A Letter to my Father

March 19, 2014 By Leave a Comment
My Dad rolling in a Classic Car

March 19th, 2014 – It’s been 6 years since you passed away. A lot has changed since 2008. You have 3 grand children now: Zunaira, Mustafa and Inaya. They are all healthy and happy, Alhamdulillah. Mustafa has some of your personality – very friendly and likes talking to people, unlike me, which is good, Mash'Allah. Your daughter Sana also got married last year, but I think you know that already. Imam Tahir did the Nikkah and made a nice dua for you. You would also be happy to know … [Read more...]

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The Rain Prayer: Did it Really work ?

February 9, 2014 By Leave a Comment
Sh Hamza speaking at the Rain Prayer in Pleasanton, CA

As most people know, California is going through one of the worst droughts in it's history. 2013 was the driest weather in California in the last 400 years! Many of the world's religions have special supplications ("Duas" in arabic) and prayers for rain. In fact many Christian Churches across California as well as many of the Western States of the United States have been asking their congregations to pray and fast in hopes that God will give us much needed rain. In religion of Islam, the … [Read more...]

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Super Bowl Recipe: Jamaican Style Halal Jerk Wings & Dipping Sauce

February 1, 2014 By Leave a Comment
jamaican style halal jerk wings

It's that time of the year again: The Super Bowl. And Super Bowl Parties. A day when most people prefer to watch the commercials than the game itself and when snack foods are better than the actual meal. Luckily, there are more and more Halal Snack Food options out there nowadays (usually frozen), but sometimes you need something new and fresh. So here is a unique and tasty take on the traditional football snack of chicken wings. How about some Jamaican Style Jerk Wings? - Halal of course … [Read more...]

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NCIS: A Case Study on US Military Propaganda

January 30, 2014 By Leave a Comment
No Comment. It's Obvious.

Usually I don’t watch the CBS program “NCIS” (Naval Criminal Investigative Service) because I don’t like being bombarded by blatant propaganda which promotes US & Israeli Military aggression (see the image to the left and tell me if I’m wrong), but I happened to see some trailer’s for the new season’s first episode called “Kill Chain” and it peaked my interest. The 11th season opens with a US Navy Petty officer being killed; by get this, a US Drone! Now usually, as most of … [Read more...]

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Halal Fest: One Month Later

September 17, 2013 By Leave a Comment
Packed Crowds at Halal Fest, Aug. 17th, 2013 - Photo Credit Vasim Pathan

Recently, I conducted an interview with ILLUME Magazine about the Halal Fest event, which was held one month ago on August 17th. Although a lot of the "noise" online was negative, most people who attended the event, even if they did not get to eat any of the food, thought the event itself was a big success. With over 10 articles about the event (some of which are featured here on the HalalFest website), and approximately 10,000 people in attendance, HalalFest was one of the largest and most … [Read more...]

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The Aftermath: 12 years later

September 11, 2013 By Leave a Comment
aftermathDVDcover

12 years ago, my friend Javaid Malik and I started on this documentary video called, "The Aftermath: American-Muslims After September 11th." It took us 14 months to complete as we did all the pre-production, research, script writing, shooting, editing, post-production, marketing, and promotion ourselves (although we did get help from a few people along the way). At the time it was a somewhat controversial video since it was rare for American Muslim leaders and activists to come on camera and … [Read more...]

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Avoiding ‘Fat-Rebound’ After Ramadan

August 10, 2013 By Leave a Comment
ClackPost

Avoiding 'Fat-Rebound' After Ramadan by Guest Blogger Yusuf Clack of "Clack Fit" *** Consult your doctor before changing your diet or exercise program*** For some us, we lose 4-10 lbs in Ramadan, but... put it ALL back by the end of Shawwal! We get our hopes up every year. This time will be different. It’s a new chapter. We’ve changed! Until... gravity takes over. Fail. Part of the perceived rapid weight loss is often due to faulty weighing practices. If you weigh … [Read more...]

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Man of Steel: The Good, The Bad and The Super

June 16, 2013 By 2 Comments
ManofSteel

Recently I watched Man of Steel, the latest Superman flick, and although it was a pretty good movie (way better than the last 3 Superman films); I still rank 1980’s Superman II as my all time favorite.  But here is my take on all that was good and bad about this latest one made for a 2013 audience (Warning : There are some Spoilers Below): The Good: The Kryptonians have all this futuristic technology and are expert scientists and explorers. The Bad: They still use some kind of black & … [Read more...]

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Umar Lee: Good Riddance to Bad Rubbish

May 18, 2013 By 30 Comments
Grouch3

For those who don’t know, former Muslim convert Umar Lee, is (or should I saywas) a well known blogger in the “Islamic” blogosphere.  I must admit, I do not know “Mr. Lee” personally, but I have read some of his writings and heard about him from those who know him personally. First of all, I didn’t agree with most of what Mr. Lee said while he was a so-called “Muslim” because most of it was extreme “Salafi” or “Wahabi” methodology;  meaning that he being a recent … [Read more...]

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An American [Werewolf] in Lahore – Part 1

March 23, 2013 By 14 Comments
Me at the Minar-E-Pakistan in Feb. 2012

Last year, I went to Pakistan after 25 years and to Lahore for the first time ever.  My father was from Karachi, but since most of my relatives are here in the U.S. now, we did not have much reason to visit Pakistan.  My wife’s family is from Lahore, so since we both had the time to go last year, we decided to make a last minute trip.  This will be the first part in a series, chronicling my eye-opening trip to Pakistan, and I hope I can pass along some entertaining, yet useful information … [Read more...]

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