American Muslims: We're Not The Ones You Are Looking For

By Shamshad Ahmad
Religion News Service

ALBANY, N.Y. (RNS) Contrary to the post-colonial sense of resentment carried by many European Muslims, American Muslims have a more positive attitude. Since Muslim immigrants have generally enjoyed fair treatment on almost every level of U.S. society, there is no antagonistic relationship between Muslims and their adopted country, despite some disagreements over U.S. foreign policy.

Muslims appreciate the opportunities they have found here, and they strive day and night, like everyone else, to realize the American dream. 9/11, however, changed everything for America, and for American Muslims.

In the wake of the 9/11 attacks, suspicion turned to all Islamic institutions and mosques. Because the 9/11 attacks succeeded due to intelligence failures, the U.S. government poured money and manpower into law enforcement, with the pressure to produce visible results.

Too often based on suspicion alone, thousands of U.S. Muslims were detained and questioned, and their property was seized. Many innocent people fell victim to aggressive policing, and many families, communities and Muslim institutions suffered. Entrapment and pre-emptive prosecution became commonplace.

Coupled with new legislation that permitted government surveillance of U.S. citizens without judicial oversight, and the unprecedented use of classified evidence at trial, the authorities felt empowered.

Masjid As-Salam, the mosque that I founded here in Albany, was put under surveillance soon after 9/11. FBI agents, headquartered in a field office just two miles away, were assigned to investigate Muslim individuals and businesses.

After failing to discover anything that would result in genuine prosecution, the FBI in 2003 manufactured an artificial case through elaborate entrapment tactics. We're still dealing with the damage that resulted.

The FBI drafted a Pakistani immigrant to help entrap other Muslims by working as an informant. The man was accused of serious crimes in Pakistan and entering the U.S. on a fake passport, and had been convicted for selling fraudulent driver's licenses in Albany. The government offered him protection, a clean record, cash and citizenship in exchange for going undercover.

The informant zeroed in on the mosque and its imam, Yassin Aref, an Iraqi refugee from Kurdistan who had come to the U.S. through a United Nations refugee resettlement program. The informant posed as a rich businessman, and offered a loan with very attractive terms to a friend of Aref's who was desperate to save his business. According to Muslim custom, Aref witnessed the loan between the two parties, like a notary public.

The FBI, however, convinced a jury that the imam and his friend were not transacting a simple loan; rather, they were providing material support to terrorism through a money-laundering scheme. Both were convicted and sentenced to 15 years in prison.

Local Muslims were shocked at the entrapment of two innocent family men. Mosque membership dropped from 300 to 200 immediately after their arrests in 2004. People were even frightened to pass by the mosque, or to contact the families of the victims. Our mosque has yet to fully recover.

Nearly nine years after 9/11, American Muslims had hoped the media hype and government policing would have taken a more rational turn by now. We hoped that terror-related events would be treated as criminal acts rather than as wholesale indictments of an entire community and religion.

Unfortunately, the sensationalism of such events remains the same; the purposeful obscuring of facts remains the same; and the general assumption of guilt before innocence remains, unfailingly, the same.

American Muslims are weary of being equated with terrorists. Terrorism is not only against the central beliefs of our peaceful religion--it is against basic common sense for those of us who wish to live and flourish in this country.

We exclude any inappropriate discussion of violence in our mosque, which is part of the reason extremists often shun mosques as being too apologetic. Instead, they favor a radical path that can only be found on the websites of the Islamically illiterate but dangerously persuasive.

We feel depressed, confused and frightened. American Muslims want to live here with pride. We pray for the day when we will be accepted as citizens of this great country, when our patriotism is no longer weighed against our religion.

(Shamshad Ahmad is president of Masjid As-Salam mosque in Albany, N.Y., and a physics professor at the University at Albany. He is the author of "Rounded Up: Artificial Terrorists and Muslim Entrapment After 9/11." A version of this column originally appeared in the Albany Times-Union.)

Comments

[jam2715]

12:22 PM on 08/08/2010

"We're Not The Ones You Are Looking For" I beg to differ

[blue planet blues]

03:23 AM on 08/06/2010

Ok Shamshad.....you haven't mentioned where your family migrated from.I am assuming it is Pakistan.Why should anybody trust Pakistani's anymore.You know what I mean.Even AQ Khan was a respectable scientist or so it seemed at the time.
And I agree Islam should have nothing to do with it.But Pakistani's..yes.

[mggwa]

08:03 PM on 08/05/2010

As you have described it, the proceedings do seem to be particularly unjust.

