IamA 21-Year-Old Muslim Student Who Just Broke The Record For The Most Votes For A Board Member in NJ State History. AMA!

Are you a supporter of LGBT rights?

Wow, this thread blew up while I was asleep (For those wondering it's currently 10 am here). I want to be very clear on my position on this question, I support and affirm LGBTQIA+ rights. I believe in an America that is a country of equal liberty in which all are welcome. That welcoming, however, should come with the condition that we affirm and support the rights and liberties of others.

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I also just want to add that I'm of the belief that one can be BOTH gay and Muslim.

Ask me anything, except about gay rights.

You ask a question 7 hours after the ama and expect an answer lmao.

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He answered 10 questions. This is a trainwreck. He got elected because of people virtue signalling and judging him by his skin, age, and faith.

Most of the questions he asked were from the range of 0-2.5H. I don't understand why you except him to continue answering shit for upwards of 4+ hours. Also check his edit, its 3AM where he lives.

No plan, no vision, no experience.

Kinda sounds like your current president don't you think?

I don't think people realize that the OP needed to go to sleep.

Do religious beliefs inform your decisions?

I am a deeply religious man and faith plays a large part in helping me stay calm and relaxed. The conviction I have in my religion allows me to do what I feel is right for the people and not stress too much.

In terms of day to day decisions, however, I don't let religion let me inform my decisions. I saw there were a lot of Muslim kids not getting the food they needed so I pushed for halal food, however, I'm also noticing a growing vegan population and so I've also pushed to have vegan options.

I try to have all my decisions in office come from an objective lens.

Hi

First of all, congratulations!

And my questions:

1. Do you support separation of church (religion) and state?
2. What is your position on secularism?
3. Do you defend the rights of atheists too?

I answered another similar question regarding cartoons:

"Let me share a part of Islam with you that you probably haven't been exposed to, in Islam, there is a hadith that says you must follow the laws of a land that you are in, which is why I don't understand all these shariah law questions because as Muslims in America we are subject to the laws of America.

To this question, in my own personal capacity, I support free speech. Period. That being said I would find it deeply insulting for someone to draw cartoons of Mohammed (pbuh) the same way that I find it deeply infuriating that there are people out there who deny the Holocaust ever happened."

*Edit: I'm not equating the two, in fact, I even use different verbs in the original post to illustrate this -insulting vs infuriating- the latter is much stronger than the former in emotions.

Why is it so important that you state your religion?

My religion is relevant because our current President made it relevant. To lie about Muslims in Jersey City celebrating really pissed me off, especially because of the fallout of 9/11 where mosques in Jersey City were infiltrated by the NYPD as well as Muslim Student Associations. My religion is part of who I am and I see it as extremely relevant in a climate where Muslims are constantly under attack by individuals, like many on this thread, who paint Islam in broad strokes without any understanding of my faith. Again I'm not a scholar of the faith but I want people to understand that Muslims aren't people who want to come to kill you or "hate us" but they are people like me who have grown up in this country and want to serve the communities that raised us. Muslims aren't terrorists but rather community leaders and activists that want to push the envelope forward on American inclusivity.

Why is your religion relevant?

My religion is relevant because our current President made it relevant. To lie about Muslims in Jersey City celebrating really pissed me off, especially because of the fallout of 9/11 where mosques in Jersey City were infiltrated by the NYPD as well as Muslim Student Associations. My religion is part of who I am and I see it as extremely relevant in a climate where Muslims are constantly under attack by individuals, like many on this thread, who paint Islam in broad strokes without any understanding of my faith. Again I'm not a scholar of the faith but I want people to understand that Muslims aren't people who want to come to kill you or "hate us" but they are people like me who have grown up in this country and want to serve the communities that raised us. Muslims aren't terrorists but rather community leaders and activists that want to push the envelope forward on American inclusivity.

Because his district is heavily Muslim and hr represents them.

Actually not really... Jersey City data says about 4.2% https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jersey_City,_New_Jersey#cite_note-City-Data-114

I would say it's below 15% for sure and I run city-wide not in 1 district.

We deeply, deeply value free expression in this society, its enshrined as the very first thing in our bill of rights.

