By Safia Khan

Mar/Apr 2024

At 12 years old, I faced a struggle that not many adults experience even in old age — I lost my hearing. That deterioration of my health and the loss of an ability shaped me. After persistent symptoms such as hours-long headaches, my hearing started to decline. Upon learning that tumors were nesting on my auditory nerves, I underwent multiple traumatic surgeries and eventually went from being hard-of-hearing to being completely deaf.

This reality caused me to feel like I no longer belonged in either the world of the hearing or of the deaf. Losing the self-confidence that had taken years to build, I felt isolated, began to doubt my capabilities and thought that the ensuing mistreatment and prejudice were deserved.

During my journey of adjusting to the loss of a sense and a change in my identity, I learned that I am not broken. I emerged from the traumatic ordeal stronger, educated about my rights and thankful for my capabilities.

High School Challenges 

During my freshman and sophomore years of high school, the Department of Special Education (DSE) refused to invest time and money to provide me with needed accommodations. I was given and expected to learn from a shoddy captioning system. During my freshman year, I faced discrimination for the first time when I was kicked out of classes. Despite these obvious wrongs, DSE looked the other way. 

During my sophomore year, I transferred to another high school that would provide me with the needed accommodations and support. That year, I was a student and manager, battling district officials to stay at my new high school. The discrimination I faced in my first high school taught me to advocate for myself and for those whom many people overlook.

My passion for education comes from this discrimination and my fight against this injustice. Despite facing adversity and being newly deaf, I used my challenging experience to build on my education. I learned to “show up” for myself and saw my potential. I met with a tutor, studied at the library for hours every day to reteach myself what I should have been able to learn at school and simultaneously fought for my rights to obtain technology that would allow me to graduate.

My fight for my education helped me realize my passion for advocacy and caring for the educational rights of people with disabilities. I discovered that I wanted to continue fighting and that the fight for equal educational rights does not stop with me. I hope to become a lawyer one day, insha’ Allah, to help such students understand that they don’t deserve the prejudice they face but have the right to be accommodated. 

My advocacy against these district officials and for being accommodated allowed me to stay at my second high school, where I was fully accommodated and treated justly by the teachers. For the first time, my newfound disability was accepted, a reality that contributed to my positive growth. 

I became involved with the school community and joined numerous clubs. In the newspaper club, I discovered my love and passion for writing. I continued to advocate for people with disabilities and for other unheard voices through the topics I chose to write about. 

College Obstacles

My college also accepted and accommodated me, which enabled me to join clubs related to my interests and receive the tranquility I rarely had in high school.

However, during the second semester of my freshman year, a professor refused to use my assistive technology properly and hid behind the excuse of taking measures to prevent Covid. After having faced discrimination for the first time, I had vowed to seek justice. 

With the unwavering support of my disability access specialist, I did what I once was too afraid to do for myself — initiate a self-advocacy campaign to let the professor know he was treating me unfairly. I asked him during class to use my technology correctly. His refusal to do so led me to file a complaint with the support of my access specialist. 

The complaint process was a bitter, six-month battle involving lawyers, investigators and the dean of the college. It was physically and mentally draining, especially since I was recovering from health-related surgery. In the end, the investigators ruled in my favor and said so in their final report. 

While my loss of hearing was devastating, my difficulties provided a growth opportunity and a new perspective. Among the aftershocks of my illness, I learned to move forward and continue my education. By accepting my disability, I learned to find my voice and direction as a deaf person. As a lawyer, I hope to educate and help others struggling to access their rights and to ensure that all individuals with disabilities are protected under Section 300.8(a) of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). This clause ensures that all individuals with disabilities receive their needed accommodations at school. 

I am so much more than a survivor of discrimination, than who others would write off as a sick woman, than my illness. By coming forward and speaking up about injustice within our education system, I seek to inspire others to see themselves as so much more than their disability.

I would have never considered this goal if it were not for the very illness, I thought would destroy me. Instead of allowing it and the ensuing prejudice to hold me back, I learned from those experiences and decided to dedicate my life to fighting discrimination. My disability acts as a reminder to empower others who are not heard.

Safia Khan is a sophomore studying English at the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign. She has been published in numerous publications, including the Wall Street Journal. She hopes to pursue a career in law one day, insha’ Allah.

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By Dr. Mohammad Abdullah

Mar/Apr 2024

The rising demand for beer labeled “non-alcoholic” is unsurprising, because apparently there is a market for it among those who want to reduce their intake. However, its rising demand in Muslim-majority Africa and the Middle East is surprising. According to an article in Impossible Brew, “though it is nearly impossible for non-alcoholic beer to make you intoxicated, the drink can be a powerful trigger, creating cravings that set up the circumstances for a relapse, and the risk is not worth sacrificing your sobriety over” (BRC Healthcare, Sept. 16, 2021). In Zero Point Beer, we read that “some people even report having a placebo effect of intoxication after drinking non-alcoholic beer, usually in an environment with others drinking too, and this can be strong enough to make someone feel like intoxicated” (https://zeropointbeer.com/articles/non-alcoholic-beer-makes-me-feel-drunk-why).

Observant Muslims are concerned about this rising demand and wonder if we are heading in the right direction.

What is Non-Alcoholic Beer?

Non-alcoholic beers have either had the alcohol removed or been brewed to contain less alcohol than the legal limit of 0.5% alcohol by volume (ABV). The processes used to produce them vary depending on the brand and their production method. However, generally speaking, non-alcoholic beer starts with the same ingredients and is brewed like regular beer. Then brewers use one of various processes to remove the alcohol. Yet some alcohol may be left in the beer.

Alcohol-free beers are some of the most popular drinks in this expanding category. More people than ever are giving them a try. However, people may not know that they may contain more alcohol than listed on the product label. One study of 45 beverages claiming to contain no/low alcohol content revealed that nearly 30% of them contained more alcohol than stated. Six beverages labeled 0.0% ABV contained alcohol at levels up to 1.8% ABV. 

In addition, research has shown that drinking it can increase your blood alcohol level in certain instances and test positive for alcohol metabolites in the urine or breath. Therefore, labels of no/low alcohol should be taken with a grain of salt.

Nevertheless, some beer manufacturers view the social acceptance and rise of non-alcohol beer options as a positive shift that provides alternatives for many people. Some Muslims are concerned about the trend and don’t understand the need for it. They feel like the drinking culture is something they wouldn’t really want to participate in even if it were alcohol-free. However, halal-certified non-alcoholic beers’ rising demand in Muslim-majority regions is making inroads. 

Why Alcohol is Forbidden in Islam

“They ask you ˹O Prophet˺ about intoxicants and gambling. Say, “There is great evil in both, as well as some benefit for people. But the evil outweighs the benefit” (2:219).

In verses revealed later, alcohol was forbidden completely to mitigate Makka’s then-prevalent drinking culture, “O believers. Intoxicants, gambling, idols and drawing lots for decisions are all evil of Satan’s handiwork. So, shun them so you may be successful. Satan’s plan is to stir up hostility and hatred between you with intoxicants and gambling and to prevent you from remembering Allah and praying. Will you not then abstain?” (5:90-91).

Some argue in favor of liquor as “social drinkers,” claiming they have only one or two drinks, have self-control and never become intoxicated. Islam rejects such assertions because many alcoholics started as social drinkers. A small amount can lead to large amounts, until one becomes addicted. Alcohol is the root cause of several social problems. Prophet Muhammad (salla Allahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) has said that: “Alcohol is the mother of all evils, and it is the most shameful of evils” (“Sunan Ibn-I-Majah” Vol.3, Book of Intoxicants, Chapter 30 Hadith No. 3371). An article in the National Library of Medicine analyzing 113 fatwas issued by muftis illustrates how thoroughly this prohibition applies. It says that while all of the fatwas cite the Qur’an and Hadith, the muftis bring in rationales related to health, personal safety and better social relationships. This all-encompassing approach helps illustrate some of the social mechanisms that might be encouraging a life-long abstention. 

While many religions have such injunctions, they vary considerably in terms of adherence and which social processes are involved. According to the National Alcohol Survey, about 80% of Muslims in the U.S. are life-long abstainers, one of the highest proportions of any religious group. Alcohol companies have probably noticed this untapped global market and are trying to get halal certification for their non-alcoholic beers.

Scientific Perspective

Many studies have proven that non-alcoholic beer contains around 0.5% alcohol. This is indeed a lower amount compared to the regular kind of beer, which contains 5% or higher. However, studies have shown that even this seemingly innocent amount can cause alcoholics to revert back to their addiction. 

In January 2023, the WHO released a statement that “no level of alcohol consumption is safe when it comes to human health.” The NIH has also issued an advisory to medical staff, “Do not advise non-drinking patients to start drinking alcohol for their health. Past research overestimated benefits of moderate drinking, while current research points to added risks, such as for breast cancer, even with low levels of drinking.” 

