of...
Originally published in The Nation Chief Minister,The Government of Punjab. Dear Mr. Shehbaz Sharif, I hope you are doing great. I promise to keep this short and to-the-point. A tweet from the Government of Punjab’s official Twitter handle caught my eye on Sunday. A statement, attributed to you, promised continued crackdown on anyone guilty of inflammatory hate speech. Hate speech and...
Originally published in Beliefnet My story with non-violence starts with my ancestors who joined the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. Among what inspired my ancestors to join this community was the strong condemnation of violence in the name of Islam by the community’s founder, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. Ahmad believed that unnecessary violence was not only prohibited in Islam but was a great misfortune for...