Racial Profiling of Shahrukh Khan Is Nothing New to Many Muslim-Americans

The immensely popular Bollywood actor (read: superstar) and global icon, Shahrukh Khan/King Khan/SRK, recently told the press that he felt angry and humiliated after he was detained and “questioned” at a US airport for over two hours.  In a text message to reporters in India, Khan said, “I was really hassled perhaps because of my name being Khan. These guys just wouldn’t let me through.”  Khan, who is a Muslim, also called the incident “absolutely uncalled for” and pointed out that he was only released after he contacted the Indian Consulate.

Much is being said about the SRK’s encounter with Islamophobia, especially since he is promoting his upcoming film, “My Name is Khan,” which, ironically,  is about the racial profiling of Muslims.  Much is also being said about fans being outraged and how fellow Bollywood superstars are expressing their disapproval.  However, very little to nothing is being said about how many Muslim-Americans have been experiencing discrimination, hate crimes, racial profiling, vandalism, and negative stigma ever since 9/11.

There’s no doubt that SRK’s experience at least puts racial profiling of Muslims in the spotlight, but what if he wasn’t a Bollywood star?  What if, in the eyes of society, he was just an “ordinary” Indian Muslim man visiting the United States?  How long would he have been detained and questioned for?  His story would be left untold and unheard, just like the countless stories of many Muslims, as well as non-Muslim South Asians and Middle-Easterners (since they “look Muslim” according to Orientalist stereotypes), who have experienced similar, if not worse, encounters with Islamophobia and discrimination.

The reality is that Islamophobia is hardly even recognized as a real social problem within the United States.  The term “Islamophobia” is scarcely used by the mainstream media, let alone by most American politicians, despite all of the shameless anti-Muslim bigotry and hatred we saw during the presidential campaigns (and still see from racist right-wing extremists).  There are many who argue that Islamophobia “does not really exist,” and while most of this is heard from the likes of Michael Savage, Daniel Pipes, and Salman Rushdie, there are many others, including social justice academics, who have not implemented the subject of Islamophobia in their universities.  To put it simply, the failure to recognize Islamophobia as a real social problem diminishes how serious and prevalent it truly is.

In light of Shahrukh Khan’s experience with racial profiling in the US, let’s take a moment to reflect on the stories that we have not heard before — stories from Muslim-Americans, South Asian-Americans, and Middle-Eastern-Americans (and others as well), who are not movie stars or celebrities, and do not have the “starpower” to capture media and public attention.

Along with the Human Rights Watch, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) observed that prior to 9/11, forty-eight hate crimes against Muslim-Americas were reported in the United States, but in the days following the attacks, that figure skyrocketed to 481.  Reported incidents of discrimination, harassment, and violence against Muslims amounted to 602 in 2002, 1,019 in 2004, 1,522 in 2004, 1,972 in 2005, and 2,467 in 2006.  The context of these hate crimes and incidents consist of murders, physical and verbal assaults, and numerous cases of vandalism directed towards Mosques, convenience stores owned by Muslims, and homes.  Many reports included these same hate crimes and discriminatory acts towards non-Muslim South Asians and Middle-Easterners as well.

Four days after 9/11, Mark Stroman entered a grocery store in Dallas, Texas, and shot and killed Waquar Hassan, a forty-six-year-old Pakistani father of four.  Unfounded by the police, Stroman entered a convenience store in Mesquite, Texas less than a month later, and murdered Vasudev Patel, a non-Muslim Indian father of two.  Stroman was finally arrested, and before being convicted and sentenced to death, he stated in an interview:  “We’re at war.  I did what I had to do.  I did it to retaliate against those who retaliated against us.”

The next year, a man named Frank Roque boasted at a local bar that he was going to “kill the ragheads responsible for September 11^th.” A few days later he shot and killed Balbir Singh Sodi, a forty-nine-year old father of three.  When arrested for murder, Roque declared: “I stand for America all the way!  I’m an American.  Go ahead.  Arrest me and let those terrorists run wild.”  Little did Roque know that the turbaned man he killed was not an Arab or a Muslim, but an Indian Sikh.

Other incidents in the immediate days and months following 9/11 included attempted murder upon a Palestinian male who was shot at after leaving his Mosque in Seattle, a Pakistani woman who was nearly run over by a car in the parking lot of a New York mall, and an American Muslim women who was nearly choked to death by her attacker in Texas.

An Islamic Center in Irving, Texas, was fired upon, leaving thirteen to fourteen bullet holes on the building, while another Mosque in Central Ohio was severely vandalized:  the bathroom pipe was broken, the sink was clogged, causing it to overflow for hours and eventually leaking into the second floor prayer hall; frames of religious verses were torn, a chandelier in the prayer hall was destroyed, high-mounted speakers and amplifiers were thrown to the ground, Islamic posters were torn from classroom walls, curtains and drapes were pulled down, bookcases and file cabinets were tipped over, approximately one hundred copies of the Qur’an was thrown to the floor; one of them was torn and placed in the parking lot.  The damage to the Mosque was estimated at $379,000.

In April of 2006, a Muslim woman and college student was followed, beaten, and stripped of her headscarf while her male perpetrator shouted anti-Muslim slurs.  She was hospitalized for contusions and a dislocated shoulder.  Also in 2006, a Muslim man in New York was beaten with brass knuckles by a group of five teenagers after exiting “Dunkin’ Donuts”; he was called a “terrorist” by the assailants and was later hospitalized for a broken nose and severely bruised ribs.