Despite non-alcoholic beers claiming to contain very low percentages of alcohol, experts don’t recommend allowing those under-age to consume it because it can increase the risk of addiction when they are older. It is heartening to see that in Malaysia, non-alcoholic beer carries visible disclaimer with clear signage indicating that the product is strictly for non-Muslims aged 21 and above. 

Scientists now know that the human brain contains an inhibitory center that prevents people from doing things that are considered wrong. Consuming alcohol actually inhibits this inhibitory center. This is why intoxicated people often indulge in completely uncharacteristic behavior, such as using abusive language and not realizing their mistake even if addressing their parents. Cases of adultery, rape and incest are also found more often among alcoholics. 

“Alcohol and the Brain: An Overview” published by The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism in 2022, states that alcohol makes it harder for the brain’s areas that control balance, memory, speech and judgment to do their jobs, resulting in a higher likelihood of injuries and other negative outcomes.

One thing beer-drinkers like about drinking is that it gives them a reason to come together. Some people think that non-alcoholic beer, when available, can help them switch from alcoholic beer and still enjoy the company of others and enjoy beer’s taste without the negative health effects. However, it could have the opposite effect because while alcohol-free beer may not contain much alcohol, its packaging and the drink itself are almost indistinguishable from the alcoholic version. In addition, it often smells and taste like alcoholic drinks and can tempt a person to try real beer sooner or later.

Is Non-Alcoholic Beer Halal?

From the Islamic perspective, any amount of alcohol is haram: “Anything which intoxicates in a large quantity is prohibited even in a small quantity.” (“Sunan Ibn Majah” 3922,  Book 30, Hadith 22 ) and “When you feel uncertain about something, whether it is halal or haram (mushbooh), avoid it”(Saḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 52, Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim 1599).

Moreover, H. Hasanuddin (chair, Indonesian Council of Ulama’s Fatwa Commission for 2020-22), states that beer, even if it is claimed to be alcohol-free, cannot be declared halal because it uses a name that refers to a haram product. 

Countries allow beers with up to 0.5% ABV be labeled “alcohol-free” because 0.5% ABV is well below the threshold for being considered alcoholic. Also, the country’s law allows it. As far as how some alcohol manufacturing companies are getting their beers certified as halal is concerned, there is no standardized halal standard and no regulatory entity with the power to actually enforce its authority to oversee the decades old halal certification system. Thus, it is a real challenge to maintain uniformity and consistency in the current system. 

Moreover, improvements made at the individual level will become long-lasting only when adopted concurrently at the national and international level and enjoy the backing of a regulatory entity with enforcement authority. The current system is fragmented, unregulated and has no entity with enforcement authority.

Interestingly, consumers increasingly demand transparency, traceability and the upholding of Islamic law. Yet they don’t question or even try to find the name of the certification organization whose halal logo is on the product. Apparently all they want to see is a halal logo. These reasons demand that OIC fast track this issue and end this decades-long problem. 

The Quran, the hadiths and fatwas clearly prohibit the consumption of alcohol. But even for the sake of argument, when looking at it through the eyes of science and taking a larger view of what we want our future generations to be, the negative effects of drinking non-alcoholic beers outweigh the positive ones. It’s clearly a red flag, one that we hope that halal certification organizations are paying attention to during their assessment process and before allowing their halal logo to appear on such products.    

Dr. Mohammad Abdullah retired after serving 29 years with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, the agency that regulates the meat industry. He is also the author of “A Closer Look at Halal Meat from Farm to Fork” (2016).

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By Nayab Bashir

Jan/Feb 2024

A mosque is often known as a Muslim’s second home. If you have nowhere else to turn, you can turn to the house of God. Those who have frequented mosques since early childhood find themselves comforted by the call to prayer and the familiarity of the lined carpets. If you know how to pray, wherever you go in the world you’ll know what to do in a mosque. North American Muslims have made their local communities “friends like family,” and visiting mosques frequently has become part of their identity. 

Yumi Ota (aka Khadija) is a journalist, social media personality and homeschooling mother of three living in St. Louis, Miss. A revert with no Muslim family members or old friends who share the faith, she has found that the mosque feels like home and community. It’s her emotional solace, the first place she goes to pray, meet new friends and raise her children. Ota and her husband make it a priority to take their children to the mosque often. She has enrolled her children in Quran memorization programs as often as six days a week. Although the Islamic Foundation of Greater St. Louis’ Daar Ul-Islam Masjid has a room for mothers with young children, Ota found it too small and often crowded — and nowhere near large enough to meet the needs of St. Louis’ expanding community. 

A Japanese-American married to an Indian-American, Ota is aware of the importance of personal identity. Through her studies in journalism, she has learned that minority children raised within a community of the same race or religion grow up more confident of their identity. Muslims are a minority in both Japan and India, and so family participation in the local mosque’s activities is something for which they are both grateful. The mosque’s atmosphere and people help them raise their children to be unapologetically Muslim. 

“Any mosque for me, the only place I can be truly alone and cry my heart out when I am sad or stressed,” Ota said. “I want my children to feel the same way and love the mosques and eventually serve the community in them, God willing.” 

Muslim parents also want the next generation to have this security and love. While many mothers turn to their mosques for solace and clarity, and seek to guide their children to do the same, this is not always a simple and easy feat. Unfortunately, at times, mothers of young children receive unsolicited advice and criticism. Ota remembers this happening multiple times when her children were younger. Some of the people weren’t just critical — they were downright rude. 

She’s not alone in this experience. Many have accounts of their own childhoods in which they recall being scolded, while others have faced it with their children.

Seher, a professional organizer, content creator and social media manager, faced similar issues with her local Atlanta mosque. She knew the importance of taking her children to the mosque regularly so they would stay close to Islam and grow up within a like-minded community. However, once there she was asked to leave just for keeping her children next to her while praying, even though they were sitting quietly in one place. This very discouraging incident made her feel disconnected.

Many mosques had programs for children over the age of five, but not for those as young as her children. Although they had access to local libraries, fairs and parks, this disconnect was isolating. Even more important, as the brain develops rapidly between the ages of one through five, she considered an Islamic foundation essential. But in 2018, the concept of Islamic programs for her children was nonexistent in Atlanta. And so she reached out to friends Samia and Asra and co-founded the Iqra Kids Club (IKC). 

Together, the trio started their program at a mosque they felt had always emphasized the importance of family: the Roswell Community Mosque. They began hosting monthly programs in early 2018, and continue to do so. IKC seeks to introduce Islamic lessons and morals to toddlers and preschoolers in a fun and interactive way. Learning at their sessions is always a hands-on experience. Moreover, both parents are encouraged to attend to make it a family-bonding activity.

IKC aims to instill in children a joyful and meaningful connection to the mosque by creating a welcoming environment. Forty children join the group at each event, often with parents and siblings. A relevant Islamic topic is chosen, explained via an age-appropriate story, nasheeds, puppet shows, videos and crafts. Children learn about important values through interactive play and feel welcome. They look forward to the next session and ask their parents when they can go to the mosque again! 

Seher’s initiative has caught the interest of various people across North America. Many are hoping to start a toddlers’ program at their local mosques too. Furthering her efforts, the trio has started writing detailed lesson plans, along with craft templates, that will be available in 2024. 

Seher’s personal mission is that nobody should be turned away from the mosque. She’s working to help others understand that the bond with the mosque starts at a young age. All mosques should have a Mother’s and Father’s room for toddlers, along with toys and books to keep them busy while their parents pray. These rooms should be equipped with speakers and screens so they can see the congregation. Having such facilities will encourage more parents of young ones to visit the mosque, pray and listen to talks, because the absence of children today could lead to emptier mosques when they are older. 

As the Turkish proverb says, “Dear Muslims, if there are no sounds of children laughing in the back as you are praying, fear for the next generation.” It’s understandable that worshippers wish to pray or contemplate undisturbed. There’s no disrespect toward them. Parents shouldn’t let their children run wild in the house of God, be rowdy, spill drinks or litter. However, if they’re just being kids, that should be okay. 

In the mosque of the Prophet (salla Allahu ‘alayhi wa sallam), children were both welcomed and accommodated. Even the Prophet disliked to trouble the mother of a child crying during prayer. We can see this illustrated in the following hadiths:

• The Messenger of Allah would pray holding Umsama bint Zaynab bint Rasulillah. He would put her down when he prostrated and then pick her up again when he stood up (“Sunan Ibn Bukhari,” 114),

• The Prophet said, “When I stand for prayer, I intend to prolong it. But on hearing the cries of a child, I cut it short, for I dislike to trouble the child’s mother” (“Sunan Ibn Bukhari,” 707), and

• “The Messenger of Allah came out to us for one of the two later prayers, carrying Hasan or Hussein. He then came to the front and put him down, said takbir for the prayer and commenced praying. During the prayer, he performed a very long prostration, so I raised my head and there was the child, on the back of the Messenger of Allah, who was in prostration. I then returned to my prostration. When the Messenger of Allah had offered the prayer, the people said, ‘O Messenger of Allah! In the middle of your prayer, you performed prostration and lengthened it so much that we thought either something had happened or that you were receiving revelation!’ He said, ‘Neither was the case. Actually, my grandson made me his mount, and I did not want to hurry him until he had satisfied his wish’” (“Sunan al-Nasa’i, 1141).

