Be fully human

By: Yasmin Mogahed

Why is it that we refuse to accept the full human experience, the full design of the human experiment? We want the happiness without the sadness. The light, without the dark. The ease without the hardship. We want to learn to walk, without struggling through the falls. When a child learns to walk, the falls are part of the process. The fall is just as important as the rise. The slip of Adam was a lesson, not an oversight of God. God gives us the strength and the weakness. Not as an oversight, not as a flaw in the design. He gives us both because each part plays a purpose in our development, and our ultimate success. Don’t stunt the process of your growth but trying to limit the spectrum of the human plan. So many of us fear failure so much, that we are afraid to try. But reflect on this: was it through your successes or was it through your failures that you learned your deepest lessons? Our successes encourage us. But it is our failures that teach us. In life, we need both. Success gives us the encouragement and motivation to keep going, while failure, teaches us the difficult, often painful, but necessary, lessons we need to grow and fulfill our ultimate purpose.

The post that Suhaib Webb took down about Nicki Minaj and Ferguson

By: Suhaib Webb

After greater thought and encouragement by brothers and sisters from different communities, I’ve decided to repost the post I took down about Nicki Minaj and Ferguson. Shame on me for cowering to isms who in the name of constructs foreign to our faith seek to insulate evil.

The post is found below. I would appreciate folks comments and thoughts – their critique. However, I will not tolerate harsh accusations against me or anyone who comments.

I’m concerned with attempts by some who obviously have no idea who I am or are familiar with my track record to label me something I’m not. That in itself demanded a repost. Folks who know me know that I see the arts as an important vehicle to souls. Hence we have #ArtMonday on this page. When the arts serve to corrupt and harm people, regardless of ethnic or cultural root, you can bet that I will be there to speak out. For that reason I gave a Khutba a little over a year ago on Breaking Bad.

As a father, and an Imam in a community, I pay attention to what is influencing folks around me and I speak for or against it. I do not look through the lenses of isms, but the lenses of the permissible and the impermissible.