In September of 2007, Zohreh Assemi, an Iranian Muslim-American and owner of a nail salon in New York, was robbed, brutally beaten, and called a “terrorist.” The report describes the details:

Assemi was kicked, sliced with a boxcutter, and had her hand smashed with a hammer. The perpatrators, who forcibly removed $2,000 from the saloon and scrawled anti-Muslim slurs on the mirrors, also told Assemi to “get out of town” and that her kind were not “welcomed” in the area. The attack followed two weeks of phone calls in which Iranian-American Zohreh Assemi was called a “terrorist” and told to “get out of town,” friends and family said.

In 2009, AirTran Airways “removed nine Muslim passengers, including three children, from a flight and turned them over to the FBI after one of the men commented to another that they were sitting right next to the engines and wondered aloud where the safest place to sit on the plane was.”  Also this year, a Muslim woman, Marwa El-Sherbini, was stabbed to death in a courtroom in Germany while being three months pregnant.  The attacker, Alex W., was a non-Muslim man that El-Sherbini was testifying against because of his Islamophobic remarks towards her.  In other words, she was killed for standing up for herself.

Are these reports new to you?  For many readers, I’m sure they are.  More details on the reports mentioned above, along with countless others, can be read in the following document by the Human Rights Watch:  “We Are Not The Enemy:  Hate Crimes Against Arabs, Muslims, and Those Perceived to be Arab or Muslim after September 11.” These reports do not even cover the number of innocent Muslims who have been abducted and detained in detention centers like Guantanamo bay.

The truth is that Islamophobia has an immense impact on many Muslims in the West, no matter what kind of discrimination they may or may not have experienced.  Harsh stares, verbal abuse, or even ignorant questions also need to be factored in to understand the Muslim experience in the post 9/11 world.  From a journal I studied a year ago titled, “The Effects of Discrimination and Constraints Negotiation on Leisure Behavior of American Muslims in the Post-September 11 America” by Jennifer S. Livengood and Monika Stodolska, all 25 Muslim participants (from diverse ethnic backgrounds) reported that their lifestyles and leisure activities (praying in public, jogging, traveling, outings with or without families, experiences in workplaces and school, etc.) was significantly affected and reduced by Islamophobia.  Some shared how they felt “otherized” after seeing signs that read, “Kill all the Arabs,” and others shared how they couldn’t jog through the park anymore without someone calling them a “terrorist” or telling them to “go back home.”  Some Muslims even expressed reluctance to share their Muslim identity or even pray in public because of their fear of Islamophobia.  Just recently, Al-Jazeera confirmed a report that FBI spies infiltrated Mosques to monitor Muslim-Americans.  At the end of the video clip, a young Muslim man shares how many Muslims are terrified to attend the Mosque because of this.

I have seen this fear with my own interactions with Muslims, including my own family.  Some in my family do not like disclosing their ethnic and religious identity to people because they want to avoid the prejudice and stereotypes.  These are stories that are not even known by most non-Muslims and never addressed by the mainstream media.

Shahrukh Khan may have encountered Islamophobia at the Newark airport, but will his status as a celebrity put the issue of Islamophobia in the spotlight?  As mentioned above, his upcoming film, “My Name is Khan,” is about racial profiling against Muslims, but only time will tell to see what kind of impact that will have on the general public’s attitude and perception of Muslims and Islam.  Regardless of SRK’s experiences, the fact of the matter remains that the Muslim lifestyle is very politicized, and has been ever since 9/11, even if the individual does not wish to discuss politics or social issues.  Muslims are still asked to answer for crimes that they never committed, they still face the daily vilification of their way of life in the mainstream media, they are still stereotyped, discriminated against, and victims of hate crimes, vandalism, and verbal abuse.

If Islamophobia is not taken more seriously or spoken out against, more stories will be forgotten, more people will suffer, and the next generation of Muslims will be born into societies that already have negative, hateful, and/or insensitive attitudes towards Muslims and Islam.  By ignoring Islamophobia, we are ignoring the struggle of our fellow human beings, as well as our own responsibility to speak out against injustice wherever it occurs.

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Critics of U.N. Anti-Blasphemy Resolution Overlook Opportunities for Global Dialogue

By Jehanzeb Dar

Much is being made about the U.N. Anti-Blasphemy Resolution, which calls upon member nations, including the United States, to combat defamation of religion — Islam in particular.  Critics of the resolution include CNN’s Lou Dobbs, who describes the opposition against the resolution as a “fight for free speech,” author Christopher Hitchens, and Islamophobes around the blogosphere who scathingly label the resolution a step towards “spreading Sharia law to the West.”

The resolution, “Combating the Defamation of Religion,” was adopted in 2007 and “stresses the need to effectively combat defamation of all religions and incitement to religious hatred, against Islam and Muslims in particular.”  Unsurprisingly, religious groups and free-speech advocates in the United States accuse the resolution of impeding on constitutional rights such as freedom of expression.  John Bolton, former U.N. Ambassador, comments:  “It’s obviously intended to have an intimidating effect on people expressing criticism of radical Islam, and the idea that you can have a defamation of a religion like this, I think, is a concept fundamentally foreign to our system of free expression in the United States.”

