Mar/Apr 2024

The barbarism in occupied Palestine continues unabated. While the genocide demolishes the “humanitarian” image certain countries project for themselves, thousands of humans are ironically considered ineligible to be called “human” by other humans. 

The carnage enjoys the full support of the U.S. and its closest ally, the U.K., both of which attempt to cloud the ongoing reality via verbal gymnastics. It’s self-enrichment versus humanity. For example, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has unequivocally backed the Zionist war on Gaza, while his wife’s family has been profiting from a business that operates in occupied Palestine and has appointed Israeli military intelligence veterans to senior positions.

During 2022, AIPAC and other pro-Israel PACS gave $9,633,460 to both Republican and Democratic lawmakers. Addressing the Saban Forum in 2014 (“Stormy Seas: The United States and Israel in a Tumultuous Middle East”), Biden mentioned that Netanyahu has been a “personal friend” for 30 years whom he “loves.” He also mentioned that the U.S. gives Israel $8.5 million a day.

A self-declared Zionist throughput his long political career, Biden believes that “It’s overwhelmingly in the self-interest of the United States of America to have a secure, democratic friend, a strategic partner like Israel. As I said, it’s no favor. It’s an obligation, but it’s also a strategic necessity.”

This crazed support for Palestine’s occupation has deep roots. In 1844, Christian restorationist George Bush (professor of Hebrew, New York University), distantly related to the Bush political family, published “The Valley of Vision; or, The Dry Bones of Israel Revived.” In it, he denounced “the thralldom and oppression which has so long ground them (the Jews) to the dust,” and called for “elevating [them] to a rank of honorable repute among the nations of the earth” by restoring them to the land of Israel, “where the bulk would be converted to Christianity.” 

The genocide in Gaza has also created an environment of increased Islamophobia and hate crimes against Muslims. CAIR states that they have received 2,171 complaints of Islamophobia and anti-Arab bias since October 7, an increase of 172% from 2023. 

One wonders what Muslims have done to even to dent such skewered supposition and if it isn’t it time to think and act.

Aslam Abdullah explains that weaponization of a Hindu religious myth to fan hatred against Islam and Muslims in that country and to reassert upper caste hegemony.

India’s 20+ million Muslims continue to deal with Hindutva via the ruling extremist Bharatiya Janata Party and ever-rising Islamophobia. Some are being lynched supposedly just for eating beef. On January 22, the Ram Temple was inaugurated on the site of the destroyed 600-year-old Babri Mosque, alleged to be the mythical god’s birthplace. 

In its 1,045-page 2019 verdict, India’s Supreme Court agreed that the ruins of an ancient religious structure under an existing building does not always indicate that it was demolished by unfriendly powers. But such is the BJP’s hold that the [Indian] National Herald withdrew its articles critical of the judgment and issued an apology after facing criticism on social media and from the BJP. 

Following Modi’s consecration of the temple, extremist groups weaponized ensuing celebrations and convened massive processions to attack Muslims and destroy Muslim-owned businesses, homes and mosques. BJP lawmaker Nitesh Rane threatened to “find and kill” those who had erected defensive barricades to protect a Muslim neighborhood in Mumbai. On Jan. 25, the Washington Post reported that he later ordered state bulldozers to destroy structures belonging to 55 Muslim merchants.

In the U.S., politicians such as Maryland governor Wes Moore (D) celebrated the temple. The OIC denounced these actions “aimed at obliterating the Islamic landmarks…” So once again the question arises: What have Muslims done to educate fellow Americans about the rising Hindu extremism?

Politicians do it for money, but an educated electorate may perhaps move them.

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July/August 2023

While you will be reading this issue, ISNA staff, the Convention Program Committee (CPC) and ISNA friends in Chicago are fervently putting the final touches  to welcome attendees from across North America.

The upcoming event is a landmark moment, the 60th year of ISNA’s founding as a student body. It has grown and continues to blossom forth.

In keeping with this year’s Convention theme, “Sixty Years of Service: Navigating the Way Forward,” the CPC has come up with a convention program with a dual purpose in sight.

We look forward to hosting you in Chicago this Labor Day weekend.

In May, more than 300 educators gathered in Chicago for ISNA’s 24th Educational Forum. With a theme focusing on enriching students’ lives, teachers and administrators from across the country learned about various topics in curriculum, Islamic studies, Arabic, and leadership. The highlight of the celebration banquet was the enthusiastic Keynote Speaker, Nabeela Syed, the first Muslim and youngest-ever member of the Illinois State Legislature.

In April, Islamic Horizons welcomed Kiran Ansari as assistant editor. She has a rich background in the field and will add to the magazine’s offerings.

A reality exists and, in this issue, we talk about it: single parenting. Whatever the reasons may be but more than often, in the Muslim community, single mothers and fathers feel stigmatized. While the acceptance may be improving slightly, there is still a lot of work that needs to be done. The community needs to invest time and money in creating special programs specifically for single parents. We need more support from the mimbars (pulpit) and stories about brave single parents in Islamic history.

Fawzia Mai Tung takes us on a wonderful journey to the birthplace of apples. Or should we say, the real apple! Taking an arduous journey, she examines many aspects and offers her observation that commercial apple orchards causing a natural crossing of cultivated and wild apples, threaten Eastern Kazakhstan’s centuries-old natural fruit. 

