Tag: islam

I start my column with the headlines from the past three years about the clashes between the Israeli forces and the Palestinians at the holy mosque of Masjid Al-Aqsa during the holy month of Ramadan for Muslims. 

A coworker who is Muslim gave me a gift for Christmas. I would like to reciprocate during one of their holidays. Is there a certain holiday or gift that would be most appropriate?

Many people find Buddhist practices to calm the mind, open the heart and strengthen ethical conduct to be useful regardless of their religious leanings. Buddhism does not just encourage us to have love, compassion and wisdom; it shows us how to cultivate these qualities.

As my years and experiences have accumulated, I’ve come to recognize something I hardly imagined in my youth: that God is so big and wonderful and complex that no one group — even my own — and no individual has a monopoly on God. Nobody understands it all.

The origin of evil as described in Islam goes back to the early times when Allah, SWT (God), created Adam from clay. He then asked his other creations, Angels and Jinn to prostrate to Adam. All did except “Iblis,” Iblis was a Jinn and believed that hence he was created from fire, an element superior to clay, so then, why shall he prostrate to someone who is created from mere clay.

Islam has six major beliefs, and one of them is the belief in the divine books revealed by God to His Messengers. Islam’s divinely revealed book is called, The Holy Quran. It was orally revealed to Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, over the period of 23 years through angel Gabriel. Muslims believe that the Quran is the last holy book revealed to the last of the Prophets, and, after this, no sacred text or messenger will come. It is a continuation of and an end to the previously revealed divine holy books.

There has never been a balance when it comes to a Muslim woman's personal dress code choice. This and thoughts like these came to my naïve mind when I heard the news on Mahsa Amini, the Iranian girl who was arrested, detained and then died after being beaten by the morality police for violating Iran’s dress code law. Amini was a young girl of Kurdish ethnicity who was merely visiting Tehran.