For the important governor position, WMCA added steps to its already rigorous endorsement evaluation process, Qureshi said. In addition to asking candidates to complete a questionnaire on civil rights and civil liberties, immigrant and refugee policy, economic opportunity, funding for education and healthcare, equity, support for working families and other issues, it held a forum so the audience could see how they responded firsthand. It also reviewed their records.

It’s not just a matter of alignment, Qureshi emphasized. “We looked at what candidates have actually done. 

“For example, staffing is important,” she said. “How much staff diversity do you have in your campaign? Francesca is the first state representative in Wisconsin to have a Muslim serve as chief of staff—something very big. Nada Elmikashfi is a Muslim, first-generation American, born in Sudan.

“Rep. Hong didn’t decide to run for governor, then come to ask for our vote. She has supported our community for years. She has supported our organization. At our 2025 iftar (a dinner breaking the Ramadan fast), we honored her with our Advocacy Champion Award, ‘for supporting our community and committing to recognize Muslim contributions through legislation.’

“In a year with so much at stake, who sits in the governor’s office matters enormously to us,” Qureshi said. “We care about the veto power over legislation affecting Muslim immigrants, refugee communities and all of us; and about executive control over the state agencies that investigate and prosecute hate crimes, and about how immigrant refugees are administered at the state level. 

“The governor really sets the state’s public tone on issues like IHRA and anti-BDS legislation. The governor sets the budget, determining funding priorities. The position holds a lot of power.”

Gov. Tony Evers signed legislation that made the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism state law. WMCA and other critics of the law have said it undermines free speech because it equates criticism of Israel with antisemitism. WMCA lobbied aggressively against that legislation.

“A lot of community members understood the importance of the governorship during the time when we were trying to make sure that the IHRA definition of antisemitism was vetoed,” Qureshi said. “Coincidence or not, we know Brother Salah (Sarsour) was taken a few days after the IHRA definition was signed into law. The governor had the ability to veto that legislation, legislation that could have a harmful impact.” Sarsour was taken by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers on March 30 in what The New York Times reported “appears to be the latest case in which the administration has sought to deport someone who was active in pro-Palestinian causes.”

Endorsements for Senate and Assembly 

WMCA endorsed candidates only for races contested in the Aug. 11 primary, which will determine which candidates run in the general elections on Nov. 3. It will release another set of endorsements before the midterm elections in November.

The 2026 November general election will be the first since 2010 in which all three top executive and legislative offices in Wisconsin will change hands at the same time. Incumbents Gov. Tony Evers, Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu (R-Oostburg) and Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester) have all announced they will not seek re-election. 

Corrine Hendrickson won WMCA’s endorsement for the Wisconsin Senate, District 17.

In other contested primary races, WMCA endorsed nine candidates for state Assembly seats:

WMCA urges Muslims to vote Aug. 11

“It’s extremely important to vote in the primary on Aug. 11,” Qureshi added. “This will determine who is in place to make things happen. 

“We need to understand that everything is political—the price of food, our right to practice our faith, our right to free speech. All of it is shaped by who’s in office.”

Quiet service and a long-term vision for upcoming generations were the hallmarks of a little-known yet important Islamic teacher in the United States who passed away this week. Yahiya Emerick may not be a household name, but it is likely that Muslims growing up in North America will have encountered his books: he left a legacy of Islamic literature for various ages that is hard to match, certainly in the Anglophone world.

Yahiya John Joseph Emerick was born into an Irish-American Baptist family in the American Midwest in 1971. Having picked up a fascination with fantasy literature in his youth, he brought adaptable, creative writing skills and an active imagination into the world of Muslim writing after converting to Islam. That conversion came after some trouble during his teenage years in accepting the concept of the Trinity among Christians. In his first year of university during the late 1980s, he studied the Quran for some six months and, as he said during a rare interview, “couldn’t deny the personal appeal from God to the reader.”

By contrast Emerick was disappointed in the writing quality of many English-language Islamic books during his early years in the faith. “I saw,” he said in the same interview with the UmmahReads blog, “that a lot of Islamic books were written in a very one-dimensional way without much verve or imagination. I wanted to write books that would show people how I saw Islam when I came into it. For me, Islam was a blend of spiritual, emotional, intellectual and practical things all woven together in an artistic tapestry that one could use to decorate their inner and outer world.”

As a history schoolteacher, Emerick began an impromptu fictional series about Ahmad and Layla Deen that formed part of his oeuvre: such fictional stories about and for Muslims were much rarer when he started out than they are now. On the importance of fiction for Muslim children, he explained, “Kids look almost exclusively for inspiration and identity from their peer group. Books are another window into viewing and adopting attitudes and if our kids spend their reading time reading only about non-Muslims and their world, then our Muslim kids will feel that the non-Muslim world is the ‘real’ world…Having some books with Muslim characters allows our kids to see that, in addition to the non-Muslim world, there are places and spaces to be Muslim, also. The two can even mix, and in that mix, Islam can still remain.”

In addition to fiction, Emerick wrote a large number of books explaining Islam for readers of various ages: these included an addition to the famous “Complete Idiot’s Guide to Understanding” series, which publishes basic explainers for novices and was particularly widespread during the 1990s and 2000s. Several of his books were written to explain the Quran, especially to teenagers. “Muslims take it for granted that, well, a kid from a Muslim family will be and stay Muslim by osmosis and association.” In a secular environment, “Muslims have…to do da’wah to our own children in order to win their loyalty for life. I write books, therefore, to bring Islam to our young people in a way tailored for them. Too many of our ‘scholars’ live in ivory minarets and fail to see the lives of the real people below them.”

On the growing body of Muslim literature in the Anglophone world, he remarked that he would like to see more “teenage, real life experiences.  A lot more literature for the tween set. We need a monthly kids magazine and a separate monthly teen magazine. These have been tried in the past, but always failed, due to a variety of factors. We also need more diverse literature, not just flighty poetry or political books.”

Emerick’s body of work was particularly impressive given that he worked two jobs and largely self-published through his personal press, Amirah Publishing Company. In addition, he was involved in both activism and interfaith initiatives and founded the Islamic Foundation of North America bookstore. His books have covered a large number of topics and genres, and his death to cancer is a loss to the Muslim community.

One of Yahiya Emerick’s many books.

One of his former students, Fawzia Syed, expressed her shock in a social media post. “Brother Yahiya” was her first Islamic Studies teacher, the first convert she had met, and one whose work she still uses as a “starter kit” for young Muslims.

“The depth of my sadness has honestly surprised me,” she wrote. Emerick had been her first Islamic studies teacher and an accessible one. As he worked on his Islam edition for the Complete Idiot’s Guide series during recesses, she recalled, “my friend and I would bother him while he was writing, asking him all kinds of questions. We’d ask him what he was writing about, about Islam, why he became Muslim, and probably every random question curious middle schoolers think of. One of the things I appreciate most is that I was never too intimidated to ask him questions. He was never impatient with answering, nor did he ever make feel any of my questions were silly. He was an authority figure, but I felt like I could ask him anything — either he would answer us or laugh it away.”

Serving upcoming generations for Allah’s sake was a major theme in Emerick’s life, as explained in his final thoughts in the UmmahReads interview: “I believe we, as Muslims, need to transform ourselves to meet this challenge. We must come out of our cocoons, smell the chai and see how we can make Islam relevant for the coming centuries. Future generations will either have an easier time being Muslim or a harder time based on our groundwork today. That’s a big responsibility and it is what Allah (swt) requires of us. Strive together in His cause, the Qur’an tells us, and we will be compensated with satisfaction and Allah’s good pleasure. Truly that is what seekers should work to achieve!  Ameen.”

Emerick’s student, Syed, recalled that he had gifted her three of his books as his former student. After his signature at the end, he wrote, “Thinking long term.”

Innalillahi wa inna ilayhi rajioun. May Allah accept his service.

In the first part of this article, the counselor gave examples of 2 cases that suffer from obsessive compulsive disorders (OCD).

In this part, she will analyze the mentioned cases and explain more about the different types of Obsessive Compulsive Disorders.

The obsessive-compulsive symptoms are not attributable to the physiological effects of a substance or another medical condition.

In Ahmed’s case, it was detected as he had Hypochondrias type OCD.  Persistent visits to numerous doctors to check for cancer (a brain tumor) were eventually flagged in the system for him having a possible mental health illness.

Part of the OCD complex is about being responsible (fear of not being responsible) and being in control (lack of control).  It seemed apparent to Ahmed, that by seeking out numerous doctors, tests and opinions, (despite all physicians coming up with the same diagnosis), that he was being responsible and that he was in control of his fear (brain tumor).