I’ve noticed a lot of bloggers terming this issue “freedom under fire” and I see a lot of Islamophobes pouncing on it since it “scores points” for their “argument” that Muslims want to “impose Sharia law.”  What I see missing from these reactions are efforts to engage in global dialogue between the Muslim and non-Muslim worlds.  Rather than recognizing the importance of much-needed dialogue, Lou Dobbs and Christopher Hitchens spend about seven minutes defending freedom of expression, accusing the U.N. of being a “totalitarian” and “authoritarian organization,” and resorting to typical fear-mongering tactics by saying there are “Muslims who are prepared to use violence at the drop of a hat.”  Dobbs and Hitchens present us with a very singular, misconstrued, and stereotypical perspective on the situation instead of acknowledging social problems such as annually rising hate crimes and discriminatory acts against Muslims in the West, which clearly contribute to the formation of this particular U.N. resolution.

The fact of the matter is that this is a very complicated issue.  Personally, I find the U.N. anti-blasphemy resolution flawed.  Although the resolution aims to prevent violence and discrimination against people of any religious background, I believe the defamation laws can be abused by governments.  Individuals should be allowed to express their views and opinions about religions and cultures without worrying about being criminalized.  I am not against the idea of people criticizing Islam; surely everyone is entitled to their opinion, but what I am against is dehumanization and vilification of religions and entire groups of people.  There is a difference between constructive criticism and hate speech, the latter has the potential to lead to discrimination and hate crimes.  One could argue that organizations like the KKK are entitled to “freedom of speech,” but when they advocate violence towards African-Americans, it no longer complies with the American constitution.

The “Combating the Defamation of Religion” resolution was introduced by the Organization of the Islamic Conference.  The fact that the resolution stems from a Muslim organization should indicate the importance of dialogue rather than perceiving the idea as an attempt to “impose Sharia law in the West.”  As I mentioned, I do not support the resolution, but I think it raises an important opportunity for Muslim and non-Muslim communities to achieve a richer and empathetic understanding about issues related to vilification of Islam in mainstream media, pop culture, and newspapers.  During the Muslim Holy Month of Ramadan in 2008, for example, the Clarion Fund decided to distribute millions of anti-Islamic DVDs entitled “Obsession” to swing states in the U.S.  Although there are those who continue to argue that the film is an exercise of “freedom of expression,” the larger issue that is often ignored is how Islamophobic imagery was distributed on a massive scale.  Whenever Muslims protested against the DVD and wrote letters to their newspapers, they were often accused of being “over-sensitive” or “impeding on American values.”  Muslim voices were hardly given a chance to voice their own opinions about the DVD and how it made them feel.  Instead, their voices were lost and dumped into a box of Islamophobic generalizations.

The argument that people like Dobbs and Hitchens don’t seem interested in is that dehumanization and vilification of a religion and/or entire group of people is an inevitable companion of war.  In other words, in order to successfully rally supporters for war, one needs to establish an immensely contrasting divide between “us” and “them.”  Demonizing the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, in the Danish cartoons is an example of attacking the very heart of Muslims and reinforcing the “differences” between non-Muslims and Muslims, not just in the Islamic world, but also within the West.  The Danish cartoons also generated such a negative perception and attitude towards the Prophet Muhammad that CAIR (the Council for American-Islamic Relations) mobilized to hold seminars to educate and enlighten non-Muslims about the truth of the Prophet.  Muslims wouldn’t have held educational programs if they weren’t so concerned about the general public’s perception of their religion after the Danish cartoons and riots.  The mainstream media didn’t seem to be concerned with these stories because they were too busy covering the violent riots in the Muslim world.  The inability to empathize with the sentiments of Muslims all over the world (including in the West) represents a failure to establish communication and understanding.

It is important for freedom of speech to be protected, but when Muslim-Americans experience ignorance, verbal abuse, physical assault, and vandalism, it is society’s responsibility to recognize that they, like every other American citizen, deserve to be treated equally regardless of their skin color, culture, and religious background.  Sensitive issues need to be discussed fairly and openly between Muslim and non-Muslim communities, otherwise stereotypes and misunderstandings will continue to persist.  Islamophobic rhetoric and blindly defending “free speech” are just obstacles and barriers that are created to prevent necessary dialogue.  If people like Lou Dobbs and Christopher Hitchens took the opportunity to engage in respectful and open-minded discussions with Muslim-Americans, they may empathize with how Islamophobic material, like the Danish cartoons and the “Obsession” DVD, have been used to bully, harass, and discriminate against Muslims in the West.

In the end,  it is not simply a matter of “freedom of speech.”  It’s a matter of understanding one another better.  The Muslim-American experience needs to stop being treated as something “foreign;” on the contrary it is an American story that isn’t being given enough voice.  As Muslim students, who protested the Danish cartoons in Washington D.C., wrote on their banners, “Freedom of Speech Does Not Equal Freedom to Hate.”