It may surprise many of us that the tentacles of Hindu caste discrimination have been spreading in the United States. Shakeel Syed shares that unable to exercise their right to protest in India, the caste-oppressed Dalits – the lowest in the caste system — in the U.S. have started speaking up against the age-old discrimination and oppression. American and Canadian cities and states are moving forward to confront this violative system. The state of California became the latest when Aisha Wahab, a refugee from Afghanistan and a first-time elected California Senator, successfully advanced her bill SB-403 out of the State Senate voting 34-1 to ban caste-based discrimination.

Lisa Kahler shares that Islamic presence south of the border is much larger than many may assume. She talks about the cross border support for the growing Latino Muslim community and how institutions based in Southern California are working in a variety of ways to support Latino Muslims.

The trials and tribulations of Muslims living in Muslim states continue. Tunisia is one such example. Monia Mazigh tells us what pain the police state is casting on its people.

Prof. Khaled A. Beydoun states that the recent wave of optimism surrounding new Saudi-Iran relations demands a critical examination that transcends the surface-level narrative of reconciliation. While it is tempting to view the thawing of tensions as a positive development for regional stability, a closer look reveals underlying motives and complexities that warrant skepticism.

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In April, Islamic Horizons welcomed Kiran Ansari to join ISNA’s flagship publication as the Assistant Editor. Ansari has been contributing to the magazine for close to two decades as a freelance writer. She hopes to add value by recruiting more fresh voices and varied content. Her area of expertise is human interest stories.

“I look forward to working under the guidance of Brother Omer bin Abdullah and increasing the print and digital readership of Islamic Horizons,” Ansari said. “There is so much valuable information in these pages that it has to reach more homes across North America.”

Previously, Ansari served as the Editor of the Chicago Crescent newspaper. For three years she was in charge of the monthly newspaper of the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago.She has also written about Muslims in America for the Chicago Tribune, Daily Herald, and Chicago Parent among others. 

Born in Pakistan and raised in the U.A.E, she has been calling Chicago home since 1999. She lives in the suburbs with her three children.

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By Ahmed Shaikh

May/June 2023

In 2021, the Khalil Center, Maristan Muslim and other mental health organizations publicized a statement in the Journal of the American Medical Association Psychiatry (JAMA; 2021 Sep; 78(9): 1041–1044.) that Muslims are far more suicidal than non-Muslims or atheists. They then spread this claim throughout much of the media to raise money, especially zakat.

Upon closer inspection, this deeply unethical claim came about due to conflicts of interest and cooking numbers to get a contrived result, followed by outright fraud.

An Opinion Poll

The Institute for Social Policy and Understanding (ISPU) annual “American Muslim Poll” selects a small sample to arrive at generalized conclusions. As with all polls, there is a margin of error.

In 2019, part of the process involved the Institute of Muslim Mental Health (Dr. Hamada Altalib), the Stanford Muslim Mental Health & Islamic Psychology Lab (Dr. Rania Awaad) and the Khalil Center (Dr. Hooman Keshavarzi), who purchased questions on suicide from ISPU to be included in the survey, which focuses on Jews, Muslims and the “general population.”

They found that 7.9% of Muslims, 5.1% of Protestants, 6.1% of Catholics and 3.6% of Jews reported trying to kill themselves at some point. While this is not twice as many Muslims attempting suicide as others, it does look like Muslims in the sample attempted suicide at a higher rate. However, according to ISPU, these numbers are meaningless because the margins of error were quite large. So, comparing the groups with the largest gaps, Jews and Muslims, is actually something not worth discussing. The margin of error for the Muslim survey was ±4.9%, while for Jews it was a whopping ±7.6%.

Indeed, when ISPU first announced the results of their 2019 Muslim poll, they did not mention suicide at all, as doing so would have been pointless.

The authors of the JAMA article used another method to compare religion and suicide attempts. They compared a reference group — Protestants — to Muslims, calculating an “odds ratio.” The authors found that the numbers had a statistically insignificant p-value of 0.1. So, unless they had another way to calculate the rate of suicide among members of different religions, they were out of luck. As it happens, though, they devised a way to adjust the numbers and get headline-grabbing results.

Adjusting for Unknown Demographic Factors

The claim that Muslims were twice as likely as others to attempt suicide was the result of “adjusting for demographic factors” for which the authors had no data. They used “regression analysis” — a technique to adjust for race. This technique found that Muslims are twice as likely to attempt suicide as are non-Muslims.

In a comment and a long-form analysis, Dr. Osman Umarji (statistician and scholar, the Yaqeen Institute) made two important criticisms: (1) Since the authors started with nothing, it was inappropriate for them to perform a “regression analysis” and (2) they were doing regression analysis for non-existent variables. One of the biggest problems here was considering “Arab” as a race — a race assumed to be exclusively Muslim, which is not the case. The ISPU data that the authors worked with contained no non-Muslim Arabs, which caused a “correlation” between the groups “Muslim” and “Arab” (Dr. Umarji’s full reanalysis can be found at tinyurl.com/4n2j6buk).

Regression analysis isn’t designed to work with data that is incomplete in a way that causes a correlation. Statisticians call this effect, which is a little bit like stacking the deck, a “suppressor effect.”