However, this excessive behavior reduced his anxiety only to an extent.  As a resident medical student, Ahmed’s OCD may be addressed as due to social and career constraints.

On the other hand, Fatimah, who suffered from Checking Behavior type OCD, will likely go on for years suffering from her OCD. Checking behavior is not that apparent unless the person lives with someone who notices the excessive behaviors. Or if it begins to severely interfere with her schooling or job.

Different types of OCD

There are many types of OCD and each serves a purpose relating to an initial thought. Some are related to fears of-

• becoming ill
• violence
• sexual behaviors
• germs
• irresponsibility and so forth

The action or act to reduce the ensuing anxiety as well as avoidance behaviors are all part of the OCD. These actions are such as

• washing one’s hands 20 times a day
• checking something repeatedly, such as if the oven was left on
• counting up to a certain number
• passing through a door way an exact number of times repeatedly before finally going through
• organizing your desk (not wanting to, but having to organize it to reduce anxiety) until everything is symmetrical, and looks “just right”

On the inside

OCD produces both thoughts/images and actions/behaviors. Intrusive thoughts or images can include:

• thoughts about making mistakes
• harming someone
• contamination
• disease
• religious preoccupation
• fears of impulses or desires
• just about anything that you might consider dangerous, disgusting or dirty

Examples of obsessions are:

• “I made a mistake at work and it will blow up on me”
• “The chair I touched is contaminated”
• “I had a violent fantasy and now I will lose control”
• “The gas – I left it on!”
• “I did something that God will punish me for”

Once you have the intrusive thought, you begin looking for more examples of these thoughts.

Most people with OCD realize that their obsessions are not based in reality. Still, they only find relief in their compulsions or rituals.  Getting up and sitting down repeatedly at the dinner table, until the “just right” feeling is reached is one such ritual. This is not an action that people normally do. Thus, the person with OCD realizes that this ritual of trying to find a “comfort zone” in this manner is irrational, yet they cannot prevent themselves from doing it.

Where’s the fine line?

There is often a fine line between thought/behaviors and OCD.  For example, someone who likes a clean home may spend several hours cleaning it. Someone who is orderly and dislikes clutter may ensure everything is in it’s proper place and looks orderly; someone who works in the health care profession may wash their hands many times a day.

However, numerous reports state that the determining factors which “cross the fine line” prior to a DSM-5 diagnosis, are that the frequency increases, the actions cannot be comfortably stopped or thoughts have become increasingly bizarre.

While OCD is not a new disorder, it appears to some therapists that there is an increase in OCD diagnoses. Beyond OCD states: “There were no consumer books written about OCD until the late 1980s.  Until relatively recently, information was not readily available on the Internet. And just decades ago, research on OCD was virtually nonexistent.

As a result, few tools were available to help professionals understand OCD. Given the lack of information in the past for professionals as well as consumers, OCD remains consistent in its prevalence. However, we may be hearing more about it in recent decades, as its clinical presentation is better understood. Further, studies on OCD and etiology show that OCD may run in families (genetic) and it may be biologically based.

TeensHealth reports that 3 in 100 people have OCD. They also reported that the flow of serotonin in the brain may be blocked, causing misinformation which leads to fears, doubts and false alarms.  Additionally, “imaging studies of the brain have shown that people with OCD have different patterns of brain activity than people without OCD”.

Muslims are more likely to suffer

As research on OCD is relatively new in comparison with major disorders (i.e. major depressive disorder) we have much to learn about its etiology.  Of special interest for Muslims, due to the rise in Islamophobia, is the possibility of environmental factors and OCD.

Regarding environmental factors, there are various proposed factors, but not yet concrete theories, on what triggers dormant OCD in predisposed individuals.  These include major stress, traumatic life events, family dynamics, depression, even illness. In some cases, it’s arguable, depression and illness are a direct cause of one’s environment, thus it is included in possible factors.

When examining any mental health issue, one must also look at the environmental elements both of the internal which consists of individuals, family, and community’s internal dynamics, as well as the external environment.

Treatment

The external is much more difficult to regulate. It includes social and political belief systems of the people and country at large, and availability of common resources in an equitable  manner (jobs, health care, education, safety, justice, and so forth). Future studies generated by Muslim scholars and professionals may wish to focus on internal/external environmental factors to provide insight into Muslims locus of control and OCD.

Treatment outcomes for OCD are more positive now than in the past.   Due to increased research and available information, OCD is better understood.  However, much more research is needed in order to arrive at more conclusive findings.  Treatment for OCD consists of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy with medication if needed.

The International OCD Foundation further suggests the use of Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) in which “Exposure in ERP refers to exposing yourself to the thoughts, images, objects and situations that make you anxious and/or start your obsessions. While the Response Prevention part of ERP, refers to making a choice not to do a compulsive behavior once the anxiety or obsessions have been “triggered.”

More triggers = OCD is more likely?

Looking back at our two case studies, what could have triggered OCD in Fatimah and Ahmed?  Was it a predisposed genetic link triggered by stress, trauma or some other environmental variable? Was it due to a fear of loss of control, fear of overwhelming responsibility, or some other factor?

While we may never know the etiology or outcome for Fatimah or Ahmed, we can do our part and raise awareness within our families and communities about OCD-for the ones who suffer silently, insha’Allah.

This article is from our archive, originally published at an earlier date, and now republished for its importance.

Source: Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Republican Wisconsin Congressman Derrick Van Orden has a history of Islamophobia and racism, including spreading baseless fears of American Muslims being terrorists and child rapists. 

Van Orden’s Twitter history and media appearances show the sitting U.S. congressman is not adhering to the attempts by President Donald Trump’s administration to downplay the White House’s immigration policies ahead of the midterms. Public polling suggests the majority of Americans disapprove of the president’s tactics. 

Van Orden is seeking reelection in Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District. In 2024, he won by about 11,000 votes over Democratic challenger Rebecca Cooke, who is seeking the seat again. 

Locally, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has increased its presence in Wisconsin.

One prominent Black Muslim leader in Milwaukee said Van Orden’s online history shows he is incapable of doing the job any longer and has further endangered followers of Islam.  

WASHINGTON, DC – JULY 30: U.S. President Donald Trump signs legislation in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on July 30, 2025 in Washington, DC. Trump signed the VA Home Loan Program Reform Act with members of Congress in attendance, including Rep. Derrick Van Orden (L) (R-WI). (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Here is a history of Van Orden’s Islamophobic and racist comments: 

Just last week, Van Orden replied to a tweet that stated “Muslims struggle to denounce child rape.” The congressman wrote, “This is horrible and completely true.”  

The week prior, he agreed with a X account spreading an unsubstantiated claim that brown Muslim men raped 250,000 white children through grooming gangs. 

“Correct” and “It is shocking and shameful,” Van Orden wrote. 

On June 17, Matt Walsh, a right wing influencer, spread a lie that it’s part of the Muslim culture that “sexual torture and slavery of children is commonplace,” to which Van Orden replied, “This is an accurate statement.” 

When the president of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee was arrested by the Trump administration in April, Van Orden took to X to say, “I find it shocking that someone named: ‘Salah Salem Sarsour’ would be arrested for terrorism. This must be a mistake.”

A federal judge ordered the release of Sarsour earlier this month. 

In March, Van Orden found it “absolutely unacceptable” that nearly half of the doctors in a Texas hospital’s residency program were Pakistani. 

In February, during the Pepin County GOP Lincoln Day Dinner, Van Orden said the United States was susceptible to a domestic terrorist attack from people in big cities with Islamic populations. 

“It is indisputable that there are radical Muslim sleeper cells here in America murdering American citizens. It is also indisputable that there are people here in America that are being radicalized currently by foolish democrat politician’s hate America rhetoric,” he wrote on X on March 13. 

“And everybody. I’m not kidding. Keep your head on a swivel, the face out of your phone and pay attention when you’re walking around, especially in concentrated urban areas,” he reiterated March 2 on a conservative radio show. 

Following the election of the first Muslim mayor of New York City, Van Orden made several comments. 

Just this week, he said Jewish people who voted for Zohran Mamdani have “suicidal empathy.” In March, he agreed with a post claiming Mamdani was signaling Islam had conquered America’s biggest city. He responded to a conservative radio host that same day. 

In recent years, Van Orden has stated countries with significant Muslim populations have “committed cultural suicide.” 

Van Orden has called for the denaturalization of American journalists born elsewhere, while defending conservative journalists born in America. The congressman called to “de naturalize” and deport journalist Medhi Hasan when he fell for a fake news video of Hasan comparing Trump’s war failure in Iran to 9/11. 

Van Orden had previously said it would be unfair to deport conservative columnist Bill Kristol because he was an American. “He is an American citizen, so we should not deport him, as that would be unlawful, but he should be shit on like the @nytimes lining a bird cage,” he wrote in November.  

