Originally Published in The New Jersey Record. I wish to extend my heartiest congratulations to President Obama on his re-election to the White House last night. As part of the larger Muslim-American community, I am hopeful that President Obama’s reelection will serve to bring various sections of our communities even closer. I also hope that the president will continue to uphold the rule of...
Originally Published in The Mercury News
As an American Muslim, I want to congratulate President Obama on his victory. I hope the President is able to lead with justice in all affairs and continue to promote human rights and welfare. Peaceful elections in America are indeed a great blessing, and one of the reasons why I feel proud to be an American.
Saad Karamat
Sacramento
Originally Published in The Cincinnati Enquirer As an American Muslim, I congratulate President Obama on his re-election. Peaceful elections are a rare commodity in this era and should not be taken for granted. My prayers are with the president for his continuous success in which lies the success of the American nation. I implore the president to adhere to justice in all affairs and also to...
Originally Published in The Asbury Park Press I am an Ahmadi Muslim of Pakistani origin. Now 41 years old and a recent naturalized U.S. citizen, I shall, for the first time in my life, exercise my right to vote. I consider this civil right to be of utmost importance, but could not freely vote in my native Pakistan. To vote in Pakistan, the Pakistani constitution requires that I first declare...
Originally Published in The Richmond Times-Dispatch The presidential debates are history, leaving us cherishing Big Bird, binders full of women and horses and bayonets. America’s future now rests in the voters’ hands. Yet, about 90 million of us won’t vote this November — a trend that stretches back for decades. Americans have not broken the 60 percent voter turnout barrier for...
Originally Published in The New Jersey Record. Regarding “Man held in N.Y.C. bombing scheme” (Page A-1, Oct. 18): As an American Muslim, I strongly condemn Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis’ attempt to blow up the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. He claims that he was inspired by Osama bin Laden’s teachings. While the Quran instructs Muslims not to create disorder in...
Originally Published in The Cleveland Plain Dealer My 10-year-old sister published her first Letter to the Editor in The Columbus Dispatch — with the help of her big brother, of course. She had innocently expressed her dismay at the unbecoming conduct of some Disney Channel stars who were supposed to be her role models. She gazed in awe as I pulled up the letter online and began reading the...
Originally Published in The Washington Post As an American Muslim activist, I receive this question all too often: “America is about freedom, free speech, and democracy—why do Muslims hate us?” The question is not at all why they hate us, but why don’t we get it. Many of age Americans remember Sept. 11, 2001—a day we justly cried out for freedom, free speech, and democracy. Fewer, however...
Originally Published in The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel I have a favorite line from a poem, Robert Frost’s “The Road Not Taken”: “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I, I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.” Our nation needs to work together to fight intolerance regardless of how difficult it is because it will make the difference to...
Originally Published in The Perry Hall Patch Sinaan A. Younus, a sixth grade student at Perry Hall Middle School, submitted the following as a letter to the editor. 9/11 Memorial—a monument or a tourist attraction? As an 11-year-old, I was both touched and shocked to visit the 9/11 Memorial earlier this year. I was touched to see how we, as a country, have honored the people who lost their lives...