One of the global architects of terror responsible for inspiring the 9-11 tragedy was finally killed this week. Osama bin Laden, who violently hijacked the faith of 1.5 billion to rationalize his perverse criminal actions, is permanently seared into our collective consciousness as the 21st century boogeyman.
Sadly, in the eyes of many Americans, bin Laden has also become one of the most visible icons of "Islam" alongside Muhammad Ali and Malcolm X. Furthermore, 10 years after the 9-11 tragedy, nearly 60% of Americans say they don't know a Muslim, and the favorability rating of Islam is at its lowest ebb.
Muslim Americans, like much of the world, still cannot escape the overbearing shadow of the fallen towers. There is a permanent fork in the timeline of the Muslim American narrative: Pre-911 and Post 9-11.
Pre 9-11, I was another awkward, well intentioned, multi-hyphenated Muslim American with exotic dietary habits who prayed 5 times a day and drank chai instead of alcohol during college.
Post 9-11, I received a special screening in front of my fellow passengers who boarded the plane to North Carolina while observing my Muslim security clearance zoo exhibit.
I felt like smoking a cigarette and spouting a witty barb after my intimate encounter with the TSA.
Thoroughly cleared and cleansed of any potential terrorist-y vibes, I was the last to board the packed plane.
I headed down the aisle to find my inconceivably small, economy seat located near the end of the plane.
For the first time in my life, my fellow airline passengers all looked at me with utter fear; eyes widened and mouths agape.
My brown face, 5 o'clock shadow and inconvenient TSA screening immediately profiled and lumped me as one of "them" who attacked "us" on 9-11.
My attempts to placate them with friendly smiles and nods only intensified their palpable anxiety, and their discomfort turned to horrified stares. I pulled an audible and decided to simply bow my head, make no loud, sudden noises, and move as quickly as possible to my masochistic seat.
As a shy, awkward, overweight kid whose first language was Urdu, I had experienced mockery, ridicule and even alienation in my childhood. But, before that day, I had never been made to feel like Boo Radley or Darth Vader.
I had never terrified anyone by merely "being" me. It was a jarring and disturbing experience.
But, this memorable experience, along with others like it, presented me a tremendous opportunity to bridge these seemingly impenetrable divides caused by ignorance, misunderstanding and fear.
What else could explain the graffiti on a Portland mosque that included "Go Home" and "Osama Today Islam tomorrow(sic)" mere hours after Osama bin Laden was reported as killed?
The rich and complex identity and narrative of Muslim American communities, who are the
most diverse U.S. religious group in terms of ethnic diversity, socio-economic status, education levels and political affiliation, is now personified by a tall, lanky, bearded terrorist leader who suffered from narcissism, hypocritical delusions of religious authority and a compulsive need to release YouTube videos.
For example, a Muslim American student was asked by her 9th grade Algebra teacher if she was grieving over the death of her "uncle," in reference to Osama bin Laden. The teacher was subsequently disciplined for his disrespectful and ignorant remark
The lumping of nearly 250 years of Muslim American history with the icon of terror and wholesale categorization of 2 million American citizens as potential suspects explains why nearly 28% oppose Muslims sitting on the Supreme Court and a third oppose us running for president.
A new report found the Department of Homeland Security continues to push Muslims into detention and deportation "even without explicit racial and religious targeting built into Special Registration."
"We're seeing a trend where Muslims are being deported, detained and denied entry into the United States for no good reason except tenuous affiliations or unsubstantiated claims," said Sameer Ahmed, an attorney at Asian American Legal Defense Fund (AALDEF).
Republican candidates have successfully played the "fear card" using Muslims as their Ace. They gain significant political mileage with some of their constituents by mainstreaming the manufactured myth of "creeping sharia" taking over the U.S. For 2016, the right wing is creating "anti-bigfoot" and "anti-unicorn" legislation -- fear not, the war on terror never ends.
Muslim Americans also share blame due to hermitically sealing themselves in an isolated, cultural cocoon and not proactively engaging civic society in wider numbers. One cannot expect change by sitting in the stands as an ineffectual spectator, content with being an irate cultural consumer instead of a productive cultural producer and participant.
The only way to experience reconciliation and healing is to engage in honest self reflection and face the tragedy of that day -- with its subsequent collateral damage -- head on.
Without an honest dialogue, we're simply shadow boxing.
So, here we are, nearly 10 years later, with that ubiquitous symbolic icon of "terror" now vanquished.