Recently, Van Orden followed James Fishback, a candidate for governor of Florida who is running a campaign that many have described as racist. 

Fishback has repeatedly called his Black opponent Byron Donalds a “slave” to donors. He also used the term “By’rone” and referenced a “Section 8 ghetto” while reposting a far-right account on X.

But Van Orden’s history of bigoted comments goes back a while. Like Trump, he claimed that Haitian immigrants were eating pets in Ohio during the 2024 election cycle.

He also said he would show Colin Kaepernick real oppression for kneeling during the national anthem. “Not a fan of commenting on stuff like this, but I am disgusted with this punk Kaepernick. I can show him oppression,” he wrote in 2016.

In 2015, he responded to a tweet of a man holding a decapitated head that stated, “Call me a hater if you want but when is the last time you saw a photo of anyone but a Muslim holding a human head?”

“Very good question,” Van Orden wrote.  

Black Muslim leader says Van Orden unfit for office

Bramouse Muhammad, the current Imam of the Sultan Muhammad Islamic Center and director of education at Clara Mohammed School in Milwaukee, said Van Orden’s rhetoric only adds to the growing culture of Islamophobia and antisemitism. 

“We have heard and seen the well-documented uptick in violent crimes and actions against Jews and Jewish Americans,” Muhammad said in a statement. “We have seen news coverage of multiple incidents, presenting the image of innocent Americans who are victims of senseless ‘hate crimes.’ We have also seen this conversation about hate crimes flare up around other segments of America’s population. Just as sensitive as we have been to these other groups, we need to be just as sensitive to other groups. Especially in light of the fact that we have a commander-in-chief who, from day one, has pressed the issue of immigration and stoked fear among the American people about immigrants and Muslims. When people think of immigrants, due to a paired association, many think of Muslims and Mexicans. Our current administration has strategically linked the two, fostering a fear of immigrants and Muslims among the American people. The President of the United States cannot be absolved of responsibility for this rise in rhetoric, language, and policy that slanders, defames, and insults the millions of Muslims in America — and that has created, and will continue to create, an atmosphere leading directly to increased attacks on the livelihood and safety of Muslims in America.

“I find it difficult to believe that someone can rise to the highest ranks and stature of American politics without knowing of the significant contributions of Islam in America. Yet here we are. In 2026, we have politicians making statements that reflect a striking lack of sensitivity, sensibility, and common brother/sisterhood of humanity. We have figures like Indiana Lieutenant Governor Micah Beckwith calling Islam a ‘demonic death cult,’ former Georgia Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene linking Islam to terrorism, and Colorado Representative Lauren Boebert mocking Representative Ilhan Omar’s appearance by suggesting she looks like a terrorist — among many other blatant statements about Muslims and Islam, all following the lead of the ‘pied piper in chief,’ President Donald J. Trump. Interestingly, many of these statements originate from the Republican side. This is not to say that Democrats are entirely free of similar sentiments about Islam — but when an elected official is bold enough to make such reckless statements publicly, it falls to the American people to correct, check, and challenge them. Elected officials serve at the pleasure and will of their constituents and are obligated to reflect the best interests of the people they represent.

“This fear-stoking rhetoric is not confined to the South and East. It has also made its way to the Midwest — specifically Wisconsin — through Representative Derrick Van Orden. As a U.S. House Representative for Wisconsin, he has followed the same tune as other politicians around the country. He would likely claim that his statements or agreements center on the conflict between Iran and the U.S., tensions around the Strait of Hormuz, or ‘radical’ Islam. But that isn’t accurate. He has been complicit in agreeing with slanderous statements — such as those made by Kevin Bass, who spread fallacious and incorrect claims about the Prophet Muhammad being divine and a child rapist; insensitive statements made by Vickie Paledine; and remarks by Matt Walsh asserting that the sexual torture and enslavement of children is part of Muslim culture. Van Orden’s pattern of agreement with incorrect and inflammatory statements doesn’t end there. He has also agreed with claims about Democrats descending into ‘Islamo-leftism,’ cited Britain as the new ‘gateway country’ for Muslims, and even weighed in on the detainment of Selah Sarsour, supporting DHS’s claim that he was an alleged Islamic terrorist. As previously mentioned, this recurring rhetoric — voiced by many politicians, mostly Republicans — is strikingly consistent, and is almost always paired with insensitive, inflammatory language targeting Muslims, Islam, immigration policy, and the broader dehumanization of others.

“Based on these statements, attitudes, and patterns of agreement — none of which reflect respect for the millions of Muslim Americans who call this country home — we cannot, in good conscience, support Derrick Van Orden as a representative for the state of Wisconsin. A representative is entrusted to serve and uplift all of his constituents, not to lend credibility to rhetoric that demeans and endangers an entire faith community. Until he is willing to publicly reject this language and hold himself accountable for the company and statements he has aligned with, he does not deserve our support or our vote.”

Earlier this month, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC), the campaign arm of House Democrats, added the race to its Red to Blue program, signaling that it will provide Cooke with fundraising and other campaign support. The committee said its internal polling found that Van Orden is virtually tied with any Democratic challenger and trails among self-identified independent voters.

Cooke faces one opponent in the Democratic primary on Aug. 11: Emily Berge. Van Orden has no primary opponent. The general election is Nov. 3.

Originally published in The Milwaukee Courier.

There are scholars who interpret the world, scholars who flatter it, and scholars who quietly make it less cruel. John L. Esposito belonged emphatically to the third category. His passing deprives us not merely of a distinguished academic, but of something now far rarer: a genuine public intellectual — one who understood that scholarship is not an ornamental profession but a moral vocation.

Esposito may well have been the last great public intellectual in the field now called Islamophobia studies, although he used the term less frequently than many who later made an industry of it. Long before Islamophobia became a conference theme, a specialized vocabulary, or an academic career track, he was confronting its most consequential forms: the intellectual caricatures that shaped journalism, diplomacy, public opinion, and American foreign policy.

He did not simply describe prejudice against Muslims. He disrupted the machinery that produced it.

There are scholars who interpret the world, scholars who flatter it, and scholars who quietly make it less cruel. John L. Esposito belonged emphatically to the third category. His passing deprives us not merely of a distinguished academic, but of something now far rarer: a genuine public intellectual — one who understood that scholarship is not an ornamental profession but a moral vocation.

Esposito may well have been the last great public intellectual in the field now called Islamophobia studies, although he used the term less frequently than many who later made an industry of it. Long before Islamophobia became a conference theme, a specialized vocabulary, or an academic career track, he was confronting its most consequential forms: the intellectual caricatures that shaped journalism, diplomacy, public opinion, and American foreign policy.

He did not simply describe prejudice against Muslims. He disrupted the machinery that produced it.

His method was deceptively radical: he studied Muslims in order to understand them.

That proposition sounds almost embarrassingly obvious. Yet Esposito entered a field in which influential Western scholars routinely approached Islamic movements as pathologies to be diagnosed, security threats to be contained, or civilizational irritants to be explained away. He refused this intellectual laziness. He treated Islamic revivalism not as a fever passing through irrational societies, but as a complex response to colonialism, authoritarianism, secularization, social dislocation, and the enduring human search for moral order.

An Italian-American Catholic Embraced By Muslims

He engaged figures such as Hasan al-Turabi, Rachid Ghannouchi, Hasan Hanafi, and Khurshid Ahmad when much of the West preferred to demonize them. He did not agree uncritically with everything they believed; serious scholars do not confuse understanding with endorsement. But he recognized that scholar-activists could not be comprehended through intelligence briefings, hostile newspaper profiles, or inherited Orientalist categories. They had to be read, questioned, challenged, and encountered as thinking human beings.

His mentor, Ismail al-Faruqi, helped shape this disposition, but Esposito made it unmistakably his own. He became perhaps the first Western scholar of contemporary Islam to be welcomed across Muslim societies with something approaching popular affection. He was not merely respected. In Pakistan, Malaysia, Turkey, and elsewhere, he was embraced.

When he visited Pakistan in 2017 to deliver the inaugural memorial lectures for my father, Dr. Mumtaz Ahmad, the reception was extraordinary. The lectures, co-organized by the US-Pakistan Intercultural Coalition, took him to the Lahore University of Management Sciences, the University of Management and Technology, the National Defence University, and the Institute of Policy Studies. The halls were packed. Audiences stood wherever they could find space. John Esposito, an Italian-American Catholic scholar from Brooklyn, arrived in Pakistan and was received like a rock star.