No parent wants their child creating chaos in the mosque, and everyone is doing what they can to prevent that. The next time you hear a giggle or the pitter-patter of small feet, please consider the importance of that child feeling safe in a mosque and returning to it throughout his or her life. 

Nayab Bashir is a literature aficionado with an English literature degree to prove it. A mother of three children under ten, currently staying home with her youngest, and “studying for the LSAT.”

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By Tayyaba Syed

Jan/Feb 2024

Eight-year-old Etaf Saleh was playing outside with her siblings, while their baby sister slept peacefully inside the house. Suddenly they heard jets overhead and loud booms. “It’s war! It’s war!” Saleh’s mother began screaming and ushering them quickly to safety.

“We’d never witnessed anything like it,” recalls Saleh, now in her sixties, of her experience living through the 1967 Six-Day War in Silwad, a West Bank town next to Ramallah. “Bombs were coming down everywhere, and we started to escape toward the center of the town. My mom then remembered she had forgotten my sleeping baby sister and ran back home as we waited for her.”

The families were instructed to head up the mountains into designated caves. They hid there for seven days. That one week changed the trajectory of their lives forever. 

“I don’t know how we had food or anything, but every day there was bombing,” shares Saleh, who now lives with her family in Willowbrook, Ill. After seven days, they were instructed by the Israeli forces to return home even though the bombing continued. Frightened and weary, families held up white cloths and flags and headed back down the mountains. “Last year, my mom passed away at the age of 92. Yet she never stopped talking about what we endured and said that for years we [children] would wake up screaming at night from the trauma.”

The fear of being bombed, being killed, being separated from or losing your family, having to abandon your home and hide in a cave, surviving on little food, not being able to just be a kid and play and laugh and learn…what can that do to one’s psyche? 

On the eighth day, Saleh rode along with her mother and siblings in boarded trucks to escape to Jordan. Their father, who had been working in Kuwait, was waiting for them across the river. 

“My older brother was probably in eighth or ninth grade, so we had to cover him and other young [adolescent] men [so they would not] be taken away,” Saleh says. “In those few hours, we saw people lying dead in the streets. I remember asking why this was happening and was told, ‘They are killing us.’ How can I sleep as a child after this? I would hear the sound of bombs even after we had escaped and couldn’t unsee all those dead bodies I had seen with my own little eyes.”

After staying in Jordan for a few days, the Saleh family began heading to Kuwait. Her brother decided he wanted to remain in Jordan for high school. Saleh states how difficult it was to leave him and be apart from him; however, she admits, he became very resilient from the experience. Once Saleh herself was old enough, she insisted on pursuing her undergraduate studies abroad. 

“I got accepted into schools in Egypt, Jordan and Iraq,” she remarks. “However, my father wouldn’t let me go on my own. He told me I could go study in America instead and live with my oldest brother, who had come here in 1974, five years before me. The application and paperwork were never-ending, but we made it happen somehow. 

“My whole family was crying at the airport — all except me. I was just so happy to finally get out and be on my own, even though this was my very first time flying in an airplane at age 19. Before leaving Kuwait, my father taught me how to drive, I learned how to type and I took English classes. I was ready. You can’t let anything overpower you. If you don’t have iman (faith), you don’t have anything. That’s the most important thing.”

Made Her Stronger

Even though Saleh feels she had to grow up faster after experiencing the trauma of war, she still believes it only made her stronger. The current Israel-Gaza war brings back horrific memories, though. She cries every day and worries how the people, especially the children, will recover from it. 

According to Dr. Fahad Khan (licensed clinical psychologist and deputy director, Khalil Center, Lombard, Ill.) traumatized children can skip a stage of childhood.

“Trauma can affect how they respond to stress, affect their thinking and emotional abilities and even hinder natural tendencies such as creativity and fantasy,” says Khan, who has won awards from the American Psychological Association for his work and dedication. “Meta-analysis studies show signs of aging in traumatized kids and physical changes in the brain that can be measured. Someone who is older and is traumatized can accelerate [in aging] with post-traumatic stress disorder [PTSD] in adult life.” 

Khan states PTSD symptoms can linger long after the trauma ends and can be triggered at any moment: socially, emotionally and even within relationships. “The way our brains are structured and emotions are stored is different from where complicated thinking happens (in the frontal cortex),” he says. “When we are traumatized, high-level thinking leaves, and you can’t think rationally or logically in that emotional state of mind. What we want to see [more of] is more post-traumatic growth in people.”

Post-traumatic growth is the positive psychological change that some individuals experience after a life crisis or a traumatic event, according to Psychology Today (https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/post-traumatic-growth), which also states that post-traumatic growth doesn’t deny deep distress. Rather, it posits that adversity can unintentionally yield changes in understanding oneself, others and the world. 

Trauma Beyond War

Trauma isn’t just limited to war. Fareeha Aziz of Houston also saw this in her oldest child, who was only eight when she was divorced. Suddenly she was a single mother of her newborn, two toddlers, and eight-year-old son. How does a child process such drastic changes?

“My kids had to grow up so quickly when everything happened,” Aziz recalls, who spent eleven years on her own before remarrying. “My eldest for sure was traumatized by it all, reckoning with reality and trying to process everything. My kids had to take care of themselves to help me. When children are around unpredictable situations and people, they start to understand adult subjects sooner than necessary.”

Despite the difficulty Aziz, 42, has endured, has done her best to keep a positive mindset about life and has full trust in God. Instead of focusing on the past or future, she is determined to make the most of whatever time she has left on Earth. “Ask Allah for help for whatever you’re going through and then really believe in [that help].”

Another example of trauma can be when your health is tested. Mother of four Nafeesah Zabadneh of Lombard, Ill., was diagnosed with Lupus in 2020. Lupus, a chronic autoimmune disease that causes your immune system, which usually fights infections, to attack healthy tissue instead. It can cause inflammation and pain in any part of your body.

“I am 41, but I feel like I am much older and weaker,” states Zabadneh. “If you see how I walk, you can tell something’s wrong. I’m on the smaller side but feel so heavy. Lupus affects your organs and your breathing. Sometimes I’m so fatigued that I can’t even take care of my kids properly. I feel so guilty at times and just try to push through my debilitating health. I can’t even braid my youngest’s hair due to cysts on my joints and stiffness. I took things for granted when I was healthy, but I don’t want to be a burden on anyone.”

Many times, Zabadneh feels like she’s fighting against her own body. She describes it as “watching the world go by” while she stands still. She wonders if this is how it will always be or if it will get better, knowing that right now there is no cure. Major life changes, trauma and difficult circumstances can cause kids to grow up faster than normal, to age out of innocence much sooner. Zabadneh is seeing this with her eldest child. 

“I’m praying that I can still be there for my family and community somehow through all this,” she says. “I’m grateful for a supportive husband, and if it wasn’t for my 15-year-old I wouldn’t be able to take care of my toddler. She is like a second mother to her siblings.”

Tayyaba Syed is a multiple award-winning author, journalist and Islamic studies teacher. She conducts literary and faith-based presentations for all ages and is an elected member of her local school district’s board of education in Illinois, where she lives with her husband and three children. Learn more at www.tayyabasyed.com.

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By Tariq Ahmed

Jan/Feb 2024

Kashmir and India have been in a state of political conflict for decades. The theater of the conflict has been — and remains — Kashmir. The stakes are high for both. For the Indians, the endgame is consummating the settler-colonial occupation. For the Kashmiris, the goal is to resist and uproot it. 

At stake are the lives of and nationhood for Kashmiris. India, a colonial power, has violently usurped this former princely state’s land against its Muslim-majority inhabitants’ wishes and tried every means conceivable in its “counterinsurgency” to contain and quell the Muslims’ resistance to its rule. The caravan of coloniality began around the time of colonial Britain’s 1947 partition of India and is now at its culminating point, for the next step is memoricide and erasure.

In contrast to appearances, there’s no letup in the state-sponsored repression or the Kashmiris’ ongoing struggle; their resistance is in suspended animation. How else can one explain the repetition and regurgitation of the same policy mistakes made by India in this century? 

A case in point: India’s continuing need for sociopolitical and militaristic machinations in Kashmir since its occupation in 1947 has not diminished, despite decades of political maneuvering and military repression or even after pouring in billions of rupees in developmental aid. Neither has India’s awe-inspiring rise to the status of an economic superpower made a dent in the resistance narrative. New Delhi has been able to subdue — but not to erase — it.

In this sense, then, not much has changed in Kashmir and its fraught and testy relationship with India since the settler-colonial project’s embryonic stage. Now, as then, the Machiavellian sociopolitical engineering has failed to cut it with the Kashmiris. The old game plans continue even today. Although the actors have changed, the script remains the same.

