The media incessantly teaches us that Muslims – particularly the male gender – are cruel and behave scathingly towards females. In the case of the Taliban this is the truth, and it's an insult to Islam that such vile characters claim adherence to it. However, equally insulting is the notion of the US being in Afghanistan to protect the women from the Taliban, which was created and funded by the United States during the Cold War against the now-defunct Soviet Union. Those absurd enough to propagate that the US is out to liberate Muslim women seem at a loss to explain why the US is not currently sending F-16's into Saudi Arabia to free its women from the chains of oppression, and from the threat of honor killings and child marriages.

There are Blacks today who are forced to work, live in shacks, often have no indoor plumbing, trapped in peonage and tied to land where they owe its owners debts that can never be repaid, according to an activist and researcher. Some are even forced to pay rent to White land-owners for dilapidated housing, yet remain fearful of identifying such landlords.

Is it really befitting a believer to paint his face and drape himself in the flag of some nation in World Cup fever, or to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance, or sing a national anthem? Is there an obligation on the part of a citizen to serve and honor one's country?

Blowing their own proverbial vuvuzela has been the hallmark of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government. Investigative journalist Max Blumenthal has systematically exposed this and other lies promulgated by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) following the raid on the freedom flotilla.

During the time of the Umayyad conquests or during the Crusades, it would be difficult to imagine Muslim media campaigns and slogans of "Islam is a religion of peace".

These Arizona laws are part of a spasmodic reaction to this demographic shift, an attempt to maintain a political and cultural dominance over those who are seen as defeated peoples.

The disaster in the Gulf of Mexico shows that this is a doomed strategy that can only lead to more disasters, so it's clear that we have to exit this era of reliance on extreme energy, and move rapidly to a post-petroleum energy system as rapidly as possible. 

It is not only the unnecessary extravagance, indirect corporate financing, and disturbing ties of the Aga Khan Development Network that should make one pause when it comes to the new museum. The opening of Canada's first Islamic Art Museum is also happening in the context of significant state repression of the Muslim community in Canada.

Such "greenwashing" masks the fact that the US military is the world's single biggest consumer of fossil fuels, and the single entity most responsible for destabilizing the Earth's climate. Devouring about 330,000 barrels per day (a barrel has 42 gallons), the US military would be ranked number 37 in terms of oil consumption if it were a nation-state – ahead of countries such as the Philippines, Portugal, and Nigeria – according to the CIA Factbook.

Imam Ali demonstrated that while fighting is sometimes necessary, it does not have to be laced with corruption and injustice. The Ahlul Bayt never fought while anger or indignation controlled them. They never sought revenge. They never mutilated bodies. They did not attack civilians or poison wells. They did not block access to water. When an enemy combatant claimed a change of heart, it was accepted at its word.