But the enthusiasm was not celebrity worship. Pakistanis understood what he had done. Here was a Western scholar who had spent decades explaining Islam without condescension, Islamic politics without hysteria, and Muslim grievances without treating Muslims themselves as guilty until proven moderate. They regarded him, quite simply, as the greatest living Western scholar of Islam.

“Uncle John”

For our family, however, he was also Uncle John — or at least the sort of figure who occupies that emotional territory.

Before my father and one of his closest friends, Dr. Mumtaz Ahmad, passed away in 2016, I knew Prof. Esposito primarily through telephone calls. He was hilarious. He would announce, with theatrical exasperation, that he was still waiting for my father’s hopelessly overdue essay for yet another edited volume. This happened repeatedly over the years. My father’s deadlines were elastic; John’s irritation was affectionate; and both men seemed to understand that the ritual would recur indefinitely.

His humor extended to his own career. He liked to say that before 1979 he barely had one and could hardly imagine writing a book. Then came Ayatollah Khomeini and the Iranian Revolution, producing what John jokingly called his first Lexus. Osama bin Laden and September 11, he would add, were responsible for the Mercedes. Behind the joke was a devastating observation: Western interest in Islam expanded most dramatically when Muslims could be represented as a crisis.

Esposito understood this danger earlier than almost anyone. In The Islamic Threat: Myth or Reality?, he anticipated the geopolitical temptation that followed the collapse of communism. Great powers, deprived of a grand enemy, rarely accept the inconvenience of peace. Islam was soon drafted into the vacant role. After September 11, Unholy War: Terror in the Name of Islam challenged both the appropriation of religion by terrorists and the exploitation of terrorism by those eager to indict an entire civilization.

Courageous Scholarship

His scholarship was courageous because it was published when misunderstanding Muslims was professionally safer than understanding them. The American media frequently preferred experts whose authority seemed proportional to their hostility. Esposito, arguably the leading Western authority on Islam, was often less visible in mainstream American discourse than ideologues who possessed neither his fieldwork nor his intellectual range. Apparently, the qualification for explaining Muslims on television was not knowing them too well.

Internationally, matters were different. He advised governments, addressed universities, consulted policymakers, edited encyclopedias, and wrote more than fifty books translated into dozens of languages. Yet the scale of his bibliography can obscure his larger achievement. He built an intellectual infrastructure for seeing Muslims as historical actors rather than permanent suspects.

After my father’s death, my own relationship with Prof. Esposito deepened. His emails were an improbable combination of erudition, outrage, gossip, warmth, and comedy. 

He was generous with his time and prodigal with his friendship. Together with Professor Tamara Sonn and Imam Abdul Malik Mujahid, he formed part of the intimate circle of intellectual powerhouses I had heard about since childhood — my father’s confidantes, critics, collaborators, and beloved interlocutors.

It was therefore only fitting that Esposito delivered the first Dr. Mumtaz Ahmad Memorial Lectures, and that Tamara Sonn delivered the following year’s lectures. They were not ceremonial selections. They were family.

Activism Beyond Academia

One of my final and most revealing exchanges with Prof. Esposito concerned an international appeal demanding medical transparency and humane treatment for former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan. He was deeply disturbed by the situation. Still, I told him I would understand if he preferred not to sign. Pakistan had awarded him one of its highest civil honors, and he was habitually received there as a state guest. Public dissent could jeopardize relationships cultivated over decades.

He did not deliberate for two seconds.

“Add my name,” he said.

Soon afterward, representatives connected to the Pakistani Embassy approached him with exquisite politeness. They praised him, honored him, and then delicately suggested that he had misunderstood Pakistan and been misinformed. Esposito replied that he understood the situation perfectly well. When he recounted the conversation to me, we laughed.

Tamara Sonn signed as well. Both knew that their standing with Pakistan’s establishment might never be quite the same. They chose principle over prestige — an elementary moral decision that remarkably few intellectuals, Muslim or otherwise, seem capable of making when honorary treatment, official access, and personal convenience are at stake.

This was not an isolated act. Esposito stood by Dr. Sami Al-Arian through years of persecution and confinement, visiting him under house arrest when many respectable people found distance more comfortable. He advocated for him when solidarity carried consequences. Esposito’s bridge-building was never the bloodless dialogue of hotel conferences and polished communiqués. He built bridges toward people whom power had isolated.

That distinction matters. Plenty of people celebrate pluralism when pluralism is fashionable. Esposito defended human dignity when doing so was awkward.

He spoke of dialogue between “Islam and the West” before the phrase became institutional furniture. But he also knew that civilizations do not converse; people do. His genius was to create relationships where abstractions had produced antagonisms. The founding of Georgetown’s Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding was therefore not merely an academic accomplishment. It embodied his central conviction: that knowledge must become encounter, and encounter must become ethical responsibility.

John Esposito perhaps did more to combat Islamophobia than much of the contemporary Islamophobia studies industry because he worked upstream. He challenged the categories, assumptions, and foreign-policy fantasies from which anti-Muslim prejudice drew its authority. He did not merely denounce the fire; he examined the intellectual wiring that kept setting the building ablaze.

His critics occasionally accused him of being too sympathetic to Muslims. It was an inadvertently revealing charge. Sympathy, in their vocabulary, meant refusing to begin with contempt.

My father was blessed to call him a beloved friend. I was blessed, after my father’s passing, to discover that friendship for myself. His last lesson to me was also the lesson of his life: honors are pleasant, access is useful, and prestige can open doors — but none of them is worth the price of silence.

John Esposito built bridges in an age that rewarded walls. The finest tribute we can offer him is not simply to praise those bridges, but to possess the courage to cross them.

“I cannot vote for aid to a country that committed genocide and has used tax dollars to detain Americans like me,” Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) said ahead of the vote, referring to an incident in which heavily armed residents of an Israeli settler colony stopped and surrounded him last week in the illegally occupied West Bank of Palestine.

Speaking to reporters after the vote, Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Greg Casar (D-Texas)—who had urged colleagues to support Massie’s amendment—noted, “It used to be that just a small number of House Democrats would vote against sending taxpayer dollars to weapons for the Israeli military.”

“Today, over 100 House Democrats voted for a measure to block billions of dollars in weapons to [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu,” he continued. “That is enormous progress. That is a victory for our movement, for security, peace, and justice for all people.”

The vote, Casar said, “sasends a strong message to Netanyahu that the days are over of an unaccountable blank check to his wars and his war crimes, at least from the Democratic Party.”

“So this is an important moment because nothing will be the same on this issue ever again, I think, after this vote,” he added.

Speaking after Casar, Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) said that she was “surprised” by many of her colleagues’ votes in favor of the amendment, “and I am proud of them.”

“I am proud that they have finally decided to lead with their morals, that they finally dared to stand up, and that we are all finally listening to our constituents, who have been asking us to do the right thing for many years,” she added.

The high vote count in favor of Massie’s amendment came after a “dear colleague” letter from House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries’ (D-NY) expressing his opposition to the measure.

Palestine and human rights defenders hailed Wednesday’s vote.

“Today’s vote reflects a seismic shift in US politics. What was once unquestioning bipartisan consensus to fund Israel’s atrocities against Palestinians is now breaking apart,” Jewish Voice for Peace Action political director Beth Miller said in a statement. “While it is shameful that the House failed to pass this amendment, it is also now clear that it is impossible for Congress to ignore our voices.”

“The overwhelming majority of Democratic voters are demanding that we halt US military funding to Israel, and every Democrat who ignored these calls should fear for their seat,” Miller added.

Margaret DeReus, executive director of policy projects at the Institute for Middle East Understanding (IMEU), said Wednesday’s vote “reflects the popular will of Americans, and the overwhelming majority of Democratic voters who do not want to see another penny of our tax dollars fund Israel’s genocidal military.”

“No more weapons to Israel is a principled demand, a legal obligation, and now a political necessity for any Democrat in office,” DeReus added. “Democratic lawmakers who continue to stand with [the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s] fringe agenda of funding to Israel, and against their voters on the moral issue of our time, are inviting a primary challenge.

The United Nations’ International Court of Justice is currently weighing a genocide case against Israel filed by South Africa and formally supported by nearly 20 nations. A UN panel of experts concluded last year that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.

Meanwhile, the International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, his former defense minister, for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes in Gaza, where more than 250,000 Palestinians have been killed or wounded, most of them civilians, since the Hamas-led attack of October 7, 2023, including over 9,000 people who are missing and presumed dead and buried beneath rubble.

In addition to the $3.3 billion in annual military aid the US gives Israel under a 2016 memorandum of understanding signed by then-President Barack Obama, the Biden and Trump administrations have provided billions of dollars in additional armed aid to Israel since it began waging its US-backed war on Gaza.

