n>The Masjid is a sanctuary of protection from forgetting Allah. It is a house of worship, education, community, friendship, and wisdom. While the Coronavirus has spread across the world, prompting travel restrictions and unprecedented bans on movement, Muslim communities worldwide have been painfully severed from their Masajid. To many, this has been an awakening of gratitude and appreciation, how thankful the best of us become when deprived of something so necessary and easily taken for granted. Now, for a moment, imagine that the virus did not exist. Imagine that it and all the attendant travel restrictions and social distancing rules had never occurred. Imagine the ease of normality returning to you. The open and welcoming doors of the Masjid almost call you in; the warmth of even the stranger’s familiarity, of friendship, and the transcendent peace of prayer in the congregation. I say this not to torture the reader; this small thought experiment is a necessary exploration of the belonging and safety we take for granted without even realizing it. We must remember that there are so many within our community who have been deprived of these emotional and spiritual needs due to nothing other than the color of their skin.  Read Full Article »