Attack in Public, Agree in Private

Umarji was attacked vigorously online by the study’s authors — Awaad accused him of peddling “disinformation” and Altalib accused him of lying. The authors claimed they had three unnamed statisticians from top institutions look at the numbers, all of whom reportedly deemed the “suppressor effect” found by Umarji “baseless.”

The problem was that before the authors accused Umarji, they had privately written a response to JAMA and conceded that he did have a point about the suppressor effect: “In this sample, being Arab may be a confounder and serve as a suppressor variable. However, as we argue above, it is critical to include race in the model so that readers can see the potential effect. Our intent of publishing this Research Letter is to draw attention to an under-recognized issue and promote further discourse on suicide across communities” (emphasis added).

Elsewhere, the authors claim that a “suppressor” may be a good thing for reasons that appear hypothetical and not grounded in fact. So, they contrived a “fact” that Muslims were twice as likely as others to attempt suicide to “promote further discourse.” One would hope that the envisioned discourse would be based on facts and not fiction.

If you run an organization that advocates for the view that Muslim mental health is in horrible shape and your organization happens to offer a solution — if we send you more money — that may very well color what your research results will look like. A Muslim mental health advocacy group is unlikely to herald a study finding that Muslims attempt suicide at the same rates as everyone else or that they ran the numbers and have no idea about anything either way (leaving aside the question of who would publish such a thing).

The Incredible Shrinking P-Value

One area where the authors did push back both privately and publicly (in a public comment to the JAMA article) was the notion that it was improper for them to do a regression analysis in the first place when they started with nothing.

They claimed that they had in fact started with something — the odds ratios I told you about earlier. The odds ratios had a p-value (for probability) of 0.1 with the reference group, Protestants. Thus, the authors had only statistical noise. However, apparently to bolster their argument while attacking Umarji, they brazenly changed the p-value to 0.05 with no explanation for why an already published number was changed. In other words, they were defending their work with a fake number.

From the JAMA article with the “unadjusted odds ratio.” I point to the critical p-value, which shows no statistical significance.

“Changing the ‘p-value’ here appears to be an attempt to defend doing ‘regression analysis.’ Without the numbers needed to create something that could be published in a medical journal, they ‘tortured’ the data to make it happen. If you torture the data enough, it’ll tell you whatever you want to hear.”

Driven by Conflicts of Interest

Here is the claim (from the JAMA article) that funders had no role:

Dr. Keshavarzi and Dr. Awaad failed to disclose the obvious conflicts of interest (https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2712191). Both belong to organizations that stood to benefit from their claims.

The authors also claimed that the funders — the organizations headed by the authors themselves — of the study had no role in the “design and conduct of the study; collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; preparation, review or approval of the manuscript; and the decision to submit the manuscript for publication.”

“Funding/Support: The Stanford Muslim Mental Health & Islamic Psychology Lab, the Khalil Center, and the Institute for Muslim Mental Health contributed funding to include mental health-related questions in the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding national survey. Role of the Funder/Sponsor: The funders had no role in the design and conduct of the study: collection, management, analysis, and interpretation of the data; preparation, review, or approval of the manuscript; and decision to submit the manuscript for publication. Additional Contributions: We would like to thank the support of the Institute of Muslim Mental Health, the Stanford Muslim Mental Health & Islamic Psychology Lab, and the Khalil Center.”

All three funding organizations were headed by article’s authors. In the same article, it’s clear that the authors were involved with all aspects of the study:

“Author Contributions: Dr Awaad had full access to all of the data in the study and takes responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis. Concept and design: Awaad, Keshavarzi, Mogahed, Altalib. Acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data: Awaad, El-Gabalawy, Jackson-Shaheed, Zia, Altalib. Drafting of the manuscript: Awaad, El-Gabalawy, Jackson-Shaheed, Zia, Keshavarzi. Critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content: Awaad, El-Gabalawy, Zia, Mogahed, Altalib. Statistical analysis: El-Gabalawy, Jackson-Shaheed, Zia. Obtained funding: Awaad, Altalib. Administrative, technical, or material support: Awaad, El-Gabalawy, Keshavarzi, Mogahed. Supervision: Awaad, Altalib.”

Virtually nothing about this study looks right. The claim was contrived, and much of the Muslim mental health sector comes out looking bad here.

What about Mental Health?

Awaad and the other JAMA Psychiatry paper authors produced a conclusion about Muslim Americans they could not legitimately support and then lied to support it. There should be no confusion about this.

The authors hyped this in the media and raised money, including zakat. They took full advantage of their obvious conflicts of interest, which they did not bother to disclose, slandered a Muslim scholar when they knew he was telling the truth and privately admitted as much. They then doctored the results of a p-value to make themselves look good. Our community needs to know about this, even if it means that the public will have less confidence in Muslim mental health professionals.

When we discuss the stigma surrounding mental health, it doesn’t mean that Muslims fail to seek mental health because they are ignorant. Rather, it’s because of a long history of mental health professionals using mental health as a cover for nefarious purposes, including episodes in recent history like torturing Muslims (www.nytimes.com, May 1, 2015) and Countering Violent Extremism (https://muslimjusticeleague.org/for-health-care-professionals/). Stigma comes from dishonest efforts like the Muslim suicide study.