All told, the US has provided approximately $174 billion in direct bilateral assistance and missile defense funding—over $300 billion when adjusted for inflation—since the modern Israeli state’s atrocity-laden founding in 1948. This makes Israel the largest overall beneficiary of US foreign aid since World War II.

US aid dramatically increased after the 1967 Israeli occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza, and the attack that same year by Israeli forces on the USS Liberty, which killed or wounded more than 200 Navy sailors in what numerous senior US officials believed was a deliberate attack. Last month, Massie introduced a resolution honoring the 34 Americans killed and 174 wounded in the Liberty attack.

Demand Progress senior policy adviser Cavan Kharrazian said in a statement that “congressional Democrats are finally starting to catch up to the American people, who no longer want to give Israel a blank check.”

“This should be a blaring wake-up call for Democratic leaders,” Kharrazian added. “The political tide is clearly turning against unconditional US military support for Israel. Leadership can no longer dismiss this position as marginal or politically untenable. Members should listen to their constituents, stop shielding Israel’s government from accountability, and support future efforts to end the flow of US weapons and military financing.”

MUHSEN facilitator Hanan Kaloti (second from left) joins Ameer Tahir and Mariam Zreik, with her mother, at a MUHSEN nature outing in Kenosha.

Monaal Barakat of Milwaukee works full-time as manager of a medical lab that does compatibility testing for transplants. Her husband, Munther Barakat, PsyD., also has a demanding job as the director of Behavioral Health Therapy at Aurora Health Care. 

“We have an 18-year-old, nonverbal daughter with autism, so she has a little bit more needs than others,” Barakat explained. “Work weeks are busy. I get pulled in many different directions. In addition to operations, I’m responsible for clinical interpretation and cover calls a week at a time for transplant support. 

“Caring for a person with a disability is also a full-time job that never stops, which can be exhausting,” she said. “When you talk to caregivers, you’ll hear that burnout is real.”

The Caregivers Wellness Session, offered Saturday, July 25, by two Muslim organizations, aims to create an opportunity for special needs caregivers to connect with fellow caregivers and learn practical strategies for their own self-care, while respite care is provided so caregivers can fully participate and enjoy the experience, a flier for the program explains.

The MUHSEN-SIHA Caregivers Wellness Session will run from 2:30 – 4:40 p.m., Saturday, July 25, at Wehr Nature Center, 9701 W. College Ave., Franklin. 

Monaal and Aya Barakat

MUHSEN (“Muslims Understanding and Helping Special Education Needs”) is a nonprofit organization serving families and individuals nationwide with intellectual, mental and physical disabilities. It is a leading organization in creating a better understanding of disabilities in Muslim communities, and in improving inclusiveness and accessibility in Muslim institutions.

SIHA (Striving to Improve Health for All”) is a nonprofit that aims to empower Wisconsin Muslims toward a holistic sense of wellbeing. Its board includes advocates, educators and healthcare professionals who work together to create a lasting impact on Muslims’ health through research, education, advocacy, community empowerment and resource sharing, its mission statement says.

The Caregivers Wellness Session offers special needs caregivers: 

• The opportunity to connect with fellow caregivers;
• Meaningful facilitated discussion;
• Practical strategies and tips;
• And a guided nature walk led by a Certified Wisconsin Master Naturalist.

Respite care is provided onsite. 

It is free but registration is required. Register here.

Creating space for caregivers

“A very important part of the Caregiver Wellness Session is creating space for caregivers to connect and participate in a facilitated conversation,” said SIHA co-founder and board member Laila Azam, Ph.D. “We have a practical, educational program but the main objective of the session is to create connections and learn from each other.”

SIHA board member and longtime educator Amal Jaber, M.E., of Brookfield said she has limited experience with being a caregiver. Her son, who is now 32, has low vision. “He didn’t need adaptive support except for his vision and we never needed respite care,” she said. “He graduated from the University of Wisconsin – Whitewater, where he lived on campus on his own.”

Nevertheless, she had participated in a support group at the Islamic Society of Milwaukee–Brookfield for a short time and found just how beneficial these groups can be, she said.

“Families interacting with each other and having opportunities to network is very important for families with children or adults with special needs,” Jaber said. “Those interactions are important because they give the family support, just knowing other families are facing the same things they are. 

“In our Muslim culture, we don’t always talk about these topics so easily,” she continued. “Now it’s getting better, but I have noticed people like meeting other families with individuals with special needs because they have a lot in common in regards to things they are going through. 

“They can also see into the future when they have a young child with a special need and connect with someone with an older child with a similar need. They share resources. They see the future can be bright when they see how some children with special needs have excelled.

“Just hearing the stories of other families about how they faced this barrier and that, how they solved different issues, what helped and what didn’t, gives them a wealth of information they can use right now,” she said. 

Barakat agreed. “My daughter is 18. What we realized in this journey of disability is that in each stage of her life, as caregivers, we experience a lot of things for the first time. Just when you think you have things down pat, you get thrown into a new experience. 

“At diagnosis you’re learning to navigate what programs are out there and what is needed from a school perspective. Now we’re in adulthood and trying to navigate that. It feels like a diagnosis all over again. School is done. What do we need to do from a legal perspective with guardianship after the age of 18. Networking will be very helpful for learning what other families in similar positions are doing.

“And, through it all, you are building your tribe. All parents need a tribe. They say it takes a village, right? Well, it takes much more for raising an individual with a special need.”

Collaborating around common missions

The seed for “an important collaboration” between MUHSEN and SIHA was planted at the Muslim Women’s Leadership Conference in April, Azam said. Hanan Kaloti of MUHSEN served as moderator for a panel titled, “Turning Faith into Purpose.” Azam, a member of the panel, spoke about SIHA. After the session, the two women immediately began brainstorming about how they could work together on their common missions, both said.

“It is important that we (at SIHA) are expanding our work through this collaboration with MUHSEN,” Azam added.

“The timing was perfect for our collaboration,” Kaloti explained. “When I asked some of our MUHSEN parents how things are going, I kept hearing things like, “I feel spread thin,” “I’m feeling burnt out. 

“With summertime coming, many would be with their kids all day every day. Some of the kids are not in school or in programs, especially once summer comes. The timing (of a program for caregivers) obviously just seemed so fitting.

“The biggest feedback I hear from parents is that they feel burnt out or that they are not doing enough for their kid,” Kaloti said. “I knew whatever we planned, we needed to connect back to that. I’m hoping we can give some strategies for caregivers to use whenever they are feeling burnt out or overwhelmed or like they are not doing enough.

“Second, I hope the parents leave with a sense they are part of a community of caregivers. Even in our Muslim community, there are so many caregivers experiencing the same burnout.

“And, third, that they leave with resources. At every event, we hope to share resources with them and them with each other.” 

Photo by Mitch Macari

Wehr Nature Center, a 220-acre nature preserve within the Whitnall Park complex in Franklin, is committed to accessibility  for all.

SIHA’s connection with the Wehr Nature Center, which promotes “nature for all,” and works to make nature accessible and inclusive, brings a valuable addition to the mix,” Kaloti added. “I’m so happy that qualified people at Wehr and Cherrie Hanson, who is a Certified Master Naturalist, add a connection with nature.”

Hanson will lead caregivers on a guided nature walk and will teach practical breathing techniques that bring a sense of calmness, Azam said.

“Someone just advised me I should follow Wehr Nature Center on social media,” Barakat mentioned. “They said they release a lot of information about adaptable equipment or visuals to help connect to nature. I think Wehr is doing a great job with making nature accessible and getting the word out.” 

From one caregiver to others, Barakat shared a thought on wellness: “It’s easy to say it but harder to do it. To put time and energy back into yourself is a challenge. As a caregiver, you’re 100% focused on helping others. Helping yourself is the last thought in your mind.

“(This workshop) is important because it creates that space to help you before it’s complete burnout, a pause along the way to refill your cup and continue on as a caregiver helping others.”

SUMMARY: As the United States marks a quarter of a millennium as an independent nation, Muslims can learn the history of the country and their community’s place in that history.

It is remarkable that the United States marks its 250th anniversary as an independent nation in 2026. Compared to many of the world’s great civilizations, 250 years is a relatively short span of history. Yet during that time, the US has grown into one of the world’s most influential nations. For those of us who were born elsewhere and come from countries with long and diverse histories, this milestone may not have the same emotional significance. However, for many Americans, Independence Day is an opportunity to reflect on the nation’s history, ideals, and potential. As Muslims living in the US, we may not always agree with every aspect of our government’s domestic or foreign policies. Nevertheless, understanding American history and teaching it to our children are important parts of raising informed, responsible, and law-abiding citizens. Learning the story of our country, with both its achievements and its shortcomings, is one way to honor the place many of us now call home.

