Originally Published in Patheos on June 2nd, 2017 Yesterday, I attended a seminar by Professor Mahzarin Banaji of Harvard University on the topic of unconscious bias. It was an incredibly mind-opening seminar that brought many biases I hold to the surface. But it also enabled me, in a way, to see the biases that other people hold, specifically towards the Muslim community. Last week, 22 people...
Originally Published on Patheos on April 7th, 2017 by Imam Azam Akram As a Muslim Imam (Religious Minister), I find myself in a bind each time an atrocious act against Humanity is committed. Whether it is an act of terror or an act of injustice. That is because my eight years of formal training in the Qur’an, Sunnah, Hadith, and authentic teachings of Islam have no basis for these atrocities. In...
Originally Published in Independent on March 24th, 2017 On Tuesday, 22 March 2017 the UK Parliament was the centre of an atrocious act of terrorism where an individual by the name of Khalid Masood attacked by first plowing his car into pedestrians then fatally stabbing a police officer. As an Ahmadi Muslim I condemn this barbaric and un-Islamic act; there is no such place for this violence in...
Originally Published in The Santa Clarita Valley Signal This month brought a close to the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Ramadan is marked by 30 days of fasting for Muslims from dawn to dusk and culminates with a day of celebration and festivity known as Eid-ul-Fitr. However, the Quran states that fasting is not a new phenomenon in the religion of Islam, but has had prescription in earlier...
Originally Published in The Dallas Morning News The murder of U.S. Ambassador to Libya J. Christopher Stevens is an abhorrent and inexcusable crime. Murder has no place in Islam. Nowhere in the Quran is anyone permitted to harm, riot or kill anyone for speaking against Islam or Prophet Muhammad. The very actions the rioters took violate the example set by Prophet Muhammad. When a mob was about to...
Originally Published in The Washington Post “You don’t have to do this! You shouldn’t have to. It’s a disgrace.” At the height of the 2010 Park 51 “Ground Zero Mosque” controversies, I, along with thousands of Muslim American youth nationwide, was engrossed in a massive “Muslims for Peace” flyer distribution. Days before the ninth anniversary of Sept. 11, I met my match at a Wisconsin State Fair...