Unfortunately, too many Muslim donors, especially zakat donors, as well as imams have been taken in by this sham.

Muslim mental health professionals can be a benefit to society. This is more likely to happen without lying and cheating.

Ahmed Shaikh is an estate planning attorney in Southern California and the co-author of “Estate Planning for the Muslim Client” (ABA Publishing, 2019). This article is adapted from his newsletter on Muslim nonprofits and leadership, which is available at ehsan.substack.com.

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March/April 2023

This year March 15, the UN-designated International Day To Combat Islamophobia, falls a week ahead of Ramadan.

Last March, the UN unanimously declared that this annual observance, which is always held on the same day in 140 countries, is meant to show Islam’s true face to those who hate it.

Pakistan, then headed by former prime minister Imran Khan, introduced the resolution by saying that Islamophobia has emerged as a new form of racism that includes, among others things, discriminatory travel bans, hate speech and targeting girls and women for their attire. It calls for expanded international efforts to create a global dialogue that encourages tolerance and peace, and is centered on respect for human rights and humanity’s diverse religions and beliefs.

Understandably, the resolution was opposed by India, France and the EU — that includes many who enjoy the results of colonial rule. Both France and the EU also insist that the term has no agreed-upon definition in international law. 

And here lies the responsibility of Muslims, especially those living in countries that are rife with Islamophobia — despite reciting mantras such as democracy, equality and freedom of belief. Muslims living in countries that pride themselves on their democratic setups should assert themselves meaningfully. “Representation” doesn’t start and end with invitations to taxpayer-funded events hosted on tax-funded real estate, but in effecting positive change.

Now is the time for Muslims to consider what we have gained and lost by participating in the “democratic” process via political parties [restricted to two entities], especially when they and their leaders never shy away from accepting “gifts” and giving “speeches” to any group that has a visible and, in fact, active Islamophobic and colonist agenda. Isn’t it time for us to build our own political units to both represent ourselves and our fellow citizens by finding a way to free ourselves from these unhelpful people as well as from the lobbyists’ apron-strings and self-serving agendas?

In short, shouldn’t we finally start out on the path opened for us by Anwar Ibrahim, Malaysia’s new prime minister? This issue presents several articles for your consideration.

Muslims should realize that things are doable. Polls conducted in 2022 by the University of Maryland Critical Issues Poll found that Jewish presidential candidates would face the lowest public opposition, closely followed by Catholic and Mainline Protestant candidates. For Republicans, an atheistic candidate is most strongly opposed. Democrats most strongly oppose an Evangelical Christian candidate. 

Muslims need to find ways to create an image through education, service and enterprise that will take them to these heights. The time is now.

Anwar Ibrahim’s installation warms the hearts of Muslim North Americans, for he has participated in their organizations, among them MSA, which became ISNA, and with learned societies such as the International Institute of Islamic Thought. All of our prayers are with him as he moves to script new horizons for his abused nation.

As our Jan.-Feb. issue was going to press, ISNA hosted its 11th Annual West Coast Education Forum: “Reinvent and Design the Islamic Schools of the Future.” On Jan. 13-14, Islamic school educators, administrators and leaders dedicated to providing the best Islamic education to our community met in Orange County, Calif., to share ideas and learn from each other.

In this issue, we are proud to share the good news of a small community’s milestone: In December 2022, a six-member team finished translating the Quran into Cham (see the article on pp. 34). The culmination of this eight-year effort was celebrated with great joy amidst San Jose’s Cham Muslim community. This is very fitting, given that their ancestors have preserved their culture against outside influences for the last 200 years.

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By Khaled A. Beydoun

March/April 2023

I was still young, but I vividly recall Diego Maradona lifting the golden trophy after winning the World Cup in 1986. This image claimed a permanent spot in my mind for reasons that supersede football. He was an Argentine who would become a legend in Estadio Azteca, while I was just another Arab child trapped within the crucible of war in Lebanon. 

Maradona and I were on opposite sides of the world, and even further axes of existence. But I saw my brown face and black locks in him in that moment in Mexico. It screamed hope — no matter his distance and how tenuous that hope was — into a place surrounded by war. That portrait of possibility became a centerpiece in my mind. Maradona became a figure of transcendence for a child who struggled to find symbols of resemblance on screens where war monopolized our relevance. 

For that reason, the 1986 tournament in Mexico was my greatest World Cup. It introduced me to the beautiful game during the ugliest stage of my childhood and acquainted me with the small brown lion who darted past white giants, roaring hope into my heart with that signature black mane. 

Thirty-six years and nine World Cups later, that very image of Maradona being hoisted up by his teammates in Mexico City rose in my mind as my plane landed in Qatar. Mexico and Maradona were my benchmark, and I left the plane rushing to catch the final stanzas of Morocco’s tilt against Spain. 

A Muslim team, in a Muslim nation, both poised to make history on the biggest of world stages — during a moment when Islamophobia was high and the morale of Muslims low. 