Today, an estimated 4.5 million Muslims live in the United States, and that number continues to increase.¹ According to the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), hundreds of Muslim elected officials serve in local and state governments nationwide, alongside four Muslims in the U.S. Congress.² Although the American Muslim community is younger than many other religious communities, it is also one of the nation’s most diverse and fastest growing. However, this vibrant community did not emerge overnight, and Islam’s presence on the North American continent is nothing new. Its story began long before the United States declared its independence, and there is perhaps no better way to trace its development than through a timeline. 

Why Timelines Matter

Timelines are among the most effective tools for helping children make sense of history. They naturally integrate several areas of learning, combining social studies with reading, writing, mathematics, and even art as students research events, organize them chronologically, calculate the passage of time, and present information visually. Rather than memorizing isolated names and dates, students learn to see how events connect across time. A well-designed timeline allows them to visualize cause and effect, recognize patterns of change, and understand that history unfolds through the actions of real people living in specific places and moments. For Muslim children in particular, timelines can also strengthen their sense of identity by showing that Islam has long been woven into the fabric of American history. 

While searching for educational resources, I came across an excellent collection from the Muslim Civic Coalition that includes two illustrated timelines of American Muslim history: The American Muslim Story and The African American Muslim Story. Although the two timelines overlap, the latter provides greater detail about the enduring contributions of African American Muslims, tracing their presence from the early 1600s to the present day. Together, these resources offer families and educators an engaging way to explore a history that is missing from traditional textbooks. 

Now that the US commemorates its 250th anniversary, studying its history through these timelines will remind young Muslims that their faith community has been part of the American experience from its earliest chapters. For the purposes of this article, I chose to focus on The American Muslim Story because it provides a broad overview of the Muslim experience in the United States and serves as an excellent starting point for younger students and families. Once children become familiar with the larger narrative, The African American Muslim Story offers an opportunity to explore in greater depth the indispensable role that African American Muslims have played in shaping both Islam and American society. 

As children examine the timeline, they will discover that Muslims have been part of the Americas for centuries. They may be surprised to learn about enslaved West African Muslims who preserved their faith under unimaginable circumstances, George Washington’s vision of a nation that included “Mohammadans” (Muslims), Thomas Jefferson’s copy of the Qur’an, the conversion of diplomat Muhammad Alexander Russell Webb, the leadership of Malcolm X during the civil rights era, and the many Muslim scholars, athletes, public servants, and artists who continue shaping American society today. Each event opens the door to meaningful conversations and further exploration.

One complaint I often hear from children about social studies is that there is simply too much information to remember. Instead of approaching the timeline as a memorization exercise, invite children to become history detectives or junior historians. Ask them what patterns they notice. Which events surprise them? Who would they have loved to meet in person? What would they like to learn more about? How did the experiences of Muslims change over time? What challenges remained the same? These questions encourage critical thinking while helping children recognize that history is made up of individual stories, community progress, and collective action. The following are a few additional ideas for using a timeline as an engaging learning tool. 

Ways to use the timeline at home or in the classroom

• Choose one event each day or week and learn more about it together. Make family time learning time by reading together, telling relevant stories, or watching a documentary. I recommend the PBS series, American Muslims: A History Revealed.⁴
• Have children research one historical figure and present what they learned. 
• Compare the American Muslim timeline with a general U.S. history timeline to see where the stories intersect. 
• Create a personal timeline. Add family milestones, such as immigration, conversion, or community service. Place this timeline along the historical one to see how the two may connect. 
• Invite children to predict what future historians might include in the timeline 50 or 100 years from now.

Undoubtedly, every timeline tells a story. For Muslim families, studying the history of Islam in America reminds us that our community did not suddenly appear in the twentieth or twenty-first century. We have been here, we belong, and we will continue to thrive. More importantly, we have helped build and strengthen this nation. Muslims have contributed to the American experience for generations through faith, perseverance, public service, scholarship, and civic engagement. As children discover Islamic history intertwined with U.S. history, they will begin to see that they are also part of a story still being written and that their contributions will help shape its next chapter, insha’Allah.

1. https://www.justiceforall.org/resources/reports/american-muslims-2025-a-brief-profile/
2.  https://www.cair.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Abridged-Copy-CAIR-JETPAC-2023-Directory-of-Elected-Muslim-Officials.pdf
3. https://muslimciviccoalition.org/portfolio-2/american-muslim-story

Fifa president Gianni Infantino is pictured in Washington, DC, on 19 February 2026 (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images/AFP)

ast Friday, Egypt’s national football team made history. The Pharaohs narrowly dispatched Australia to become the second Arab nation to reach the 2026 World Cup round of 16. 

Draped in the Palestinian flag, Egyptian coach Hossam Hassan dedicated his squad’s victory to the people of Gaza, many of whom watched live amid the rubble. 

Football, for the Uruguayan writer Eduardo Galeano, was a “mirror of everything”. The beautiful game, he argued, has always reflected the character of the world in which it is played – in both sun and shadow. 

This year’s World Cup has been no different, legitimising the emergence of renewed imperial barbarism, while simultaneously reaffirming our common humanity with collective joy. 

Just days before the Palestinian people celebrated Egyptian captain Mohamed Salah’s Panenka in Dallas Stadium, Israeli forces fatally shot Saleem al-Ashqar, a 32-year-old Palestinian goalkeeper who was searching for cooking fuel for his pregnant wife.

He was among 567 Palestinians in the football sector killed by Israel since October 2023. 

These crimes – for which Fifa has yet to sanction the Israel Football Association – have not deterred the Palestinian people. 

On Tuesday, crowds gathered in Gaza City to watch Egypt take on Lionel Messi’s Argentina. With Israel’s genocide having damaged or destroyed 90 percent of the enclave’s structures, while decimating Gaza’s power grids, screenings of the game relied on small electrical generators. 

Children waved flags atop the wreckage of flattened buildings, and fans cheered Yasser Ibrahim’s opening goal on the ground where their homes had once stood.

Colonial racism

Yet even this brief reprieve was too much for occupying Israeli forces to allow. An hour before kick-off, Mohamed al-Wahidi, the aid worker who organised Gaza City’s livestream, was killed in an Israeli strike on his way to watch the match.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has chosen the weeks of the World Cup to escalate his war on Palestinian football – but Fifa is not prepared to let that distract from “the most successful event in history”. 

The “beautiful” tournament heralded by Fifa President Gianni Infantino has seen top-tier referees detained and deported, players interrogated for hours on end, and the head of the Palestinian Football Association denied a visa entirely. All of this is allowed as a result of the impunity Fifa affords to Israel’s crimes against humanity. 

By comprehensively failing to hold its member association to account, football’s governing body has licensed the resurgence of the colonial racism that has been meted out to fans, coaches and athletes alike by American authorities in recent weeks. 

This is not sportswashing. It is a public endorsement of Washington’s imperial project, in full view of the watching world. 

Infantino, who once insisted that “football should stay out of politics”, has carefully carved out Fifa’s place as a reliable accomplice to US President Donald Trump’s assault on international law. 

Nothing is off limits when it comes to appeasing the 2026 tournament’s primary host, even on-field decisions. With little more than a phone call, Trump – to whom Infantino awarded the inaugural Fifa Peace Prize in December 2025 – reportedly convinced football authorities to overturn the suspension of US striker and leading goal scorer Folarin Balogun. 

While many have focused on the sordid nature of this decision, doing so assumes that Fifa retains any commitment to the principle of sportsmanship. The Iranian national team, which was barred from setting up a base camp within US borders, knows otherwise. 

And they are far from alone. On the eve of Haiti’s opening fixture, Fifa demanded that the team amend its designated kit to remove a reference to the revolution that created the world’s first Black republic, proclaiming that “political messages” are prohibited. 

Mexico, which will not host a single World Cup match after the Round of 16, is similarly familiar with the tournament’s shamelessness – not to mention the millions of fans left unable to attend due to “dynamic pricing”. 

Collective identity

Fifa, like the World Cup’s main host country, has dispensed with the illusion of fair play, and even provoked the condemnation of its infamous ex-president, Sepp Blatter. Galeano was right: imperialism’s shadow hangs over the tournament. 

The competition is the perfect metaphor for a world system that wreaks carnage, depletes resources, and denies sovereignty across the Global South to fuel development in the North. In return for transforming the World Cup into a show of Trumpian theatre, Fifa expects to extract record revenues of $13bn. 

In moments, however, the sun has shone too. Simplistic portraits of national identity contingent on creed or colour have crumbled on the pitch. More than half of the US squad members, for example, hold dual citizenship; six were born outside the US, while others come from immigrant families. 

