The Unstoppable Power of Moral Conviction

February 12, 2021 By Inas Younis

When a nation is facing a rapidly deteriorating situation, it only takes a single voice of confident resistance to revolutionize an entire culture. This is not an exaggeration. Human history is full of examples of heroic individuals who displayed courage where others would have exercised caution. Their secret, was moral conviction. Civil Rights pioneer Rosa Parks encapsulated the spirit of moral conviction when she said, “I have learned over the years that when one mind is made up this diminishes… Read more

The Story of Jesus: The Man and the Metaphor

December 21, 2020 By Inas Younis

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What is Truer than Truth? A story. Once upon a time, there was a man named Jesus, and the rest, according to Reza Aslan’s book, Zealot, is just history. When historians like Reza Aslan treat us to the un- romantic version of Jesus of Nazareth who walked on land, as opposed to the romantic version of a Jesus Christ who walked on water, I have a blasphemous urge to ask, what does history have to do with it? I am… Read more

Politics is Not Religion

December 4, 2020 By Inas Younis

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If you have ever visited a holy site you may have been tempted to ask, “Is this where ‘it’ literally happened?” To which an exasperated tour guide might reply; ‘Does it really matter?’ Billions of people believe that it did. And billions of people throughout human history have brought their energy, their fears, their pains, their passions, their souls and laid them on this threshold, or this shore, or that rock. Isn’t that enough? To which you will respond,… Read more

We Have Reason to be Alarmed

November 26, 2020 By Inas Younis

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The worst kind of oppression is not the kind that breaks a man’s back, but the kind that breaks his spirit. And the only way to break a man’s spirit is to arbitrarily change the rules of survival. In a free and fair society, the primary rule of survival has traditionally been that hard work equals success. But in spite of the narrative, the rules of survival in the United States do not always subscribe to this pure formula. Unless you are… Read more

It’s Not That Deep: surviving the world of distraction overload

August 29, 2020 By Inas Younis

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Even after a global pandemic brought our world to a screeching halt, most of us still managed to stay “busy,” which I have since discovered is nothing but a euphemism for being distracted. In his hugely popular self-help book, Deep Work, best selling author and professor Cal Newport argues that the culture of constant interruptions has destroyed our ability to focus on cognitively demanding tasks. Every moment of potential tranquility in our lives is spoiled by glancing at our… Read more

Make America Think Again

August 25, 2020 By Inas Younis

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Soon after Donald Trump was elected, CNN released a powerful new ‘Facts First’ ad Campaign series featuring an onscreen image of an apple with a voiceover narrating the following words: This is an apple. Some people might try to tell you that it’s a banana. They might scream, ‘Banana, banana, banana’ over and over again. They might put banana in all caps. You might even start to believe it’s a banana, but it’s not. This is an apple. The attempt… Read more

The Facts of the Matter: Trump and the post truth era

August 5, 2019 By Inas Younis

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Have you ever been to a quack doctor who sells you a snake oil with the disclaimer that your symptoms will actually become worse before they get better, and then looks you in the eye and insists that this is a good sign? And if that’s not enough, he advises you to apply more balm or to consume more poison until it either kills you or you wake up and realize that this doctor is merely trying to profit at… Read more

A Rant on Self-Care

June 28, 2019 By Inas Younis

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This year I joined the cult of self-care until I realized that real self-care is not self-indulgence but self-discipline. Sure contemplation and relaxation can be soul food for an impoverished psyche, but when downtime becomes a form of escapism it can have a counterproductive effect. Age should not be the only measure of our time on this earth. Maybe we have to stop taking ourselves so seriously so we can actually get things done. It’s time to stop allowing the big… Read more

Long Live Love

February 14, 2019 By Inas Younis

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The first rule of love is; Marriage is no real excuse for not loving. Rule number two; He who is not jealous cannot love. And lastly; When made public, love rarely endures. Translation: Love your spouse, be jealous, don’t tell anyone. Those were the “love rules” according to 12th century author of The Art of Courtly Love, Andreas Capellanus. In the 12th century, people were far more secretive about romantic love and for good reason. Love of the flesh was… Read more

American Mosques; Third, Fourth and Fifth Spaces

February 12, 2019 By Inas Younis

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State sponsored mosques are designed to serve a singular purpose; to provide a space for congregational religious services and prayers. In Muslim majority countries, mosques do not operate independently of political authority. The utility of the mosque is then limited, if not profoundly curtailed, within this context. But in the United States, the mosque is not just a place to pray but also doubles as a community center. American mosques are the nerve center of the Muslim community with… Read more

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