Muslim Americans Denounce Peter King's 'Demonization' Of Islamic Community

WASHINGTON -- Members of the Muslim community on Wednesday denounced hearings scheduled by Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y) on the radicalization of American Muslims. The controversial House Homeland Security Committee hearing is scheduled for Thursday.

"Representative King's two main allegations -- that American Muslims do not cooperate with law enforcement, and that 80 to 85 percent of their leadership are 'extremists' -- are demonstrably false," said Council on American-Islamic Relations' Nihad Awad. Top law enforcement officials such as FBI Director Robert Mueller and Los Angeles Sheriff Lee Baca, commander of the nation's largest sheriff's department, have reported Muslims support and cooperate with law enforcement, Awad noted.

King has called Muslims "part of the mosaic" of America and argued they shouldn't feel threatened or intimidated by his line of inquiry. But many fear that King is on a witch hunt, comparing the chair of the House Homeland Security Committee to Joseph McCarthy, and hundreds of Muslim Americans gathered in New York City this weekend in protest of the hearings.

Alejandro Beutel, policy analyst at the Muslim Public Affairs Council in Washington, has been tracking terrorist incidents since the 9/11 attacks and said that while the problem of the radicalization of young Muslims is real, broad-brushing an entire community will only handicap the fight to prevent extremism, which depends on the cooperation of citizens unafraid to contact authorities.

At a press conference held Wednesday at the National Press Club, Mohammad Dawood of the Muslim American Society agreed:

"We are concerned that the hearings called by Representative Peter King will not uncover new information about criminality or radicalism in America. Nor will the hearings in their current form examine the presence ... of the groups that openly espouse the overthrow of the government ... rather these proceedings will give voice to people with clear agendas against the very religion of Islam and those who have made a cottage industry out of the demonization of the entire religious community."

Shahid Buttar, executive director of the Bill of Rights Defense Committee, argued the hearings constitute not just a crisis confronting the American Muslim community, but a crisis confronting the United States.

"The freedoms to belief, to speech, to associate, these are fundamental -- they're in the First Amendment for a reason," Buttar told reporters on Wednesday. "These are integral not just to any community's opportunity to participate in our society, they're integral to our society as a whole," he added. "And when we compromise them for any given community, it sets a precedent that opens the door to more."

Comments

[HCLiberal]

05:56 PM on 03/11/2011

Is Peter King a bigot?
Of course he is. He is a Republican

But bigots have the same freedom of speech as we all do as American citizens.

The only problem is that he has some power now and he can potentially cause damage - not so much to Muslims, but to core American values, some of which are in our Constitution.

Other than that, I don't really care about what he is doing.

Bigots come and go. There is nothing big an new about that. In fact, there are several right here on this thread.

But who cares!

[HCLiberal]

05:41 PM on 03/11/2011

All that is common among all Muslims is the first ":kalama":
"Laa ilaaha illal Lahoo Mohammadur Rasool Ullah"

Translation:
(There is) none worthy of worship except Allah. Muhammad is Messenger of ALLAH

"Allah" is the Arabic word for God.

Now, (with the disclaimer that I am an atheist), the recitation of (and, presumably the belief in) the first kalama is all it takes to become a Muslim.

Also, keep in mind, that Jesus Christ (Issah), according to Muslims, was also a messenger of God.

As an atheist, do I find that amusing? Yes., but not any more or less amusing than the claim that Jesus was the son of a bearded guy in the sky.

Do I feel threatened by the kalama? Heck no.
Believe in whatever you want. it is your right and none of my business as to what you believe in.

Am I concerned about radical Islamists? Yes., but not any more than I am concerned about the Mafia or the radical Christians (Th e Christian Right).

So, Peter king can use his current power to demonize Islam all he wants. To me, he is no better than a two-bit bigot, trying to advance his agenda.

[Joe Goforth]

03:21 PM on 03/10/2011

It's hard for me to believe with the daily reports of people being kill everyday all over the world by Islamic Terrorists that there are still people who refuse to believe that these people are not inspired by their religion and somehow are separate and unrelated. Somehow it seems like we are not listening to what the terrorists are saying to us because it doesn't fit in our world view of things. Maybe this makes the terrorists even more determined because they think we are mocking them. I think that President Obama's politically correct cleansing of the word Islam or Muslim from the official lexicon regarding anything to do with terrorism is really what is playing out here through these hearings because there have been reports made about the same exact thing in the past without any hysteria involved. http://hsgac.senate.gov/public/_files/IslamistReport.pdf

[rhetoric vitriol]

01:47 PM on 03/10/2011

I don't see the problem here. Everyone should be aware of the threats of radical Islam. Including the "peace loving" muslims here in the states. It does seem there is reluctance of the "peace loving" muslims to condem the actions of the radical muslim extremists that want to destroy our way of life. Its time to pick a team Americans. Which side are you on? Enough with the political correctness.

