New Islamic Directions
Essays and longer reflections by Imam Zaid Shakir.
Imam Zaid Shakir · September 13, 2011
The following is a slightly modified version of a speech delivered by Imam Zaid Shakir at the United for Change conference in Washington DC, September 10, 2011. Character is refined and shaped by the challenges we have to contend with. As we…
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Imam Zaid Shakir · August 17, 2011
United for Change was created to galvanize the Muslim leadership in North America to take on issues that are too large for any one individual leader, organization or group to effectively address. In our first two conferences we have called attention…
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Imam Zaid Shakir · June 14, 2011
The following essay was written as the introduction to a book by Habeeb and Sa'ad Qadri, two Chicago-based youth activists, entitled, The War Within Our Hearts . It contains valuable information into the nature of our hearts and the means to their…
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Imam Zaid Shakir · April 19, 2011
Introduction The nation-state, which involves wedding a specific people to a sovereign territorial entity, is a modern phenomenon. For example, the unity of the Italian city-states into a coherent modern nation-state did not occur until the late…
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Imam Zaid Shakir · April 5, 2011
As revolutions and uprisings sweep the Middle East from Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, Yemen and elsewhere most Muslims everywhere are energized by a wave of hopeful change in a region that has suffered far too long under the stultifying rule of "presidents…
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Imam Zaid Shakir · March 24, 2011
Some days before the U.S.-led intervention in Libya began; I was forwarded a copy of an open letter directed to President Barack Obama urging him to work in concert with U.S. allies, NATO, and the United Nations to immediately impose a no-fly zone…
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Imam Zaid Shakir · February 12, 2011
The Egyptian people have accomplished one of the major objectives of their historic revolution. They have brought the thirty-year reign of Hosni Mubarak to an end. As they celebrate, from Alexandria in the north down to Aswan in the south, they…
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Imam Zaid Shakir · February 4, 2011
We Hold These Truths to be Self-Evident... A well-meaning friend of mine has suggested that if I write anything else on the ongoing uprising in Egypt, I should frame it in terms understandable to Americans. After all, we should be aiming to affect…
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Imam Zaid Shakir · January 20, 2011
The following questions have been sent to me from numerous individuals in response to my rant entitled, “Letter to a Would-be Mujahid.” Hopefully, these responses, some of which are quite lengthy will help clarify issues that are causing a lot of…
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Imam Zaid Shakir · November 2, 2010
(Reprinted) This essay, written in the immediate aftermath of the failed New York City bomb attempt [1], will examine some of the theological implications of Muslims violating civilian immunity. I have written elsewhere why attacks against innocent…
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Imam Zaid Shakir · October 11, 2010
“If a tree fell in the middle of the forest and no one was there to witness it, did it fall?” Although Muslims have been silent when it comes to telling our own story and articulating who we are as a people and the contributions we have made to this…
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Imam Zaid Shakir · October 1, 2010
American society has had a strange relationship with women. We pontificate about the importance of women’s rights and gender equality. Yet, to this day women still earn less than men doing comparable jobs. Nowhere is this glaring disparity more…
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