This Muslim-American is pained, on the one hand, to witness violent extremism perpetrated in the name of Islam, for example, by the Islamic State group or Boko Haram, and on the other hand, to see noxious caricatures that defame the Prophet Muhammad drawn in public demonstrations by Islamophobes. Both entities are completely ignorant of the noble character of the prophet, who defended the rights...
Originally published in the Huffington Post Ayaan Hirsi Ali is an extreme anti-Islam critic, well known for her bigoted views and dishonest generalizations of the Muslim faith. When she was invited to speak at Yale’s Buckley program recently, some student groups — including the Yale Humanist Community — issued a statement criticizing the invitation. In their statement, thegroup...
Originally published in The Huffington Post In a recent piece, new atheist Ali Rizvi argues “The phobia of being called “Islamophobic” is on the rise — and it’s becoming much more rampant, powerful and dangerous than Islamophobia itself.” While thus admitting that Islamophobia exists in some form or another, Rizvi then cites Sam Harris who contrarily claims...
Originally Published in The Patriot News As I walked into the New York subway, I read an ad on the wall that quoted the Quran “Soon shall We cast terror into the hearts of the Unbelievers” with a picture of the Twin Towers burning beside it. Had the Al-Qaeda taken over? No, rather, this was an Islamophobic hate ad. America was founded on religious freedom for all, yet recently in a...
Originally Published in The Daily Herald I wonder how someone like Pamela Geller can be associated with “American Freedom,” since she seems to be out of touch with Americans. She has alienated many Americans by promoting a narrow-minded view by way of an advertising campaign which has not resulted in any good. Her group’s recent ads, which were essentially forced upon the CTA in the name of...
Originally Published in TheNorthwestern.com Here we go again. Pamela Geller is at her best one more time, this time taking her hate campaign to Chicago’s CTA buses. I agree with her in that “In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man.” The point of contention is about who here is civilized? After millions of years of evolution is this how we define...
Originally Published in The Wisconsin State Journal My first exposure to voting was in 11th grade when my teacher gave us voting registration forms in our government class. She wanted to let us know voting allowed everyone to have a say in who and how this country runs. It is time Muslim-Americans join other groups in America to elect individuals who can better represent all citizens equally and...
Originally Published in The New Jersey Record. Regarding “Ads criticizing Muslim radicals go up in N.Y.C. subways” (Page A-7, Sept. 25): Anti-jihad ads that imply Muslims are “savage” have recently gone up on New York City subways. “Defeat Jihad” and “support the civilized man,” parts of the ad read. The advertisement is the brainchild of Pamela...
Originally Published in The Washington Post and The Huffington Post The straw man of the famous post-Sept. 11 slogan, “Not every Muslim is a terrorist but every terrorist is a Muslim” was debunked by a 2005 FBI report. It showed that only 6 percent of terrorist attacks on U.S. soil from 1980 to 2005 were carried out by extremists calling themselves Muslims. But one group has sustained the...
Originally Published in The Dallas Morning News Senator Michele Bachmann’s recent accusations of Muslim Brotherhood infiltration of the United States government is McCarthy-esque fear-mongering for the 21st century. Her baseless accusations that top aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Huma Abedin, is an agent of the Muslim Brotherhood sent to infiltrate the U.S. Government is not...