Originally published in Gatestone Institute The most iconic moment of President Donald Trump’s visit to the Middle East was not his “speech on Islam“; it was his visit to the Western Wall in Jerusalem. The Western Wall is a contested space, and that controversy has bled outside Israel’s borders. U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson recently reignited the debate, […]
Originally published in The Federalist President Trump understands the most direct path to change is to work in people’s self-interest, to cater to advancement through mutual gain — a strategy that also won him the election. President Trump embarked on an iconic first foreign tour this weekend to the Middle East that started with a […]
Originally published with America Matters On First 100 Days, Fox News host Martha MacCallum brought together 8 diverse Muslims as part of a larger 22 member panel to talk about President Trump’s temporary travel ban. While the panel was passionate, the pre and post show dialogue reflected a softer side of American Muslims that often […]
Originally published in The Federalist A Frankenstein’s monster of identity politics, the Women’s March on Washington heaved through the streets of DC one day after the inauguration in a fit of depraved hypocrisy. That hypocrisy shadows activist and National Co-Chair of the Women’s March Linda Sarsour. In the past Sarsour has railed against women spotlighting misogyny in the Muslim world. […]
“Kafir” is one of the most stunning pieces of poetry, penned by Salman Haider. Kafir is a provocative and controversial term in Islam, meaning someone who knows the truth but rejects it; someone who covers up the truth. It is also a widely used term exploited to create division between Muslims and non-Muslims. Haider was one […]
Humanity evolves when we broaden our understanding of what it means to be alive. What does it mean to be sentient, conscious, and alive? Making life about more than just ourselves is an important key step in elevating human consciousness and also getting people to care about conservation and resource protection. New Zealand took a giant […]
Muslim darling Noor Tagouri made headlines last month when she featured in Playboy’s “Renegades of 2016” series about game changers who redefine how we think about the world. While the feature seemed bold and provocative, pairing of a bullet-ridden American flag with the edgy snarl of a hijab-clad young girl, in truth was a cliché […]
“…I wasn’t quite sure what witches did, but that’s what I wanted to be when I grew up. I was about four when I decided upon it. It was probably a pretty spot-on thing to be. Witches are outsiders – classic outliers – and I in no way felt connected to my community. Little did […]
America’s legacy is waning. We’re no longer a pioneer nation that breaks ground on new innovations, championing hard questions and pushing boundaries. We’re moving away from a cavalier “pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and get on with it” attitude and moving toward a “safe” society heavily dependent on copious amounts of tissues and coated […]
I received a flood of inquiries and complaints from Muslim traditionalists after last week’s testimony at the House Homeland Security Committee Hearing on Radical Islam. The top complaint I hear is about my tone. To that, I say: You’ll see my tone and rhetoric shift depending on the audience and issue, but this is the […]
If happiness is a state of mind, we have to question how much control we really have over it when our mind is under the influence. Islam forbids intoxicants, of course. But there is an intoxicant more powerful and dangerous than drugs or alcohol: thoughts. Surah 114 An-Nas, the last Surah in the Qur’an, draws […]
As a Muslim Reformer, I get to hear from a patchwork of Muslims, especially in response to the more challenging public statements I make. Most recently, the statement that rattled many was the testimony and Q/A segment of a House Homeland Security Committee hearing on Radical Islam. This is all part of the process, as […]
In the ongoing struggle to balance Muslim-American rights with Muslim American accountability, there was a little known event that set a new landmark in the fight against Islamism. On March 25th, 2016, the Islamic Society of Wichita (ISW) canceled their fundraising event due to local community pressure. ISW planned on hosting guest speaker and professed […]
[An Invocation] We bow our heads in prayer during invocations and benedictions. We offer prayers for “name that city” when a terrorist attack hits. But between these moments, God is forgotten, faith is forgotten, humanity is forgotten. A prayer isn’t a spiritual pit-stop in our day, even if it happens five times a day. A […]