[HCLiberal]

05:45 PM on 03/11/2011

Including the "peace loving" muslims here in the states
-----------------

Heh! Your bigotry is showing wit those quotation marks.

No that I care, but you might wish to hide it.

[zyanna]

07:25 PM on 03/11/2011

Average, non-radical, moderate Muslims have issued SO many condemnations of radical Muslim extremists (see links). Hint: Don't expect FOX news to report it when they do.

http://www.stockholmnews.com/more.aspx?NID=6415
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2011/02/09/muslims-condemn-violence-help-clean-church-ruins.html
http://abna.ir/data.asp?lang=3&id=195897
http://www.mb.com.ph/node/271070/u
http://www.stltoday.com/news/national/article_904be155-e2ed-5b49-9762-d7112574c4cb.html
http://www.musalmantimes.com/?p=114
http://bikyamasr.com/wordpress/?p=10116
http://www.freep.com/article/20091229/NEWS05/91229007/1318/
http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/panelists/daisy_khan/2009/11/muslims_condemn_violent_acts_at_fort_hood_and_offer_their_condolences.html
http://www.mb.com.ph/articles/238453/rp-muslims-condemn-attacks-churches-malaysia
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/2009/06/16/Indian-Muslims-condemn-Pakistani-Taliban/UPI-78031245208305/
http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=15820&size=A
http://www.infocusnews.net/content/view/28344/135/
http://www.newstrackindia.com/newsdetails/47365
http://www.zeenews.com/nation/2008-12-04/488397news.html
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2007/07/2008525124940344602.html
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003160600_muslim29m.html
http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/875834.m5ec/?from=ec&to=875834&l=top_muslims_condemn_bomb_plots
http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Indonesia's-Muslims-condemn-Bali-terrorist-attack-4249.html

http://www.lebanonwire.com/0705/05073101CSM.asp
http://www.vivelecanada.ca/article/114757361-muslims-are-condemning-terror-but-who-s-listening

[TheyDidntListentoNoah]

11:17 AM on 03/10/2011

This is another divisive firestore drummed up by the right wing to divert attention from Wall Street and corporatism. If they can't get Americans to turn on one another (a la Wisconsin) they will get them to scapegoat a religious minority.

I look for them to do something with gay rights next. Once you are onto their tactics you can ignore them and focus on what is really going on. They will do ANYTHING to keep their constituents angry and stirred up toward contrived enemies for fear those constituents will turn their wrath against corporate looting and Wall Street Pillage. The latter are the forces the commercialized right is protecting.

I'm sure there are some radical groups that need to be monitored but we need to separate legitimate issues from the political agendas of those who would use concern about radicalism as a 'cover'.

[checkmoot]

08:32 AM on 03/10/2011

Muslims shouldn't get upset about it. First we killed off the Native Americans so we could farm their land with African slaves and after we freed them we would not, of course associate with them and we were still killing Native Americans as we moved west. Up until a fairly short time ago we wouldn't associate with Jews. They had to start their own country clubs. Catholics were second class citizens for years and Hispanic immigrants are considered a major threat. You folks just happen to be the latest victims of prejudice.and this too, will pass.

[Ed Baker]

11:57 AM on 03/10/2011

Anger should be directed at those who defame islam:

http://www­.reuters.c­om/article­/2010/10/0­5/us-times­square-idU­STRE69437A­20101005

http://en.­wikipedia.­org/wiki/J­ohn_Walker­_Lindh

http://en.­wikipedia.­org/wiki/R­amzi_Youse­f

http://new­s.blogs.cn­n.com/2010­/04/19/sec­urity-brie­f-radical-­islamic-we­b-site-tak­es-on-sout­h-park/

http://en.­wikipedia.­org/wiki/T­heo_van_Go­gh_%28film_di­rector%29

http://en.­wikipedia.­org/wiki/K­urt_Wester­gaard

http://en.­wikipedia.­org/wiki/B­urqa

http://en.­wikipedia.­org/wiki/F­emale_geni­tal_cuttin­g

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Satanic_Verses_controversy

These are the things that defame islam.