Know Your Islam: Speak Out Against Domestic Violence

Before I discuss the recent brutal beheading of Aasiya Zubair, a Muslim-American mother of four, I would like to stress on something that is very important and close to my heart: The majority of Muslims should never apologize or be held accountable for the atrocious actions of others who happen to self-identify as Muslim. The murder of Aasiya Zubair could have happened to anyone, of any religious and/or ethnic group, and the actions of her murderer, Muzzammil Hassan, should never be associated with Islam. Anyone who studies Islam honestly will understand that Mr. Hassan’s actions clearly violated Islamic teachings, therefore the last thing that anyone should call this murder is “Islamic.” It’s very frustrating when I read the ignorant comments posted under articles around the blogosphere — comments like, “Violence against women is considered a religious and cultural duty in the [Muslim] Ummah; don’t try to deny it,” or “Until we in the west see better behavior and adherence to accepted social values from Muslims, I guess we remain to be convinced.” Such ignorance doesn’t help our efforts at all; instead it makes things more difficult. If there weren’t so many ignorant Islamophobes attacking Islam and blaming Muslims for not displaying “accepted social values,” then I wouldn’t have written this paragraph in the first place.

In any case, Muslims must speak out against this horrendous crime not because we’re responsible or should apologize for it, but because this kind of behavior cannot, should not, and will not be tolerated in our community. We, as Muslims, need to turn inward and acknowledge the problems within our communities. It was comforting to see such an immediate reaction from Muslim organizations to call for swift action against domestic violence. As cited by Wajahat Ali, Imam Mohamed Hagmagid Ali, Vice-President of The Islamic Society of North America, wrote a public response:

Our community needs to take a strong stand against abusive spouses…This is a wake up call to all of us, that violence against women is real and can not be ignored. It must be addressed collectively by every member of our community.

As some will argue, this murder was due to “culture,” but what’s problematic about saying this is that the definition of culture gets limited to barbarism and backwardness. In actuality, culture cannot be fixated to these stereotypes because it is, in fact, diverse, flexible, and adaptable. This is not to deny the incredible amount of misogyny that is present in certain Muslim societies, it’s simply to put the true meaning of culture into perspective. To blame a culture for something like Aasiya Zubair’s murder would be impossible without asking: Which culture? Pakistani culture? Okay, what is Pakistani culture? There is no one and singular form of culture because culture is reactive to stimuli. It gets shaped and reshaped, so the problem is not culture itself, but rather how we shape culture. A culture influenced heavily by the mystical traditions of Islam, for example, may differ immensely from a culture influenced heavily by Wahabism in terms of gender issues. Or perhaps there is no religious stimuli and the culture is more secular than anything else. Anyway, my point here is that we need to understand the diversity of culture instead of easily pointing our fingers at it.

But the reality is that there are cultures that have been shaped to be more sexist and misogynistic than others. In respect to the Muslim community, these issues need to addressed because our Way of Life, Islam, strictly condemns this kind of behavior. I do not intend to speak of Islam in a limited sense; on the contrary, when I speak about Islam, I am also speaking about our God-given human rights and how every human being, regardless of their gender, race, culture, religion, sexual orientation, etc. deserves to enjoy their humanity. As the Qur’an says repeatedly, Allah’s grace is Infinite. He is All-Embracing, All-Forgiving; Most Merciful, Most Compassionate. The Qur’an is clear about gender equality, and even historically, the revelations abolished primitive practices like female infanticide and abuse towards women. Many may say they’re frustrated with the Muslim community because the lessons of compassion, gender equality, and Love are right there in front of us, but people also need to understand something else, which is often overlooked: Not everyone who self-identifies as a Muslim is a practicing Muslim. And not every practicing Muslim is a “perfect Muslim.” Sorry to disappoint the Islamophobes, but there is no such things as a perfect human being, let alone a perfect Muslim. A Muslim, just like everyone else, is not immune to sexism, misogyny, anger, hatred, violence, and murder. Did Mr. Hassan self-identify as Muslim? Yes. Did he speak out against Islamophobia through Bridges TV, a television network he co-founded? Yes. Did his murder reflect Islamic teachings. No.

Someone on “Yahoo” asked the question: “What does this murder say about Muslims?” And in my response, I said: This atrocious crime does not say anything about Muslims. To generalize about an entire group of people is not only inaccurate, but it is also a very uneducated thing to say. When we hear stories about a Texas mother drowning her own children, her religion is never blamed or even mentioned. Whenever Muslims commit crimes and murder, on the other hand, it is unanimously assumed that it was because of their religion.

Islam prohibits the killing of other human beings. Even during war, which is strictly permitted in self-defense, the Qur’an prohibits the killing of innocent people.

[5:32] … we decreed for the Children of Israel that anyone who murders any person who had not committed murder or caused corruption in the land, it shall be as if he murdered all the people. And anyone who saves a life, it shall be as if he saved the lives of all the people. Our messengers went to them with clear proofs and revelations, but most of them, after all this, are still transgressing.

As the Hadith (sayings of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him) say:

A wife of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: (The Prophet) never hit anyone with his hand, neither a woman nor a servant.” (Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1082)

The Prophet said: “The most perfect Muslim in the matter of faith is someone who has excellent behavior; and the best among you are those who behave best toward their wives.” (Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 106)

These are the kind of teachings that we need to re-emphasize on in our communities . We also need to open our doors a little more and understand what it truly means to be a community. For too long do we push people out of the Mosques and Islamic conventions without even realizing it. Should any issue of domestic violence arise, Muslims should feel comfortable and secure about reporting these incidents instead of worrying about being stigmatized. Insha’Allah, as Muslims across North America address this issue, I hope it remains persistent and creates new opportunities to prevent things like this from happening again. I also hope that certain non-Muslim groups realize that such violence exists everywhere and, contrary to what some say, is not and never has been considered a “cultural and religious duty” for Muslims.

