GRACY’s lean frame, slightly gray hair, round glasses and inquisitive observations reflected a middle-aged woman of insight and knowledge. She had come to know what Islam was all about and I was there to tell her just that.

Allah gave me the opportunity to be part of ‘Peace – Vision of Islam’, an international exhibition and conference first held in 2004 in Chennai, India. The 2008 exhibition was no different in its uniqueness; the kind which has probably never been witnessed in any other part of the world. Over 300 six-foot tall panels – containing mostly Qur’anic verses and Prophetic narrations on different topics, designed with graphics and pictures to deliver the message of Islam – were spread over huge hangers that could easily hold over a thousand people at once. Some 30 volunteers were trained to further explain the panels out to visitors. Read the rest of this entry »

HOW does a born Muslim meet a revert American Muslim woman? ‘Wow! Masha Allah, Allah guided you. It’s such a pleasure to meet you.’

Little more than speaking glorifying words do we do. Helping her out in the issues she may be facing hardly crosses our mind. Reverts aside, our attitude gets worse toward Muslims in general.

Meet Umm Ni’mah, an African American woman whose ancestors were slaves and who grew up in the late 1960s in New Jersey under the cult of Elijah Muhammad. She embraced Islam in her early twenties. Read the rest of this entry »

WHY do earthquakes occur? A student of geology will say they are a result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth’s crust that creates seismic waves. That’s the process of how earthquakes occur, but not an answer to why earthquakes occur.
A better phrased question will be: Who causes earthquakes to occur and why? Read the rest of this entry »

WHILE on one front Islam is being wrongfully linked with militancy, which we discussed yesterday, on another front Islam as a religion and Muslims as a community are under a direct attack.
Exploiting the world’s anger towards so-called “Islamic” terrorism, Islamophobes, under the guise of ‘experts’ and ‘analysts’, have been spreading blatant lies about this great religion. Misquoting verses, misusing legislative principles and mixing falsehood with elements of truth, they have managed to publish books, articles and websites that give a blatantly false image of Islam. Read the rest of this entry »

“It just seems now that all we ever get in the media is Muslims and Islam. The working class seems to have been forgotten. (Some) 25 years ago, I didn’t know what a Muslim was or that Muslims followed Islam. Now we can’t escape hearing about Muslims.”
– A disgruntled reader commenting on a recent Guardian piece

NEGATIVE coverage of Islam and Muslims in the media is no secret and it’s making people averse to Islam, not to mention the amount of hassles innocent Muslims are facing with authorities in non-Muslim countries. Read the rest of this entry »