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 New Haven Register A crime against one religious group is an attack upon all of us in America. It doesn’t matter if your background or birthplace is different. Every house of worship on American soil is sacred. So said our Founding Fathers. John Adams, for instance, wrote: “No subject shall be hurt, molested, or restrained, in his person, liberty, or estate, for...
Originally Published in The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Washington Times I am deeply saddened by Sunday’s tragic events at the Sikh temple in Wisconsin (“Assault on Sikh temple kills six,” Monday), a place of worship with the purpose of developing people into better human beings. As a Muslim, I know that Sikhs face similar discrimination, often due to their attire and...
Originally Published in The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and The Oshkosh Northwestern I read with much sadness the account of the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin shooting in Oak Creek. It is particularly distressing when a sacred place of worship becomes the site of merciless killings. As an Ahmadi Muslim, the Sikh Temple shooting brings back haunting memories of the May 2010 barbaric attacks on Ahmadiyya...
Originally Published in The Chicago Tribune The shooting at a local Sikh temple outside Milwaukee is extremism in its worst form. It was an attack on all places of worship and on religious freedom. My heart aches for my Sikh brothers who have lost loved ones in this tragic incident; my faith (Islam) teaches me that all places of worship are precious and should be protected. The First Amendment of...
Originally Posted on The Huffington Post I was attending a LIVE online conference this morning when a friend’s email instantly brought tears to my eyes. He broke the news of the tragic shooting at a Sikh temple near Milwaukee. I was racked with pain. My first reaction was to pray to God to ease the suffering of those directly affected by the tragedy and then to contact my friends at the Sikh...
Originally Posted on The Huffington Post I was fasting but had to fight the incessant urge to vomit, as my Twitter feed spiked with tweets about a shooting at a Sikh Gurdwara. Hoping against hope it was a mistake, my heart began to race and my teeth clenched as several news reports confirmed the incident. Another terrorist attack against innocent souls, this time just south of Milwaukee, but an...