Originally Published in The Minnesota Daily. In his Oct. 18 column “Religiously Yours,” Hemang Sharma mentions that: “Islam doesn’t allow bacon, beer, masturbation or pre-marital sex; thus being inherently against everything us Americans love.” True, Islam doesn’t allow these things. In fact, if you look back into the history of faiths, all were established under a climate of persecution and...
Originally Published in The Minnesota Daily. As a Muslim in the West, the killing of U.S. Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens and attacks on U.S. embassies in Northern Africa in response to a YouTube video points to a glaring lack of leadership in the Muslim world. Rather than teaching Muslim youth the true principles of Islam, religious clerics are increasingly quiet and unresponsive...
Originally Published in The Duluth News Tribune and The Star Tribune. At a time characterized by an alleged increase in the radicalization of Muslim youth, I attended a national Muslim youth convention with the theme, “Love and loyalty for one’s homeland.” The national convention — organized by America’s leading Muslim youth organization, MKA USA — sought to educate and cultivate loyalty...