Archive for the ‘Tamim Saidi’ Category
Problems with Profiling
Aviation security overreaction is counterproductive
By Tamim Saidi, Engage Minnesota
Originally published in the Saint Paul, Minn., Pioneer Press, January 6, 2010
I fully sympathize with those who are sincerely concerned about terrorist attacks. As I heard of the attempted terrorist attack on the Northwest flight from Amsterdam to Detroit, I had flashbacks of my recent flight home to the United States from Amsterdam. I could only imagine how worried and frightened our family would have been in that plane.
But as I hear the calls for profiling people like me, an American Muslim with darker skin and an unfamiliar-sounding name, to prevent terrorist attacks, a few names and faces of terrorists come to mind: Timothy McVeigh, Terry Nichols, Richard Reid, Jose Padilla, Paul Hill and Adam Gadahn.
My God or Your Lord: Whom Should We Worship?
Understanding about God, from an Islamic Perspective
By Tamim Saidi, Engage Minnesota
Tamim Saidi
Immediately after the teacher introduced me and before I had finished my first sentence, I noticed a hand raised high from a young man who asked, “Why is your God better than my God?”
Ramadan: Beyond Abstaining from Food and Drink
Filed under: Tamim Saidi | Tags: fasting, holy month, hunger, Muslims, Ramadan, Tamim Saidi, thirst
Comments (1) Tamim Saidi
By Tamim Saidi, Engage Minnesota.
I vividly recall the first couple of years that I fasted as a young teenager. All I could think about was food. Even when I took a daytime nap, I dreamt of food. Ramadan follows a lunar calendar, and when it falls in long summer days like this year, abstaining from food and water becomes more challenging, but Ramadan is not merely about food and water. For practicing Muslims, it is about righteousness and God-consciousness. It is about making one a better person and a better Muslim. Read more »
Women and Islam
Filed under: Tamim Saidi | Tags: Engage Minnesota, hijab, Islam, modest, modesty, muhammad, muslim, Prophet, Tamim Saidi, women, women rights
Comments (17) By Tamim Saidi, Engage Minnesota
Tamim Saidi
Based on my many conversations with Minnesotans about Islam, one of the most frequent criticisms I hear is the so-called “oppression of women.” As Muslims, we acknowledge that there are some Muslim women who are oppressed. But this oppression is not because of Islam, the religion, but rather because of cultures, traditions, politics, ethnic or tribal codes conduct or simply an individual’s desire to have dominion over another individual. Read more »
My Mother and My Religion
Filed under: Tamim Saidi | Tags: Al-Tirmidhi, Bukhari, Islam, mother's day, mothers, muhammad, muslim, parenting, Prophet, Qur'an, rahm, Tamim Saidi
Leave a Comment Mothers in Islam
By Tamim Saidi, Engage Minnesota
There is a great deal of love and respect for mothers in Islam. Over 1400 years ago, one of the companions of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) asked him who the most deserving person of his kindness and his companionship was.
The Prophet (p) said, “Your mother.”
The man asked, “Then whom?”
He said, “Your mother.”
The man asked for the third time, “Then whom?”
The Prophet (p) said, “Your mother.”
The man asked for the fourth time, “Then whom?”
The Prophet (p) said “Your father.”
It was after becoming the father of three-year-old twins as well as a 19-month-old toddler that I began to understand why the status of the mother is three times that of the father. Read more »
The Disease of Racism — Curable
By Tamim Saidi, Engage Minnesota
Even a quick and cursory review of Islamic teachings and a quick visit to local mosques prove that Islam condemns racism and tribalism and promotes equality and brotherhood of humankind. This equality of humankind in front of God has attracted many people to Islam, including Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali and countless others.
Read more »
Islam or Culture – Which is to Blame?
Differentiating Religion from Culture
By Tamim Saidi, Engage Minnesota
As an American Muslim, when I see the issues and events about Islam that get treated as “news” in the mainstream media, it bothers me that so many are portrayed as “problems with Islam,” the religion, when they are in reality problems of culture, traditions, politics, superstitions, and tribal or ethnic codes of conduct of some Muslim-majority region. I think most Americans would agree with me that it would be unfair to judge a religion (whether Islam, Christianity, or any other religion) by the practices it does not condone.
The religion of Islam does not condone – and it actually condemns – practices such as dishonorable “honor killings,” racism or tribalism, oppression of women, banning women from obtaining an education, and many other un-Islamic practices that make its way to the sensationalized news. If a Muslim, or a Muslim-majority region, practices these despicable acts, it is not because of Islam, but despite Islam.
On numerous occasions some authors and “pundits” have wrongly attacked the religion of Islam for the cultural practices of Muslims in certain places in the world. Polls have shown that about 70 percent of the American public acknowledges being unfamiliar with Islam. Thus it is not a surprise that most Americans cannot distinguish Islamic religious practices from cultural practices by Muslim-majority countries.
There are certain areas of overlap: A people’s religion influences their culture, and culture influences how they practice their religion. But in Islam there is a clear distinction between the two.
Read more »
Just a terrorist or an “Islamic fundamentalist?”
Filed under: Tamim Saidi | Tags: 9-11, hypocrisy, Islam, Islamic, militant, muslim, scholar, Tamim Saidi, terror, terrorist
Comments (2) A case of double standards
By Tamim Saidi
Being an American Muslim in a post 9-11 world, I was paying very close attention to the trial of Eric Rudolph and how the local and national media portrayed him. To me it was obvious that his case showed a case of double standards by some in the media.
I think it is very clear to most Americans that when a Muslim, among the 1.5 billion Muslims in the world, happens to be a terrorist, he is generally portrayed as an “Islamic terrorist,” “Islamic militant,” “Islamic fundamentalist,” or an “Islamist.” I have become very sensitive to these terms, as they imply that his religion, i.e., Islam, fundamentally supports terrorist actions.
