BY IMAM ZAID SHAKIR
Oct 18, 2011 at 1:21 am
This essay was begun a few days before the date marking the passing of ten years since the attacks of 9/11. I was unable to finish it until now. Charles Dickens opens his classic, A Tale of Two Cities, with this famous anaphora: “It was the best of times, it…
BY IMAM ZAID SHAKIR
Oct 04, 2011 at 11:13 am
The Roads to Peace The roads to peace are paths of war, The gentle dove will leave her scar. The moral men to say the least, Will kill us all to get their peace. The roads that lead to victories gained, Are filled with people full of…
BY IMAM ZAID SHAKIR
Sep 11, 2011 at 6:44 am
I remember well the fateful day of September 11, 2001. I was locked in Jami’ al-Khayr at the far western end of the Damascene neighborhood of Muhajireen. Most masjids in Syria are locked between the prayers, with the exception of the evening and night prayer. However, the Imam allowed me…
BY IMAM ZAID SHAKIR
Aug 26, 2011 at 9:36 am
On a recent flight from Europe, too sleepy to read and too uncomfortable to sleep, I watched a movie. The film was moving and powerful, The Grace Card. It dealt with the intricacies of race relations in Memphis, Tennessee. It culminated with an African American policeman donating a kidney to…
BY IMAM ZAID SHAKIR
Aug 05, 2011 at 8:01 am
In the aftermath of the attacks of 9/11, the idea of terrorism has been utilized by a cabal of anti-Muslim bigots in a way that elicits, in the minds of many, an association between Islam and indiscriminate violence. This association has been reinforced by propagandistic lies such as, “Not all…
BY IMAM ZAID SHAKIR
Jul 12, 2011 at 3:43 am
“The fight against racism is not over; we must redouble our efforts.” As the level of racially-charged exclusionary politics grows throughout the Western world, Muslims will have to contribute to the developing discourse to counter this problem. Doing so will require a plunge into the murky waters…
BY IMAM ZAID SHAKIR
Jun 24, 2011 at 5:19 pm
An earlier version of this article appeared in EMEL Magazine. It is reprinted here with slight modification in light of requests for clarification on this very sensitive issue. This is a theoretical essay and should not be construed as an endorsement of any particular movement, as each movement would have…
BY IMAM ZAID SHAKIR
Jun 14, 2011 at 1:36 am
A family friend recently attended a lecture by one of the propagandists crisscrossing the country to inform his audience of the reasons Americans have to stop the “menace” of “Shariah” that threatens to “take over” American society. If that proposition was not being taken so seriously by so many people…
BY IMAM ZAID SHAKIR
Mar 06, 2011 at 11:46 pm
The refrain from an old popular song goes as follows, “What the world needs now is love sweet love, it’s the only thing that there’s just too little of…” According to Nicholas Kristof, in his recent New York Times editorial, Is Islam The Problem?, the Muslim world doesn’t need more…
BY IMAM ZAID SHAKIR
Jan 31, 2011 at 12:26 pm
The current uprising in Egypt, coming in the aftermath of the popular revolution in Tunisia, is a monumental event that is altering all of the political calculations currently governing how we think about Middle Eastern politics. The emerging popular movements in the region have led to a swift reshuffling of…
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