May Allah bless Aasiya Zubair’s soul and grant her justice and peace. Ameen.

Muslim-Americans Cautiously Optimistic about Obama

Yesterday morning, as I rushed to eat my breakfast and leave for class, my father tapped me on the shoulder and said, “Guess what?”  With little interest I asked “What?” and expected my dad to crack another joke about Obama converting to Islam, but instead he said, “On the first day, Obama suspended all the trials at Guantanamo Bay.  He’s shutting it down.”  I was pleasantly surprised.

As I drove to college, I felt a little more optimistic about Barack Husayn Obama’s Presidency.  “So far, so good,” I said to myself.  “Not bad, not bad.”  As I read the article myself, the skeptic in me surfaced again when I read Guantanamo Bay would be shut down within a year’s time.  In a facility where Muslim detainees, many of whom are suspected “terrorists” and Al-Qaida “links,” are victimized by brutal and unlawful methods of torture, such as being forced to eat pork, drink alcohol, and curse the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), am I the only one who thinks one year is too long?

The truth is I struggled, and continue to struggle, with my support for Obama.  During election time, I proudly supported him.  I put his lawn signs up and even convinced others to vote for him. Muslim-Americans, including friends of mine, campaigned for him and encouraged fellow Muslims to show their support.

As someone who has experienced Islamophobia first-hand, foreign policy and racial profiling were probably the most important issues to me in this election. Hate crimes and discriminatory acts towards Muslims increased on an annual basis, and I did not hear President Bush voice any concern about it. In addition to how the media kept vilifying Islam and isolating the Muslim voice, I felt like an outsider. But when I saw Obama run for president and talk about so many things, like engaging in diplomacy with Muslim countries, ending racial profiling, closing Guantanamo Bay, and even going as far to state that the U.S. is not just a Christian nation, but a Muslim, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist, Atheist nation as well, I felt like the positive image of America could be restored again and that I wouldn’t just be viewed as an “immigrant-American” anymore.  For once, I felt like I could look at our flag and connect with it in a way that I never did before.  But those moments were very brief and they went away quickly.

During the presidential debates, he spoke with so much hostility towards Pakistan. He came off sounding very ignorant and misinformed about the situation. Then Gaza was a wake up call. With over 1,300 people dead, I can’t help but wonder why Obama would condemn the terrorist attacks in Mumbai, but not have the courage to condemn Israel’s terrorist attacks on Gaza.   During the crisis, I re-watched his speech at AIPAC several times and felt my hopes in him crumbling away.

After one of the Gaza rallies in Philadelphia, a friend of mine said, “everyone at that rally voted for Obama. Is he going to show us any appreciation in return?” I voted for Obama because I am sick of feeling like an outsider.  I voted for Obama because I’m sick of seeing only one side of the story, while Muslims are vilified in the mainstream media.  I voted for Obama because I don’t want my heart to feel any more pain whenever I’m praying for fellow human beings who are being killed overseas.

And then, just last night, things started to shift again for me.  After Isha prayer at my local Mosque, my fellow Muslim brothers and I were talking about Obama’s order to shut down Guantanamo bay.  I expressed my disappointment over Obama not saying anything to condemn Israel’s attacks on Gaza, but then a fellow Muslim brother told me that the expectation level for Obama is so high that if he makes one little mistake, we get very critical of him.  This needs to change, he encouraged.  We shouldn’t be too quick to judge.  As our discussion carried on, I decided to make my own list of “Pros” and “Cons” about Obama’s Presidency in respect to issues that concern many Muslim-Americans.

Pros:

1.  His name is Barack Husayn Obama.  Whether people like it or not, he has a Muslim background.  Though there are conflicting reports, it looks like his grandmother, Sarah Husayn Obama, is a Muslim.  It is also clear that he has Muslim relatives.  I personally believe this is a very positive sign because it will most likely make him more sympathetic to the Muslim world (as well as the struggles of Muslim-Americans).  This would give him more credibility and respect in the Muslim world than any other American president.

2.  According to the official website for the White House, the Obama administration promises to end racial profiling.  As the agenda states:  “President Obama and Vice President Biden will ban racial profiling by federal law enforcement agencies and provide federal incentives to state and local police departments to prohibit the practice.”

3.  President Obama has already signed the executive orders to shut down Guantanamo Bay within a year.  It is truly comforting that the new President has acted so swiftly to prohibit unlawful methods of prisoner abuse and torture.  Muslims-Americans, as well as Muslims around the world, are still outraged by how the Bush administration stood by silently while interrogators desecrated Qur’ans and flushed them down toilets in order to intimidate detainees.

4.  Diplomacy with Iran.  This was one of the many issues that made Muslim-Americans distance themselves from John McCain.  Although the Obama administration claims to perceive Iran as a “threat,” it promises to engage in direct diplomacy with  its leadership.  I would like to think that Obama already acknowledges the fact that Iran has a Jewish population of over 25,000 and even has Jewish representation in the Iranian parliament.  One would hope that the Obama administration noticed the Iranian Jews who took to the streets of Iran and protested against Israel’s attacks in Gaza.