Would you support the rights of someone who draws cartoons of Mohammed? Or someone who has left the faith of Islam and criticizes it in deeply insulting terms?

Let me share a part of Islam with you that you probably haven't been exposed to, in Islam, there is a hadith that says you must follow the laws of a land that you are in, which is why I don't understand all these shariah law questions because as Muslims in America we are subject to the laws of America.

To this question, in my own personal capacity, I support free speech. Period. That being said I would find it deeply insulting for someone to draw cartoons of Mohammed (pbuh) the same way that I find it deeply infuriating that there are people out there who deny the Holocaust ever happened. Ditto for the second question as well. *Edit: I'm not equating the two, in fact, I even use different verbs in the original post to illustrate this -insulting vs infuriating- the latter is much stronger than the former in emotions.

First off, congrats on your election and milestone.

Do you believe that there is a distinct and important difference between US born Muslims and Muslims born in countries with Islam as a state religion? Those countries overwhelming seem to be anti-gay, oppressive towards women, and hold values that seem opposite of Western democracies. If this distinction remains true, how do we fight the stigma geared towards moderate, secular Muslims in the US versus those overseas?

Yo check his hsitory. Dude posts a lot in anime and pokemon subs.

It also says he was 22 3 years ago...

I don't have my own reddit and my brother thought it would be fine for me to post through his reddit because we never thought it would blow up like this, we were just looking to field some questions that were focused more locally and thought we might get only 10-15 questions which are really all we got the first 2 hours. There's really no reason for me to lie about my age and you can google me for evidence on the internet about who I am. Btw what's wrong with anime/pokemon?

I don't think there is much of a distinct difference other than the governments which run these nations, there is no official "sharia law" doctrine as many people believe. And as someone who has family that lives in Pakistan, I can tell you that the idea that "Islam hates us" is completely untrue. What is true, however, is based on a Gallup survey, the majority of countries see America as the greatest threat to world peace (this was in 2013 so pre-Trump). IMO we just need to recognize that Islam isn't some barbaric religion of the middle east but is and has been a part of America as well.

How difficult was it/is being so young in a system full of older people?

Honestly, at first, it was pretty rough. When I first ran, I had tons of people discount my experience because of my age, then when I got elected I still remember walking into the office and I had people ask me if I was the work-study student. At this point, I think it's gotten better because I've developed a reputation for myself as someone who knows what they're talking about. In many ways, I see my position as someone who is wrestling away power from those that are older for our generation.

Hey! I'm a high school student in Jersey City and I hope you can make a lot of changes! Our student council saw what the board did with the headwrap situation last year and we really appreciate it. Do you have any plans on helping to improve the facilities situation in schools, even with the limited budget?

Hi!

We're working on a lot of different models right now. As you know the school funding is up in the airs right now so we have to see what the city council does first to get the full picture of the funding come up. Once we have a good idea of the budget we are dealing with we can figure what we have to do.

However, I CAN tell you this: the student perspective is always extremely important to every decision I make. I know exactly what it feels like to be in those seats since I was there not too long ago so I make sure everything I do - I can't speak for other board members - keeps the students in mind.

Does Central Jersey exist?

I'm not sure about that....however, no one has ever questioned if North Jersey exists ;)

What do you think is the best way to bring better funding to your part of government? Are there any creative market-based strategy ideas you have in mind to promote engagement as well as finance new ideas?

Right now our budget is facing a squeeze due to both structural issues along with impending cuts from the State of NJ. Our structural issue requires us to a complete audit of our budget (already on the way) and the state cut came with a "life-line" which was a payroll tax to be debated by the city council. Beyond that I think school districts need to be more proactive in reaching out to businesses, getting something like an "adopt-a-school" model.

What have you been able to accomplish in just 1 year that you got re-elected with such a large margin?

Honestly, I wish I could tell you an exact answer. I stayed true to my platform of providing a voice for students and passed landmark legislation that allowed a student to join our board. Another great story was that we had a student who was getting detention for wearing African headwraps and I worked with her so that when she came to the board I was able to pass legislation amending our dress code policy which was super archaic (It said stuff like if you wanted to wear a hijab or kippah you had to have a note from a religious authority). I also worked on getting better school lunch and first responder training in schools as well as passing a resolution to allow for lead testing in partnership with our local Health and Human Services. But honestly, I still don't know how we managed to reach so many voters. I think our social media efforts + ground game really helped us crush it in this election.

