Amidst the Presidential elections, Operation Pillar of Cloud, Palestinian bid at the UN, unrest in Egypt and a host of other issues, the Syrian conflict has been relegated to the back pages of our papers. Despite all this, the brutality of the situation on the ground continues to deteriorate. The ... Read More »
Islamophobia is stupid: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 The Messenger of Allāh said, “The believer does not defame, abuse, disparage, nor vilify.” (al-Tirmidhi) So it is official, Islamophobia IS stupid! Well, at least the Associated Press (AP) rejected the term (along with Homophobia ... Read More »
Barack Obama, when commenting about the recent warfare in Gaza, stated that he supports Israel's right to defend itself from Gazan rocket attacks. He declared, almost chided,“Israel has every right to expect that it does not have missiles fired into its territory.” The Canadian Foreign Minister, John Baird, also sang the ... Read More »
Once, while in class at college, an Arab girl I was sitting next to said quite loudly to another, “Hey, give this paper to the 'abdah” referring to a black girl in the class. I wondered if she was even aware of what she was saying in English. Did she ... Read More »
Reminders of social injustice are like reminders of poverty in the world. Those who still have within them even a grain of goodness become disturbed when confronted with these painful truths. But the true measure of righteousness is what we do about this uncomfortable stirring within. Read More »
[Nov 22, 2012] Cease-fire in place; Palestinians celebrate A ceasefire between Israel and the Palestinians appeared to be holding on Thursday after eight days of fighting in the Gaza Strip that claimed more than 160 lives. Several rockets were fired from Gaza into Israel shortly after the ceasefire came into force late on Wednesday, according to ... Read More »
Every single conference. Every single lecture. Every single guest speaker. Every single gathering of friends… …Every single time, a halal meat discussion. Is it halal? Is it zabihah? Why should you pick one or the other? For the last 20 years, the level of discourse on this subject has stayed ... Read More »
So there I was, in zen harmony with my Muslim-American (or American-Muslim) identity, choosing to be all that I could be and exercising my right to abstain from voting altogether when my Facebook feed was buzzing with a strange idea (not a fatwa, but an idea) – voting in elections ... Read More »
...the Qurʾānic verse is an endorsement of the fundamental principle of libertarianism, the Nonaggression Principle. This principle is articulated in the Maryland Libertarian Party Constitution (of which I am co-author): “No person or group has the right to initiate force or fraud against any other person or group to seek to attain their values.” This common sense principle is accepted by everyone in their daily lives, except for murderers, thieves, and con artists. Read More »
After wreaking havoc on the Northeastern seaboard, people from North Carolina up to Boston are cleaning up the mess left behind Hurricane Sandy. Houses, cars, whole towns have been devastated with destruction, damage, and lost lives. The storm did not pour too much water in the area, but the high ... Read More »
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