Dr. Abdullah's Blog

History has an unfortunate habit of remembering the men who stood upon the great platforms and forgetting those who held the platform together. We remember the voices that shook empires, the leaders whose portraits hang in parliaments, the statesmen who negotiated constitutions and the politicians whose signatures appear upon historic documents. Much less often do we remember the teacher who surrendered his livelihood, the lawyer who defended a political prisoner without dema

September 11, 2001, began as an ordinary morning. People went to work. Parents took children to school. Passengers boarded airplanes. Employees entered the World Trade Center and the Pentagon expecting to return home that evening. Firefighters, police officers, office workers, restaurant employees, immigrants, executives, custodians, and visitors went about their lives. Then, within hours, thousands of innocent human beings were dead. America was wounded. Families were shatte

Religious neutrality does not mean religious ignorance. In one of America's most diverse communities, the answer to controversy should be broader interfaith education—not fear of encountering one another. By Dr. Aslam Abdullah A field trip by Palo Alto High School students to a mosque has now become a federal lawsuit and a test of something larger than one school excursion. It raises a fundamental question about America itself: Does the Constitution require public schools to

The Distinction that Matters. The discussion about Mawlid al-Nabī ﷺ becomes clearer when one distinction is made at the beginning: Mawlid itself is not an obligation. Gratitude to Allah is. I do not commemorate the birth of Prophet Muhammad ﷺ because I believe Allah commanded Muslims to establish an annual birthday festival. I do not regard Mawlid as a third Islamic Eid. I do not believe that Muslims who choose not to commemorate it are sinful, deficient in faith, or lacking

One of the most remarkable invitations of the Qur'an is its call to observe the natural world with attentive minds and reflective hearts. It repeatedly reminds humanity that nothing in creation exists without purpose. Every mountain, every river, every seed, every bird, every bee, every star, and every tree is an āyah—a sign pointing beyond itself to the wisdom, order, and mercy of the Creator. The universe is not a random collection of objects; it is a living classroom. The

The passing of Maulana Syed Salman Husaini Nadwi marks the end of an era in Indian Islamic scholarship. For more than five decades, he stood among the most recognizable voices of traditional Muslim learning in South Asia—a scholar deeply rooted in the classical Islamic sciences, yet fully engaged with the intellectual and political questions confronting contemporary Muslim societies. His death leaves a void not only in the halls of Nadwatul Ulama in Lucknow, where he spent mu

One of the great tragedies of human history is that people have often mistaken their understanding of God for God Himself. They have wrapped the Infinite in the garments of tribe, nation, race, language, and religious identity, and then defended those garments as though they were divine. Yet the Eternal cannot be confined within the walls built by the temporary. The Creator of all cannot belong exclusively to a part. The notion that God created the universe merely for His own

Aslam Abdullah Every year, as the Islamic calendar turns and the month of Muḥarram arrives, Muslims across the world exchange greetings of peace and offer prayers for a better year. The wishes are sincere, the hope genuine. Yet Muḥarram carries within it something heavier than hope — a memory so charged with grief and moral consequence that to pass through it without reflection is to miss the most searching question the Islamic tradition puts to its own adherents: not what do

Muhammad Muslim Sahib There are certain dates that become permanently engraved upon the heart. No matter how many years pass, they return with the same emotions, the same memories, and the same sense of loss. For me, one such date is July 3, 1986. I was working at the Islamic Press Agency in East Burnham, near Slough in Buckinghamshire, England. It was around three o'clock in the afternoon when the telephone rang. The call had come from India. The voice on the other end deliv

A few days ago, I read a remarkable letter written by Dr. S. C. Sung, a neurologist who has spent years caring for patients suffering from dementia. It was not a medical report or a scientific study. It was a deeply personal message addressed to his family—a message he hopes they will read if one day he develops dementia and can no longer fully understand the world around him. The letter quickly spread across the internet. Thousands of readers admitted that it brought tears t

Honor killings in India are rooted in long‑standing social ideas about family reputation, caste boundaries, and control over women’s choices. Although the term sounds dramatic, the logic behind it is simple: when a young woman chooses a partner her family or community disapproves of, her actions are seen as bringing “shame,” and violence is used to “restore honor.” This pattern is not tied to any religion; it grows out of patriarchal and caste‑based traditions. For decades, t

The Muslim community of San Diego stands in mourning after the devastating tragedy at the Islamic Center of San Diego, where lives dedicated to service, protection, and compassion were violently taken in an act of hatred. Among those remembered with tears, prayers, and immense gratitude is Brother Amin Abdullah — a father of eight, beloved guardian of the masjid, and a man whose final moments became an enduring testimony of courage and sacrifice. For years, Amin Abdullah stoo

The tragic attack on the Islamic Center of San Diego on May 18, 2026, has shaken Muslim communities across the United States and deeply disturbed all people of conscience. According to police reports, three worshippers, including a security guard, were killed before the two teenage suspects — aged seventeen and nineteen — died from apparent self-inflicted gunshot wounds nearby. Authorities are investigating the assault as a possible hate crime, and anti-Muslim writings were r

The intellectual history of Islam is inseparable from the contributions of Iran (historical Persia). From the earliest centuries of Islam to the modern era, Iranian scholars have played a decisive role in shaping nearly every branch of Islamic knowledge—ranging from Qur’anic exegesis and hadith to philosophy, science, literature, and spirituality. Their contributions reflect not only scholarly excellence but also a remarkable ability to synthesize diverse intellectual traditi

The making of modern civilization is often narrated as a triumph of European ingenuity, yet such a narrative conceals a deeper and more interconnected intellectual history. Long before the rise of the Renaissance, Iranian Muslim scientists had already laid critical foundations for what would later become modern science, medicine, and philosophy. Working across the great centers of learning—from Rayy and Nishapur to Baghdad and Isfahan—these scholars transformed inherited know

The history of religion is inseparable from the history of memory. Revelation does not descend as a bound volume; it enters the human world as voice—heard, internalized, and transmitted. Between utterance and inscription stretches a delicate interval in which communities assume the burden of preservation. In that interval, memory becomes both vessel and filter. The sacred is not merely received; it is carried across years, across generations, across shifting historical landsc

In every age, humanity has been tested. Yet each era fashions its own language of trial, its own texture of calamity. Ours is an age where affliction does not always descend as famine or war, but flickers silently through glowing screens—entering hearts through comparison, tongues through haste, and communities through division. The digital world has not replaced the ancient human condition; it has amplified it. The Qur’an reminds us with solemn clarity: “And We will surely t

Every generation has its own Karbala—a moment when truth and justice are tested. In history, Karbala was the battlefield where Imam Hussain and his family gave their lives to protect the true message of Islam. They stood against those who claimed to be Muslims but had abandoned justice, compassion, and truth. Yazid silenced those who loved the Prophet and refused to support Imam Hussain’s call for justice, peace, and freedom. They were complicit in this rebellion against God.

In every age, there appear a few rare souls who quietly redefine the meaning of success. Their legacy is not inscribed in the language of wealth, titles, or worldly recognition, but in the lives they touch and the hope they restore. Their achievements are measured not in possessions but in compassion. Saghir Aslam belongs to that small and noble lineage of people whose lives remind us that the truest prosperity lies not in what one accumulates, but in what one gives away. Lik

Washington, D.C., March 2026 — As tensions escalate following U.S. military strikes on Iran, several American Muslim organizations have issued statements urging restraint, constitutional accountability, and a renewed commitment to diplomacy. While their language and emphases differ, the statements collectively reflect concern among Muslim civil society leaders that further escalation could endanger civilians and destabilize an already fragile region. The Muslim Public Affair