By Nabil Ahmad Approximately 14 months ago a financial crisis began, and it has now entered a new, far more serious phase. Remaining hopes that the damage could be limited to just a few financial institutions that simply made wrong business decisions is no longer there. While the original problem was subprime mortgages, the entire banking industry is now in trouble. And this has been the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. The Federal Reserve and Treasury officials have [...]

By Taqwa Abdullah The cultural movement of Hip Hop first emerged in New York in the 1970s amongst the African American and Latino American youth. The four main elements of Hip Hop culture are DJing, rapping, breakdancing, and graffiti writing; all which emerged complimenting each other in different ways. DJ Kool Herc, a Jamaican who moved to NY as a teenager, is known for creating hip hop music by building on the Jamaican tradition of toasting. Toasting, the act of [...]

By Sanober Sajan Recently I sat down with a good friend of mine and asked her how being an undocumented student has affected her. She said that “it was like a thing I needed to overcome; something you realize you have to get used to, and something that makes you work harder for what you believe in.” I asked this young Muslim why she thinks these issues are not talked about in our community. What she had to say made [...]

By Shahla Khan A Muslim Epidemic “Tell the believing men to lower their gaze and be modest. That is purer for them. Lo! Allah is Aware of what they do. And tell the believing women to lower their gaze and be modest.” (24: 30-31) It might surprise you that this infamous line from Surah An-Nur is more than just a guide for gender relations. It is also the solution for preventing a common eye disease that plagues the Muslim world. [...]

By Norah Sarsour The late comedian, George Carlin, once jokingly remarked that, By and large, language is a tool for concealing the truth.? While Carlin was a comedian by profession, he challenged the common functions of language and its authority over people”s lives. Sticks, stones and colonialism can break bones, but people heal and countries grow. Words, however, can cause imprisonment, discrimination, and centuries of conflict. While Carlin only had a high school education, philosopher Michel Foucault also expounded on [...]

By Amin Eddebbarh I came in knowing little. I was informed by my NGO, Kashmircorps, that a military presence had become more immediate in Srinagar. Unaware of the precarious relationship between the occupying government of India and the natives, my work in the region was directed by the organization in which I volunteered. In my experiences the various attributes to Kashmir and its plight became more apparent to me. My plane dropped into the breathtaking, fertile Kashmir Valley guarded by [...]

By Asma Nemati After returning over a decade later, Kabul is still a bustling city full of life. The background picture, however, is quite different. Walking around the city or catching a ride on the many types of transportation, it is difficult to ignore the weary faces of people, the weary edifices of buildings that have survived through several wars, and people”s lazy attitude of despair. Of course, the picture is not too gloomy but when talking to people and [...]