After two months of traveling abroad, Imam Rauf, the Chairman of the Cordoba Initiative and the leader of the Farah Mosque in Lower Manhattan, returned this week to the American mainland. His return and subsequent defense of the Initiative mark the unfolding of a new chapter in the ongoing saga surrounding the so-called "Ground Zero Mosque," and the general fear-mongering and emotional hype that has characterized public discussions about Muslims in America lately.
Perhaps one of the most telling chapters of that story came during an episode of comedian Jon Stewart's Daily Show. Stewart revealed the astonishing truth behind a Fox News commentator's accusation that partial funding for the project was coming from an anonymous "man" who supposedly funds radical Islam around the world. Stewart pointed out that this "man" also happens to be the largest investor in Fox News after Rupert Murdoch. This in turn led to heated accusations by many of baseless fear-mongering, and the emotional pitch of the conversation inched even higher.
This is by no means to deny that some Muslim projects are connected with problematic individuals and groups. Some clearly have been. But there are serious ramifications to the intentional fabrication of such connections with the intention of creating fear of an entire undifferentiated religious group. This dehumanized "other" is no longer merely different, but in fact dangerous and worthy of being hated.
This "otherizing" process obfuscates the inherent diversity and world religion status of Islam. It also hides the fact that Muslims disagree among themselves over a good many issues, religious and non-religious. For a long time, Muslims have been bemoaning the false characterization of Islam as monolithic. Now this characterization is being amplified by the increasingly common denial that Islam is a religion at all.
A prominent Tennessee politician recently stated at a campaign event that the First Amendment right to religious freedom may not apply to Islam because it could be considered "a cult." A recent New York Times article on protests against mosques across the nation cited a member of ACT! for America, a group created to "defend Western civilization against Islam," describing Islam as a "political government" that is "100 percent against our Constitution." Still others take a common Muslim description of Islam as a "way of life" and misuse it to imply nefarious things about Muslims -- overlooking the multitude of faiths that also consider their religion a "way of life," with the belief in God and the Afterlife informing their every action. Many defenders of Muslims unwittingly reinforce this narrative by acting as if Islamic beliefs are essentially impervious to reason and debate. By treating Muslim religious beliefs as inherently "private" and thus off-limits to public discourse, they shut down true dialogue. As I have argued elsewhere, this unwarranted discomfort with publicly-articulated religious beliefs can be downright dangerous.
The mischaracterizations do not stop with denial of Free Exercise rights to Islam as a non-religion. Some anti-Islam pundits are just as eager to use the First Amendment's other provision on religion, the Establishment Clause, against what can only be called a caricature of Islam. For example, some of these pundits hailed a 2008 lawsuit brought against the U.S. government for the government's bailout of American International Group (AIG). The claim in that case is that government ownership of shares of AIG, which offers Sharia-compliant homeowner insurance, constitutes an establishment of religion. The religion in question? "Sharia-based Islam." This is reminiscent of the spurious claim that the Pledge of Allegiance establishes the hitherto-unknown religion of "Monotheism."
The phrase reveals another common fear-mongering tactic: using the term "Sharia" as a bogeyman. Conjuring images of Taliban human rights abuses, those who wield the term against Muslims reduce an entire corpus of religio-spiritual legal principles to the misguided actions of a few. Similarly foreign-sounding systems of religious law, such as the Catholic "corpus juris canonici" or Jewish "halacha" are no longer portrayed as despotic monsters, or even exoticized, the way "Sharia" is today.
The rhetoric of demonization is not without consequences; indeed, there are reports of harassment, vandalism, arson, even murder. In recent weeks, a New York taxi driver was stabbed by a passenger for simply answering "yes" to the question "are you Muslim?" A black construction worker was attacked in New York during anti-mosque protests because he "looked" Muslim. Signs posted by vandals at a California mosque read, "No temple for the God of terrorism at ground zero," and, "Wake up America, the enemy is here." And a fire at the future site of the
Much of the hatred is apparently premised on the false notion of the "Islamization" of America, an idea that somehow Muslims are trying to take over the country and co-opt its essential character. The reality, from my vantage point as a participant in the debates within the community, is quite different. For starters, American Muslims constitute a tiny percentage of the American population and are hardly in a position to "Islamize" America. More importantly, instead of seeing an Islamization of America, I am witnessing, and indeed consider myself a part of, the Americanization of Islam.
