On February 10, Abdul Jamil Kamawal, a 68-year-old Afghani American man, was bludgeoned to death with a shovel in a suburb of Portland, Oregon. Remembered as “a pillar in the Muslim community,” he had helped refugees settle in the region for over two decades. Abdul Jamil Kamawal He also founded…
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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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Islamophobia is at its peak. Recent terror attacks, mass shootings, combined with anti-Muslim rhetoric by some of our politicians have contributed greatly to fear and hatred against Muslims. Consequently, many Muslims, who have lived and worked in this country for decades, are anxious and fearful of things that were once…
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“It was with much sadness that I witnessed your gleeful reaction when police named Syed Farooq, a devout Muslim, as one of the suspects. You seem to be under the impression that a Muslim shooter absolves the United States of brutality, forgetting that Farooq is…
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This has not been the best week ever. Quite to the contrary, this has been a week in which many of us have had to come to terms with and process terrorist attacks in Paris, Beirut, Nigeria, Mali, and many other places the world over. All the while, news of…
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It all happened after a Muslim woman threatened to sue the police department when they forcibly removed her hijab during her arrest. There’s a police officer in the room with me, and he’s shouting “You don’t know what you’re talking about, ma’am!” I tremble inwardly, but I don’t back down….
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[title maintitle=”” subtitle=”Harper’s campaign is embracing Islamophobia to make Monday’s parliamentary elections a referendum on the veil”] On Oct. 9, Zunaira Ishaq, an immigrant from Pakistan, finally took her citizenship oath and became a Canadian. Her refusal to take the oath without niqab, or a face veil, has been a…
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These days I’m unsettled. I feel like we are on the cusp of a major change. By ‘we’ I mean The World, The United States, Society as a Whole, Islam, My Family, Me. My wise friend, Heather, tells us to breathe through the change but I’m scared of change. I…
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When two apparent Muslim radicals attacked a Muhammad cartoon contest in a Dallas suburb this May, a national spotlight was focused on the group that hosted the provocative event — the American Freedom Defense Initiative, whose leader is Pamela Geller, the country’s most flamboyant and visible Muslim-basher. The gunmen were killed by…
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Civil rights activist Linda Sarsour uses the start of Ramadan, a time of reflection, to reflect on what it means to be Muslim in America today. Islam prescribes this month of fasting, and as with many, my favorite place to be during Ramadan is the mosque in the evenings… The…
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