This past Tuesday, a massive explosion sent a giant mushroom cloud billowing into the air over the port of Beirut, Lebanon. As the dust settled, a landscape where the handiwork of humans -buildings, machines, cars, trucks, electrical wires- was obliterated; reduced to a twisted, melted, garbled, wasteland, block after devastated…

When one has enjoyed a delicious and nurturing meal, one does not jump up from the table and race off to another endeavor. One takes time to savor the lovely tastes and to reflect on the great blessing one has been privileged to enjoy. So too our worship. One…

Today, MANA: Muslim Alliance in North America joins many other organizations and individuals in commemorating the life of El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, more popularly known as Malcolm X. Malcolm was born May 19, 1925 in Omaha, Nebraska. Ossie Davis famously said in his eulogy for Malcolm, “And if you knew him,…

I came just like a thief inside the night. Confused you no longer know wrong from right. A plague, a pestilence, a scourge, or worse? I’ll let you know just who I am in verse. A tyrannical king I wear my crown. A novel threat yet…

There are a large number of books that discuss the coming of the Antichrist, known to Muslims as the Dajjal (The Great Deceiver). One can spend a lifetime studying this literature from its myriad angles. The Antichrist as an individual. The Antichrist as a demonic system. The Antichrist in secret…

“The Honest Struggle” tells the story of an ex-offender’s mission to help Muslim converts as they leave jail. So, what is it about Islam that appeals to these inmates? In this episode, Sadiq Davis joins the show along with a Muslim prison chaplain and “The Honest Struggle”…

Justice in the Islamic Tradition When Socrates famously asked, “What is justice?”, he was able to elicit many responses from his interlocutors and to direct the discussion in myriad directions. Is justice related to the treatment of friends and enemies? Does it revolve around issues of war and peace? Is…

During his recent State of the Union Address, President Trump boasted of his record levels of military spending. Despite that boast and its deadly implications, there are those who naively believe that Mr. Trump is rolling back America’s military presence in the world, some even going so far as to…

With the release of the Netflix series reexamining the assassination of Malcolm X there is a renewed interest in determining the identity of his killers. It is not my desire to delve into that contentious issue. Rather, during this time when Malcolm’s passing is commemorated by so many, I pray…

This past Sunday Jan. 26. 2020, I was teaching a class at the DarusSalam Seminary in Lombard, Illinois. The class was based on an Arabic book entitled الاستعداد ليوم المعاد (Preparing for the Hereafter). One of the last things we covered before taking a break was the following poem: يا…