Perspectives
Here I Stand, Part 1
In The Name of Allah, The Beneficent, The Merciful. All praise is due to Allah, The Lord of all the worlds. We thank Him for the life that we have, we thank Him for the truth that He has revealed, we thank Him for being an unequaled Guide in the midst of a wicked, deceitful enemy. We thank Him for...
The United Nations and adding up the cost for reparations
The United Nations recently took up the topic of reparations again for Africa and the Black Diaspora, with activists and advocates declaring it’s time to stop ignoring the subject. That’s important. But any discussion about reparations must include Blacks in America and the Diaspora as major players, given our history and suffering. What did slavery do to the Motherland? “Africa...
Celebrating our children and the art of healing, a perfect match!
Spring brings mild weather, sunshine and gratitude after winter’s reign and it also brings another special event, Match Day. Match Day is when medical school graduates move into residencies with hospitals in the final laps of a journey to become full-fledged doctors. Attiyya Maryam, after a stellar high school performance alongside undergraduate and medical school at two respected East Coast...
What was Erykah saying?
Erykah Badu sparked questions by wearing a mohair “booty suit,” as her designer called it, to Billboard’s annual Women in Music event. The outfit exaggerated her breasts, lower body and started intense conversations about what the neo-soul artist and icon was saying. Some felt she was mocking the BBL (Brazilian Butt Lift) craze, the entertainment industry, and widespread encouragement of...
Empowering bad policing in a troubled city
In a country where time is often spent majoring in minor things, issues that should be placed on an elevated level are ignored or neglected—and that neglect can have major consequences. Consider a “pilot program” underway in Chicago that allows police officers in Englewood, a majority Black neighborhood, to arrest and charge people with felony gun possession crimes without the...
You can’t have peace without removing the peacebreaker
Do you really think you can reason with murderers? Israel broke the Gaza ceasefire, which was a cruel farce, and restarted its operations to destroy the Palestinian people in the enclave on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has moved with murderous impunity under the protection of President Donald Trump, who is unapologetic in backing...
Eid: Accept Your Own
“He indeed is successful who purifies himself, And remembers the name of his Lord, then prays.”—Holy Qu’ran 87:14-15 'Id Mubarak! This Holy Month of Ramadan, we pray that we as Believers have gained valuable lessons that strengthen our desire to carry out the spirit of this Holy Month throughout our life. The Believer who is intent upon the renewal of self...
Israel’s genocide and America’s bloody hands
As expected, the settler state of Israel is again slaughtering Palestinians in the streets of Gaza, breaking a so-called ceasefire that was never about solutions and only a momentary shift of murderous actions from the enclave to the West Bank. But whether in Gaza, or the West Bank—where according to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees...
The Month of Ramadan: A Sign of the Resurrection in a time of Darkness
“Surely, We revealed it on the Night of Majesty—And what will make thee comprehend what the Night of Majesty is? The Night of Majesty is better than a thousand months. The angels and the Spirit descend in it by the permission of their Lord—for every affair—Peace it is till the rising of the morning.” —Holy Qur’an 97:1 – 5 The...
Gaza, student protests and persecution
There has been a flood of coverage of the case of Mahmoud Khalil, who was arrested and shipped to Louisiana after the Trump administration stripped him of his status as a U.S. legal permanent resident. His crime was standing against the slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza and organizing protests at Columbia University in New York. The Trump administration declared that...