February 10, 2016 |

Putting Humpty Dumpty Together Again!

“Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall; All the king’s horses and all the king’s men Couldn’t put Humpty together again.”   The well-known nursery rhyme, “Humpty Dumpty” is set as a riddle for children with the answer being an egg falling down from a wall.  Indeed, if an egg…

Colonialism Islamic Politics Islamophobia Politics Race/Racism

January 6, 2016 |

Muslims in America: “Integration” through securitization

Jimmy Makino enlisted in the U.S. Army and joined the famed 442nd Regimental Combat Team, the most decorated fighting unit in the history of the U.S. Military. Makino was born in 1921 in Los Angeles and as a Japanese American was interned at the Gila River Relocation Center in mid1940s Arizona. The U.S. Government interned…

Islamic Politics Islamic Thought Islamophobia Muslims in America Politics Race/Racism

December 16, 2015 |

Muslims Are Civil Society’s Prisoners!

Prisons are institutions structured and built to maximize control and exercise absolute domination over the incarcerated population.  Society’s primary and professed approach to prisoners is centered on a rehabilitation model in which the individual is locked up for a period of time before being allowed back into cities and towns to mix with the “normal”…

Islamic Politics Islamophobia Muslims in America Politics Race/Racism

December 10, 2015 | Daily Sabah

Islamophobia is at a violent tipping point

In the past few months, DAESH unleashed on the world a series of horrendous terrorist attacks in major cities all across the globe and impacted every continent. Aside from the massive death toll, Islam and Muslims are doubly victimized – once by the actual terrorist attacks and twice by being despised as a religious group…

Colonialism Islam Islamic Politics Islamophobia Muslims in America Politics Race/Racism

November 9, 2015 | AlJazeera

The Palestinian cause and international law

The Palestinian quest for international recognition took another major step forward when 107 nations voted to admit Palestine as a full member to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). At the meeting, the United States, Canada, Germany, Israel, and 10 other countries opposed the motion, while 52 countries, including Great Britain, abstained…

De-Colonial Islamic Politics Palestine Politics

October 15, 2015 | Daily Sabah

On Muslim toleration

In “A Letter Concerning Toleration” from exile in the Netherlands, John Locke articulated a truly liberal view concerning freedom of conscious that he hoped might help resolve Europe’s raging religious war that had killed millions. Europe’s religious conflicts and Christian sectarian wars raged in the 16th and 17th centuries with tumultuous debates centering on claims…

Islamic Education Islamic Law Islamic Politics Islamic Thought Muslim History Race/Racism

September 23, 2015 | Daily Sabah

Ahmed’s arrest caused by bigotry and Islamophobia

The arrest of 14-year old Ahmed Mohamed in the Independent School District in Irving, Texas, illustrates the pervasiveness and normalization of Islamophobic responses that assume guilt before innocence. In this incident, Ahmed’s school principle, Dan Cummings, informed parents in a letter that the police were called to the campus in response to a “suspicious-looking item.”…

Colonialism Islamic Politics Islamophobia

September 17, 2015 | Daily Sabah

Wither the Arabs

Perceptively, Al-Mutanabbi, an Arab poet from the Abbasid era, remarked in a poem, “Wounding a dead body produces no pain” since life itself is already expired and with it all senses are gone.” The first part of the verse spoke of those who conduct themselves disgracefully then accept indignity as a norm, becoming like a…

Colonialism De-Colonial Islamic Politics

August 27, 2015 | Daily Sabah

Climate change is a Muslim concern

The Oct. 18 declaration in Istanbul formulated by the International Islamic Climate Change Symposium is a significant development and a right step to build Muslim consensus on the environmental crisis. The declaration came at a time when the earth, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, witnessed the hottest month of July on record….

Islamic Politics Muslims in America

August 10, 2015 | Daily Sabah

Will AIPAC defeat Obama’s Iran deal?

The effort to win Congressional approval of Barack Obama’s Iran nuclear deal took a major hit this week when the third-ranking Senate Democrat, New York Senator Chuck Schumer, informed the White House and publicly announced his opposition to it. Senator Schumer, who is slated to lead Senate Democrats after the impending retirement of Harry Reid…

Islamic Politics Muslims in America Palestine