National football teams, argued British historian Eric Hobsbawm, represent countries in the public consciousness: “The imagined community of millions seems more real as a team of eleven named people,” he wrote. That’s why the presence of multicultural teams has dealt a blow against the ethnonationalism of Trump and his ideological allies. 

Having declared an illegal and unprovoked war on Iran in February, the US president had hoped the Iranian team would not turn up at all. The squad was instead welcomed with open arms to locate its base camp in Mexico, itself the target of repeated threats of American invasion. 

Locals in the city of Tijuana organised watch parties for Iran’s fixtures, and earned the grateful thanks of the team: “Your act will stay in our hearts,” the squad wrote on social media after their controversial group stage exit. 

Away from the headlines, football fans’ solidarity has reaffirmed what the world has long known to be true. While Fifa’s corporate leadership might be content to transform the game into one long TV commercial, the sport itself can remain a rare antidote to alienation and contempt. 

In the age of the individual, football remains what Galeano identified as a “primordial symbol of collective identity”. It is a symbol far more powerful than the venality of Infantino; a symbol that still brings the people of Gaza together for 90 minutes in defiance of their attempted erasure. 

Football, the “mirror of everything”, has reflected the world’s contradictions once more, reiterating the ever-growing gulf between those who love the beautiful game – and those who run it. 

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye.

Photos by Ali Aleiou and Sandra Whitehead

Volunteers serve up a tasty buffet of chicken and goat with rice and samousas (fried pastries filled with beef and vegetables) at Somali Cultural Night at the Somali Resource Center, 1020 W. Historic Mitchell St., Milwaukee.

The Somali Resource Center of Milwaukee, 1020 W. Historic Mitchell St., hosted its first annual Somali Cultural Night last Friday .

“With July 1 being Somali Independence Day and July 4^th being the U.S. Independence Day, we decided Friday (July 3) was a good day for our celebration,” said the Somali Resource Center co-founder and executive director Lul Abukar in an interview with the Wisconsin Muslim Journal after the event. The July 1 Somali national holiday marks the unification of the Trust Territory of Somalia and the state of Somaliland into the Somali Republic, and the new nation’s independence from colonial rule in 1960.

“We plan to hold Somali Cultural Night every year around this time,” Abukar said.

A joyful occasion

I arrived with my family at 6:30 p.m., our first visit to the Somali Resource Center. We parked on an empty street in front of what appeared to be an empty building. A lone shopkeeper on the other side of Mitchell Street leaned against a wall in front of the Garden of Eden International Grocery. He was the only person in sight. We crossed the street and approached him.

“We’re looking for the Somali festival,” I said.

“Follow me,” he said. We did and returned across the street. We passed the corner building and found ourselves in a big parking lot. It was filled with cars and buzzing with families in colorful, traditional dress. Children skipped along excitedly.

He pointed to a door where the people flowed in. We thanked him and joined the procession.

Downstairs in the basement, we entered a wide tunnel. Vendors sat at tables that displayed colorful hijabs (Muslim headscarves) and jewelry. A child sat beside a henna artist who painted a tattoo on her hand.

Somali Cultural Day festivities were held in the Somali Resource Center, which is home to an adult day program during the week, as well as a hub to help community members find services they need.

Inside the center, youth (and a few adults) stood in the lobby in front of a large screen, cheering for Cape Verde against the mighty Argentina in a surprisingly close World Cup game. Their energy was palpable.

Young ladies snapped photos of each other in an adjacent hall, in front of a Somali flag with a light blue background and a five-pointed white star in the center.

A curtain of shiny blue streamers hung across a doorway. We waved them apart and entered a banquet room. Mostly men sat at half a dozen long, rectangular tables covered with white linens, watching the game on another wall-mounted screen. A light blue runner ran down the center of each table. Blue and white balloons and crepe paper streamers draped the walls. A man circulated, offering water to guests.

Volunteers set up a hot buffet of chicken and goat meat with rice, beef sambosas (a popular fried pastry with a savory filling) and tasty sabaayad (Somali flatbread). Friends in their finery greeted each other in the buffet line and took photos together.

Although everyone had cheered for Cape Verde, no one seemed to mind the final score—Argentina 3 and Cape Verde 2.

Wisconsin’s Somali community

“As a result of the devastating Somali Civil War in the 1990s, approximately two million Somalis sought refuge in neighboring African nations and abroad,” wrote Joshua R. Brown, Ph.D., professor of German and linguistics at the University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire, in the university’s “Somalis in Wisconsin” project. 

In the early 1990s, the United States opened up its borders to asylum seekers, he explained. By 2024, about 165,000 Somalis lived in the U.S., with 3,429 living in Wisconsin (.06% of the state’s population), according to the World Population Review.

The majority of Somali refugees in the U.S. settled in Minnesota, but “urban pressures like increasing crime, decreasing job opportunities and overcrowding forced some Somalis living in the Twin Cities (Minneapolis and St. Paul) metropolitan area to move to Wisconsin,” Brown wrote. “Since the 1990s, Barron – the county seat of Barron County – in northwestern Wisconsin has a total population of 3,000 with approximately 400 Somali residents.” Others moved to Milwaukee and other cities for job opportunities and because of familial ties.

A community hub

Friday night Milwaukee’s Somali community, along with many friends of the Somali Resource Center, filled three spacious rooms. Milwaukee Alderman Alex Brower (District 3) attended.  Inshirah Farhoud, a long-time nurse practitioner with Children’s Hospital, and her mother stopped by.

“A great friend to the Somali Resource Center, Dr. Mike Mentor, and his wife Barb came,” Abukar noted. The Milwaukee pediatrician “has been a great support since November 2024, since we first opened our doors.”

The Somali Resource Center of Milwaukee’s volunteers all work without pay, executive director Lul Abukar told the Wisconsin Muslim Journal. “It’s been two years and we haven’t billed anybody yet.” With no grants yet, the center’s activities are funded completely by donations from within the community, she said.

Addressing urgent needs

Abukar and the Somali Resource Center’s longtime volunteer and new vice president, Fatima Aden, offered a short presentation about the Somali Resource Center, its services and history. The center’s services develop based on the needs that arise among the Somali community and other immigrants in the greater Milwaukee area, Abukar said. They include services such as housing assistance, interpreting services and connecting individuals to resources for food, healthcare, youth activities, education, social and other essential services.

“Tell me about Lul Abukar?” I asked Aden in a text after the event.

“Lul is the most dedicated and hardworking person I know,” she replied. “She leads by example and always gives her best in everything she does. I admire her for her integrity, kindness and strong work ethic.

“She is patient, supportive and genuinely cares about helping our community grow and thrive,” she continued. “She encourages me to challenge myself and to never stop learning. She believes in my skills and abilities. I’m grateful for the guidance and encouragement she continues to give me.”

“I have been working in the community since early 2015, as a language specialist,” Lul Abukar told WMJ. She worked in roles with Aurora Healthcare, Connections, the IRIS consultant program by Lutheran Social Services, and others to connect people with the services they needed for refugee settlement, to find healthcare and more. “Prior to that, I was always an interpreter for the family—aunts, uncles, and for refugee families. 

“My family was one of the first Somali refugee families,” she said. “My father arrived in 1990 and we came in 1993. He spoke multiple languages but Arabic and Somali were the main languages at home.”

As a young teen, Abukar spent summers with her father in Columbus, Ohio, working in a community center he started in 2000, one of the first in the United States. “I would go and stay with him and he would take me to his office every morning,” she recalled. “I would have to work and volunteer there. 

“Then I thought it was torture,” she said. “Never in a million years did I think that 20 plus years down the line, I would be the one at the office actually working.

“He was one of the founding fathers of the first (Somali) community in the U.S., and his was the first community center in Columbus, Ohio, for Somalia and East African individuals. He passed in 2011. I learned a lot from him and for that I am grateful.”

Likewise, Abukar’s mother was “a community philanthropist and volunteer,” Abukar said. “When we came to Milwaukee in 2004, my mother welcomed a lot of the refugee families and helped them settle in. It was natural to her. She would help them get furniture, find used items to use in their house. Growing up with those two parents, I learned giving back first was always a priority.” 

After earning a university degree in healthcare management with a minor in business, Abukar also became the only Somali licensed as a certified language specialist in Wisconsin and found many families that needed so much more than healthcare. They needed housing, food, education, jobs. 

“The way it works in our community is by word of mouth. When you help one uncle or aunt, they tell each other. Word gets around,” she said. Soon people began stopping by her house to get help filling out social security paperwork, Medicaid applications and many other things. 

As her network grew, she learned what people needed and where to find the resources they needed. “That’s what led me to decide we needed a hub where people could get the services they need,” she said.

