Originally published in The St. Louis Dispatch As we reflect on the tragic events that unfolded at the Boston Marathon a year ago and try to understand what brought the perpetrators to this dark place, let us not blame the Islamic faith. There is no place in a true Islamic conversion experience that allows for the wanton killing of other people. The Holy Quran, the main sourcebook of Islam...
Originally published in Time of Trenton Today marks the first anniversary of the Boston Marathon terrorist attack. The impact of this act and the innocent lives lost that day are still fresh in our memories. While the Quran promotes the sanctity of life: “Whosoever killed a person, it shall be as if he had killed all mankind; and whosoever saved a life, it shall be as if he had saved all mankind”...
Originally published in The Daily Caller With Ayaan Hirsi Ali in an uproar over her unvitation from Brandeis University, and Richard Dawkins beginning his American tour, what better time to invite them to work together to promote pluralism and tolerance? And just for kicks, my invite includes Sam Harris — who is likewise no stranger to demonizing Islam. The ongoing debate stems from these new...
Originally published in The Santa Barbara Independent The impetus of the United States was but a handful of pilgrims fleeing from religious persecution. Since the founding of this great nation in 1776, freedom of religion has been etched into the fabric of our Constitution and impressed by our leaders. George Washington once said, “Every man … ought to be protected in worshiping the Deity...
Originally published in The Daily Caller Imagine if you picked up your morning paper and the news story read “Judaism’s inadvertent effects on adherents.” Imagine if article’s non-Jewish author wrote, “The Torah strictly bans the consumption of pork, leading to the virtual disappearance of domesticated pigs in Jewish-majority areas, then their replacement by sheep and goats. These herds have...
Originally Published in The Express Tribune I was born in 1982, in the beautiful American city of San Jose, California. A proud patriotic Muslim American, my dad would decorate our house with lights every Fourth of July. Fast forward to the year 2001, when I got admitted to one of America’s top medical schools – the Harvard Medical School in Boston. Moving from San Jose was hard. I stayed in the...
Originally published in The Daily Caller Some 1400 years ago the unjust Meccan government criminalized the Qur’an. They arrested, beat, and murdered those who insisted on reading it. Today, another unjust government has criminalized the Qur’an and once again, those who insist on reading it are arrested, beaten, and murdered. Today, as Dr. Masood Ahmad sits in prison for the crime of reading the...
Originally published in Fox News A recent FoxNews.com op-ed asks, “Where is the Muslim Mandela?” While alleging that such a person does not exist, and that Muslims do not seek such a person, the piece provides a laundry list of injustices done by extremists in the name of Islam — and holds 1.56 billion Muslims responsible. While the piece may have been well intentioned, it has...
Originally Published in The Delco Times As I walk through the mall during this time of the year, I see people with numerous bags in their hands, rushing from store to store desperate to find those last minute deals. My email is overflowing with advertisements of items I will probably never buy. As an American Muslim, I wonder if the true spirit of Christmas has been drowned out by all this focus...
Originally Published in the New Haven Register My name is “Sohail.” Based on my Indian ancestry, my name is pronounced just the way it’s spelled. But because I’m a Muslim and my name is derived from Arabic, it’s technically pronounced “Su-hayl.” Try explaining that to someone on the other line when you’re trying to phone in a rushed order for Chinese takeout. So out of convenience, I will...