[Nabihah Mohammed]

01:21 PM on 07/18/2010

please check out http://www.islamicsolutions.com/whither-american-muslims/

[Manhajsadiqeen]

02:12 AM on 07/14/2010

The American Muslim is in a no win situation. Those who have migrated have married, have children who have been accustomed to the amenities that few other places on earth can bring. Enter the 9/11 tragedy and their world has turned upside down. Once the American Muslims were considered before 9/11 a second thought, became the focus of a manhunt unprecedented, save for the genocide of the Native Americans. How can they return home and lose face in doing so? American Muslims went against the advice of their families in Muslim lands and migrated to a non Muslim country, in violation of the AL Hadith, which says that the Prophet sws washes hands off of the Muslims that goes and lives among the non Muslims. This prophetic revelation has come home to roost in many American Muslims today. An estimate of 1 million Muslims place on 'no fly' list! Some have been been forced exiled and cannot return to America. Government officials, talk show hosts, and rank and file Americans venting anger at any American Muslim for the actions of a few. American Mosques place of worship firebombed in Florida, Ohio, California and a whole host of other states. American Muslim collectively have carried to pain and aspirations on their backs, for actions that they did not do! Non Muslim Americans began dissecting Islam looking for wrongs in order to castigate, malign and to jail American Muslims as the enemy! Now there are tears of sadness!

[Jan Allen McDaniel]

09:00 AM on 07/14/2010

"The American Muslim is in a no win situation."

Agreed. If he adheres to Islamic law in America, he violates American law. Americans do not take kindly to that. If he abandons Islamic law, he is no longer Muslim in the sight of traditional Muslims and no one wants to face the life of an apostate.

"American Muslims went against the advice of their families in Muslim lands and migrated to a non Muslim country, in violation of the AL Hadith, which says that the Prophet sws washes hands off of the Muslims that goes and lives among the non Muslims."

My understanding of the Islamic law on emigration is not so black and white. I will have to look up the source, but my memory is that emigration was ok if the Muslim worked to install Islamic law in his new home and was not prevented from full exercise of his Islamic rights in the adopted country.

[Manhajsadiqeen]

12:13 PM on 07/14/2010

This is not the case. You must look up this hadith, read it and be mindful of the ratings of the Al Hadith. If it is a da'if (weak) it is not go to use and there is also sahih (very good) Hassan sahih and so on. If you cannot find it, I will give you the Al Hadith so you can review it. There are many Muslim scholars in the west that went against this hadith and OK'd that Muslims migrate to non Muslim lands; to the chagrin of the big Muslim scholars (the Ulama) in Muslim lands. Any case if the Muslim does it, he is sinful and he or she should be mindful of the washing of the hands by the Prophet sws and trouble with Allah swt, since you must obey the messenger of Allah swt. As the Prophet sws stated 'We should not see each other's camp fires', meaning living near or with the non believers.

[Puncastle]

08:44 PM on 07/14/2010

There are no laws in the U.S. that I am aware of that force a Muslim to abandon Islamic law. As an American Muslim of over 30 years, I have never been in a situation where I had to compromise either the civic laws or Islamic laws.

Secondly, the Prophet (saws) used to send his followers to different lands to teach others about Islam. How else do you explain that countries such as Japan, China and Indonesia have so many Muslims if the Makkans only stayed in Makkah?

[Jan Allen McDaniel]

09:28 AM on 07/14/2010

Umdat al-salik, o25.3 a (emigration)

[When a caliph behaves like an unbeliever and it is impossible to remove him…]

“…a Muslim in such a case should emigrate from his country (N: if he can find a better one), fleeing with his religion (A: which is obligatory if he is prevented in his home country from openly performing acts of worship)));"[...]

[Manhajsadiqeen]

12:05 PM on 07/14/2010

True, but not the the land of disbelievers! This hadith is rated sahih! So that means it is correct in its narration. There are about four reasons for a Muslim to live among the disbelievers, for education and then return; medical, then return, as spread and to protect Islam meaning a person as a ambassador and the such and Imans, shaykhs and Islamic scholars working in schools. Since the land of the disbelievers are considered Dar Fitnah generally for the Muslim. Look at the historical trouble for Muslims living in non Muslim lands. Now, if a Muslim is born in these lands, he is entitled to stay but if he cannot practice is religion, and withstand the fitnah (temptations), he is obligated to migrate to Muslim lands. What you have mentioned in your post is correct but to other Muslim lands. Many Muslims today have left for riches, better way of life, worldly gain and so on. This is unacceptable under the hadith and current fatwas concerning Muslims migrating to the west. Some Muslims left their lands and temporarily gain in riches and lost in faith; they cannot heard the adhan calling one to prayer; he cannot dress Islamic and must wear clothes of the non believers, and a great majority of Muslims cannot make mandatory prayer in the mosque (required for the man) due to no mosques close by and so on. Lastly, his employment is such that he is not allowed time to pray.

[Brent Poirier]

10:09 PM on 07/13/2010

Imagine this: You approach a Protestant pastor and ask him to identify families from the church to come to the homes of Muslim families. The purpose of the visit is not to convert--it is to understand, and make friends.
At the meal a friend helps, so that the Muslim wife is not in the kitchen during the meal--she is at the table, a full participant in the conversation. The meal begins with a prayer in Arabic said by the Muslim man. He states that it was the Lord's Prayer in Arabic. The Christian children have spoken to their pastor beforehand, and have prepared questions. One is "how often do you pray, and what do you ask of God?" Later, the 15 year old Muslim boy gives a brief talk on chastity, quoting verses from the Qur'an and from the Psalms.His purpose is not to demonstrate the superiority of the Qur'an; it is to demonstrate that both Holy Books came from the same God.
A few days later the Protestant man is talking with his co-workers, and when one of them says Muslims are not trustworthy, the Protestant man says, "They're not like that. I have a Muslim friend. They just want to live peaceably, and raise their kids to be honorable people.”
I think that the hysteria that has been whipped up in America against Muslims could be significantly reduced, with a simple family-to-family approach, if it is handled properly.

