My Story

When they met at a 2007 Washington camp for scholarship winners, Bashair Alazadi was 16 and wore the traditional headscarf of all Muslim women. Carlos Sandoval was 17, Catholic and a smartass. “I grew up in Tacoma, and I’d never seen a Muslim,” said Sandoval, a graduate of Mount Tahoma High School. “To me at the time — Arab, Islam, …

By: Hassan Cheruppa Jeddah – A well-known Indian scholar and preacher said Islam’s exquisite beauty and infinite compassion were the main factors behind his reversion to Islam 30 years ago. Muhammad Umar Gautam, chairman of the Delhi-based Islamic Dawah Center (IDC), says it is high time to exert great efforts to disseminate this sublime nature of Islam at a time when …

A time for our hearts to become unsealed Reflecting on the divine words revealed The month which we hope to never end Unable to count the infinite blessings it sends Asked by our Lord to give up our worldly pleasures So that we may receive His divine treasures It’s a time that comes but once a year Yet the moments …

  One thing I have learnt from fasting in Ramadan since I converted to Islam in 1994 is that you appreciate food and water more fully. When you can eat whenever you want, you take food for granted.  Even being hungry is not the same, because when you are not fasting, and you feel hungry, you eat. During fasting, when …

After work last week, I decided to take a trip to the local coffee shop. I ordered my iced latte and began my walk home. Coffee in hand, I found myself sandwiched by two small children. I turn to the young boy on my right and smiled, instantly realizing they were walking by my side because they wanted money. Because …

Islam is a faith where minute of good deeds can bring mountain of rewards and merits. It is not necessary that one should have plane load money, tallest and highest buildings in the world, biggest Air bus and biggest water fountains in the world to earn the love and affection of Almighty Allah. Often these things bring greater disaster, and  …

Ibtihaj Muhammad is the first practicing Muslim to represent the U.S. in women's fencing. She's ranked second in the U.S. and 11th in the world. Ibtihaj stands out because she wears her hijab headscarf that is worn by Muslim women. Ibtihaj Muhammad jogs lightly across the second floor gym at the Manhattan Fencing Center in New York. She’s warming up, …

Record numbers of young, white British women are converting to Islam, yet many are reporting a lack of help as they get used to their new religion, according to several surveys. As Muslims celebrate the start of the religious holiday of Eid today and hundreds of thousands from around the world converge on Mecca for the Haj, it emerged that …