The images in the airport were surreal, colored by Croats donning traditional Arabic thobes (gowns) and green Mexican jerseys matched together with the Qatari headdress. These were only appetizers to the smorgasbord of cultural fusion I took in on the streets of Doha and the heart of its souks, where Brazilians celebrated alongside Saudis and British fans congratulated jubilant troupes of Moroccans. The flavors of ethnic exchange were overpowering, and the cultural blends unfolding in a part of the world inextricably tied to war and woe told a radically different story. 

What was taking place on the streets, in the souks and at the stadiums was magical. Instead of having to impose an Arab face on an Argentine or find phenotypic and physical resemblance in a mythical figure, I just had to open my eyes. The World Cup was actually taking place in Qatar, an Arab nation, a Muslim society, where the azan (call to prayer) summoned believers to prayer and sounded to the world, and everybody in it, that Muslim nations were part of the global community that Muslims could excel on the world stage. 

The football matches, up through the electric final between France and Argentina, were gripping. But what set the World Cup in Qatar apart were the events and images, sights and sounds beyond the stadiums. The network of museums hosted programs showcasing Islamic history and interrogating modern Arab identity. Visitors from every point of the globe tasted Yemeni and Egyptian cuisine for the first time and toured the nation’s desert and coastline in between football matches. Fans from every background flocked to fan zones, where the absence of alcohol made way for the formation of friendships, safety for children and the freedom for women to walk freely, without fear.

Arab and Muslim culture was on full display, and the world was fully immersing itself in both — from home as they took in the World Cup matches and revelry, and especially on the ground in Qatar.

As an Arab living in the U.S., the World Cup in Qatar reversed the course of daily life for me and millions of immigrants in the West. We are perpetually told to “assimilate” and “conform,” commanded to accept values inimical to our own and to shed symbols sacred to our faith. That ongoing process of sacrifice and surrender marks the very essence of being an immigrant in the West, particularly for Muslims in nations where Islamophobia is enshrined into law. Immigrants are incessantly told to conform and conceal, to assimilate and adapt or “go back to where you come from.” 

However, the very same British and French, German and American voices that demand conformity from immigrants in their own countries show — very lucidly — that they were unwilling to do the same as passing visitors in Qatar. These Western voices, and the arrogant cultures they embody, refused to follow a standard during four weeks of a World Cup that they imposed on others for life. 

As if we needed reminders of white supremacy or remnants of imperialism, the unilateral demands on Qatar and indictments that followed from Western media outlets piled on. Like colonial excursions and modern wars, they sought to flatten what unfolded in Qatar into savage stereotypes and doctored misrepresentations. They conspired to supplant the realities taking place on the ground in Doha with nefarious narratives crafted in London, seeking to steal the achievements and joy of this World Cup from the small Arab nation and the millions who flew to the Middle East, for the first time, to see it with eyes untainted by Orientalist myths and political mirages. 

The event, after all, is called the World Cup. Not the European or American Cup, or what many in Britain or Denmark may be led to believe, the White World Cup. The tournament, if it truly seeks to live up to its name, is meant to travel to nations where customs are dissimilar to those of our own and converge with cultures that, for many, hold disagreeable values. 

That discord is at once the beauty and struggle of cultural exchange. It is a dissonance that enables immigrants in the U.S. or Muslims in Europe to navigate a cultural terrain uneven with their identity free of the impulse to remake it wholly in their own image — an impulse that drove many white pundits raging from Western Europe to condemn the World Cup in Qatar before it kicked off, and far more desperately, after another diminutive Argentine was held up high by his team. 

How refreshing was it for Palestinians to see their flag being waved in the stands and then championed by Moroccan players as they made history. As some wrote, “Palestine won the World Cup” by simply being dignified on the world stage and honored as the ceremonial 33rd nation in the tournament (Middle East Monitor, Dec. 8, 2022). 

The Moroccan players thrust their Muslim identity into the center as they made history in Qatar. They prayed on the pitch after every match, win or lose; honored their mothers in line with Islamic custom and culture; and lifted the spirits of Muslim nations around the world with each goal, with each historic step toward the semifinal. 

It was sublime to see, and even more sublime to experience in person. As I reflect back on the World Cup, I only wish that every Muslim could have been there to see it and to live it as our faith and cultures flourished for all to see. 

As I wrote in CNN, “Things fall apart for Muslims, particularly as the War on Terror has stigmatized their identity and silenced their prayers. The Moroccan team did not defeat Islamophobia, but the World Cup stage, curated by Qatar, enabled a new stanza of resilience, and sublime chapters of resistance where Muslim identity stood tall, proud and victorious in the center of the world stage” (“Opinion: The day the football gods reversed the tide of history,” Dec. 8, 2022).

It was history. Muslim history. History that we wrote with our hands and on our own terms, free from the skewed pens of Western journalists and the scowling Islamophobia of biased politicians. 

Messi is not Maradona, and Qatar is not Mexico. And I am no longer a nameless Muslim child living through another Middle Eastern war, but rather an author crafting history at the first World Cup the region has ever seen. For reasons tied to resemblance and resilience, this subaltern unity standing against and silencing Western supremacy made this World Cup the greatest one ever. 

Khaled A. Beydoun is a law professor at Wayne State University in Detroit and the Berkman Center at Harvard. He is the author of “The New Crusades: Islamophobia and the Global War on Muslims” (University of California Press, 2023). You can find him on his socials at @khaledbeydoun.

