Originally Published in the Santa Barbara Independant This Thanksgiving, we all will have many reasons to be thankful. I, for one, am thankful for all the women in my life, which at the moment include my mother and sister-in-law. It goes without saying that women are superheroes. It is then rather fitting that Marvel’s newest character, Ms. Marvel, is portrayed as a teenage female Muslim. While...
Originally Published in The Huffington Post As this brown, bearded Muslim was getting ready to pick up his Thanksgiving turkey order from a local Boston Market, news broke of racist graffiti in New York city. Gap had recently launched a holiday ad campaign featuring diverse models. One such ad showcasing the famous designer and actor Waris Ahluwalia, a Sikh American, had been vandalized, its...
Originally Published in The Huffington Post As the freezing winds pierced through Washington DC this past weekend, Tehran warmed up to a nuclear peace deal. Since you may have gotten an earful about the three decades of US-Iranian diplomatic quagmire, the two decades of Israeli-Iranian mien of ancient warriors, and a decade old label of “Axis of evil,” I won’t dwell over it...
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 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 The Philadelphia Inquirer At Thanksgiving, I reflect on being a Muslim American and that for which I am thankful. I am thankful that I have a roof over my head and food to fill my stomach, thankful to my parents for raising me up with love, thankful to practice my religion freely, inasmuch as my forefathers were persecuted in Pakistan for their beliefs, thankful for living...
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 Sun Opinion and Inland Valley Daily Bulletin Can Muslims celebrate Thanksgiving? Of course they can! Muslims should celebrate Thanksgiving because it’s all about being thankful to God and that is what Islam is all about. As Muslims, we are taught that God blesses us all the time — indeed, every breath we take is a gift from God — and so we should be grateful to God...
Originally published in The Huffington Post As this brown, bearded Muslim was getting ready to pick up his Thanksgiving turkey order from a local Boston Market, news broke of racist graffiti in New York city. Gap had recently launched a holiday ad campaign featuring diverse models. One such ad showcasing the famous designer and actor Waris Ahluwalia, a Sikh American, had been vandalized, its...
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...