[Jan Allen McDaniel]

09:05 AM on 07/14/2010

This is a hopeful scenario and I hope it happens a lot.

Regrettably, it is a band aid applied to a cancer. The problems go much deeper.

[itsjustanillusion]

01:23 PM on 07/14/2010

Wow!

[Puncastle]

08:48 PM on 07/14/2010

And how is it that you hope for this scenario to happen, when you have already jumped to prejudism and bigotry by presupposing that Islam is a "cancer" to the American society.

The problem does go deeper and it is caused by bigotry and racism by the likes of you.

[Puncastle]

08:46 PM on 07/14/2010

Well said.

[RCRod83]

06:18 PM on 07/13/2010

President Teddy Roosevelt said:

"In the first place we should insist that the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equity with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace or origin. But this is predicated upon the man's becoming an American and nothing but an American. There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag, and this excludes the red flag which symbolizes all wars against liberty and civilization, just as much as it excludes any flag of a nation to which we are hostile. We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language...and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."

This is all I have to say. Until Muslims and Mexicans who are in the U.S. follow through on what President Roosevelt has said, America will continue to struggle with your presence.

[Gurg]

09:36 PM on 07/20/2010

Muslims and Mexicans? So what do these two groups have to do for "America" to accept them? Accept JC as their lord and savior (I believe the Mexicans already did that)? Join the teabaggers? Praise W for attacking Iraq? Help me out here pal.

[mggwa]

08:16 PM on 08/05/2010

Renounce allegiance to one's former nation is pretty much all that is required.

In the case of Islam, the concept of "nation" does not really exist and you cannot very well renounce Islam itself. Thus, immigrant Moslems *cannot* still be a Moslem and have renounced Islam.

My limited understanding of Islam is that such persons are visitors, even if they are here for many years or many generations. Visitors can be very honorably welcomed, but for so long as a visiting Moslem places Islam first, then he has not renounced his former "nation" and his citizenship in the United States is not complete.

It is the same for Christians moving to the land of Islam, perhaps to work on the oil wells. They are visitors, and some rules of Islam apply specifically to visitors so long as they obey certain rules. They don't even have to become Moslem. They might conceivably be immigrated to the secular government but that would have very little weight in the *real* government in most of those nations.

[Jan Allen McDaniel]

03:07 PM on 07/13/2010

"We feel depressed, confused and frightened."

That is an appropriate response to the situation, Mr. Ahmad. Your religion is engaged in civil war. You are caught in the middle of it. You are looking to the wrong quarter for a solution. Tolerance from non-Muslims is not going to solve your problems. Blaming government efforts to prevent further attacks is not going to solve your problems.

" We exclude any inappropriate discussion of violence in our mosque, which is part of the reason extremists often shun mosques as being too apologetic. Instead, they favor a radical path that can only be found on the websites of the Islamically illiterate but dangerously persuasive."

Condescending to those Muslims who see the need to use violence to hold back the tide of change inside Islam is not going to solve your problems.

What is going to solve your problems is for people like you to attack the source of the persuaveness of those illiterate Islamists--Islamic texts that support their view of the Muslim duty to remove all obstacles to the spread and eventual domination of Islamic law.

Short of deep reform of Islamic law, I do not see the present situation changing for the better.

[Manhajsadiqeen]

01:50 AM on 07/14/2010

There is no civil war in Islam, the invasions and convert operations in Muslim lands, creating, funding and backing corrupt Muslim leaders have led to wide spread discontent in Muslim lands. In Muslim countries, the populace cannot vote out these American puppets and the security forces from Morocco to Pakistan are trained, armed, give superior weaponry from your very own Uncle Sam! Enter the makauamah, created in frustration to get justice done, instead took to the Sahara, built camps to fight the American backed regimes. These are some of the many problems faced in Muslim lands. One other factor, grants and loans from America and IMF find it's way in the pockets of far too many of our Muslim leaders and those dividends don't find it's way in the schools are roads, care of out mosque's, health care and so on. So, many of my brothers and sisters in Muslim lands migrate to the west, simply put, they have lost patience for a corrupted system of secular governance. Islam is strong and thriving in Muslim lands but the war on Islam fronted by American interventions, interdictions, covert and surveillance operations in Muslim lands has caused an uproar in our lands, since the American war on terror and our leaders are adjoined at the hip. Insurgents angry as hell at this union between the aforementioned, has caused violence between American backed regimes and the Jamaat Islamiyah political groups, the makauamah and Al Qaeda franchises. Not as you have posted!

[Jan Allen McDaniel]

06:42 AM on 07/14/2010

In dissent you validate my point. The civil war inside Islam is between those who want to be governed by sharia and those who do not. America's role in this is simply being an example of how good life can be without theocracy.

Read Qtub's "In the Shade of the Koran". It's all there and has been for decades.