This is not to imply that the religion is somehow becoming watered down. Rather, Islam is, as it always has been, thriving and melding with its surroundings, acquiring their flavor. Taking very seriously what one American Muslim scholar, Dr. Umar F. Abd-Allah of the Nawawi Foundation, calls the "cultural imperative," young Muslims are in the process of finding an expression of Islam that is both authentically Muslim and authentically American. This includes, among other things, creating uniquely American-Muslim film, comedy, literature, and theatre; training Muslim religious leaders specially attuned to American society by opening an American-Muslim seminary; and developing American Muslim civic leaders through initiatives like the American Muslim Civil Leadership Institute.
Additionally, an essential element of the "cultural imperative" is foundationally American: actively giving back to the broader community. The M100 Foundation is taking steps in this direction with its 30 Nights, 30 Grants call to service drive. Through the drive, 30 grants are given to 30 charities in 30 categories. The grants have benefited not just Muslim organizations but non-Muslim ones as well, such as Lutheran Social Services and the secular non-profit Children Incorporated.
In creating an American Islam, American Muslims must continue to find a way to reconcile their beliefs with American society as other faith groups, such as the Mormons and Catholics, have done in the past. Once feared and reviled by the broader community, each group was able to find its place in the American fabric, all while remaining true to their faith. Genuine integration requires that Muslims refrain from identity politics and engage in public debate from a religiously honest perspective. By the same token, those who speak out against anti-Muslim bias should make sure to treat Muslims as equal and reasonable participants in dialogue, open to argument and persuasion, rather than treating Muslim motives and beliefs as inscrutable.
American Muslims are making authentic efforts to interweave their religious beliefs with American culture, but these efforts are undermined by broad-brush portrayals of all Muslims as either incapable of rational discourse or, worse, nothing more than the enemy. We cannot take our equal station alongside our fellow Americans in this country that we too cherish as long as the "otherizing" process holds sway.
A version of this post appears at On Faith.
Disclaimer: Asma Uddin is an international law attorney at The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and Editor-in-Chief of Altmuslimah.com. The opinions expressed in this piece are hers alone and do not necessarily represent the views of The Becket Fund.
Follow Asma Uddin on Twitter: www.twitter.com/altmuslimah
MJ Rosenberg: New Republic Publisher: First Amendment Should Not Apply to Muslims
Total bogus lies. He wasn't attacked at all. He did what a lot of counterprotesters like to do when they're feeling brave, they wade right into a larger group of protesters and argue with them.
What you're really doing is searching for allies, not integrating at all. Islam is a slavemaster religion, where the Muslim dominates the non-Muslim. It started with the Prophet Muhammad and it continues to this day. There's no need for an othering process, Islam sets itself apart.
Interesting that his race is an important detail right? I've noticed quite a few Muslim commentators making race plays lately (because Islam is anti-racist*) and maybe it's working a little. Maybe it'll work less when African-Americans learn what an abeed or an adoon is.
What else can we dig up here?
Unfortunately, in our school systems, curriculum has been changed or watered down to exclude the effects and impact that religion has had on civilizations throughout the centuries, particularly when the "New World" was "discovered".
If more emphasis was placed on understanding culture and religion for students in high schools and universities, perhaps we could reach a point where fear doesn't exist of "others" in this country.
There are many people that not able to make the distinction between fanatical terrorists and those that are just ordinary people like the rest of us. This fear has always been present in America of any new ethnic group attempting to become assimilated in this country. Past and present situations exacerbate this fear, rather than ameliorating it.
Not to minimize that within any ethnic group, there will always be a certain element of those that wish to do the greater society harm for their own reasons. But, the majority of people that come to this country do so to better their own positions economically and to provide a better future for their children, free of the fears that may exist in their native lands. Education is the key to fostering better relations among all groups.