Said Hassan, co-founder of  the nonprofit Community Services Agency, Inc., also known as COMSA, told the audience he was there “to support the mission of the Somali Resource Center.” 

Building a hub

When Abukar decided to build a community hub, “I had no clue how to do it,” she confessed. “I actually thought I would start my own interpreting company. But, when it came down to it, people needed resources as well as interpreting,” she said. So, with three other co-founders, she looked for a large space where people could come in and feel comfortable, rather than just a small office, she said.

“We call it a Somali Resource Center but we host all refugees, no matter where you come from,” she explained. “Right now we have Senegalese, Burmese, Somali and a few Arabic individuals. But I still want to respect and honor where my parents came from, so we call it the Somali Resource Center.”

The center serves about 40-55 walk-ins a week, she said. Those are people seeking information and help in finding resources. Its adult day program is open Monday through Friday and serves 15 seniors, “and we are hoping to bring more.” 

VP Fatima Aden, also the assistant director of the adult day program, has been working with Abukar since the beginning. She heard about the center the way everyone else does, word-of-mouth from her family, she said. “I decided that I wanted to be a part of it,” she said. 

Days at the center are full of variety, she said. People walk in with all different kinds of needs. The center is there to help them meet them.

And, by the way, they are all volunteers. “None of us get paid because we haven’t started billing yet, Abukar said. “We also don’t have any state or federal grants. For two years now, we’ve been self-funding by collecting community funds from amongst ourselves, and my business partner, Abdisalam Osman, who owns Garden of Eden, he’s a godsend.”

Abdisalam Osman and Lul Abukar are co-founders of the Somali Resource Center. 

A Photo Essay by Tomohiro Oshima

Japan has never declared itself a country of immigration.

Through successive revisions of its immigration laws, the government has maintained that it “does not adopt an immigration policy.” It has absorbed foreign workers through the Technical Intern Training Program, drawn international students into its labor market, and refused to call any of it immigration. By the end of 2023, the number of registered foreign residents reached approximately 3.4 million¹. Yet the majority remain institutionally precarious — suspended between economic necessity and legal exclusion.

Scholar Hidenori Sakanaka, a former director of the Tokyo Immigration Bureau, has long argued that Japan operates as a de facto country of immigration while refusing to officially call it one — absorbing foreign labor through side-door channels even as it denies any shift in national policy. The vacuum this creates is filled by religious communities, ethnic networks, and mosques.

In Nishinari Ward, Osaka — in the district known as Kamagasaki — stands Masjid Istiqlal Osaka. “Istiqlal” means independence in Indonesian. True to its name, this mosque has built a network of mutual aid that operates independently of state institutions. Muslims from Indonesia, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and elsewhere gather here to pray, study, celebrate, and sustain one another. Children learn the Quran alongside their Japanese homework; young couples marry under Islamic rites; newborns are held in aging hands.

One of those newborns is called Minami — “south” in Japanese — because she was born in the south of Osaka. Her father is a diplomat, and the family will soon leave again. “She was born here,” her mother said quietly. “So this is part of her.”

But the mosque’s function extends far beyond the rhythms of ordinary life. When the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake struck, Masjid Istiqlal opened its doors to displaced people — stocking halal food, opening its prayer space, and providing bedding. Japan’s official evacuation plans had made no provision for halal dietary requirements, prayer schedules, or language barriers. During COVID-19, the mosque distributed food to those who had lost income and facilitated vaccination for foreign nationals facing linguistic barriers to public health services. These are not acts of charity. They are acts of infrastructure.

Kamagasaki was built by Japan’s postwar economic miracle as a reservoir of day labor. As that generation disappears, young Muslim migrants are putting down roots in the same streets. Among them: a man from Indonesia who works at an elderly care facility in rural Wakayama, who recently brought his bride from home. “When we have children,” he said, “we will have to move — somewhere outside Osaka, where the schools are better.”

Japan did not decide to receive these people. Yet they are already here — raising the next generation, building community, putting down roots. The country is changing without having decided to change.

Anne Hathaway’s decision to wear a full body swim suit in St Tropez has sparked debate [Getty]

New photos of American actress Anne Hathaway wearing a full-body wetsuit in the coastal town of Saint-Tropez on the French Riviera have sparked comment and debate over the double standards which Muslim women have to endure when they wear similar clothing in France.

The Oscar-winning actress, who announced her third pregnancy earlier this month, has been sporting many looks on her holiday with her husband.

However, it was her long-sleeved, full-length tie-dye patterned wet suit that caught the attention of many, who compared it to modest swimwear that many Muslim women choose to wear.

Many commentators took to social media to decry “double standards”, with Hathaway’s choice of dress at the beach accepted and praised while Muslim women who wear the hijab and full-coverage swimwear are often turned away from public pools and beaches.

Author Nadeine Asbali told The New Arab that there is a clear difference between how celebrities are treated compared to the systematic discrimination Muslim women face for wearing the same garments.

“When we make autonomous decisions about the clothing we wear, we are cast as oppressed victims in need of saving. When non-Muslim (often white) women make the same decisions about their bodies, they are commended as being forward-thinking, edgy and admirable. In the case of Anne Hathaway, she has been celebrated for protecting her pregnant body from the sun, whereas Muslim women in burkinis are routinely banned from public places and considered overly conservative or even anti-feminists. This all comes down to the way non-Muslim women are extended a level of humanity that means their decisions are considered truly their own, whereas Muslim women are perpetual victims to be liberated by white, mainstream feminism,” she said.

“I’ve been in France for almost four years. I was told I couldn’t enter a public pool with my daughter because of my hijab and modest swimwear. I took her home. And then I had to explain to her why we had to leave. Why did the other children get to stay? Why did the rule exist at all? I still don’t know if I found the right words. I’m not sure there are right words for that,” writer and publisher Boutina Azzabi told The New Arab.

“I’m lucky that I can cross borders. We’ve swum in rivers, in the sea, in pools in other countries where nobody looked twice. Just a mother and her daughter in the water. Many women don’t have that option. They live in central France, far from any border, far from anywhere the rules are different,” she continued.

According to Azzabi, the policing of swimwear has nothing to do with hygiene or sun protection, but rather is a direct attack on visible displays of Islam.

“France calls this secularism. But the secularism applied to Muslim women isn’t neutrality toward religion. It’s discomfort with the visibility of Islam specifically. You are welcome, the message goes, as long as you don’t make your faith too visible. As long as you look free in the way we’ve decided freedom looks. And it’s not only states that send that message. It’s hotel managers in Marrakech. Pool attendants in London. Restaurant owners who seat you and then make you feel, for the rest of the meal, that you’ve done something wrong by being there,” she said.

Researcher Rayan Freschi also told The New Arab that the ban on Islamic practices is a manifestation of France’s war against Islam and Muslims.

“Regarded as an internal threat to civilisation, the entire French political spectrum supports the criminalisation of Islam to varying degrees. Since the beginning of the War on Terror, a repressive consensus has emerged around prayer, the hijab, and political aspirations. It is this consensus that explains the lack of domestic coverage of this affair,” he said.

Some said that while Hathaway may have worn the wetsuit for protection from the sun, the reason behind the choice was irrelevant, and that Muslim women should not be penalised or excluded for making similar clothing choices.

Sarah Fraincart, a prominent French-Moroccan rower and politician, also weighed in on the subject.

“No one would think to kick Anne Hathaway off the beach for this swimsuit cover-up. But a Muslim woman in the same outfit is a national controversy. For one, it’s a responsible, stylish choice. For the other, it’s oppression,” she wrote in an Instagram post.

Fraincart also said Laurent Wauquiez, a French member of parliament, was “wretched” after he praised effectively banning the burkini (modest swimwear) in municipal swimming pools in Grenoble.

“I congratulate myself on this new victory. All subsidies to the city of Grenoble have been cut, which had authorised the wearing of the burkini in its municipal swimming pools. Once again, on this issue, justice has ruled in our favour! We we’re right to not back down,” the MP wrote on X on Thursday.

France banned the hijab from public schools in March 2004, while prayers are prohibited in French educational spaces. Many Muslim women who wear the hijab in France also face challenges when it comes to finding employment.

Last year, Amnesty International said France’s hijab ban in all sports would violate human rights and unfairly target Muslim women.

“Laïcité”, or “secularism”, which is theoretically embedded in the French constitution to protect everyone’s religious freedom, has often been used as a pretext to block Muslim women’s access to public spaces in France,” the rights group said in a report.

“Over several years, the French authorities have enacted laws and policies to regulate Muslim women’s and girls’ clothing in discriminatory ways. Sport federations have followed suit, imposing hijab bans in several sports,” the Amnesty report added.