On Veterans Day, contemplating a world without war (The Baltimore Sun)
Posted in Op-Eds, Print on Nov 11th, 2010
On this Veterans Day, I fondly think about my time serving as a physician-in-training at a New York Veterans Administration hospital. The year was 2000. The Gulf War was over. Our national debt was $5.7 trillion. Jobs were abundant. And “Gulf War Syndrome” was the biggest health concern for our veterans.
The VA’s motto always resonated with me: “To care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow, and his orphan.” And I tried my best to care for my patients with Gulf War Syndrome, despite the unexplainable complexity of their symptoms — ranging from...
Muslims for Peace (NY Daily News)
Posted in Letters to Editors, Print on Nov 3rd, 2010
Baltimore: As a “Muslimerican,” I find the news of yet another terrorist attack aimed at America repulsive. What is refreshing, though, is the awareness that, as the radicals were planning to attack us, we were mobilizing our youth in the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community USA to take the banner of “Muslims for Peace” to Jon Stewart‘s Rally to Restore...
Moderate Islam under threat (The Independent)
Posted in Letters to Editors, Print on Oct 26th, 2010
Being an Ahmadi Muslim from America, I was deeply disturbed to read your report “Hardliners call for deaths of Surrey Muslims” (21 October). This is too much change since my last visit to London in April.
Over the past six months, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community has launched a bus campaign with our slogan “Love for all, hatred for none” in London. The same bus campaign then took to the streets of New York, Wisconsin and Houston in the USA. Our youth went door-knocking with “Muslims for Peace” leaflets. In the USA, we have reached out to over 25 million people with...
Juan Williams’ Firing Not Justified (AOL News)
Posted in Online, Op-Eds, Print on Oct 22nd, 2010
(Oct. 22) — “Believe it or not, I prefer driving a car instead of riding a camel.”
I have successfully used this phrase as an ice-breaker in the beginning of my noncredit course titled “Islam: Fact and Fiction” at Harford Community College. The course is interactive and covers a broad range of hot-button issues regarding Islam. In the beginning of each course, we agree on a set of ground rules as a group. Out of approximately 10 ground rules, I always propose that students can ask any questions, without having to worry about my sensitivity. Everyone agrees.
And that makes...
‘The great debate over Islam’ (Dawn.com)
Posted in Letters to Editors, Print on Oct 15th, 2010
THIS is apropos of Irfan Husain’s article ‘The great debate over Islam’ (Oct 13).
Mr Husain is spot on in his analysis of Islam in the West. As a US Muslim of Pakistani descent, I have tried to promote the peaceful teachings of Islam through media interviews, newspaper articles and giving non-credit courses in community colleges.
But our peaceful voices are drowned by Muslim leaders when they remain silent on issues like loyalty to one’s country of residence, punishment for apostasy, and separation of church and state.
Case in point: During my last course at the community college a Caucasian...
USA: Assimilation? Try “education” instead (Asbury Park Press)
Posted in Op-Eds on Oct 10th, 2010
The assimilation of my wife and I into American culture started in Long Branch in 1996. That is where we, both doctors, settled after moving from Pakistan.
As I started my medical residency at Monmouth Medical Center, she sacrificed her career for our newborn daughter and became a full-time homemaker. Our inability to afford a car left us stranded on weekends.
And even though a NJ Transit train station was right across from our home, round trips to Manhattan were expensive. This always left us one available and affordable excursion: a walk to the beach.
As practicing Muslims, you could recognize us...
Why must we fight to achieve peace? (Orlando Sentinel)
Posted in Op-Eds on Sep 12th, 2010
With increasing incidents of homegrown terrorism in America, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community USA has led a national campaign to educate its youth about the importance of loyalty to one’s country as a tenet of Islam.
As I used the term “Muslimerican” to capture the essence of our message, a teenager startled me by asking, “Is peace an American value?”
I responded, “Of course.”
“How many times is the word ‘peace’ mentioned in our Constitution?” he probed.
“How many times is the word ‘democracy’ mentioned in our...
About Me
