Ten Things to Know About Nobel Peace Prize Co-Winner Kailash Satyarthi

Last updated on: October 10, 2014 at 12:58 pm By Dilshad Ali

The news and social networks exploded this morning with articles on the latest winners of the Nobel Peace Prize — 17-year-old activist Malala Yousafzai and 60-year-old childrens right’s activist Kailash Satyarthi. Suffice to say, the world has heard a great deal about Malala, literally breathing her heroic story of being a shot by the Taliban in the Swath region of Pakistan, to her miraculous recovery and finally harnessing the world’s attention showered upon her to advocate for girls’ education. On... Read more

Will He Be OK?

Last updated on: October 8, 2014 at 9:59 am By Dilshad Ali

The thoughts are difficult to shift aside in the waning hours of the night. They have been building up over the day, over the years even, and they settle in heavier when he struggles with nighttime anxiety and sleep. It’s easy to lose oneself in the day to day, because the day to day takes all the energy you can muster. But since the minute he was born, we have been in an inexorable march towards an uncertain future. I... Read more

Hajj 2014 – Never Say Never – Umrah with Our Autistic Daughter

Last updated on: October 3, 2014 at 3:38 pm By Dilshad Ali

This article is part of Patheos Muslim’s and Altmuslim’s Hajj 2014 reflection series, which is focusing on the good, the difficult and everything in between about the holy days of Dhul Hijjah, the Hajj pilgrimage and Eid ul Adha, the second major holiday for Muslims. Although this post is about an Umrah trip, it ties into the spirit of the Hajj. Editor’s Note: This post is written by my friend and guest writer, Joohi Tahir, about the Umrah she and her... Read more

#RaisingMuslimMen: Thanking Husain Abdullah for Living out His Faith

Last updated on: September 30, 2014 at 6:23 pm By Dilshad Ali

In 2012 NFL players and brothers Hamza and Husain Abdullah missed the season so they could take a month to perform the Hajj pilgrimage in Makkah and its surrounding regions. In a sport where players are vying to get signed, negotiating bigger contracts, fighting injuries and striving for top performances, these young Muslim men left their respective teams with no guarantee that they’d receive contracts again, just so they could perform the Hajj. Four words: Muslim male role models. For... Read more

Seven

Last updated on: September 26, 2014 at 9:10 am By Dilshad Ali

It’s a Friday night, and I’m doing one of the things I love most to do – watching your little legs pump furiously up and down the field as you chase after the ball with your teammates, playing the kind of crazy, legs-a-flying soccer that only five- and six-year-olds can play. There is a cloud of legs and dust wherever the ball goes, and finally, after four seasons of playing, your “one shining moment” has come: You score! You run... Read more

Autism and the (Desi) Dinner Party

Last updated on: September 23, 2014 at 12:13 pm By Dilshad Ali

This is the first time I’ve seen you looking relaxed, she said to me. Really? You always looked tense. This is the first time you don’t. Uh, thanks, I said to her. It didn’t take a genius to know what the difference was between this party and all the others we had attended prior to it – it was the first time we had decided not to bring Lil D with us and had left him home with a babysitter.... Read more

What I’ll Never Forget – 9/11 Reflections of a Muslim American Woman

Last updated on: September 11, 2014 at 3:49 pm By Dilshad Ali

Editor’s note – this post is a guest post by Tahera Rahman. By Tahera Rahman Thirteen years ago, I was in P.E class playing tag when one of my classmates told me that two airplanes had just crashed into the twin towers. All I could say was, “What?” My 10-year-old mind couldn’t comprehend the who/what/why/how of it all. And, for the rest of the day, no matter how many explanations I got from my teachers, my parents and the news,... Read more

The Teenage Years

Last updated on: September 10, 2014 at 12:55 pm By Dilshad Ali

We were out running errands on Sunday while Lil D hung out at home with a beloved care giver. I had given her different ideas of things to do to get him out of the house, since he had come home on Friday and had pretty much refused to venture out. What’s the big deal, my husband said to me, if he just wants to stay home? No, I stubbornly said. He should do something! We’re making our other kids... Read more

EnabledMuslim – Tackling Disability Inclusion in the Muslim Community

Last updated on: August 30, 2014 at 11:31 am By Dilshad Ali

Sometimes I wonder – what does it matter to him, whether he sets foot in any type of masjid/mosque? My son is definitely unMosqued, as is my entire immediate family, to some degree. Oh, we go to events and Jummah prayers at a mosque where we live, but that connection, that sense of belonging that feeling of strong community? – Yeah, not so much. By this point in our lives, though I want for our mosques and our communities to... Read more

Autism Road Trippin’

Last updated on: August 20, 2014 at 1:36 am By Dilshad Ali

The whole summer was leading to this moment, this trip, this foray back into autism road trippin’. Were we up for the challenge? Would we be fools for trying? Was it too much to ask of Lil D? Was it too much to ask of our other children, of each other? When is it worth it to pursue a family vacation, to push each other’s limits, to stretch against the bubbles of our comfort zones in the name of family togetherness,... Read more