Originally posted in Dawn IMAGINE sending your child to school in uniform in the morning, and finding him in a casket in the afternoon. Imagine having your child’s blood-stained clothes brought back to you, the dreams that you had for them shattered. Instead of your child arranging for your burial one day you have to pick up the greatest load in your life — the casket of your child. More than...
Three Steps Toward Defeating ISIS That Are Better Than Those Heard At Last Night’s Debate
Originally published in The Daily Caller Last night, those vying for the Republican nomination spent two hours arguing why they would make this nation more safe and secure than anyone else on the stage. Aside from the false or gray statements that are already being debunked by fact checkers, I was amazed by the general solution being proposed to stop the growth and terror of Daesh (otherwise...
The path back to greatness
Originally posted on New York Daily News As an American Muslim, I agree with GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump that “we are at war.” However, he must realize that we are at war not with Islam, but with inhumane ideologies that neither The Koran nor Prophet Muhammad’s life support. I also agree with Trump that extremism exists within some parts of the Muslim world. However, he must...
Remember America’s invitation
Originally posted in CS Monitor Regarding the Nov. 19 online article “House defies Obama on Syrian refugees, as larger threat emerges” (CSMonitor.com): I am an American Ahmadi Muslim. Born in Pakistan, I immigrated to America in 1998 and was granted asylum based on religious persecution. When I read that many US governors have refused to settle Syrian refugees in their respective states and the...
Islam Condemns Religious Extremism
Originally posted in The Huffington Post The spate of violent crimes being committed by mentally deranged, religious hypocrites is very concerning, and could not have been ordered by God the Almighty. Thus crime and terrorism such as San Bernadino, Paris massacre, Charlie Hebdo shooting and other violent acts perpetrated by terrorist groups like Boko Haram, Al- Qaeda and ISIS have no connection...
Don’t let San Bernardino massacre divide us
Originally posted in The News & Observer The shocking massacre at San Bernardino that killed 14 innocent souls and wounded 21 people unfortunately adds to the tally of the mass shooting epidemic in the country and must be condemned under no uncertain terms. This time around, the perpetrators were Muslims with links to an ISIS terror group and thus have inflamed the already volatile...
President Obama, Terrorism and Guns
Originally posted in The New York Times As a Muslim-American, I completely agree with President Obama’s comments that Muslim leaders must speak out against not just acts of violence, but also those interpretations of Islam that are incompatible with the values of religious tolerance. Muslim leaders have a major role to play in the war against terrorism. Perverse interpretations of Islam are the...
The Origins of Terrorism are Geopolitical, Not Religious
Originally published on Patheos.com Why didn’t we hear the term “Muslim terrorist” or “Jihadist” before the 1980s? Islam has been around for more than 1400 years but “Islamic” terrorist organizations were not to be found prior to 1980. The first Islamist terrorist attack was the bombing of the Tyre Headquarters in 1982. Was Islam different prior to the 1980s or was there some sort of fundamental...
Retaliation against terrorists justified
Originally published on GoErie.com By targeting a soccer game, restaurant and concert hall, Islamic State terrorists tried to upset the normalcy of ordinary Parisians. Places like those targeted are the sort of spots where the ordinary young folks of Paris gather on the weekends to unwind after a week of work. Now the responsible powers of the civilized world should give the terrorists an...
Four Simple Ways to Stop ISIS
Originally published in Patheos Over the past few years, ISIS has emerged from the shadows of a failed Arab Spring in Syria and sectarian violence in Iraq to become a dominant player in global terrorism. The brutalities, that took the form of beheadings of foreign journalists and aid workers and enslavement of women and children often concentrated in the Middle East, have recently escalated onto...