However, we have yet to bury and forget the bigotry, stereotypes, hate, and unfounded fears that were born and nurtured as a reaction to a few men's perverse deeds.
Americans are enjoying this moment of collective relief; this moment of well earned catharsis.
But, tomorrow we will wake up and realize that we still have a long way to go in battling extremism and ignorance.
Ten years later, at least many of us now understand that the only way forward is by embarking on this journey together. We have also earned and learned the valuable lesson that if we are to truly change ourselves, then the only way to escape our shadow is to finally confront it.
Follow Wajahat Ali on Twitter: www.twitter.com/WajahatAli
Jalees Rehman, M.D.: A Living Faith Needs Critical Voices
No. In Christianity violent verses are replaced by peaceful verses in NT; Jesus stands out an embodiment of peace. In Islam peaceful verses are abrogated by the latter day violent verses and the founder standing ouut as the most violent religious leader in history. Christianiity can and has evolved; Islam can not. Ahemediaas is an exception but they are being persecuted.
"Dr. Phil says, "There is no reality, only perception."
There is reality and that creates the perception. Perception devoid of reality will not stand upto scrutiny.
"Read the religious pages of many small town communities and you can already find one "Christian" religion attacking another "Christian" belief and saying that they have the only "True Faith".
Do they follow that up with non stop killings?
"In fact, in the U.S., it may be lower (we have a lot of dogmatic, literalist Christians, in the U.S.)"
Do the dogmatic literalist Christians commit Fort Hood massacres?
Americans live in a permanent state of fear. Perception, via a 24hour news cycle, has trumped reality. As Dr. Phil says, "There is no reality, only perception." I used to use this line as a joke to demonstrate the utter absurdity of Dr. Phil, but his take on relationships is 100% true, and it has a much wider application than just relationships. (Side note: Damn you, Dr. Phil!)
A Muslim led the Houston Rockets to two NBA Championships, but 60% of Americans don't know a Muslim.
It doesn't seem to matter if Muslims are doing any good in your city - running blood donor clinics, food drives, free clinics, - it only seems to matter what's happening on TV. Thank you so much for the gift of eternal fear, Jack Bauer.
And the opposite of fear? Why, it's love, of course.
Your comment speaks to a very important point, I feel: dogmatic, literal interpretation of scripture is a problem in all religions. The relative percentage of people in any religion who do this is always small, but they are always dedicated to trying to see their view of things implemented in society, regardless of how anyone else feels about it, and they get disproportionate attention from the media. They're sure their view of things is accurate, and so they're sure that God, by any name, wants everyone to live the way they imagine God wants everyone to live.
Hence all the trouble.
Regarding Muslims, especially American Muslims, the primary error by some non-Muslims seems to be to presume that the percentage of dogmatic, literalist Muslims is higher than in other religions, when it's not. In fact, in the U.S., it may be lower (we have a lot of dogmatic, literalist Christians, in the U.S.)
I don't expect anyone to believe me on this. Just Google around, search YouTube, talk with some Muslims ... and see for yourself.
You wrote:
``dogmatic, literal interpretation of scripture is a problem in all religions''
If the scripture/s are unchanging word of god, why they should not be interpreted literally.
Or, Why even need to interprete, God should make it clear in his message to even mentally handicapped.
The unsaid alternative is that everything about the scriptures is relative and contextual, and therefore not absolute. In a sense apologist grasp this when they counter with ``out of context'' argument. So if truth, course of action is contextual, it is not absolute.
The Quran lays down clear rules on the course of action to be taken if the faith is under attack. The answer is to fight back. When people kill in the name of god, they are defending their faith that is under attack..
If only god had made it crystal clear there would be no confusion!!
As in ``ok to kill infidels.if and only if... (Leaving aside for a moment the notion of a vengeful god with tribal loyalties)
Maybe it is because of free will, these acts of interpretitions, we are not robots after all!
``Allah sends an angel to write four words: He writes his deeds, time of his death, means of his livelihood, and whether he will be wretched or blessed.
If true then it is sadism, I decided what you will do in your future life, you have no choice and then I will punish you too for your sins. Eternal damnation!
Rubbish. Hindu India has been confronting jihadi violence since 10th century; Buddhism got almost destroyed by the muslim invaders in 11th century; Zorastrian religion in Iran was compltely destroyed in 7th century by the muslims; Christaians have been fighting the jihadis for more than 500 years. The result:
270 million victims of over a millennium of jihadi wars, land appropriations, cultural annihilation and enslavement. No mention of the recent slaughter by Muslims of Christians, Hindus, Jews, non-believers in Indonesia, Thailand, Ethiopia, Somalia, Philippines, Lebanon, Israel, Russia, China................ no candor, no criticism of Islam.