“Colonizing Kashmir: State-building Under Occupation”

This matter is a theme of Hafsa Kanjawal’s “Colonizing Kashmir: State-building Under Occupation” (Stanford University Press: 2023). Its microscopic insider-outsider account reflects India’s wheeling and dealing to keep its control of Kashmir. The author investigates the state’s formative years of settler-colonial occupation since India’s partition. This seminal and detailed work, based on meticulous and grueling years of research in Kashmir, challenges many myths about India’s settler-colonial enterprise that are unabashedly purveyed by Indian politicians, unsuspectingly accepted by ordinary Indian citizens, dishonestly unchallenged by the Indian or even international academe and problematically borne by the international community without scrutiny.

This is a must-read for anyone who cares to know how India’s decades of colonial-settler machinations have led to this dispute’s intractability and how some Kashmiri collaborators, the “integrationists,” have willfully contributed to and actualized the process of coloniality for their own personal glory and benefit. 

Kanjwal’s work is a piece of art as much as it is an expository treatise on the inside story of Kashmir’s potential erasure. The book artfully demonstrates how Nehru and his accomplices in Srinagar (Bakhshi et al.) pinned their hopes on the now-defunct thesis that the Kashmiris’ nationalist sentiment was not unwavering and could be modulated through sociopolitical, educational, cultural, economic and militaristic means. 

Together, they often invoked states of exception, crises and emergency, along with portraying Kashmiris as biddable and Pakistan as an opportunist enemy. This concoction of self-imagined factors then justified and led to an overwhelming response through both the “politics of life” as much as through a reign of state-sponsored terror. 

Meanwhile, Indian nationalists projected Kashmir as an exotic land whose integration with the Indian Union was essential or vital to India’s very being, a place of “national affect” and interest whose separation could unravel India and impede its progress. Therefore, they did everything in their power to eliminate and/or subordinate the Kashmiris’ nationalist sentiment to that of Indian nationalism. They attempted to de-emphasize the affective causes of the freedom sentiment and highlight the instrumentality of the interference of an external power trying to prevent a land grab — the irredentist neighbor, Pakistan.

The nationalists retaliated against Pakistan’s supposed interference by fetishizing and licensing repression against the latter’s so-called “Islamist” loyalists in Kashmir. This tactic simultaneously appeased the unsuspecting Indian citizens while calming any international voices that were less interested in interrogating the dark underbelly of India’s secular-democratic stance.

By introducing bio-power politics in tandem with the necropolitical system of control, India forced not only the colonization of Kashmir’s territorial space, but also the colonization of its citizens’ biological spaces — their lives. The state’s overwhelming militarized intelligence apparatus sought a complete submission of those whom it could intimidate, humiliate or otherwise manipulate, and the death of those it could not. New Delhi instrumentalized the politics of life, surveillance and death to bring the citizens’ revolt against its rule under control and to legitimize its sovereignty over Kashmir. 

Simultaneously, in a carefully crafted strategy directed at denying them agency, India deployed cinematic soft power through Bollywood’s fantasy-filled pleasure machine, seeking to obliterate Kashmir’s identity and mixed cultural ethos and integrate it into the Indian (exclusively Hindu) union. By using Kashmir as an idyllic set for the Bollywood movies and insinuating politically motivated cinematic dialogs, they attempted to arouse the lust of an Indian tourist for its exotic land to be desired, eventually claimed and bolstered as part of the Indian nation. The objectives were to manipulate or erase its people’s identity and memory and subsume them within an Indian identity and memory.

Overtly, they successfully projected India’s secular facade while covertly, for the domestic audience, foregrounding Kashmir’s Hindu religious past and downplaying or outright erasing its Muslim heritage and influence. Kanjawal goes on to demonstrate that far from being a secular-democracy, “colonialism and domination were at the root of Indian state-formation.” These strategic measures were intended to justify, rationalize and routinize the Hinduvized settler-colonial occupation of Kashmir.

Has India’s overall strategy succeeded? 

New Delhi hoped that the psychological distance between India and Kashmir could be bridged via calibrated doses of tyranny and some perfunctory salutary means. Apparently, the calculus was that if Kashmiris were unwilling to change their hearts, they might be receptive or enticed to change their minds about Pakistan or independence.

Thus, Kashmir became a theater of settler-colonial tyranny as well as a case study in developmentalism (the cynical “politics of life”) that sought to distract the restive population from its political aspirations and focus more on the daily grind of life and living. The refrain was, as is the case in all colonial occupations, “we must develop them, with or without their consent” — a civilizing and redeeming intervention by the “well-meaning, cultured and progressive” Indians for the good of a “gullible, primitive and timid” Kashmiris.

To entrench its stranglehold, India — through devious economic strategies, sinister educational and cultural policies, cunning deployment of cinematic soft power, as well as the brutal silencing of dissent through both stern and “soft” repression — attempted to articulate subjectivities and configure and reconfigure political proclivities and aspirations in Kashmir. The sole aim was to legitimize and sustain Kashmir’s continued colonial occupation as a necessity without which Kashmiris could not survive. 

When the “development and progress” mantra lost its traction, New Delhi enhanced the militarized silencing of dissent. This tyrannical subjugation presented Kashmiris with the binary of complete submission or the inglorious life of the “living dead.” In this survival struggle, Kashmiris made a rational choice: They chose life, which inevitably led to the uneasy co-existence of the tyranny of breathing under a repressive and manipulative regime and the realities of daily living. 

Kanjawal notes, “Strategies such as the politics of life build, maintain and sustain colonial occupations. They enable political subjectivities that are paradoxical in their demands and aspirations, forcing individuals to reconcile their desire for political freedom with their desire to lead ‘normal’ economically stable lives.”

The Indian governments of the past and present have successfully manipulated and suppressed the resistance and immobilized the street protests. The nationalists have misinterpreted and conflated this as consent to its rule. The inconvenient truth is that instead of following an inverted U-trajectory, the resistance struggle has followed a W-trajectory, going up and down and back up again.

India will soon discover that the political resistance against settler-colonial occupation cannot be effectively eliminated by demobilizing street protests. As has been the case in other settler-colonial occupations, India has provided no breathing space for the expression of political dissent to render violent resistance superfluous, and in doing so, created the seeds of a future confrontation and strife.

The book’s premise applies to current and future times as much as it lays bare the past.

Tariq Ahmed is a Kashmiri-origin freelance writer. He grew up in the sixties in the strife torn region

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By Luke Peterson

Jan/Feb 2024

Visit the National Endowment for Democracy’s (NED) homepage in November of 2023 and you will find a smooth, colorful, visually pleasing, and easy-to-navigate website available in half a dozen global languages. On this website, this Washington-based nonprofit organization touts its mission to promote peace, stability, and democratic institutions around the world. 

The site’s homepage includes a “Democracy Digest Feed” which publishes internally generated reports testifying to the promotion of civil institutions, predicting the impact of new technologies on global democracy, and/or warning of threats to democratic movements generated by authoritarian governments throughout the world. Readers are warned that those threats emanate most immediately from Russia and China with a new, headlining report on the website promising to describe, “How China and Russia Undermine Democracy in Africa.” In short, on initial approach, NED presents itself as a benevolent, nonprofit institution that serves to spread democracy around the world and to report on those nefarious actors intent on stopping that spread. Clearly, NED and the individuals associated with it, view their collective works as a powerful force for good in the world.

But things are not all as they seem at NED. Founded in 1983 by a Reagan administration intent on eliminating the leftist Sandinista Movement in Nicaragua (Reagan’s picture still adorns the website homepage), NED promised then, as it promises now, “to foster the infrastructure of democracy” around the globe. But when the true nature of the Reagan administration’s disreputable activities to subvert democracy and the rule of law in Latin America came to light through the very public Iran-Contra Affair, the motivations of the Central Intelligence Agency and the National Security Council were rightly called into question. 

Enter NED. 

Since the late 1980s, NED became the legitimate face of subversive and anti-democratic Reagan era policies in Latin America which would include the training and funding of right-wing death squads in Nicaragua, the Contra rebels, who killed, maimed, and raped their way through the Nicaraguan countryside targeting anyone sympathetic to the leftist Sandinistas. NED was Reagan’s backdoor entrance to regional politics in the Global South facilitating the transfer of bad money after good by funneling cash to Reagan era allies in the form of millions in grant monies supplied directly by Congress (U.S. tax dollars still fund NED activities around the world today).

For their part, NED publicly proclaims itself to be both nonprofit and independent focused exclusively upon funding those initiatives that have the potential to extend human rights and democratic institutions to diverse communities everywhere their reach can touch. Practically, though, as with murderous Reagan administration partners in Latin America in the 1980s, the initiatives NED funds are typically in lockstep with policy priorities emanating from Washington which have much more to do with the extension of American hyperpuissance in the world that they do with the fatuous notions of democracy promotion touted by NED on its website. Some analysts have even claimed that NED operates as a fully engaged wing of U.S. foreign policy in the contemporary geopolitical context. A cofounder of the organization, Allen Weinstein, put a finer point on the group’s intended global reach stating plainly that: “A lot of what we do today was done covertly 25 years ago by the CIA.”

