Originally Published on the Jsonline.com A chord has struck with every parent in America – and possibly the world – after the Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting in Connecticut. Like all other parents, I find myself thinking, “It could have been my child.” We need to make laws that will thwart this brutal violence against our kids and society in general, but...
Originally Published on Thenorthwestern.com I read with interest Mr. Lyle Conrad’s letter on December 3, in which he sought interfaith dialogue with local area Muslims. At the same time he attributed something to Islam which I, as a Muslim, wanted to clarify. Muslims consider Jesus to be a prophet like Moses, Abraham, Jacob, Joseph and Muhammad and thus he is a highly revered, sacred and...
Originally Published in Hartfordfavs.com The recent film “Innocence of Muslims” which sparked riots and protests around the Muslim world was not the worst or last deranged attempt to ignite unjust hatred. Indeed, since Prophet Muhammad’s birth to a beautiful couple named Aminah and Abdullah, the meek, poor, unlettered orphan of Arabia’s desert has tearfully been the target of...
Originally Published in Mercurynews.com Four Californian Muslims have been arrested on account of their plans to join the Taliban and kill Americans. This comes as a big hit to me as a 23-year-old Californian Muslim. Like most Muslims, I wholly condemn these people. But as a member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community, denouncing such acts is part of my DNA. My fellow Americans, know that organized...
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 Minnesota Daily. In his Oct. 18 column “Religiously Yours,” Hemang Sharma mentions that: “Islam doesn’t allow bacon, beer, masturbation or pre-marital sex; thus being inherently against everything us Americans love.” True, Islam doesn’t allow these things. In fact, if you look back into the history of faiths, all were established under a climate of persecution and...
Originally Published in The Duluth News Tribune Let me begin with a history lesson. About 1,400 years ago, Prophet Muhammad was sitting in his Mosque with his companions. A nomadic non-Muslim entered the Mosque and urinated in the place of worship. Companions of the prophet rushed to beat the intruder for his grave offense of blasphemy. Prophet Muhammad stopped them. Instead, he let the nomadic...
Originally Published in The Minnesota Daily. As a Muslim in the West, the killing of U.S. Ambassador to Libya Christopher Stevens and attacks on U.S. embassies in Northern Africa in response to a YouTube video points to a glaring lack of leadership in the Muslim world. Rather than teaching Muslim youth the true principles of Islam, religious clerics are increasingly quiet and unresponsive...
Originally Published in The New Haven Register Violent reactions are bad moves for Muslims HAVE you ever played chess with a novice? You could not only predict his next move, you could force it to happen. Or, are you the novice, who feels like your every move is in response to the control of your experienced opponent? Most of us can relate to being on one side or the other. On a figurative level...
Originally Published in The Cleveland Plain Dealer Muslims around the world continue to protest violently in response to an anti-Islamic movie on YouTube. The movie sparked a series of protests, including the one that led to the killing of U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens and three other Americans. As a Muslim, I am appalled by the crude ways that my brothers have chosen to respond. Islam...