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By Omer Bin Abdullah

January/February 2023

As we were finalizing this issue, an auspicious bit of news emerged: King Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah of Malaysia appointed Anwar Ibrahim, 75, prime minister after his party, Pakatan Harapan which had emerged as the largest one in Parliament, formed a political coalition to attain the majority.

It was the crowning moment of his 22-year struggle to lead the nation to a better future.

This news is of special significance to ISNA, given Anwar’s long association with its predecessor MSA, when the student Muslim Youth Movement of Malaysia organization was thriving under his leadership. 

Anwar has continued to maintain close relations with Muslim American organizations, and they have returned the favor. For instance, after he fell out with Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and was jailed, ISNA invited his wife Dr. Wan Azizah Wan Ismail to address its annual convention. Interestingly, Mahathir, aged 97, ran against Anwar in this recent election and lost.

Anwar is one of the few contemporary Malaysian leaders who enjoys worldwide recognition. ISNA and Islamic Horizons wish him the greatest success with his stated mission of SCRIPT: Sustainability, Care and Compassion, Respect, Innovation, Prosperity and Trust. Indeed, this futuristic document could put Malaysia on the path to inclusive democracy and economic progress.

Unfortunately, domestic violence (DV) is perpetually in the news, especially in a society where quite a few people consider owning guns as essential as breathing. Domestic Violence Awareness Month, launched nationwide in October 1987, is always carefully observed. However, DV remains, showing no signs of decreasing.

We invited Dr. Basheer Ahmed (former professor of psychiatry, Southwestern Medical School, Dallas) to enlighten our readers about this issue. Hopefully, the wisdom he shares will inspire us to devise more effective efforts that transcend intervention.

Abusive behavior, he points out, is most likely learned at home. If abusers grew up in an abusive home environment, their children might consider it a domestic norm.

Quran 9:71 proclaims that all human beings — without exception — are equal, that men and women are spouses and that no one has a level of authority over others. Quran 4:19 describes the marital relationship as one of tranquility, kindness, mutual love and affection, respect, caring and mercy. Prophet Muhammad (salla Allahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) said, “The perfect believer is one who is the best in courtesy and amiable manners, and the best among you people is one who is most kind and courteous to his wives.” And yet many Muslimas continue to experience these tragedies. Domestic violence does not end until outside intervention takes place.

Despite serious attempts to educate and help both the abusers and the abused, however, intimate partner violence (IPV) prevalence rates are rising. In the Islamic context, an “intimate partner” refers only to the husband or the wife. 

Although many avenues of healing are available, among them psychiatric consultation, the most important antidote is to help Muslim achieve taqwa — being conscious and cognizant of God, truth and piety, and holding God in awe (commonly mistranslated as “fear”). 

As is often the case, good and bad came together. The sad news is the demise of Dr. Mohammad Nejatulllah Siddiqi, 92, the eminent economist and truly the father of Islamic banking. In addition to spending his career sharing his knowledge and guiding banking and finance practitioners, he has left many learned treatises, articles and speeches behind that will help Muslims institutionalize Islamic banking in their countries.

Other articles focus on Francophone and Native American Muslims, colorism within Muslim communities and the role — positive or negative — of matchmakers.

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By Omer Bin Abdullah

November/December

Al hamdu lillah, the in-person 59th ISNA Convention ended the two-year pandemic-imposed hiatus. The crowd, consisting of thousands of regular and first-time attendees, welcomed the chance to reconnect with friends, speakers and the bazaar. 

CBS News (Sept. 3) reported that the “ISNA Convention in Rosemont [Convention Center] is the nation’s largest gathering and networking event for the Muslim community.”

There were learning opportunities, as well as times to relax and enjoy. However, as the speakers made clear, it’s time to rethink Muslim priorities in North America. The community is rich in professionals from medicine to law and from engineering to technology. And yet it lacks enough qualified professionals in the crucial areas that make up public communication. Young Muslims need to consider training and excelling in fields such as journalism, writing, audiovisual communications, and public speaking. 

After all, we need to be skilled enough to converse on the same level of English fluency, knowledge of other faiths, debate and logic as our opponents. How else can we tell our own stories from our own minds and hearts, instead of leaving such efforts to others?

Rasheed Rabbi deserves full credit for compiling the convention report despite facing difficulties. The young Rabiyah Syed also deserves credit for her reporting.

Kiran Ansari, who has returned to the pages of Islamic Horizons after a long absence, offers an interesting sideline of the convention — comments from a few organizers and attendees on what they liked about their experience and what can be improved.

Islamic Horizons invited Khalid Iqbal, a longtime MSA/ISNA leader, to coordinate this issue’s cover story of volunteerism. Despite falling seriously ill, he inspired others to provide two articles. May God restore his health and reward him.

Volunteering, an essential but oft-forgotten aspect of charity, has become restricted to donating money to the mosque or an online Muslim charity. However, this noble endeavor has taken on a mechanical, almost sanitized, transactional nature that fosters no connection with fellow humans or society. 

To experience volunteerism’s real spirit, Muslims need to remember that the Prophet (salla Allahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) encouraged Abu Dharr (‘alayhi rahmat) to love and live with the poor (“Musnad Ahmad,” vol. 5, pg. 159). When we spend time with the socially disadvantaged, we learn about their stories and sorrows, their happiness and hopes. In short, we humanize them and understand that “There, but for the grace of God, go I.”

