Raising a child is a difficult feat. Raising a brown child in America is even trickier. Raising a brown, Muslim child in America seems almost impossible. Although I experienced the stress and love of caring for my son Ibrahim, who endured an illness and eventually passed away, I am now…
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I love Halloween. I mean I really love Halloween. I grew up on a steady diet of ‘80’s detective shows: Murder She Wrote, Remington Steele, and Hart to Hart. I shunned those coveted books with scandalous “ABC Afterschool Special” adult content (I’m looking at you “Flowers in the Attic”)…
Read MoreToday, making and keeping connections with American Muslim youth sits at the top of the priority list for Muslim communities across the United States. We are witnessing an increase in the rise of youth groups, organized youth associations, and Islamic classes geared specifically towards youth. Facilities are becoming widespread, but the real preparation lies not within room availability but in didactics; how can parents, teachers, and leaders communicate Islam to an entirely new species – Muslim youth of the 21st Century – while being “down” and “straight” with all that is “street?”
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It was 5 years after the events of 9/11. I was working as an architect and my current project had taken me to Seattle, Washington. For several months I had been out in the “Emerald City” and had gotten the opportunity to get to know the Muslim community through the iftars during Ramadan. During one of the fundraising iftars, the local community leaders asked me to be their architect for their new Islamic Center.
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