Originally Published in Beliefnet by Adil Khan I love Jesus. No you won’t see me at Sunday Worship, nor with a cross on my forehead during lent. I don’t believe Jesus is God, and I do not believe that the current state of Christianity is reflective of the beliefs of Jesus Christ. I, like the majority of Christian scholars, do not believe that—as the Biblical evidence suggests—Jesus was born on...
Originally Published on Patheos on April 7th, 2017 by Imam Azam Akram As a Muslim Imam (Religious Minister), I find myself in a bind each time an atrocious act against Humanity is committed. Whether it is an act of terror or an act of injustice. That is because my eight years of formal training in the Qur’an, Sunnah, Hadith, and authentic teachings of Islam have no basis for these atrocities. In...
Originally Published in Sentinel & Enterprise Hundreds of tombstones were vandalized in a Jewish cemetery in Philadelphia over the weekend. Hearing about this was both shocking and upsetting. As a Muslim American, I condemn this cowardly act and pray that the culprits be brought to justice. With the wave of bomb threats to Jewish centers and this recent horrific act, we will stand by our...
Originally Published in “The Middletown Press” By Miyan Zahir Muhammad Mannan As an Ahmadiyya Muslim American, I wholeheartedly extend my prayers, condolences, solidarity and support to my Jewish brothers and sisters amid rising anti-Semitism and another condemnable attack. The despicable onslaught on the Jewish community has this time come in the heartbreaking form of destruction and...
“And keep thyself attached to those who call on their Lord, morning and evening, seeking His pleasure; and let not thy eyes pass beyond them, seeking the adornment of the life of the world; and obey not him whose heart We have made heedless of Our remembrance and who follows his evil inclinations, and his case exceeds all bounds” (Holy Quran, Chapter of the Cave [18]: Verse 29). The Ahmadiyya...
Originally published in TIME (Nov 10, 2016) One of the high marks of Islam that Prophet Muhammad taught is that loyalty to your country is part of your faith. I can sympathize with the anger and fear that many have about a Donald Trump presidency: I’m a person of color; I’m a Muslim; I have young children. But these are the cards we’ve been dealt, and we need to find ways to continue working to...
Originally published in the Huffington Post With last week’s release of Charlie Hebdo’s newest edition, marking the one-year anniversary of the infamous terrorist attack on its offices that killed 12 people, once again the debate about free speech has been ignited. In its recent publication, the editors at the magazine decided to take aim at all religion and blame God for terrorism...
Originally published on Patheos The year 2015 can be remembered as the year Daesh (ISIS) dominated the news media in the Western world, from beginning to the end. It began with the merciless attack on the French newspaper Charlie Hebdo that drew worldwide condemnation, enslaving of Yazidi women, burning of a Jordanian pilot and ending with a spectacular attack in France and inspiring mass murder...
Originally published in the the Montgomery News I am deeply saddened at the horrific shooting that occurred in San Bernardino. It is a tragedy that so many lives were lost, all in the name of Islam. Farook and Malik were said to be deeply religious. I too consider myself deeply religious. Unlike them I follow Islam. I follow Islam where it states clearly in the Quran “that you slay not the soul...
Originally published in the Express Tribune As Christmas is nearing, I am starting to see the occasional anti-Christmas messages on the internet that say that greeting on the occasion of Christmas is haram (forbidden) according to scholarly consensus. Some are claiming that saying “Merry Christmas” is tantamount to committing “shirk” or associating partners with Allah. Of the many clerics that...