Venezuela and Beyond

In addition to cutting their teeth on bloody political infighting in Nicaragua, for example, it is understood today that NED had a substantial hand in undermining the democratic election of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela in 2000 which it accomplished by shifting hundreds of thousands of dollars in grant money to elitist Venezuelan groups opposed to Chavez’s socialist agenda. These efforts were initially successful and Chavez was forced to spend days in exile before returning to his position as legitimately elected Venezuelan president (a return facilitated only by massive popular demonstration in Caracas and elsewhere throughout the country). Though from NED’s perspective, and the broader view of Washington writ large, the concept of legitimacy is, apparently, subjective as explained by a spokesman from the second Bush administration: “legitimacy is something that is conferred not just by a majority of the voters.” Even then Secretary of State Colin Powell would go on to publicly endorse the architects of the attempted coup as the “legitimate” government of Venezuela. All that these U.S. officials needed to subvert democratic processes in the name of American interests was an innocuous foot in the proverbial door. As in Nicaragua, in Venezuela, NED was that foot, and they wouldn’t stop there.

NED remained active during the two decade-long War on Terror funding initiatives in both Afghanistan and Iraq while U.S. bombs and bullets killed more than a million in Iraq and at least 70,000 in Afghanistan over the course of the twentieth century. In 2015, Vladimir Putin outlawed NED amongst other international NGOs for activities conducted in Russia that were contradictory to Russian sovereignty. For his part in 2016, incoming President Donald Trump did not seem at all bothered by this cancellation. He was keen in any case to defund NED as part of his administration’s idiosyncratic alteration of the functions of the American government both at home and abroad. But NED would survive the reign of Trump and come out of that administration with a renewed vigor in pushing forward an American neo-imperialist agenda deep into the twenty-first century. 

Today, among their thousands of ongoing projects undertaken in at least 100 countries worldwide and all intended to extend American influence, NED is particularly focused on Indonesia. In February of 2024 populist leader Joko Widodo is set to step down from the office of the president after having served the two-term maximum. During his tenure, Widodo has been a thorn in the side of the Washington consensus working hard during his presidency to eliminate soft money from Indonesian politics and to minimize foreign influence over Indonesian affairs. Widodo is, in fact, the only president in Indonesia’s history not drawn from the ranks of the political or military elite and his popularity in his home country is testimony to both his honesty as a politician as well as to his measurable success in improving the lives of average Indonesians during his time in office.

Given that a presidential term limit now ensures that he will step down, efforts are underway within Washington to see to it that a much more agreeable, much less independent powerbroker takes his place. Washington is seeking a pliant Indonesian president near China in the event of an all-out war in East Asia. Even if war should not come to pass, a submissive Indonesia with its massive consumer population and strategically important location would be highly beneficial to the ever-expanding U.S. military and attendant support industries. Operations are already underway to push these policy goals forward (Leaked: CIA Front Preparing Color Revolution in Indonesia”, The Mint Press, Sept. 6, 2023).

NED is at the forefront of these clandestine activities. It has allegedly funded anti-Widodo rallies, directly paid protestors to take to the street during the campaign season and have infiltrated labor unions and other pro-Widodo institutions to try to sow discord amongst some of the president’s strongest supporters. Recently uncovered intelligence documents from Indonesia indicate the feverish efforts of BIN (Badan Intelijen Negara)), Jakarta’s State Intelligence, are working full out to ensure free and fair elections in Indonesia once Widodo has left office. The BIN has communicated its disapproval of NED’s ongoing disruptive activities in no uncertain terms to the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta, but leaked intelligence documents inform that American officers within that embassy remain “concerned” about the coming Indonesian elections. Embassy officials, including its Political Officer, Ted Meinhover, have even made suggestions to Indonesian government officials about how their electoral rules might be changed to allow for a larger candidate pool, and therefore, more pliable and pro-U.S. candidates to come to the fore. As of the time of this writing, this attempted U.S. interference in another sovereign country’s national elections remains ongoing.

Whatever the outcome in Indonesia as elsewhere, it seems clear that NED’s mission in the world goes far beyond their declared aim to promote democratic initiatives abroad. One wonders where this continued American overreach stops and precisely what consequences will continue to befall countries that open their arms to operational fronts for American neo-imperialist policy goals. 

Luke Peterson, Ph.D., Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, The University of Cambridge — King’s College, investigates language, media and knowledge surrounding political conflict in the Middle East. He lives in Pittsburgh, where he regularly contributes to local, national, and international media outlets.

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By Anime Abdullah

Jan/Feb 2024

From the riveting theaters of Ukraine to the enthralling stage of Jordan, from the star-spangled circus of the U.S. to the lively spectacle in Bangladesh, everywhere politics offers a delightful blend of comedy, tragedy, and farce that puts most reality TV shows to shame. The twists and turns of Bangladesh’s gripping political drama reach their peak, particularly during the election season, unknown to many, has successfully summited the rollercoaster of election aerobics. Rarely can such a perfect balance of unparalleled skills — disregarding the country’s interests, disseminating misinformation, and shamelessly reversing political promises solely to secure power — be found. 

For an entire decade, the ruling party has entertained the 180 million innocent citizens twice by its breathtaking ballet with democracy. While the world may be distracted by the Israel-Palestine conflict, the country’s understated yet robust 2024 election carnival is quietly unfolding. Puppet masters are clandestinely choreographing the next big political soap opera’s plot, hoping to score a hat-trick. Political luminaries are draping democracy in an acrobatic mask to parade through the streets with yet another set of unique and strategic maneuvers. 

The talent of showing election tricks came into the limelight in 2014, when the ruling Bangladesh Awami League (BAL) party secured a whopping 153 seats uncontested. However, the absence of actual competition bored the talent, and so they thickened the plot in 2018 by ensuring all parties’ participation without changing the outcome — the ballot was stuffed the night before the election (Staff Correspondent, Jan. 16, 2019, https://www.thedailystar.net/). The widespread irregularities in the political tapestry’s deep fiber made it a true masterpiece. 

Despite the global calls for a credible election, Dhaka remains unmoved and unashamed, claiming victory with a barefaced victory grin. Hats off to the Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed, the carnival’s mastermind, for showcasing her unparalleled diplomatic skills: severe crackdowns on the opposition, free press and any pesky dissent that dares to raise his/her head. Equal kudos to the supporting cast, turning a blind eye to yet another discredited election for the final blow to their credibility. 

At the outset of this new election extravaganza, one can only marvel at the political clowns wielding power, torn tightropes of trust, mummified sense of shame, and the disappearing act of responsibility being the grand finale. There are too many angels in this show, but space constraints permit us to appreciate only the teaser of the top four acts.

Act I: Weathering the West’s Diplomatic Influence

Fond of playing invisible in the political circus, the U.S. ambassador envoy embarked on a series of secret voyages to New Delhi to coax India into supporting a free and fair election in Bangladesh back in 2014 (Mubashar Hasan, Sept. 18, 2023, https://thediplomat.com). Much to the ambassador’s chagrin, this diplomatic endeavor was thwarted the same year and dismissed during the 2018 elections. Undeterred, the U.S. swiftly declared Bangladesh a “key partner in the Indo-Pacific” and a “centerpiece of our work in the region.” This political meddling has overstayed its welcome. 

During December 2021, Washington sanctioned Bangladesh’s elite security force, the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB), for extrajudicial killings and human rights violations. The Biden administration then snubbed Bangladesh’s invitation to its 2021 and 2023 global democracy galas (Geoffrey Macdonald, June 15, 2023, https://www.usip.org/publications/2023/06/). In 2023 Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Lu stole the show by gracing Bangladesh from January 14 to 15, adding both flair and grandiosity to the simmering tensions over the impending elections. During May 2023, the U.S. placed a visa refusal drama for any Bangladeshi tied to “undermining the democratic election process in Bangladesh.” 

Finally, on Nov. 16, 2023, Secretary of State Antony Blinken hinted at trade sanctions to address tensions in Bangladesh’s RMG (ready-made garment) sector. Yet BAL, the top leaders and their loyal entourage, acted impervious to all of these, swatted them away and instead focused a verbal and social media onslaught on Ambassador, Peter Haas. Despite being the single largest export destination — $9.4 billion worth of apparel in FY 2022 — American diplomacy was overshadowed by the diplomatic acrobatics in Bangladesh. 

Act II: Tackling the Twin Asian Tug-of-war

The 2014 general election’s legitimacy was questioned worldwide when the biggest opposition parties, the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), the Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh (JIB), the Jatiya Party (JP) and others refused to participate under the BAL government. However, as an overbearing parent, India sent its foreign secretary Sujata Singh, a pro-puppet master, to charm the JP and strengthen the BAL government. Such blind support during farcical elections isolated India both in the political realm and in public perception (Mubashar Hasan, June 28, 2023, https://thediplomat.com).