[MohammedAbbasi]

08:06 AM on 03/10/2011

Americans who are worth any salt should boycott these public lynchings, its time for Americans to stand up to their extremists like Peter King and show the world they are against extremists... STAND IN SOLIDARITY AGAINST EXTREMISTS

[HCLiberal]

05:43 PM on 03/11/2011

Hear, hear!

All decent and patriotic Americans are with you on this, MohammedAbbasi.

[Plasma003]

07:51 AM on 03/10/2011

Thank you Rep King for bringing this issue to the forefront! The American people need to understand the depth of this threat to our way of life...

Thank-you Sir!!!!!

[Sam Damon]

07:42 AM on 03/10/2011

The increasing number of home grown Islamic extremist are doing more to “demonize” the Muslim American community than any hearings ever could. These extremist are predominately born within the Muslim American community, they are radicalized within the Muslim American community, they plan Jihad within the Muslim American community and they are often shielded from law enforcement within the Muslim American community. So how can we ever hope to defeat this threat without focusing on the Muslim American community? Folks we can water down effective approaches with as much politically correct fodder as we can muster, but if you think the “demonization” is bad now wait until one of these guys slips through and succeeds on a grand scale.

[Arsalannn]

08:16 AM on 03/10/2011

Do you have facts to back any of your claims up?

Because I'm fairly certain they're all false. Extremists are shunned by the Muslim community, and I can tell you this from first-hand experience. Muslins want nothing to do with them, period. Most extremists are even reported to the FBI by Muslims. As I'm sure you've heard, recent studies show that the Muslim community has been overwhelmingly cooperative and an integral tool towards fighting terrorism; 48 of 120 plots were thwarted after tips given by the Muslim-American community to the U.S authorities.

[bar1ed]

07:38 AM on 03/10/2011

Rep. King should hold hearings on Gov. Walker [Wis.]. Thats if he's really worried about America.

[Ed Baker]

07:53 AM on 03/10/2011

Off topic.

[bar1ed]

08:17 AM on 03/10/2011

Yea! That happens sometimes ........... sorry!

[Ed Baker]

07:24 AM on 03/10/2011

Yeah yeah cry me a river. They should be directing their anger toward bin Laden and the PLA/PLO. The people who have demonized Islam are the ones who were dancing and throwing candy in the air on 9/11.

The Catholics cried bias too - when it was discovered their priests raped little boys for decades.

[Arsalannn]

09:01 AM on 03/10/2011

None of the things you mentioned occurred here, and none of them have any relevancy to American Muslims.

[Ed Baker]

09:44 AM on 03/10/2011

No Catholic priests molested little kids in the US? Really - all that press and convictions were just fabricated by the anti-clergy media?

[Nyah Molineaux]

05:50 AM on 03/10/2011

Lets just face it- the Republican party has become a cesspool of bigotry. Whether its targeting Muslims, Gays, Latinos, the American identity of the current president- they always find ways to disparage any group who is not white+christian+non-straight. This is what the party has become and the best way to fight it is to expose this party and limit their power in elected offices.

[Emmayonas]

05:17 AM on 03/10/2011

This is great. We are going to have a hearing on radicals. Next in line will be Pat Roberston, a man who threatened an elected official of another country Venezuela with violence. Then of course that nut church who protests at funeral.

[Plasma003]

07:54 AM on 03/10/2011

The leader of the "nut church" Fred Phelps supported Al Gore and is a registered Democrat... Even ran as a Democrat for US Senate in 1992....

Muah!

[glddraco]

03:43 AM on 03/10/2011

I personally believe that the right wing extremism that we've been seeing the last three months has gotten out of control. Something needs to be done. I just hope that in 2012 they get voted out but I just don't know. Is America the country I love become this fascist?

[Plasma003]

07:55 AM on 03/10/2011

"Is America the country I love become this fascist?"

-No, just waking up to the fact that Islamic terrorism is a true and real threat..

[glddraco]

01:34 PM on 03/10/2011

Oh please spare me. The christian right are just as much of a threat to this democracy actually far more so than Muslims could ever be.

[Ed Baker]

07:59 AM on 03/10/2011

Fascist? Islam's public image issues are of it's own making. MGM, FGM, burkas, beheadings and amputations - are we supposed to think these things are great?

[wlkcrk]

03:20 AM on 03/10/2011

When he gets through with the Muslims, who will be next, the Catholics, The Baptists, the Lutherans or the Atheists. When they come for me I'll be ready.