I first picked up Howard Zinn’s A People’s History when I was eleven years old. I had been dared to do so by a friend of mine who declared that if I successfully completed it, I’d go down in history as the biggest bookworm that ever walked the halls of our school. 675 pages of…
Last Monday January 25th the LAPD sponsored a Muslim Community Forum at the Omar Ibn Al Khattab Mosque near USC. A diverse group of Los Angeles Muslims filled the room to capacity to hear perspectives on the ideal relationship between law enforcement and the Muslim community the new Los Angeles Police Department, as presented by…
As Al-Murasalah takes a new direction, insha’Allah for the better, I would like to aid the effort and provide my own opinion to the prompt that has been presented to those that in the program and now to the general MSA population. The prompt goes as such: “Some have used the argument that if Allah…
I texted Neda when I was outside of Haines. She met me outside. I didn’t know how to put on a Hijab and asked her if she could help me put it on. She said that it wasn’t necessary and I began to wonder if she was pulling my leg. She dragged me into the…
There are three influential Muslims who impacted my life and spurred my decision to become Muslim. The first of them is a graduate student with whom I am very close. She studies Islam at the academic level despite being Muslim herself. Conversations with her really opened my eyes to what Islam preaches and the meanings…
That Haiti was devastated by a massive 7.0 magnitude earthquake – the largest to strike the small Caribbean nation in more than two centuries – on Tuesday, January 13th, is already well known. Since then, we have been confronted with a veritable deluge of distressing news and disturbing headlines, as the extent of the disaster…
My name is Melanie and in October of 2009, I converted to Islam. This statement has profound implications because it implies that, for a period of time before my conversion, a curiosity regarding Islam brewed within me that eventually led to my conversion. I was born on August, 1987 to an Iranian woman whom I…
Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), a student activist group on campus, recently undertook a unique – and ultimately, successful – endeavor to bring aid to children in refugee camps in the Middle East by attempting to diffuse knowledge through literature. They put together a two day event, co-sponsored by the United Arab Society, promoting…
History, in my opinion, is useless unless we implement its lessons to our present society. Great leaders, such as Martin Luther King Jr., would have struggled and sacrificed in vain if the proceeding generations fail to draw upon the fundamental principles from such historical movements that managed to pull society from the ugly and dark…