But wait, maybe that was the ruling affairs’ not-so-hidden desire. The maestro prime minister deftly seized this opportunity to expand Chinese influence. They were the first to high-five the one-sided 2014 elections and host a lavish congratulatory party for the controversial 2018 elections. China has helped Bangladesh with over $38 billion in investments since 2016 with “no strings attached” policy and delivered over 70% of the country’s weapons procurement between 2015 and 2022. As a little bonus, it even threw in the shiny new $1.2 billion BNS Sheikh Hasina submarine base just in case someone felt like taking a dip in Cox’s Bazar. Pocket-change to tackle the tug-of-war with two giants stumbling over each other.

Act III: Intermission — Commending the circus of activism

Meanwhile, the activists, who storm the stage with protests, strikes or even hunger strikes to draw attention to the overly protective parent (aka the government), encounter responses akin to throwing around arrests, censorship and shutdowns like confetti at a carnival. And the benevolent guardian responds by arresting 10,000+ BNP activists and leaders. The charges? Well, they’re about as authentic as a unicorn sighting. A random example could be BNP joint secretary general Habibun Nabi Khan Sohel amassing cases like a collector of rare stamps – 450+ and counting — all thanks to the Oct. 28, 2023, protest. 

In a November 18-19 spectacle, around 139 senior opposition party officials and activists were convicted with a smorgasbord of charges and promptly jailed, turning the courtroom into a revolving door (“Bangladesh Convicts 139 Opposition Officials, Activists, Say Lawyers,” Nov. 20, 2023, https://www.courthousenews.com/).

Who bothers with the joint statement from multiple Western countries when one has already dared to ignore the EU, UN, U.S. and U.K. ‘s calls for an investigation into election fraud allegations? Rather, Dhaka’s avant-garde performance involves subtly shutting the door on any potential dialogue by masterfully labeling all opposition members “criminals.” BAL eagerly anticipates a chat with the BNP if, and only if, President Biden and Donald Trump, the de facto Republican Party leader, decide to engage in a tête-à-tête. Now that’s a dialogue worth waiting for! 

Act IV: The eye-wash of the election commission

Despite the allegations of bias and electoral manipulation hanging in the air like the acrid smell of popcorn in a circus tent, the ruling party has already formed the Election Commission (EC). Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Kazi Habibul Awal has graced the innocent citizens with an election timetable, crafted carefully without any consensus among the major political parties on the interim government during election — as if having an election, no matter how dubious, is a triumphant “win” for the EC and ruling party. 

Audiences involuntarily embrace the stay-in-a-fool’s paradise and accept that the polls will be “free and fair, impartial, participatory… credible and praised at home and abroad,” as the CEC claims. But we have to give credit where it’s due; without fail, every election year the BAL has appointed the ECs as the puppet masters, exhibiting utter subtlety and resilience, along with a touch of magic, to upholding democratic principles while avoiding stepping on the political elite’s well-manicured toes. 

A ruling party troupe has also perfected the art of making voters believe they’re in full control, conveniently eliminating major opposition parties like the BNP, JIB, JP and others. Even world-famous sportsmen (i.e., Mashrafi bin Mortuza, former international cricketer, or Shakib Al Hasan, captain of the national cricket team) or the country’s renowned showbiz performers are distracted with the illusion of choice, for they sought nomination from the ruling party in the belief that they’re part of a vibrant democracy. 

Major opposition parties are boycotting the 2024 elections, which they suspect to be as fair as a rigged game of cards. However, the ruling party is as likely to concede to their demand for holding the elections under a non-partisan caretaker government as a cat is to bark. Hence, the finale of democracy dangles like a trapeze artist suspended in mid-air. The show must go on, but whether it continues as a farcical comedy or evolves into a genuine democratic saga depends on the people’s collective will. As the election circus tent folds and the performers from a single party take their bows, the spotlight shifts to the citizens, waiting to reclaim the center stage of their democracy in order to break free from the illusionists and acrobats who have held it captive for too long.

Anime Abdullah is a freelance writer

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By Mohammad Abdullah

Jan/Feb 2024

While most young Muslims know that halal foods are a good thing, not all understand the Islamic concept of halal.

According to a June 6, 2023, Kerry Group report, “global product launches with halal claims jumped by 19% from 2018 to 2020, from 16,936 products to 20,482. The report stated that developments in the halal food industry and a large fast-growing young Muslim population across Muslim-majority countries, who are looking for products aligned with the Islamic way of life, are playing a part in the increased product launches.”

Other media reports have said more or less the same thing. For example, in 2016, The Jakarta Post noted that, “The young Muslim population is undoubtedly a potential market for food producers. Young Muslims are cool, tech-savvy, confident, creative, dynamic, energetic, and proud of their identity as Muslim. They believe their faith is helping them in making the world better. One of the ways is through consumption of products that they feel will help them to live a better, modern, Muslim life.” Obviously, it includes “Sunna foods” that Prophet Muhammad (salla Allahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) used to treat diseases or recommended for maintaining overall good health. 

What is Sunna? 

The Islamic concept of halal includes the limits set upon our lives by God. The Encyclopedia Britannica defines Sunna as the body of Muslims’ traditional socio-legal customs and practices that contains many blessings and much wisdom, especially in terms of health. The prophetic Sunna teaches us that “The son of Adam [and Eve] does not fill any vessel worse than the stomach. It is sufficient for him to eat a few mouthfuls, to keep going. If he must do that, then let him fill one third [of his stomach] with food, one third with drink. and one third with air” (al-Tirmidhi, 2006). 

A great deal of this advice and nutritional habits have substantial support in scientific literature, such as eating whole foods. A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (Oct. 14, 2021) found that ultra-processed food consumption grew from 53.5% of calories in the beginning of the period studied (2001-02) to 57% at the end of (2017-18). In contrast, the consumption of whole foods decreased from 32.7% to 27.4% of calories. 

In the current industrial food environment, most foods marketed in the U.S. are industrial formulations that cannot be considered whole foods. Given this growing intake of ultra-processed foods and mounting evidence of their linkage to chronic diseases, the researchers recommend implementing policies to reduce their consumption, such as revised dietary guidelines, marketing restrictions, package labeling changes, and taxes on soda and other ultra-processed foods.

Sunna Foods

The Quran and the Prophet have highlighted some foods, such as dates (16:69), olives (23:20 and 24:35), figs, pomegranates, grapes, olives, honey, and black seeds. “Use black seeds regularly, because it is a cure for every disease except death” (al-Bukhari, 2002). 

According to the National Institute of Health (NIH), prophetic recommendations are remarkable for their prescience, as they came centuries before research was conducted on healthy diets and their bodily benefits. According to researchers, these foods have an abundance of super-concentrated and nutrient-rich elements in their natural state that work together. The Prophet’s recommended foods have now become today’s superfoods due to their powerful healing properties. However, these benefits can only be achieved by following his advice in this regard. It isn’t enough to consume food with a “Halal” logo unless his advice is truly followed and the desire for junk food is controlled. Halal certification also has its challenges. Diseases like diabetes metabolic syndrome and dementia due to excessive consumption of food, especially fast food. 

Increase in Sunna Product Launches

The demand for halal products comes from Muslim consumers, numbering 1.9 billion in 2020, one of the world’s fast-growing consumer segments. Halal food is the second largest sector after Islamic finance. The global halal meat market, valued at $802 billion in 2021, is estimated to reach $1.66 trillion by 2030 (according to Straits Research report on July 16, 2020).

In a bid to tap into this vast market, the industry started producing foods, snacks, and supplements containing black seeds, honey, pomegranates, and other ingredients and marketing them as Sunna foods. Snacks and supplements are found in many forms, such as pills, tablets, capsules, gummies, soft gels, liquids, and powders. While the primary contents of vitamins and supplements are the vitamins and the minerals themselves, other ingredients help bind the products together or preserve them, such as gelatin from both halal and non-halal sources.

Producers promote these products via innovative marketing techniques and using proofs derived from the Quran and Hadith. The updated Nutrition Facts Label on packaged foods, which was updated in 2016 to reflect scientific information about the link between diet and obesity, heart disease and chronic diseases makes better food choices easier. 

Making Informed Decisions

During the Prophet’s time, halal and haram applied mainly to meat, because food was generally natural: no chemical additives, but vegetable oils or olive oil, unrefined grains, and grass-fed animals. Today, most commercial food is exposed to chemicals and pesticides. Commercial genetically modified (GM) crops and products are common in processed foods, which also contain coloring agents, preservatives, flavors, and synthetic nutrients, refined sugars, and synthetic sweeteners. Commercially raised animals are generally fed GM corn diets and antibiotics to prevent sickness. And now meat is even being grown in the laboratory.

