by Imam Imad Enchassi | Feb 18, 2021 | Opinion
The Azan, the call to prayer, is heard five times a day in the Muslim world. The person calling out faces each direction, north, south, east and west, declaring the supremacy of God Almighty. The story of the Azan still brings chills to my spine, for it began with a...
by Imam Imad Enchassi | Aug 21, 2020 | Opinion
Content warning: This article shares a firsthand account of the 1982 Sabra and Shatila massacre in Beirut, Lebanon. Certain details might be difficult for some to read. The first day of the massacre, I remember looking up to the hills and on top of buildings, seeing...
by Imam Imad Enchassi | Jun 18, 2020 | Opinion
I grew up in a Palestinian refugee camp in Beirut, called Sabra and Shatila. My father had fled there at the tender age of 12 when Israel declared independence. Growing up, my father told many stories about his life in Jaffa. He used to show me the deeds to my...
by Imam Imad Enchassi | Apr 23, 2020 | Opinion
Growing up, I was skeptical of other religions. My father was a refugee from Palestine, my mother, also a refugee, from Syria. They met in the camps of Sabra and Shatila in Beirut, Lebanon – a country deeply divided by religion. Displaced first- and second-generation...
by Imam Imad Enchassi | Apr 17, 2020 | Opinion
On April 19, 1995, the morning of the Oklahoma City Murrah Building bombing, a friend of mine, Ibrahim Ahmad, was leaving to the airport to visit his family in Jordan. The plan was for him to visit his family in Jordan while his wife traveled to visit her family in...