Posts

Islam Does NOT Permit Child Marriage

-
Image
One of the most common polemics against Islam today is that Qur’an 65:4 explicitly permits child marriage. I don't believe the text supports that claim. That conclusion requires moving from what the Qur’an actually says to a particular interpretation of what it means. The relevant portion of Qur’an 65:4 says: وَاللَّائِي يَئِسْنَ مِنَ الْمَحِيضِ مِن نِّسَائِكُمْ ... وَاللَّائِي لَمْ يَحِضْنَ wa-l-lāʾī yaʾisna mina l-maḥīḍi min nisāʾikum ... wa-l-lāʾī lam yaḥiḍna The verse establishes the waiting period (ʿiddah) following divorce for women whose menstrual circumstances make the ordinary calculation impossible. It first addresses those among “your women” (nisāʾikum) who have ceased menstruating and then adds “and those who have not menstruated” (wa-l-lāʾī lam yaḥiḍna). That second expression is the center of the controversy. 65:4 Does Not Say “Little Girls” The Arabic does not say “children,” “little girls,” or even explicitly “prepubescent girls.” It says: وَاللَّائِي لَ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Muslims Created Dracula— And I Can Prove It (Sort Of)

-
Image
  Here’s a piece of history that sounds ridiculous until you actually follow the story: Muslims created Dracula. Okay, I’m being deliberately provocative. Muslims obviously did not create vampires, and Bram Stoker—not the Ottoman Empire—wrote Dracula in 1897. But the historical chain that eventually gave us the most famous vampire in Western culture runs straight through the Muslim Ottoman world. And once you know the history, the statement “Muslims created Dracula” becomes a lot less crazy than it sounds. Before Dracula Was a Vampire, Dracula Was a Man Long before Count Dracula was creeping around a Transylvanian castle drinking blood, there was Vlad III of Wallachia , better known as Vlad the Impaler . He lived in the fifteenth century and became infamous for extraordinary violence, particularly impalement. Modern scholarship confirms that collective impalements were a real feature of Vlad's rule and warfare, although the enormous numbers given by some contemporary and later so...
Post a Comment
Read more

Fingerprints

-
Image
Fingerprint Becoming Muslim is about identity. That has become one of the central themes of my life. When I converted to Islam, I was twenty-three years old, sitting in prison. Up to that point, I had spent five years as an ad ult and had accomplished virtually nothing that resembled becoming a man. I had no career, no reputation, no meaningful identity. I wasn't known for anything except being another inmate—a statistic. Then I became Muslim. For the first time in my life, I could answer the question, "Who are you?" with something that had substance. I was no longer simply a convict or a felon. I was a Muslim. That single decision became the foundation upon which I built everything else. For more than three decades since then, I have been developing that identity. My shahada was not merely a religious conversion; it became the fingerprint of my life. And like any fingerprint, it left its impression on everything it touched. The first place that fingerprint ap...
1 comment
Read more

Islam Controversies 23 Questions Every Muslim Should Answer Before Debating Christianity: Introduction

-
Image
23 Questions ... There is an old saying often attributed to Abraham Lincoln: "It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt." Whether Lincoln actually said those words is beside the point. The lesson remains timeless. Far too often, Muslims enter discussions about Christianity armed with conviction but lacking preparation. Likewise, many Christians critique Islam without first understanding what Muslims actually believe. Instead of meaningful dialogue, both sides frequently speak past one another, repeating familiar slogans rather than engaging the evidence. This book was written to address that problem. It is not intended to mock Christianity. It is not intended to insult Christians. Nor is it intended to discourage respectful dialogue between people of different faiths. Rather, it is written from the conviction that every Muslim should understand both his own religion and the questions most commonly raised abou...
Post a Comment
Read more

Poem video: VOICE

-
Image
click to view POEM
Post a Comment
Read more

Lady Michelle...

-
Image
Attacks on Michelle Obama aren't new. They tap into one of the oldest racist stereotypes in American history: the idea that Black women are somehow less feminine, less delicate, less worthy of protection, and somehow closer to men than other women. This wasn't just about insults. It had a purpose. For centuries, portraying Black women as unusually strong, masculine, or physically different helped justify exploiting their labor in fields, homes, factories, and plantations. If society could convince itself that Black women were built differently, then it became easier to deny them the care, compassion, and protection afforded to others. The echoes of that thinking remain with us today. Study after study has documented racial disparities in healthcare, including the persistent myth that Black people—and Black women in particular—experience less pain. Black mothers continue to face disproportionately high rates of maternal mortality and complications, regardless of income or educat...
Post a Comment
Read more

I Don’t Visit My Son

-
Image
  Let me say this plainly: I don’t visit my son. I had to check somebody on that recently while filling out paperwork. The form asked about “visitation” and who the “custodial parent” was. Nah. That might sound small to some people, but it’s not. That’s how the system quietly frames fathers before we even open our mouths. In Colorado, we don’t even use those terms anymore—at least not legally. There’s no “custody.” There’s no “visiting parent.” There is  parental responsibility . There is  parenting time . That’s intentional. That shift in language is supposed to reflect something real: both parents matter. But here’s the problem— the culture hasn’t caught up to the law . So what happens? You get professionals still using outdated language. You get systems still thinking in outdated roles. And worst of all—you get fathers who don’t push back. Let me be clear: If you don’t check the language, the language will check you. Calling it “visitation” makes you sound ...
1 comment
Read more