Dr. Shadee Elmasry

The summer Ramadans are special gifts, as these long days are much harder and therefore develop our character even more. We should be cautious not to squander this experience.

Who are the mainstream Muslims? An oft-quoted but misunderstood hadith about Muslim sects offers insight into what can save us, rather than divide us.

The Rodney King and Amadou Diallo cases of the 1990’s at least went to trial. We can’t say that about Michael Brown or Eric Garner. Progress? Their killers are not even getting indicted anymore! Whenever Islam spread it was because their community offered a solution to the land's problems. We are in this situation now. Only knowledge and taqwa will allow our communities to overcome racial divides.

Today, there is this move to validate our pop-culture by mixing it with religion. In the process, we are threatening something critical to healthy living—the sacred.

The past decade or so has seen a growth of interest in the Muslim ‘cultural imperative.’ What will American Muslim culture look like? And what determines its validity? What makes a culture what it is?

I'm sure most people on Facebook have already seen the video--hijabi hipsters (really we should just call them hipsters with head scarves, because contrary to popular conception, hijab is more than the scarf) basically loitering and doing nothing with pop music in the background.

We have a saying for this: "down the lizard hole". Because that's the degree to which the Prophet ﷺ described we would go to in conforming to others. A sad reality that we just can't let happen.