Originally Published in The Huffington Post There is never a dispute about the “what” and “who” of mass shootings. For instance, take the recent attack on September 16. What: Thirteen killed and over a dozen injured in a rampage at the Washington D.C. naval yard. Who: A 34-year-old African American male, Aaron Alexis with security access to the building. But mention the...
Originally Published in The Washington Post This is the story of two Washington Iftar dinners. First, the Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren invited Muslim leaders to a diplomatic Iftardinner last week and Imam Antepli of Duke University wondered aloud if the event was meaningful. And then the Obama administration invited Muslim leaders to the White House Iftar dinner and Omid Saifi, the Islamic...
Originally Posted in The Express Tribune Reading such knock-knock jokes on the last page of The Lahore is one of my fondest memories of growing up in Lahore. At the age of ten, honestly, I could not comprehend the literary, cultural and political content of the magazine. So of course, I was surprised to read that such an innocuous magazine was able to “offend” the clergy class in Pakistan. For...
Originally Published in The Christian Science Monitor We have seen the pictures of the Tsarnaev brothers. We know their names, and we are learning facts about their lives – one a boxer, and the other a student. But we still don’t really know their identity. And neither did the brothers, as they allegedly planted those bombs at the finish line of the Boston Marathonlast week. Or at least, that’s...
Originally Published in Oklahoma News “Love for one’s homeland is a part of faith.” Many of us may be surprised that this is a saying of Muhammad, a man whose words I use as personal guiding principles in life. These words have been an inspiration for me over the course of the past year while working as a physician in the Veteran’s Administration. Seeing these men and women who chose...
Originally published in the Indiana Gazette On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918, World War I, the “war to end all wars,” ended. From then on, every Nov. 11 to come was to be dedicated as Armistice Day. President Dwight Eisenhower changed the name to Veterans Day. Now, the nation comes together, once again, in joint honor of veterans. As a young...
Originally Publish on The Santa Clarita Valley Signal This eleventh of November, our nation will commemorate Veterans Day in tribute to the members of the armed forces who made great sacrifices defending our liberties. This day has great context, spanning wars over a hundred years fought to defend the very ideology of freedom and conscience against mortal threats. As a Muslim, I believe all...
Originally Published on The Miami Herald Prior to 1954, many schools were segregated because of fear and a lack of understanding. Nearly 60 years after the Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education decision we find ourselves in a similar situation with the parents in the Volusia County School District who are pushing to remove chapters on Islam from a history book because, as they see it, Islam...
Originally published in the Macomb Daily, Oakland Press, and the Daily Tribune As an American, I take many things for granted — freedom being the most important. As an Ahmadi Muslim, it is my duty to honor, respect, and be grateful to those veterans that have sacrificed so much so that I may enjoy the freedoms they protect. This is my duty because the Prophet Muhammad teaches Muslims that...
Originally published in the Chicago Sun Times One might think that being American and being a Muslim are diverging paths that never cross. The reality is that my faith and my loyalty to my country repeatedly converge paths. I find the basis of this claim in the words of Prophet Muhammad, who stated, “Love of one’s homeland is a part of faith.” Thus, it is my duty as both an...