Cons:

1.  Afghanistan and Pakistan.  According to the official White House website, the Obama administration promises to “refocus American resources on the greatest threat to our security — the resurgence of al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan. They will increase our troop levels in Afghanistan, press our allies in NATO to do the same, and dedicate more resources to revitalize Afghanistan’s economic development. Obama and Biden will demand the Afghan government do more, including cracking down on corruption and the illicit opium trade” (emphasis added).  Reading this statement makes one ask:  “Weren’t we voting for an anti-war President?”  In regards to Pakistan, “Obama and Biden will increase nonmilitary aid to Pakistan and hold them accountable for security in the border region with Afghanistan.”  It doesn’t make sense to me why the Obama administration would increase troop levels in Afghanistan and yet not send military aid to Pakistan.  As I mentioned in another post of mine, Pakistan has suffered (and continues to suffer) a great deal when it comes to combating the Taliban.  It’s rather unsettling how Obama doesn’t seem to recognize this.

2.  Hilary Clinton, Joe Biden, and Rahm Emanuel are all in Obama’s cabinet.  Hilary Clinton once stated she would “obliterate Iran,” Joe Biden is a self-proclaimed Zionist, and Rahm Emanuel served in the Israeli military and is very pro-Israel.  I know Obama has the final say on things, but one cannot help but worry about his cabinet’s potential influences.

3.  Israel.  Will we finally see a president who takes a strong stance against Israel’s military occupation of the Palestinian people?  Will we finally see a president who will sincerely help the Israelis and Palestinians come to a resolution without vilifying the Palestinians?  Or are we going to see the same failed policies of the Bush administration?  It should be obvious to people by now that AIPAC has an immense influence on U.S. politics.  It’s hard to imagine someone getting elected president of the United States without supporting AIPAC and the state of Israel.

4.  Obama may fail to understand the Muslim world in the same way Bush failed to.  During Obama’s speech on inauguration day, he said:  “To those leaders around the globe who seek to sow conflict or blame their society’s ills on the West, know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy…”  He’s clearly addressing the Muslim world here and what’s so frustrating is that this statement paints the same image that Bush presented, i.e. the Muslim world is “destroying” and killing people without any reason. Of course there is violence taking place in the Muslim world, but what triggered that violence? You look at Iraq, and you’ll see that violence erupted in the form of resistance against U.S. invasion and occupation. You look at Palestine, and you see violent resistance against the brutal Israeli military occupation.  Obama continued and said:  “The world will judge you on what you build, not what you destroy…” Well if Iraq, Palestine, and Afghanistan get a chance to build instead of getting bombed, then I’m sure things would be much different.  And wasn’t Israel recently bombing innocent people and destroying places like schools, Mosques, and hospitals?

Anyway, these are just a few “Pros” and “Cons” that I thought of the other night.  I’m sure others have more to add.  I want to believe Obama can bring a positive change.  I can’t imagine how a man like him can sit down and speak to the late Palestinian academic, Edward Said, and then (many years later) kiss up to Israel and AIPAC.  I can’t imagine how a man like him could speak to Rashid Khalidi and not see the oppression taking place against the Palestinians.  I sincerely hope that my worries about him are wrong.  I’d rather be cautiously optimistic and suprised than be overly enthusiastic and end up feeling disappointed and fooled.

No Brotherly Love for Palestine

The following post comes from Islam on My Side Guest Contributor, Asfura.  She is a Palestinian-American who blogs at Petals for Peace.

I attended both protests supporting Palestinians in Gaza in Philadelphia during the last week of December. Both protests against Israeli attacks were peaceful and welcoming and joined by non-Muslims. When I heard about the “Philadelphia Protest for Israel” at Love Park I was expecting the protest to be peaceful on both ends. However, I was in for a rude awakening.

On Thursday January 4th an estimated 2,000 people gathered in Love Park with speakers such as Sen. Arlen Specter, television personality Dave Frankel, and J. Whyatt Mondesire (of the Philadelphia NAACP). Israeli/Jewish music played while people danced hora. It was as if Love Park turned into a rave in Tel Aviv. People held signs that read “Palestinian Terrorists Terrorize Israelis and Palestinians, Each Rocket from Hamas Punishes Everyone, Stop Terrorism Now” while waving Israeli flags.

A group of police stood in a line in between the entrance of Love Park and the side walk. No one was permitted to step into Love Park unless you were joining the rally for Israel. From behind the police many Israeli supporters shouted curses and phrases like “Terrorists, There was never a Palestine!”

I was among a group of 50 Palestine supporters who stood there with signs reading “Stop the Attacks on Gaza , Killing children is not a Jewish value, Stop the Massacre.” Some were chanting “Free Free Palestine, From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free.”

While I stood there with my sign that read “Death Toll Gaza 700 + , Israel 10 This is NOT Self-Defense” I was harassed by many supporting the bombing of Gaza who were joining the rally for Israel . A woman passed me by screaming “Those are inaccurate numbers, How many Israelis have died in the past years” in reference to my sign. I replied “And hundreds more Palestinians have been killed in the past years.” Another man came from behind me and said “We should have killed all of you.”

I was having a conversation with a friend from one of the Peace organizations I’ve worked with, when another man interrupted “You should be 6 feet under.” I thanked him for his remark while my friend replied “Well we all have to go there someday, so will you.” As the man continued to curse at us I said “Maybe then you and I will be able to have a conversation in peace.”

