Originally published in Twin Cities Daily Planet On Monday, May 25, Ohio based cardiologist, Dr. Mehdi Ali was assassinated in Pakistan. According to a report in the New York Times: “An American doctor volunteering at a hospital in eastern Pakistan was shot to death on Monday in front of his wife and 3-year-old son in the latest attack on a follower of the minority Ahmadi faith at a time of...
Originally published in OnFaith Earlier this month I asked a Muslim friend to help resolve an important question: Does Islam teach that hell is eternal? It started as a simple conversation: “Is God merciful, compassionate, and just?” “Yes, absolutely,” he replied. “Is hell eternal?” “Yes, absolutely,” he replied again. “So, a merciful, compassionate, and just God would send a finite creature with...
Originally Published in Daily Bulletin My column last month entitled “Focus on God should not be split” generated a few letters in response. You can read my Dec. column here. One letter came from Mr. George C. in Ontario and another from Mr. Tom V. in Chino Hills. Thank you both for your letters — I always welcome them. And while Tom wrote a polite two-page letter quoting many Bible verses to...
Originally Published in The State Journal-Register As an Ahmadi Muslim, I condemn the bus bombing near Tel Aviv last Sunday. Islam categorically rejects violence and the taking of innocent lives. The Quran states, “… if any one killed an innocent person … it would be as if he killed all of mankind.” Furthermore, there is no place for vigilante justice in Islam...
Originally published in Religion News Service (RNS) As Syrian President Bashar al-Assad uses chemical weapons at the outskirts of Damascus and President Obama mulls a U.S. military response, some theologians hope for an alarming endgame to the 30-month-long Syrian conflict. For these Christians and Muslim, the civil war in Syria heralds nothing less than the Second Coming of Jesus Christ...