Still claims are being made that it is a religion of peace and the followers are peaceful!!!
Is it so? Read this:
"I have been commanded to fight against people so long as they do not declare that there is no god but Allah, and he who professed it was guaranteed the protection of his property and life on my behalf except for the right affairs rest with Allah." -- Muhammad (Sahih Muslim 30)
"Fight in the name of Allah and in the way of Allah. Fight against those who disbelieve in Allah. Make a holy war...When you meet your enemies who are polytheists, invite them to three courses of action. If they respond to any one of these, you also accept it and withhold yourself from doing them any harm. Invite them to (accept) Islam; if they respond to you, accept it from them and desist from fighting against them....If they refuse to accept Islam, demand from them the Jizya. If they agree to pay, accept it from them and hold off your hands. If they refuse to pay the tax, seek Allah's help and fight them." -- Muhammad (Sahih Muslim 4294)
Yes, if you are ready to accept polygamy; I do not.
"they are not actively engaged in the fight against terror."
This is a false assumption. The perception that most Muslims are not violent will depend on where you live. In those countries where Muslims are more dominant, they tend to be more aggressive. As a rule of thumb, where Muslims are a minority they are less violent. This goes back to the birth of Islam: when Muhammad had a small band of followers in Mecca, the message he gave them was peaceful and tolerant (“Let there be no compulsion in religion” is a favourite from this period); when he migrated to Medina and established dominance he and his followers became more violent (“Kill the unbelievers wherever ye find them” is a favourite from this period). The message he taught after migrating to Medina is saturated with violence. The principle here is that when Muslims are in a weak position, the Meccan message is uppermost; when they are dominant, the Medinan message is unleashed.
In effect, Islam is both violent and tolerant: when circumstances dictate, it is driven by the Meccan message; but, when circumstances allow, it switches to the Medinan message. Being a “good” Muslim and doing what’s right for Islam will change accordingly.
I am happy to live near the largest Muslim community outside of the Middle East. I received my Engineering Masters degree at a University in the United States with primarily teachers of the Islamic faith. They were no different than the Christian or Jewish professors at that University or the University where I received my Bachelors. The Muslims in Michigan are valuable members of our State's community. I am glad they live here and am saddened that people seem to fear them.
I'm sorry, but it's just hard to believe that any Muslim would side with a Christian or a Jew against a Muslim no matter what the cause...
Also Muslim Voices Against Terrorism. Related commentary at Friedman Wrong About Muslims Again , by Juan Cole and The Myth of Muslim Condemnation of Terror by Ali Eteraz.
http://www.muhajabah.com/otherscondemn.php
As defined .... how?
Roughly 15,000 American Muslims serve in the United States armed forces, and have been authorized by a fatwa (legal edict) to kill other Muslims, if needed, in order to bring terrorists to justice.
"Therefore, we find it necessary to apprehend the true perpetrators of these crimes, as well as those who aid and abet them through incitement, financing or other support. They must be brought to justice in an impartial court of law and punish them appropriately, so that it could act as deterrent to them and to others like them who easily slay the lives of innocents, destroy properties and terrorize people. Hence, it's a duty on Muslims to participate in this effort with all possible means, in accordance with God's (Most High) saying: "And help one another in virtue and righteousness, but do not help one another in sin and transgression." 5:2. "
Source: http://www.unc.edu/~kurzman/Qaradawi_et_al.htm
Of the 161 Muslims suspected of involvement in terrorism in the last decade (out of several million American Muslims), the largest single source of reporting these people to the authorities has been American Muslims themselves.
http://sanford.duke.edu/centers/tcths/about/documents/Kurzman_Muslim-American_Terrorism_Since_911_An_Accounting.pdf
So how, exactly, are American Muslims not engaged in the fight against terrorism?
Guess what? We cannot be stopped now.
My point is not that we do not need security, my point is "do we need this damned much security"? Maybe we just grow a pair and stop being afraid of every bump in the night.
He makes some good points.
He's also currently the President of Pakistan.
Can we trust that he has any perspective at all on Muslim extremism? I'd say that we can ... his wife, former President of Pakistan, Benazhir Bhutto, was murdered by Muslim extremists.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/pakistan-did-its-part/2011/05/02/AFHxmybF_story.html
Salman Rushdie, Raheel Raza, & Theo van Gogh would agree w/ OldSchool.