Editor’s note: This is a letter from my friend Rabiah to her 10-year-old son Issa. Dear Issa, This past year has been a challenging one…to say the least. You have heard a lot of talk about kicking people out, not letting people in, and what it means to be American. All of this divisiveness in our national debates has no doubt trickled down to your young ears and left you wondering — why can’t grown-ups get along and do the... Read more
This is a guest post by Shaheer Mirza, a high school student, about his experience with bullying. By Shaheer Mirza “Don’t go near Shaheer! He has a bomb!” “Terrorist!” “Do you belong to ISIS?” These are the statements I’ve repeatedly heard as a middle school, and now, high school student. When the taunting started in sixth grade, I tried to brush the words off and kept a low profile. But it was frustrating. I had done absolutely nothing to my peers,... Read more
“He (Musa) said: ‘Oh my Lord! Expand my breast for me and make my affair easy to me, and loose the knot from my tongue (that) they may understand my word … (Quran 20:25:28)” We are committed to owning our own narratives and taking action in many worthy arenas. But what about the most vulnerable in our communities? What of their families? What about the spiritual struggles of families with special needs — embracing them, including them, connecting them to... Read more
Editor’s note: This is a guest post by Zainab Bint Younus, aka the Salafi Feminist. By Zainab Bint Younus It is Allah alone who created the months of the year and it is He alone who chooses which of those months are sacred, and which of those days are meant to be days of celebration and commemoration. In the Sunnah of RasulAllah (sallAllahu ‘alayhi wa sallam), we have ample evidence of specific examples: the month of Ramadan, the last ten... Read more
By Layla Abdullah-Polous Editor’s Note: This piece is a guest post by Layla Abdullah-Polous, who founded the site Native born American Muslims. Writer’s Note: Although most readers know me for a certain writing style, occasionally, I need to let my indignation be my guide. This is one of those times. Initially, I really didn’t have more than a passing interest in the fact that a covered Muslim woman would have her name or face in a periodical like Playboy, its... Read more
Like millions of other Americans (and global citizens), my husband, daughter and I gathered together to watch the first of the 2016 presidential debates between Republican candidate Donald J. Trump and Democratic candidate Hillary R. Clinton. A mere ten minutes into it though, I was ready to check out. Not because I was fed up or frustrated with the debate, but because it was approaching D’s bedtime. So I headed to his room to hang out with him until he... Read more
Embed from Getty Images The Monday morning routine is the same as always: Alarm rings, I turn it off. Lay in my bed with eyes shut for a few more minutes. Get up, utter the same morning prayer I have for decades, go to the bathroom. Look at my phone. Read the latest on the bombing in New York City and New Jersey as well as the stabbings in Minnesota. Put the phone down and go downstairs to make lunches.... Read more
Many Muslims probably breathed a sigh of relief when the start of the Islamic month of Dhul Hijjah was declared to be on September 3 in the U.S. and many parts of the world. I know I did. This makes the holiday of Eid-ul-Adha fall on September 12, not on September 11 — 9/11. Eid-ul-Adha, which commemorates the story of the Prophet Abraham and his willingness to sacrifice his son at the command of God, also coincides with the conclusion... Read more
Embed from Getty Images Muslim women and allies let loose a cheer today when France’s highest administrative court, the Conseil d’Etat, overturned the ban that had been imposed in 26 of the country’s beach towns and cities, after public outrage culminated in a fever pitch when news articles and photos circulated of armed French police standing over a Muslim woman on a beach in Nice, ordering her to remove her tunic to comply with the beach’s burkini ban France endured... Read more
Back in the late 1980s, when I first started fasting, I was the second kid to do so in my Midwestern junior high school (ok, the first was my older brother two grades ahead of me) in what was a predominantly White Anglo-Saxon Protestant community, I was somewhat unapologetically Muslim. As a 12-year-old, I didn’t advertise to my gaggle of not-Muslim friends that I was fasting. I just retreated (with permission) to the library or the counselor’s office during our... Read more
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