What is a good piece of advice you would give to the struggling young leaders out there?

You need to keep striving forward. I've said this before, I don't think our generation has time to wait. Ive met many amazing young leaders, but we need more. We need to step up as a generation and make the changes we want. We can't keep waiting for others to do it for us.

Peanut butter: crunchy or creamy?

Crunchy. I prefer things that are heterogeneous like our democracy.

Are you internally or externally motivated? What is that motivation?

I'm largely internally motivated. I'll tell you a quick story I wrote for an application back when I thought I was going to go to medical school:

"She wasn’t breathing. My brother and I laid the patient in a prone position and made a jagged cut down the spinal column with blunt-tip scissors. I reached into the patient with my right hand, felt around the fluff and pulled out Thomas Jefferson. Another clear case of nickel poisoning, we joked. Ever since my brother and I were adolescents, we frequently simulated surgeries on my sister’s dolls, practicing for what we believed would be our eventual professions."

I always wanted to be a doctor to have the ability to save others people's lives and make that life-changing impact. I now realize that in my role as a legislator I'm able to make an even larger impact on the lives of others and that's what drives me. Helping others. I know it sounds super corny but it's that simple.

Hey OP... My God, these questions. If you ever make it all the way to mine, you have my sincere thanks.

I want to ask you about something that's very important to me and should be increasingly important to everyone, after the most recent IPCC report: climate change.

We are quite evidently facing a time of unprecedented risk to individuals, species, and perhaps multi-cellular life as we know it.

I know this may seem outside the scope, but your new position of power may give you some opportunity to influence the environmental impact of school practices in your community, and perhaps even affect what is communicated to the youth in your district about the environment, and how informed they are. We're also at a time where everyone needs to pitch in and do there part.

My question to you is this: with all of the support from the community that you have, do you have any plans to use your influence and power to affect environmental practices and perceptions in your area? If so, what do these plans include?

Climate change is critically important. We are working with schools to reduce energy, potentially install solar panels as well as changing our trays from styrofoam to biodegradable (that idea actually came from a group of students). I also helped to reinstall our recycling program in partnership with the City of Jersey City.

First off, congratulations on your victory. You’re making big moves at a young age. Did you initially face criticism for your age? If so, how has that view changed now?

I answered kind of the same question above: copied "Honestly, at first, it was pretty rough. When I first ran, I had tons of people discount my experience because of my age, then when I got elected I still remember walking into the office and I had people ask me if I was the work-study student. At this point, I think it's gotten better because I've developed a reputation for myself as someone who knows what they're talking about. In many ways, I see my position as someone who is wrestling away power from those that are older for our generation."

If someone says something islamophobic to you what do you say in response?

Like calling you a terrorist or something?

I am blessed to live in the most diverse city in America - Jersey City. Whenever I get an islamophobic response online, I tend to ignore it. If it is in person, I try to keep calm and manage the situation. Usually, if someone is saying something rude, it is because they are misinformed and a simple conversation can usually help both parties understand the situation.

Where does your school board/district stand on incorporating technology into education? What is your approach to this issue and how is it different (if it is) from that of the older members of your board (who may not have firsthand experience with the effect technology has had on education)?

Our district is moving towards being completely 1 to 1 (1 laptop/ipad per student) and we've started new tech programs. What I've really tried to move along is starting comp sci/coding programs at a younger age which we've started to do. I think what you'll realize though is that a lot of older members realize the importance of tech and it's implications for the future.

Do you want a career in politics? What kind of work do you see yourself doing in the future?

Hi, interesting question. I'm still figuring that out. Politics requires a lot of red tape and there are a host of other issues at larger levels.

To be honest, I just want to help people. I firmly believe that public service is the rent we pay to others for living on earth - shoutout to Muhammad Ali - and that's all I want to do: serve people.

What’s your favorite plant?

I'll go with some cliché roses

Agree or disagree with my username?

Chicken is great. :)