When my parents registered me for kindergarten, my father stopped at the race question. How can we “check the box that applies,” when we don’t fit into any boxes? He wondered aloud why the school wanted to track their students by race, and they assured him it was not for nefarious purposes. Dad decided we should mark [Read More…]
Mawlid Celebrations 2016
December 10, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Millions of Muslims around the world are celebrating the Mawlid this weekend, commemorating the birthday of our beloved Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). Muslims celebrate our Prophet’s birthday by fasting, reciting Quran, learning more about his character and life, and often attending communal gatherings where songs and poetry are recited in his honor. Every year, I compile a list of [Read More…]
Dear White People, Let’s Check In
November 14, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Embed from Getty Images Dear White America, Hi guys! I’m sorry it took me so long to get to you, but I spent most of last week checking in on my Muslim, Latinx, Jewish, Sikh, Black, Asian, Undocumented, and LGBTQ friends. I know it’s already been about 2 hours since the last segment was [Read More…]
Live Tweeting #Election2016
November 7, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Embed from Getty Images Exciting news, friends and social media fiends! I will be live-tweeting the election and results throughout the day tomorrow. If you’re not a Twitter-person (frankly, I don’t blame you), don’t worry! You don’t have to go that bad, mean, place – just bookmark this link to read my views about [Read More…]
Why I Stand With Standing Rock #NoDAPL
September 14, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Embed from Getty Images It’s been an emotional roller coaster of a week for American Muslims. This weekend, the 15th anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks overlapped with the Day of Arafah, the culmination of the annual Hajj pilgrimage and the holiest day of the Muslim calendar. Monday, millions of Muslims across the country awoke [Read More…]
Banning Burkinis Won’t Stop Muslim Integration
August 19, 2016 by Leave a Comment
“Jump in – I’ll catch you!” My swim teacher is patient. I am 7 years old. My new bathing suit is shiny. My hair is in a bun under the swim cap. This is my third false start. I take a deep breath, close my eyes. Finally, I jump. Freckled shoulders, dark eyes, a supportive smile. “You did it! Now let’s [Read More…]
Muslims and the #BlackLivesMatter Movement: A Roundup
July 22, 2016 by Leave a Comment
The last few weeks have been a whirlwind of news and many of us are still reeling from what is turning out to be a particularly bloody and disturbing summer. We’ve been witness to terror attacks throughout Ramadan, the murders of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, the shootings of police officers in Dallas and Baton Rouge, [Read More…]
14 Muslims to Follow on #BlackLivesMatter
July 22, 2016 by Leave a Comment
It has been difficult to process the recent barrage of breaking news abroad and domestically, but it’s still critical for American Muslims to focus on the crisis of anti-Black racism in our own society. Not only do Black and African American people comprise one-third of the American Muslim population – and we are daily affected [Read More…]
American Muslims Are Not Your Soundbite in the War On Terror
February 12, 2016 by Leave a Comment
For a foreign policy wonk like me, last night’s Democratic debate was particularly interesting to follow. Clinton and Sanders engaged in rigorous debate over Henry Kissinger, the Domino Theory, Nixon opening China, Iran’s first democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh, and many more subjects that I studied in college as an International Relations major. When Bernie yelled that [Read More…]
Mr. Obama Goes To A Mosque
February 7, 2016 by Leave a Comment
I was traveling abroad last week when President Obama visited the Islamic Society of Baltimore. This was not his first visit to an American mosque, but it was the first during his presidency*. I finally had the chance to watch his full speech and read some commentary about the mosque visit. I rounded up a list of opinions, [Read More…]
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