Reem Elghonimi, an author and academic, discusses the post-Roe v Wade situation, pointing out that while most Muslim Americans rightly support women’s reproductive rights, we must recognize a glaring omission in that narrative: According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, during childbirth Black women die from preventable conditions at three times the rate of white women and at a higher rate than any other ethnic or racial group (advocate.nyc.gov/reports/).

Monia Mazigh, the prize-winning Muslim Canadian writer and journalist, shows how Islamophobia is used as a political tool in Quebec, where Muslims and immigrants have become scapegoats in the province’s election cycles. Dr. Mohammad Abdullah, a retired USDA director, asks how organic the organic food for which we pay premium prices really is.

While we were finalizing this issue, the umma lost a most illustrious scholar, Yusuf al-Qaradawi. No one questions his status as one of the 20th century’s most influential Islamic scholars — some say the Renewer of Islam (al-mujaddid).

Last September, the umma bade farewell to another remarkable person, Syed Ali Geelani, who dedicated his life to upholding the Kashmiris’ right to self-determination, after their right to the Kashmiris, after India brutally usurped their princely state on Oct. 26, 1947. They continue to be held in India’s genocidal grip.

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By Farhan Mujahid Chak

November/December

 On Dec. 18, 2010, Lieut. Gen. Hamid Gul (director-general, Inter-Services Intelligence; d.2015) casually affirmed during a live interview at the Islamabad Press Club that “no one becomes the chief of army staff in Pakistan without U.S. approval.” Every now and then, those words come back to haunt the country’s political and military elites. This accusation is not new, for uninhibited political analysts have always understood that Pakistan’s formidable military rules the roost and is in a constant tug-of-war with U.S. hegemony. 

Of course, the level of Washington’s influence has always been open to debate, for it depends on who is leading the military establishment and how much the powers that be are willing to antagonize Pakistan’s population to oblige their purported benefactor’s interests. With the April removal of former prime minister Imran Khan from power by a dubious no-confidence vote of people caught red-handed selling their vote, this debate has resurfaced. As such, many are asking “Who controls Pakistan?” After all, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Donald Lu reportedly demanded Khan’s removal. 

Since then, Pakistan has undergone a dizzying decline: skyrocketing energy prices, economic collapse and an unprecedented level of popular revolt accompanied by the worst floods in the last 50 years. To make matters worse, the new government has made many attempts to sideline Khan, even designating Pakistan’s most popular political leader a terrorist. What makes this particularly outrageous is that this charge comes from an illegitimate government, many members of whom are out on bail for serious accusations of financial impropriety. The circus continues to play to its audience while the country falls deeper into crisis. Meanwhile Khan is not backing down — he has held more than dozens mammoth public rallies.

In his World Systems theory, Immanuel Wallerstein (d.2019) describes global order as the unequal distribution of power between the core, mainly the West, and the periphery countries of the Global South. The West’s reach can influence the periphery’s internal political structures through local tame rulers — be they in the political, economic, military or judicial spheres. This leads to the untiring tussle in every post-colonial society between those who work to establish representative governance and those who prefer the corrupt status quo. 

Imran Khan Upsets the Status Quo — Again

On one side are the empire’s facilitators or the core’s proprietors, namely, those who excuse their betrayal with such gobbledygook as “enlightened moderation” and enrich themselves while lamenting the punitive austerity measures imposed on the people because “beggars cannot be choosers” (Shehbaz Sharif interview with Shehzad Iqbal, ARY News, April 2). On the other side are those who aim to seize the instruments of state power away from those beholden to market fundamentalism or global hegemony. They seek genuine freedom. 

This unforgiving rivalry, which is very real, goes to the crux of the conflict over state power, a brutal struggle further compounded by people vying for their own space. Many don’t want to get involved or have lost hope for change. That is, until now. After being unceremoniously and arguably unlawfully removed from office, Imran Khan has politicized the entire country. His will, commitment and perseverance has energized people like never before. He has made clear who stands on what side of the political spectrum, and his pushback has overwhelmed the deep state.

The enduring issue for him and his supporters is how to remove the instruments of state power from the ruling imposters. In fact, members of this privileged class loathe their compatriots and rule only to institutionalize cronyism, inequality and corruption. This rationalization is required to deliberately obstruct social development, stifle creativity and mock their own people’s ethical values and moral moorings. A further psychological aspect of these unrepresentative elites and their political cronies is that they embody some of the worst Islamophobic tendencies. This is even more insidious, for it occurs inside a Muslim-majority polity being run by those who claim to be Muslim. 

Despite all of this, Imran Khan is maneuvering deftly. For example, he swept by-elections in the vital Punjab province by taking 15 out of 20 constituencies (on August 22) and won another by-election in Karachi. This remarkable feat underlines that one can own all the institutions they want, but that it’s the people who matter. If anything, Khan’s victory against the deep state, foreign interference and corrupt political parties is stunning. 