While some others shoved to make their way into the entrance they shouted things like “Go Home A**&$^&@” along with obscene language. Some shouted phrases in my direction like “You deserve to die, all of you are going to hell”, “Disgusting people” along with other obscene language.

While I stood there speaking to my friend, a Caucasian woman (who was without a sign) an older man stuck his middle finger in her face while shouting “F*$& You! Go F*&% Yourself.” I responded by holding up a peace sign with my fingers. My friend just put up her hand to block the man’s finger and said “Please, that isn’t necessary.”

An old woman who reeked of perfume with tons of makeup piled on her face and dressed in fur stopped in front of another protester to dispute his sign that read “US Taxes and Israeli Bombs Killing Children.” She then accused the protester of not wanting to pay taxes and live in a free country. I commend another woman who stopped to have a conversation with one of the protesters from the Peace organization. After a long conversation, she said “What do you think this protest is for? These are Jews for peace” My friend and I were stunned at her remarks. My friend replied “You could have fooled me, do you see how we are being treated?”

At the end of the protest, I watched as buses of Jewish children passed by shouting in hate out of the bus windows. How unfortunate for hate to be taught to these children. We are fortunate to live in a country in which Palestinians and Israelis can have open discussions and live peacefully. We must utilize these opportunities to create bridges of understanding and peace.

As a Palestinian-American living in the city of Brotherly Love I was shocked at the hate that I and other counter-protesters encountered. Love Park is a significant landmark signifying the importance of love. After all, Philadelphia is the city of “Brotherly Love.” Any hopes of Brotherly Love that could have rekindled between the descendants of Abraham were overcome with lack of understanding and hate.

What’s in a Name?

What Palestine Teaches Us About Ourselves

The following article was written by a friend of mine.  Upon request, the author is to remain anonymous.

A protest for the suffering of Palestinians was held in the streets of Washington DC. Did it make the news? Not likely.

Was I there? No.

For as vocal as I have been in my support for the suffering of the Palestinian people since and before these strikes in the Gaza strip began, I came to a realization, something that could not be ignored.

In times of trouble, when nothing makes sense in the world, one has a tendency to turn towards their crutch. For me this is Islam, a religion often maligned and distorted by the ignorant, and more often ignored by its followers due to its rigidity, its laws, and it’s often conflict with the modern world.

But like over a billion people in the world today, I take what Islam and more importantly the Qur’an to be as the Truth. There is always an answer in the Qur’an, often times we just don’t look hard enough.  There is a verse in Surah Al-Imran that states:

“Say: ‘O Allah. Lord of Power (and Rule), Thou givest power to whom Thou pleases, and Thou strippest off power from whom Thou pleases: Thou enduest with honor whom Thou pleases, and Thou bringest low whom Thou pleasest: In Thy hand is all good. Verily, over all things Thou hast power.’” [3:26]

Verily, Allah speaks the truth. Over all things He has power and over all things He rules. This type of thinking brought me back to Palestine. See Palestine, more specifically the 1.5 million people suffering in the Gaza strip, reveals something greater about the 1.6 billion “rest” of us. Here’s how…

An innocent black man gets shot and killed by local police. The streets are full of rioters. Leaders speak out. Local politicians are harassed. The system is forced to respond. The cops get paid leave. An investigation occurs. Sometimes the cops go to jail or sometimes they don’t depending on how south you go.

A little white girl disappears. You won’t stop hearing it on the news for months. Fox News, CNN, and your local stations will cover it on end till death. ATF, FBI, CIA, NSA, and however many three letter acronyms you can think of are out fervently searching for her.

800+ people die in a single week. There’s a protest of about a 1,000 people through the streets chanting their chants, screaming their slogans. A candle light vigil is held. A “night of prayer and remembrance” is held at your local Masjid. But no politicians are harassed. No riots occur. No leaders speak up. No petitions signed. Nothing. Don’t get me wrong, praying is important. But one night? You can do that five times a day everyday anyways.

Where’s the pressure? Where are our outspoken leaders? Apparently there are 1 million Muslims in North America. Are you telling me that not one of them is rich? That not one of them holds a position of power where he could make even the smallest of differences? Are we that tame?

Or is it true that we have gotten comfortable living the middle American or upper middle American lifestyle? A lifestyle where allowing the deaths of your fellow brothers and sisters to go unpunished was acceptable. A lifestyle where you could feign caring with simple flag waving and the chanting of some cheers as long as you went home to your mansion to sleep at night. And how many actually lose sleep over this “conflict” affecting Gaza at the moment? If it was Pakistan, would the Pakistani community be up in arms? What if it were Iran, Egypt, or Morocco? Or do we really have to wait until they burn down Mecca before we as a people get off of our collective asses and “actually” do something about the state of the world we live in?

It must be so as the House of Representatives, even after Israel ignores U.N. laws, kills humanitarian aid workers, violates Egyptian air space, is caught conspiring to invade Iran, not to mention kill primarily civilians… the House states that Israel has the “right to defend” itself. By going into Palestine killing anything that moves? By that logic if Iraq and Afghanistan were to level every building in America above 100 feet, it could only be called “self-defense.”Forget the fact that 9/11 had its roots in the same type of hypocritical American foreign policy that now sees hundreds of defenseless Palestinians dying weeks on end.