Muslims are to consume only food deemed halal (16:114). However, today food production companies hire a Muslim-owned halal certification organization to get their products certified. Among other things, Sen. Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) has been accused of intervening to help North Jersey businessman Wael Hana’s IS EG Halal — established in November 2017 with no prior experience in halal certification or pre-existing ties to the American beef industry — win an exclusive multimillion dollar contract to certify whether food exports to Egypt met halal food standards or not (Michigan Advance, Oct. 12, 2023). Certification fees range from $200 to over $5,000 per container (30 tons). 

A well-policed certification authority is also required. In 2014, Iowa’s Cedar Rapids-based Midamar Corp. exported at least $4.9 million in beef products to Malaysia, Kuwait, the UAE and elsewhere. The company’s president was later jailed for not following the halal practices promised in its labeling and advertising.

Beyond the Halal Label

As consumers find little more than the “Halal” logo on the product’s label, the OIC recently published, in the aftermath of its 5-year strategic plan’s (2016-20) failure, its 10-year plan for uniform standardization and accreditation. 

To protect consumers, in 2019 Indonesia introduced the Halal Product Law, which states that all consumer products and related services must be halal certified to meet market needs and consumer trust. Similarly, in Malaysia, food, goods or services can be labeled halal only if Jakim, the regulatory body, certifies them as such. Malaysian laws adopted the concept of halalan thoyyiban, which is supposed to provide adequate protection. However, the rampant manipulation of halal laws reflects the weaknesses in the laws’ implementation (https://food.chemlinked.com/foodpedia). 

On Sept. 18, Amy Fleming stated in The Guardian that most pork products, such as bacon, are made with nitrates that WHO has rated as carcinogenic since 2015. These additives are also used in sausages and other products, some of which are halal certified. Cooking and eating such meats cause carcinogenic compounds such as nitrosamine to form. The protein myoglobin, found in meat, naturally turns red and then brown as it oxidizes. These additives both stop this from happening and give meat a pink color and fresh look.  

Today, numerous simple- and nutritious-looking products with attractive packaging, among them halal-certified gelatin, jellies, ice cream, yogurts, cheeses, deli meats, snacks and supplements — compete for consumers’ attention, boasting convenience, taste and environmental friendliness. Yet behind all of this may lie a list of unhealthy ingredients, such as saturated fats, cholesterol, sodium, artificial stabilizers and additives.

A recent study published by “The PLOS ONE” reported that: (1) halal certification organizations use different halal standards, which makes it hard to determine which standards are being applied; (2) many halal foods and ingredients are produced in non-Muslim-majority countries, which possibly increases the likelihood of being contaminated by pig-derived common ingredients (e.g., gelatin, enzymes, glycerin, lecithin, L-cystine, and mono- and diacylglycerols) due to the non-awareness of their haram status; and (3) harmonizing the OIC’s countries’ halal standards is important to ensuring the smooth implementation of uniform halal standards. 

This harmonization is needed, for it is in all the stakeholders’ best interests (“Harmonize Halal Certification Regulations,” Islamic Horizons, Jan./Feb. 2022). Young Muslims’ interest in Sunna foods is commendable. Many of them are tech-savvy, confident, and creative. We look forward to their expediting the OIC’s development of uniform halal food standards.

Mohammad Abdullah, who retired after serving 29 years with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, the agency that regulates the meat industry, is the author of “A Closer Look at Halal Meat from Farm to Fork” (2016).

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By Muhammad Abdullah

July/August 2023

Did you know “homemade” sandwiches, “organic” granolas, and “plant-based” milk has up to 40 ingredients? An April 2023 report in the U.K. Daily Mail states “ultra-processed” foods make up more than 70% of the U.S. food supply. A national survey suggests that 1 in 8 U.S. adults are addicted to these foods. America’s obsession with ultra-processed foods, some of which have up to 100 ingredients, have been linked to heart disease, dementia, and cancer. They could be fueling a growing wave of chronic diseases. 

Ultra-Processed Foods are Cheap and Delicious

Ultra-processed foods are higher in salt, sugar, and fat, and contain ingredients you would not add when cooking at home (such as coloring, sweeteners, high fructose corn syrup, preservatives, hydrolyzed proteins, hydrogenated oils, and monosodium glutamate etc.). Common examples of ultra-processed food include sugary beverages; chips and cookies, fast food, reconstituted meat products such as hot dogs and fish sticks, pizza and TV dinners, energy and protein bars and shakes, ice cream, sweetened yogurt, and plant-based milks. 

The American Medical Association states that ultra-processed foods are industrial creations made with little — if any — whole foods that often contain large amounts of added sugars and salt and infused with artificial colors and additives. They are cheap, convenient, and tasty.

The use of additives has become more common these days due to the increase in demand for processed products at an affordable price. In meat processing, certain animal tissues such as meat trimmings, bone scraps, or certain internal organs such as intestines, which are usually not sold in fresh meat marketing, are integrated into the food chain as valuable protein-rich ingredients. Animal gelatin that acts as a cohesive agent to meat mixes is used to make the cooked products solid, elastic, and easy to slice. Added water containing phosphates and dextrose is used to make the meat more succulent.

According to CBS News, there are more than 10,000 chemicals and additives allowed in food in the U.S., often in small amounts. But many haven’t been evaluated by the FDA in decades. What we consume becomes a part of the body, and can affect us physically as well as spiritually. 

The Prophet (salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) advised: “The son of Adam does not fill any vessel worse than his stomach. It is enough for the son of Adam to eat a few mouthfuls to straighten his back, but if he must (fill his stomach), then one third for his food, one third for his drink, and one third for his breath.” (reported Al-Miqdām ibn Ma‘di Karib; Ibn Maajah).

The two common factors leading people to consume higher amounts of ultra-processed foods are cost, and a lack of making healthy choices. A Huffington Post survey shows that people living in full-service grocery store areas where healthy nutritious foods were available still chose unhealthy foods. The convenience of ordering online is yet another factor.

To make it easier to understand, researchers have separated foods into four categories, based on the extent of processing, using the NOVA classification system. NOVA was designed by the Center for Epidemiological Studies in Health and Nutrition, School of Public Health, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil. 

NOVA Group 1 consists of such foods as fresh vegetables, fruits, pasteurized milk, chicken, fish, beans, and eggs because these go through no or minimal processing before you buy them. In contrast, NOVA Group 4 (ultra-processed), contains little, if any, of the foods or ingredients from group 1, and often include unhealthy levels of added sugars, sodium, and fat. These ingredients make the food taste better, but too much of them leads to serious health issues like obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes. 

How to Read Labels

The first thing about avoiding ultra-processed foods is to have some knowledge about reading the ingredient list. The Nutrition Labeling and Education Act (NLEA), requires all prepackaged products with more than one ingredient to list ingredients in descending order by weight. In this way the first ingredient listed is always present in the largest amount and can be useful when comparing products.

Experts advise avoiding products with more than five ingredients and cooking from scratch at home as often as possible. When people eat sweet foods, high in caloric value, pleasure hormones like dopamine are released in their brains and they feel better. 

The nutrition label shows key nutrients that may impact your health. For example, Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a painful gastrointestinal-tract disease linked with consumption of diets with higher amounts of sugar and fat. Celiac, an autoimmune disease, damages the small intestine whenever gluten is consumed. Consumers should use these labels to meet their personal dietary needs.

The size of the ingredient list is a key as to whether the food is ultra-processed or not. For instance, corn is minimally processed. Canned corn is processed, and a corn chip is ultra-processed. Ditto for an apple, apple juice, and apple pie. Milk, reduced fat milk, and unsweetened almond milk.  

Eating Healthy and Tayyab Foods

Verse 7:157 of the Qur’an, states that for us to consume a thing it must not only be halal, but also be tayyab (pure). In this verse, tayyab is contrasted against the Arabic word “Al-Khaba’ith”, which is translated as “evil.” This could mean anything not tayyab is impure, disgusting and harmful. Islam emphasizes food safety and frequently associates halal with tayyab. 

“O ye who believe! Eat of the clean and pure that We have provided for you, and be grateful to Allah, if it is Him ye worship” (Quran 2: 172). 

The “USDA Inspected & Passed” stamp on commercially produced meat and poultry products serves to put the consumers at ease that these products are safe, wholesome, properly labeled and are produced in a sanitary environment. The first thing the USDA inspectors do in a plant is perform a sanitation inspection. In case of halal meat, each animal carcass receives the halal logo after the animal has received the “USDA Inspected & Passed” stamp. 

USDA also provides grading services. There are eight grades for beef, based on the age of the animal and its marbling — prime, choice, select, standard, commercial, utility, cutter, and canner. Prime being the highest quality and canner the lowest. Chicken may similarly be marked as Grade A, B, or C. Meat inspection and meat grading are two different things. Meat inspection is performed to determine the meat’s fitness for human consumption and this service is paid for by the government. Whereas, the grading is about the quality and yield of meat, and the plants pay the USDA for this service. For this reason, not all meats are graded.

