Opinion

  • What the Janazah reveals about American pluralism

    What the Janazah reveals about American pluralism

    By Hala Mowafi In the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, Muslim families across the United States faced a new hardship: prohibiting their loved ones from burial in time in accordance to Islamic obligations (Bukhari 1315). Some funeral homes refused to handle bodies without embalming, despite clear religious objections. Others advocated for cremation as the…

  • Urban renewal: US-backed oppression at home and in Palestine

    Urban renewal: US-backed oppression at home and in Palestine

    It’s not just the lice epidemic that turned me away from McKeldin Library. In the immediate postwar era, World War II veterans returned to newly established suburban housing projects known as “Levittowns.” These new developments attracted substantial investments in the interstate highway system, as well as new business parks and shopping centers outside of their…

  • An Islamic approach to saving our planet

    An Islamic approach to saving our planet

    Climate change demands our urgent attention.  Global warming has been accelerating more than three times as fast as it did decades ago, now increasing at 0.36°F per decade compared to 0.11°F per decade in 1982. If left unaddressed, the consequences will be catastrophic: rising sea levels will engulf coastal communities, extreme weather will displace millions,…