Originally Published in The Daily Caller Al Qaeda, Taliban extremists, and Mike Huckabee have at least one thing in common — all believe Islam is a violent religion. In a recent tirade, Huckabee wondered, “why it is that we tiptoe around a religion that promotes the most murderous mayhem on the planet in their so-called holiest days. … the most likely time to have an uprising of rock throwing and...
Originally Published in The Santa Barbara Independent “While we should be thankful of being able to fast during the month of Ramadan, we should be particularly thankful of the freedom that we have as American Muslims,” Imam Shamshad Nasir related to a packed congregation in the Bait ul Hameed mosque in Chino, California, during Eid-ul-Fitr. Often shorted to Eid, this celebration is at the end of...
Originally published in Oshkosh Northwestern A Muslim will never find a major difference between the words “Night of Power” and “Night of Destiny” because both describe a night of spiritual empowerment. The way to attain it is through an arduous effort of prayer and meditation during the last ten days of Ramadan. Recently, CNN changed this whole context by the story on the recent worldwide terror...
Originally published in The Daily Caller Al Qaeda, Taliban extremists, and Mike Huckabee have at least one thing in common — all believe Islam is a violent religion. In a recent tirade, Huckabee wondered, “why it is that we tiptoe around a religion that promotes the most murderous mayhem on the planet in their so-called holiest days. … the most likely time to have an uprising of rock...
Originally published in the Huffington Post Who can decipher the mind of a terrorist? In the post 9/11 America, there is a dollar-spending, ink-spilling, competition between the government and the academia to answer this question. The faith of the terrorist in the above question is typically implied while the magnitude of the problem — less than 0.1 percent of the world’s Muslims have...
Originally published in New Haven Register The news seems to report much about problem leaders of the Muslim world. They include bloodthirsty extremists, fiery Mullahs and unyielding autocrats. Also, throw in the chatter from absolute cynics who can’t believe that a practicing Muslim could possibly live a life of peace. And we are left to ask: Where are the good guys in the group...
Originally published in Santa Barbara News-Press As a Muslim, I am saddened and condemn the terrorism in the Boston Marathon bombing. The worldwide head of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, His Holiness and Khalifa of Islam Mirza Masroor Ahmad, condemned the bombings in a recent sermon. Moreover, His Holiness was saddened that Muslims were the first to be targeted as the culprits of this...
Originally published in The Oshkosh Northwestern Since we are all in the business of labeling things these days, let me begin with a couplet from Shakespeare’s play “Romeo and Juliet,” where Juliet, the protagonist, responds to her love Romeo, “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” Her angle was that names...
Originally published in Philly Enquirer The Boston bombings gave me a double whammy. As an American, I am deeply saddened by the deaths of three people and the dozens wounded. My heart goes out to the victims’ families. As a Muslim, though, I am disturbed by headlines saying Islam might have played a secondary role. Violence and evil has no religion. Boston bombings are as evil as the...
Originally Published in The Huffington Post It took 9,000 officers, five days, and roughly $1 billion in lost revenue for Boston, but suspect one is dead and suspect two is in custody. So let me start with the standard roll call: As an American Muslim, I condemn all violence in the name of religion. Terrorism has no religion and Islam is no exception. If the Tsarnaev brothers are guilty of the...