Kashmiri Freedom Rests on a Stable Pakistan

Concerning Kashmir, until a semblance of political stability returns to Pakistan and legitimate representatives remove those with questionable integrity from power, the country can offer no meaningful commitment. Even worse, the sitting government is now discussing opening trade links with India and working on the infamous “Musharraf formula” — a former military dictator (2001-08) — essentially maintaining the status quo and accepting the current ceasefire line as a porous border. And this, despite the fact that both India’s deep state and the Kashmiris have already rejected it! Hence, most Kashmiris inside Indian-occupied Kashmir and those working in the diaspora recognize that only a free, independent Pakistan will genuinely support its liberation movement. 

At the same time, the Kashmiri diaspora must develop a sophisticated approach to its global resistance while recognizing Pakistan’s internal challenges and redlines. They must never cede control of their movement to those who may bargain away their future, as those puppet rajas in Pakistan have done.

Throughout the broader post-Arab Spring Middle East, of which Pakistan is an essential part, the counterrevolutionary forces operate in conjunction with the deep state and global hegemony. That internal deep state, whether in the form of political parties, judiciary, police or military, undermines the emergence of representative democracy, human rights and the rule of law. Institutions are compromised, parliamentarians are bought and courts are opened at midnight to hear cases and enforce their will over parliamentary supremacy, all in the name of protecting their ill-gotten wealth and dubious fiefdoms. 

One could reasonably argue that the deep state looks upon emerging democratic forces with both amusement and disdain. Although it will never willfully forgo the reins of power, it will allow these new political forces to enter the political arena and then undermine them slowly. In fact, the carrot of giving power is slowly being weaponized stripping away at their aura, heighten instability and spread the fake news of “nothing being done.” This subtle character assassination is meant to undermine the growing opposition movement drip by drip, to make it a spent force, as has been happening to grassroots movements in the Middle East. 

So far, though, it hasn’t worked. The people, who hold the real power, are entirely and unreservedly standing behind former Imran Khan and his team. And in that, there is hope — both for the Pakistanis and Kashmiris everywhere.

Farhan Mujahid Chak, PhD, secretary-general of Kashmir Civitas (a registered Canadian NGO), is an associate professor of political science at Qatar University and author of “Islam and Pakistan’s Political Culture” (2014).

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By Omer Bin Abdullah

September/October 2022

Some of our readers may have this issue in their hands before the 59^th annual ISNA convention; others may pick it up at the convention.

We wish the best to our attendees, both the regulars and the new ones. The regulars will of course savor the moments of meeting each other after the Covid-enforced break. The new attendees will reach out, make new friends and share their experiences. Many such experiences have led to rise of projects that are contributing to fellow Muslims and others both here and abroad.

In this issue, Professor Muqtedar Khan offers a Quran-based discission of this year’s theme: hope, resilience and faith, drawn from 94:5-6. Drawing attention to a world of strife and suffering, he states, “This promise of God is a beacon of hope that comforts the suffering, strengthens our resilience and resolve, makes us bear the ordeal with greater patience and empowers us to work harder to make things better.”

The iconic Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago (CIOGC) is marking 30 years of community service and strengthening the bonds of kinship that surpass all assumed boundaries. It has an enviable record of partnering with ISNA in its annual conventions — a tradition that its members are carrying out this year.

Islamic Horizons salutes the founders and those who are carrying their bouquet of kinship forward and higher. Area high schooler Rabiyah Syed, a young writer who Islamic Horizons is helping to develop, proudly related this journey. 

Misbahuddin Mirza and Rasheed Rabbi introduce us to the dynamic and rising Bangladeshi community, whose members are actively providing needed care to their fellow citizens in a variety of ways. Several of them have entered public service, and a few have even attained senior government positions. 

Such developments are another way of sending a loud and clear message to Islamophobes that Muslims aren’t a threat to this country.

Islamic Horizons admits that it has overlooked a very important segment of the North American Muslim community — Francophone Muslims, who are concentrated primarily in Quebec, Canada. We appreciate the initiative taken by Zainab Survery to begin filling in this gap. 

High schooler Reham Fahad, another young writer who Islamic Horizons is working with, talks to Monia Mazigh, a Muslim Tunisian Canadian academic, author and winner of the 2021 Ottawa Book Award for her French-language novel “Farida,” the story of a Tunisian woman’s struggle with her homeland’s patriarchal system.

We will continue to seek ways to further increase the representation of this usually neglected community.

Shaza Khan, Ph.D. (executive director, Islamic Schools League of America) writes that given the seemingly all-consuming focus on obstructing Covid-19’s spread, the time, energy and attention usually given to other crises may have taken a back seat. She reminds us that the Uvalde, Texas, massacre of May 24 brings to light the unfortunate reality that school administrators must remain aware of other potential crises that can occur on school premises.

Emin Poljarević, associate professor of the sociology of religion and systematic theology (Uppsala University, Sweden), discusses the significance of Quran burnings in that country. The Swedish law enforcement authorities enforce such ideologues’ freedom of expression laws and let these dastardly acts proceed. Interestingly, no other religious scriptures have met this fate. 

Professor Yasmeen Qadri and Omer Kazmi of Valencia College each highlight the need for campus outreach groups, for these locations provide fertile ground for maintaining one’s identity and, given that many such students are there to learn, sharing Islam with others.

Finally, we look forward to seeing all of you at the convention!

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