Dr. Faheem Younus

He was trying to find his way.

While driving to the mosque for my Friday prayers, I saw him in my back view mirror, fidgeting with his GPS on a hot summer day. Driving up on Park Heights in Baltimore with a car full of children, this visibly Jewish man...

Is the Trayvon Martin's case pitting the Church against the State?

It seems so. On April 11, New York's Mayor Michael Bloomberg launched a nationwide grassroots campaign titled "Second Chance to Shoot First" aiming to repeal the stand your ground laws. In a statement released by the...

"The white man is the devil."

This is what Malcolm X used to say.

"I shall never rest until I have undone the harm I did."

This is what Malcolm X came to believe.

What changed such a divisive and hate-filled man into someone who fought for racial harmony?

The...

I thought the question was so absurd to begin with, that it would go away on its own.

I was wrong.

Four years later, that absurd question, "Do you think Barack Obama is a Muslim?" keeps nagging the American psyche in national and regional polls -- despite ample data to...

Watching Rick Santorum rise in the polls by positioning himself as the real Christian presidential candidate is like watching the sequel of a horror movie -- one I literally lived through in the 1980s while growing up in Pakistan. There, another religious zealot, Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, played the lead role of...

People do crazy things for religion.

Take for example hundreds of families belonging to the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Chantilly, VA, trying to self-fund a mosque for the past decade. In an extremely friendly lending environment, the women from these families sold $500 dresses, their husbands made $5...

My Muslim friends don't sweat the small stuff. Whether they lose a job or gain weight, whether they start a business or end a relationship -- I don't hear a peep from them. But there is one thing which instantly sounds alarm bells: the fear of their children leaving Islam.

I know how much I didn't know 15 years ago.

After landing at the John F. Kennedy Airport in New York as an exchange visitor, I was faced with a culture shock. I knew the word "Manhattan" but I didn't know what it actually meant. Was it a fruit?...

What's common between the following Halloween costumes? A guy who painted his neck red, pretending to be a redneck, his friend wearing a white T-shirt which has "wife beater" written on it, and his friend dressed like a Hasidic Jew keeping a tight grip (literally) over a pack of fake...

My friend, Kamal, loves Home Depot. Why? Because of its generous return policy. Bring back your purchase with a receipt within 90 days and get your money back. So whenever Kamal has a one-time need for equipment, he buys it at Home Depot ... only to return it for a...

Sardar Anees Ahmad remembers exactly where he was when the second plane struck on 9/11: obliviously walking with his professor, going from one class to another at his college in New York. As the tragedy unfolded, and one after another, a Muslim face and name resembling his, started flashing on...

Which Muslim is not concerned with his image in the post 9/11 America? Which Muslim leader has not spoken to convince his coworkers, co-travelers, co-team members of his peaceful values? And despite all concerns and speeches to change their image, why do most Americans remain uninspired by Muslims?

Ask Mark...

"... because Muslim leaders are driving on Interstate-95 South from Washington D.C., hoping to reach New York."

This is my response to an embarrassing question that always comes up during my religious courses and lectures: "If Islam truly champions the values of equality, freedom, and compassion, then...

Despite a bipartisan agreement yesterday, I think of the debt ceiling debacle like you are trying to keep your cholesterol normal despite daily consumption of Big Macs, fried chicken and ice cream. So when your blood work reveals a cholesterol of, say, 271mg/dl, you somehow snooker your doctor into agreeing...

"That's my home." My heart whispered this thought 15 years ago while looking down at the streets of Pakistan. The plane had just left for New York from Lahore and I was glued to the window, teary eyed. If leaving my country was distressing, not knowing if I would ever...

Southern Baptists should be commended for their actions on June 15.

No, not for passing a resolution to support their belief in an "eternal, conscious punishment" (or hell) for non-Christians; they were dead wrong in understanding Jesus' teachings there. But for their ability to develop consensus around...

As a "Muslimerican" of Pakistani descent I woke up to a double whammy last fall when Transparency International released its 2010 Corruption Perceptions Index, a ranking of all countries based on level of corruption. Pakistan fell eight steps down on the ranking to number 143. And...

The assimilation of my wife and me into American culture started in New Jersey in 1996. That is where we, both doctors, settled after moving from Pakistan.

As I started my medical residency at Monmouth Medical Center, she sacrificed her career for our newborn daughter and became a full-time homemaker....

Thanks to my friend, Farid, for sending this joke: Wikileaks released the following taped conversation between President Obama and Pakistan's President Zardari, who is well known for taking kickbacks.

President Obama: Mr. President, I am going to make the announcement of Osama bin Laden's death to the world. Would you...

I wonder if an ad went up on some websites on May 1, seeking applicants for a new commander-in-chief for al Qaeda? Trust me. Al Qaeda Inc. is not going to allow a leadership vacuum to develop -- no matter how decentralized their operations become and how many terror franchises...