I'd like to point out that not all of the Muslim terrorists and terrorism facilitators were observant Muslims before taking the plunge. Some of these men talk about the "humiliation" of Muslims, but that's just the humiliation of no longer being the slavemaster. They can't dominate non-Muslims and this infuriates them. It's the same rage that spawned the KKK.
invasions of iran, iraq, palestine, lebonan, afghanistan, pakistan...........
helping likudniks rather than peaceniks
sarah palin
baptist fanatics
the list is endless......................
and still we muslims reach out for peace!
Is this yet another Muslim who cries about the pain of Muslims but doesn't acknowledge what Muslims have done to non-Muslims? Or that Muslim aggression once again preceded non-Muslim aggression?
Why do you folks want to live amongst non-Muslims?
"You really have this very wrong. First, religious freedom is not based on "breaking free from the tyranny of the priest." It was a response to state-mandated religion."
Daisytoo added:
"First, religious freedom is not based on "breaking free from the tyranny of the priest." You have it backwards. Religious freedom - most particularly separation of church and state - was intended to keep the state out of the church. It remains true today."
~
Americans have a particular slant on this, assuming that the idea of religious freedoms began with the US constitution.
The Christian world has a 500-year long history of struggle to throw off the fetters and chains of our religious masters, be they political or priestly tyrants. This struggle CULMINATED in the US constitution, not the other way around.
The issue is that the Islamic world has NOT THUS ENGAGED ITS RELIGIOUS MASTERS, as a result their modern history is full of political tyrants administering the tyranny of the "Imam" (priest).
We need to remember that as much as 85% of Americans describe themselves as religious.
We also need to remember that Richard Dawkins pointed out that it made perfect sense that only 25% of Americans “believed in” evolution, since that was the percentage of Americans with college education.
Finally we need to consider that:
FREEDOM FROM RELIGION IS A HUMAN RIGHT
-freedom from religious extremism
-freedom from religious coercion
-freedom from religious demands
-religion is a personal choice: keep it to yourself
I am sorry, but you completely failed to address the issue:
“What's Behind the Negative Characterization of Muslims?” is simply a little w_hine about a couple negative minority opinions. Similar opinions exist for any religion.
It needs to be remembered that Freedom of Religion only works in a society with an historic 500-year long struggle to break free from the TYRANNY OF THE PRIEST. Muslim society has not yet had this conversation or struggle with their “priests.”
500 years of struggle against our religious masters and 50 years of intense Biblical scholarship has released western society from it's religious madness (in the most part).
Islam has not done this. Muslim culture has not yet had this experience and are still much enslaved to their religious masters. And so they place a lot more import upon respect for religious demands than we do. And that is the source of this culture clash.
Leftists are anxious to excuse radical Islamic behavior as aberrations of the "religion of peace," but are clueless as to the real reasons behind that radicalism. And that is the failure of Islamic civil society to confront their religious d_emons and masters and to shake off these chains from their culture.
Hmm... let's see what comes to mind...
Treatment of women
Islamic slave-trade
Islamic Texts
NYC
London
Paris
Madrid
The Netherlands
Beslan
Standard of living of Islamic nations
Societal segregation requests.
I guess quite some factors play a role in such negative characterization, surely the lack of public self-critic is not helping moving the needle, neither.
Europol Report: All Terrorists are Muslims…Except the 99.6% that Aren’t
http://www.loonwatch.com/2010/01/terrorism-in-europe/
Study: Threat of Muslim-American terrorism in U.S. exaggerated
http://edition.cnn.com/2010/US/01/06/muslim.radicalization.study/
Enlighten thyself and enlighten others.
http://pewresearch.org/pubs/483/muslim-americans
http://pewresearch.org/assets/pdf/muslim-americans.pdf
page 53.
I see that maybe I spelled muhammed wrong ( due to the red dots under my spelling ) does that offend Islam, I guess I better watch my back now
islam forbids alcohol - no market for the alcohol industy
islam forbids the consumption of swine - no market for the pork industry
islam requires modest attire - the "fashion" industry doesn't profit
islam permits physical intimacy only in marriage - no market for the sex industry
and, the most devasting blow: islam forbids usery - wall street is irrelevant.
ROFLMAO! :)
http://www.whattothinkweekly.com/2010/09/muslim-achievement-timeline/