by Inas Younis, About Islam “The pessimist complains about the wind. The optimist expects it to change. The leader adjusts the sails,” John Maxwell `Eid Parties have become a regular feature at the White House. Muslims have attended Iftars and given invocations at both political party conventions. We now also have an `Eid Stamp issued by the United States post office. And while this might have had a great deal of impact on public relations, it does not necessarily translate into a change in public policy. For many American Muslims, politics is a kind of uncharted territory that begins and ends at the polls. The Muslim community is still in the embryonic stages of the political system. We have yet to internalize the notion that politics and re...

by Dr. Arif Ahmad, The Moderate Voice I can keep my eyes closed and report that all is hunky-dory, that all is well just because nothing untoward has happened to me yet. Or I can be honest. The war has come home and in a bad way, for such is the nature of this beast and the price is being asked of and paid by those having nothing to do with it. As it happens in such scenarios, the scale of the problem gets exaggerated several times over as in the number of deaths in America from terrorism is still a tiny fraction of those from gun violence. With all due respect, would the dead have known or cared for the difference? Victims remain victims and why are we choosing between them? Whichever way I slice it, this is not just a rhetoric anymore. The American Muslims a...

by Ayman Refaat Islam is a religion, but Muslims are the people who follow this religion. And we need to follow the religion, not the followers of the religion. So why do we need to follow Islam not Muslims? There are three reasons for that. The first reason is that Islam, as God and his prophet transmitted it to us, is perfect. That is why the last verse that the prophet Muhammad received from God in the Quran was this verse: الْيَوْمَ أَكْمَلْتُ لَكُمْ دِينَكُمْ وَأَتْمَمْتُ عَلَيْكُمْ نِعْمَتِي وَرَضِيتُ لَكُمُ الْإِسْلَامَ دِينًا This day I have perfected for you your religion and completed My favor upon you and have approved for you Islam as religion. (5:3) And t...

by Dr Fawad Ahmed (Editorial Note: Dr Fawad is a physician by profession, a singer by hobby, a volunteer in Health Clinic and Board Member Of MCA, Orlando, and above all, an astute student of Quran) A Facebook group called Global Rally for Humanity put out a call for anti-Muslim demonstrations "in every country at every mosque." Some plan to use “open carry laws” in some American states to bring weapons. Granted, the average participant IQ at such rallies is about 89, and these proceedings could readily be dismissed as gatherings of village idiots. However, recently anti-Muslim views have been expressed by otherwise intelligent public figures (with much fanfare) such as Donald Trump and Dr. Ben Carson, who recently stated he would not want a “Muslim in the Whi...

by James Ragland, Dallas Morning News Something remarkable is happening in Irving, a city that, for the better part of a year, clumsily became a tinderbox for anti-Muslim madness. Time flies when you’re facing cultural bias and religious persecution. This is the town where Ahmed Mohamed, the “clock boy,” gained notoriety last fall for bringing a homemade project to school. Over the past 15 months, since Mayor Beth Van Duyne began stoking fears that Muslims were setting up a Shariah law court at an Irving mosque, the Muslim community hasn’t just turned the other cheek — it has rolled up its sleeves and gone to work. We noted last year that Muslims, who have generally refrained from city politics, had begun organizing get-out-the-vote drives and showing...

By Lauren Markoe, Religion News Service The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Greater Lansing is getting a new church this spring — but not quite soon enough. Hearing of construction lags and its neighbor’s need for a temporary home, a mosque in East Lansing offered up its worship space – for free. “No charge whatsoever,” said the Rev. Kathryn Bert. “It’s been a lovely story to live. It has been a beautiful relationship.” Since April 3, the church has been gathering at the mosque. The offer from the Islamic Society of Greater Lansing came with no strings attached, but in thanks the church decided to dedicate its plate offering one Sunday this month to the mosque. The mosque, in turn, plans to donate all or part of the offering to Islamic R...

by Ramazan Kilinç, Omaha Daily Herald The writer is an assistant professor of political science and director of the Islamic Studies Program at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Are Muslims part of the American mosaic? This question requires us to address a dilemma for many American Muslims: searching for purity in one’s faith while tailoring religious practice to one’s life in America. To address this dilemma with one simple answer is almost impossible. When we talk about American Muslims, we’re talking about a very diverse group of people. Only the annual hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca) brings together more Muslims from more countries than those living in the United States today. And the Muslim experience of being part of American history is not unique. Muslims...

by Dr. Aslam Abdullah In response to some ignorant notions of “Islam hates America” and “Muslims seek the destruction of this nation”, as an America Muslim who teaches Islam in Mosques and universities, I can unequivocally say that Islam does not hate America and Muslims do not seek the destruction of this nation. Islam is a universal faith based on the Quran that Muslims believe is a Divinely revealed text from the seventh century, about 860 years before America was discovered. The essence of Islam is the unity of humanity with one Omnipotent and Transcendent God as the creator of the entire universe: “VERILY, this community of yours is one single community, since I am the Sustainer of you all: worship, then, Me [alone]! Quran- 21:92 To hurt the creati...

By Dr. Jasim Pasha Muslims do have the power and the means to eliminate terrorism, if they just dare to recognize the Achilles’ heel of Radical Islamism with an open mind. The whole body of Radical Islamism is conceived in the womb of dubious religious literature. It derives its oxygen from religious ideology and opinions buried in “Islamic literature”, though in direct conflict with Quranic principles, but unfortunately justified and fostered by mainstream Muslim scholars. However, this little monster child of Radical Islamism cannot grow and develop into a real threat for the whole world, unless it receives ample nourishment, which is derived solely from few Muslim and many non-Muslim rogue world powers. Principal theme of Radical Islamism & ass...

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