There is no doubt that Ramadan 2020 is going to be an interesting one. I know it feels more like strange, lonely Ramadan; however, as Shia Muslims, we know that we have the power to make the best out of the worst. Therefore I encourage you to utilize this Ramadan as an opportunity to get creative! Ramadan is indeed the time of the year when our community is the strongest. We enjoy eating together, we join...
How April 3rd: “Punish a Muslim Day” can bring your inner goodness out! Although most people do not care, or even heard of such a letter, I invite everyone to take some action. There are number of way to react to this letter. Join the “club”! If you can relate to some of the following statements, maybe you qualify to feel like “punishing a Muslim” to get rid of some rage inside you. · If...
As a Muslim female immigrant with a mixed background, I have to admit I find so much goodness in the West. The Democracy that was demanded by Islam and NEVER practiced by Muslim governments is widely respected, encouraged and used in Western societies. Freedom of religion, speech, and movement is also found in the West....
At least Muslims are Immune to Mental Illness in West In most legal cases involving violence, proving that a defendant is “not guilty by reason of insanity” is what lawyers aim for. If proven, in some jurisdictions, the defendant is committed to a psychiatric facility instead of prison....
Prior to September 11, 2001 words such as “terror”, “terrorist” and “terror attack” were not so familiar to Westerns. Extreme changes to security policies after 9/11 attack exposed Western public to such concepts to the point that the fear and threat of terror attack has increased dramatically. However in reality only 2.2% of fatalities from terrorist attacks happened in US and Western...
Twenty-six month after The Speicher massacre, Iraqi government convicted and executed 36 people believed to be responsible for themassacre.Speicher is considered one of the worst crimes ISIS has committed since it took over large parts of the Iraq in 2014 and one of the powerful motivator for loyal Iraqi Shia to volunteer to fight and protect their shrines. The SpeicherMassacre In June 2014, proximately...
Life presents a series of difficult decisions to make. For Shia minorities facing oppression under anti-Shia bodies, they are often left with the option of fleeing to safety or remaining to protect their culture. Shia are minority among Muslims in all countries around the world with the exceptions of Iraq, Iran, Azerbaijan, Lebanon and Bahrain. However, even in these countries where Shia are the...
On May 17th, the US Senate approved legislation that would allow victims of the 9/11 terror attacks to sue Saudi Arabia, defying vocal opposition from the White House. With all the “unofficial evidence” that suggests Saudi’s involvements in all terror activities, the US government has to come up with more “politically right” initiatives to protect Saudis in order to keep close alliance with this...
International days are best days of the year, not only because they bring attention to most needed areas, such as human rights, women rights, environment, children etc., but also because they show how we have accomplished very little on those topics. This article is based on my perspective which is based on my human rights research for past five years and my work as a social justice counselor. The...
Although world leaders, including the UN as well as state governments, seem to be failing to efficiently combat the spread of terrorist ideologies, Google takes huge steps in preventing extremism as well as educating and redirecting potential terrorists. In a smart move, Google, the number one search engine of the world, decided to redirect extremist searches towards anti-radicalization websites. There are...