The USDA does not get involved in “Halal” meat certification. Instead, the plant contracts services to a halal certification organization. Thus, it becomes the certification organization’s responsibility whose “Halal” stamp is on the product.

The global meat industry is very complex. All animal raw edible parts are sourced from slaughter and processing plants around the world and are used to produce different types of processed products. It provides many opportunities to engage in substitution, mislabeling, and other types of food fraud. For example, a researcher at the University of Guelph (Ontario) found mislabeling and cross contamination in 20% of sausage samples.

Caution with Some Labels

Food labels are supposed to allow consumers to make more informed decisions by knowing the quality or standards in the production of meat. However, some labels can be vague and confusing. For example, claims that a brand of chicken has no steroids or hormones can give the impression to a consumer that it is because of this company’s special efforts. The fact is that steroids and hormones are not allowed in any U.S. poultry or hog production. 

“Chemical Free” is another term that is disallowed to be used on a label. The reason could be that some chemicals are naturally occurring and there is no way to assure that products are free of any chemical substance. “Humanely raised” or “sustainably farmed” is, yet another such term for which there are no regulatory standards. However, some labels do tell how the animal was raised, what it ate, if any chemicals were added to its feed, etc. and can be helpful towards healthy and tayyab eating.

“Naturally Raised” labels indicate that no growth hormones, no antibiotics, and no animal by-products were fed. “Grass Fed” label indicates that only grass and forage was fed for the lifetime of the animal. The only exception is the milk consumed prior to the animal’s weaning. “USDA Organic” label indicates that the animals were fed an organic grain or forage diet, no animal by-products, no use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, products were kept separate from non-organic products, and documentation was maintained for traceability. 

Conventional meat, with the above labels, have been in the supermarket for decades but not the halal meat. It is unclear why. Consumers expect the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to do something in this matter. OIC recently published its 10-year plan that aims for uniformity in standardization and accreditation activities, after its 5-year strategic plan (2016-2020) could not succeed. Hopefully, OIC should be able to resolve this issue while it continues with its 10-year plan. 

The above-mentioned labels may have some deficiencies and need better enforcement (How Organic is “Organic” Food – Islamic Horizons – Nov/Dec 2022). However, they are defined by USDA and other government agencies, and based on what these labels claim, this is the closest one can get to healthy (nutrient-dense) and tayyab foods.

Dr. Mohammad Abdullah retired after serving 29 years with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, the agency that regulates the meat industry. He is also the author of “A Closer Look at Halal Meat from Farm to Fork” (2016)

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By Suheir Kafri

May/June 2023

When I first started my job at the ADAMS (All-Dulles Area Muslim Society) mosque, I was very elated that I would be working with my own beloved community in Islam.

I had recently graduated with a degree in social work. However, in between graduating and getting a job, I went through an immense bout of depression, anxiety and grief. In May 2013, I sat among my fellow George Mason University graduates, waiting for my moment to walk across the stage and receive my diploma. Although I had waited for this pivotal and important moment for six years, another parallel moment held even more significance in my heart — my mother and children were in the stands, cheering me on as I started walking. She proudly held up a sign that said, “That’s my daughter!” 

I had married young and had my children. After my youngest got on the school bus, I enrolled in college. By the time I was a senior, my eldest daughter was freshman at the same college. It was a time of joy and such accomplishment. My support system included my mother, my biggest cheerleader. I would call her before every exam and ask her to pray for me.

A dialysis patient for 13 years, my mother went to her treatment center four times a week. I watched her endure her own depression after realizing what the future held for her as she waited for a kidney donor to match. Unfortunately, she never received a transplant. The doctors initially told us that without a donated kidney, she would live only another year because of other preexisting conditions. By the grace of God, she survived for longer than that.

The summer after graduation, I traveled. I made umra and visited my home country to see family and three months later, in August 2013, came back to the U.S. to begin job hunting. Six days after arriving, my mother went into cardiac arrest and returned to her Creator. I’ll never forget the grief that overtook me and the collapse of everything that was light in life. It felt as if someone had turned the lights off and I was in bleak darkness, unable to see forward or to process and function. If I didn’t have my children to care for, I think I would’ve been in a state of nonexistence and trying to hide from the world, for grief and depression had set in.

After six months, I woke up and prayed that God would remove me from this darkness. I looked for a job. The first one I saw was for a social worker at a mosque. After a few interviews, I was hired and told myself that day, “This will be my turning point! I’ll begin to utilize my skills to empower and enhance the lives of others.”

On my first day, I was instructed that some people would be asking for zakat assistance. But to my surprise, my first phone call was from a woman seeking help in reaching out to the community to get a donated kidney for her father, who had gone into kidney failure. I was immediately triggered and taken aback, because now I would have to re-enter the despair I had just recovered from. I took it as a sign that I was where God intended me to be. I promised to hold this community close to my heart, as my own pain was speaking to me through this woman. 

Determined to look deeper into my community’s issues, I greeted each client and listened to their stories. I helped them complete their applications for assistance and reveal how their hardships had begun. Knowing that I’d have to advocate for them, I began writing down my assessments of what resources they would need. 

Some of them were caretakers of their family, so earning a living and having a regular job everyday was nearly impossible. Others said they were taking care of family members with various mental health illnesses — schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and suicidal ideation — and that leaving their loved ones without daily supervision posed a safety risk. I’d hear them clients say, “If I leave my loved one alone for the day, I’m afraid of what will happen to them while I’m working.” 

Many said they had tried to work; however, they’d lose their jobs because they had to take so much time off. This scenario was very present in the community. I’d listen to the families and caregivers saying that they felt so helpless that they’d started developing anxiety and depression. After expressing my concern about their own well-being and suggesting therapy so they’d have a safe space to process what they were experiencing, I was often surprised by their replies.

After suggesting therapy as part of a holistic wellness approach, they’d reply, “No, I’m not sick, I don’t need a therapist” or “No, I can’t see a therapist because people will say that I’m crazy.” One of the most heartbreaking comments came from a woman who’d endured depression for an extended period of time. When I suggested therapy, she said, “No, I cannot go see a therapist, although I want to, because my husband will divorce me and tell his family. They’ll think I’m crazy.”

I had to think of other ways to convince them to get the help they needed. I advised them to share the symptoms — all mental health related — they were experiencing with their primary care doctor. I thought perhaps this would lead them to seek help. But many refused this option as well.

I felt helpless. How could I help my community beat the stigma associated with mental health?

I began thinking about how I could convince them to see mental health care in a new light. One evening as I reviewed the events of my workday, it came to me. I would bring the needed care to them. I’d enable them to seek help within a familiar sanctuary: their mosque. I created a Mosque Mental Health Model and, together with the imams, collaborated on ensuring that it would incorporate spirituality and the clinical aspect of care. 

Once the model was satisfactory, I asked the local Muslim mental health professionals to contract with the mosque and take the referrals I would send. I was so humbled by all of the therapists, professional counselors, social workers, psychiatrists and psychologists who agreed to help me destigmatize mental illness and treat the community, many of whom had been struggling alone for years.

As this model went into effect in 2015, the community slowly became more comfortable with this arrangement. I watched as client after client said “Yes.” Not only did mental health professionals treat them for depression and other mental health issues, but they also treated victims of domestic violence and various traumas.

As the number of professionals grew, our work continued with specialists who could shed light on those adverse childhood experiences that lead to mental health illnesses. We continued to educate the community through seminars and workshops on such topics as depression and PTSD, especially in terms of refugees, addiction and domestic violence. Our imams played a most supportive role by speaking about mental health in their Friday sermons and expressing the importance of seeking treatment for all such ailments while utilizing spirituality and the help of mental health clinicians.

Seeking to improve our model even more, in 2018 our mosque opened its first counseling office utilizing the living room model, an approach that makes clients feel like they’re sitting in their own living room. We have coffee, tea and snacks, and they can come to the mosque and see an onsite therapist.

By 2020, as Covid took a toll on the world, our dedicated team of mental health professionals addressed the rise in depression and isolation by switching over to a telehealth model of therapy via face-to-face Zoom meetings or phone calls. Many clients told me that this continuation of service was lifesaving, as the initial pre-therapy problem was their inability to seek support within their homes.

Although the effects of Covid linger on and many families have lost loved ones, their ensuing grief and depression would have become unbearable without the mosque’s mental health professionals who reached out and kept their clients on the path to healing.

Combining spirituality and mental health treatment provides hope, and this invaluable resource should be available for every Muslim struggling with mental illness. When you enter the mosque to speak with your imam about your troubles, you should be able to walk into the next office and receive mental health care. I would say that we, as Muslims, are getting stronger in this cause. We will continue striving to destigmatize mental illness and create a better quality of life for those who reach out.

In my mosque, mental health is as important as physical and spiritual health. There is no wellness without mental wellness. “Verily, with hardship comes ease” (94:5).

Suheir Kafri, BSW, QMHP-T, is social worker at the All-Dulles Area Muslim Society, Sterling, Va. bio

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