So what does all this have to do with “us” in the west? We have our homes and comfortable beds to sleep in. We went out and did our little song and dance, wore our keffiyahs and prayed for our fellow brothers and sisters. We did all we could right?

Or do we have an obligation being blessed to live in a place where you don’t have to worry about constant death, where children make it through adolescence instead of biting the bullet of some IDF soldiers’ rifle? Should we all do as much as possible to make sure that this, all of this that is happening against Muslims end tomorrow? Should we be calling our representatives until 3 or 4 AM, should we be donating money and creating political action committees to harass politicians to death to do what we want? If you want to organize a march do a million persons march. Force them to close down half the streets to the city. If you want to show them that you are serious, be serious yourself. After all, that’s how Israel does it.

The Media vs. The Palestinians

The following article was written by my dear friend, Avi Silverberg.  It was originally published on his excellent new blog, “The Essential Gaza.” Please visit it to stay updated on the ongoing and turbulent crisis in Gaza.

When was the last time you turned on your TV? If, like most people, you answer “oh I had it on earlier”, then you have probably noticed the slant in coverage on the Gaza Conflict.

Let me get one thing straight, I am not a fan of conspiracy theories. I avoid conversation about conspiracy as much as I possibly can. I believe that they do more harm to the truth than outright lies do. So please do not look at this as some kind of a “news conspiracy, The Illuminati is going to get us all! Be scared!” type of article.

The night that the ground invasion began,while surfing the 300 or so channels that my family get, I noticed that not one of them was covering the invasion. Not FOX or ABC or CNN or even WHYY. MSNBC had nothing, nor did C-SPAN. Going through the menu, I saw that I would have to wait 2 hours before anything that would even remotely cover the invasion would be on.

I knew the radio was a joke. I like to listen to my AM stations occasionally to see what the other side is saying about things. But at the moment, I could not be bothered with extreme right-wing bias.

I thought I could hang out with my best friend Internet, so I ran upstairs. Upon being greeted by my customized for the latest news Google homepage, i noticed that the headlines for Google News and Yahoo News were giving me my stories. So were Digg and Fark, my second homes. As I clicked on each one, I noticed that the stories were surprisingly slanted and un-rightfully biased reposts of your typical ABC or FOX stories. Even Digg was letting me down. If you look at the comments for any of the stories, you will immediately see the hordes of pro-IDF and religious based posts. I am still uncertain if this is just a group posing as Digg members or if it is the true sentiments of some of the people that I thought of as an intelligent open community. Either way it is a sad state of affairs.

So many people in this world are not aware of the true nature of this massacre. So many people don’t even know that there is a massacre going on. Too many are constantly force-fed extreme bias and misinformation. We, as people of change, need to continue to do what we are already doing. We must continue to rally in our cities and towns. We must continue to educate people on the historical facts behind this slaughter. We must continue to fight with words and not with fists or violence. We must use what the Israeli government is afraid to use and that is rational thought and patience. We must promise the people of Palestine that we will continue to be heroes who will stand by them in their moment of need. That we will not just sit and watch this happen. One of the Five Pillars of Islam is “Charity”. What is more charitable then standing up for your brothers and sisters? That is a different kind of charity. That is spiritual charity and there is nothing else like it.

Continue to fight the fight! I’m with you.

Nine Muslim Passengers Kicked Off Plane

This is absolutely outrageous! The following article is from “The Huffington Post.” You can visit the original link here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/01/02/nine-muslim-passengers-ki_n_154750.html

WASHINGTON — Nine Muslim passengers were kicked off a flight from Washington, D.C., to Florida after other passengers reported hearing a suspicious remark about airplane security.

AirTran Airways spokesman Tad Hutcheson called the incident on the New Year’s Day flight from Reagan National Airport to Orlando, Fla., a misunderstanding, but defended the company’s response. He said the airline followed federal rules and did nothing wrong.

One of the Muslim passengers, Kashif Irfan, told The Washington Post the confusion began when his brother was talking about the safest place to sit on an airplane.

“My brother and his wife were discussing some aspect of airport security,” Irfan said. “The only thing my brother said was, ‘Wow, the jets are right next to my window.’”

Irfan told the newspaper he thought he and the others were profiled because of their appearance. The men had beards and the women wore headscarves, traditional Muslim attire.

Irfan, 34, is an anesthesiologist and his brother is a lawyer. Both live in Alexandria, Va., with their families, and were born in Detroit. They were traveling with their wives, Irfan’s sister-in-law and Irfan’s three sons, ages 7, 4 and 2. A family friend also was traveling with the group to a religious retreat in Florida.

Federal officials ordered the rest of the passengers from the plane and re-screened them before allowing the flight to depart about two hours behind schedule.

The family was upset that AirTran didn’t allow the Muslim passengers to book another flight. The airline said in a news release Friday that one of the passengers became irate, made inappropriate comments and had to be escorted away from a gate podium by local law enforcement.

“The FBI agents actually cleared our names,” Inayet Sahin, one of the family members kicked off the flight, told CNN. “They went on our behalf and spoke to the airlines and said, ‘There is no suspicious activity here. They are clear. Please let them get on a flight so they can go on their vacation,’ and they still refused.”

The family and friend eventually made it to their destination on a US Airways flight.

Hutcheson said AirTran initially refused to rebook the family because the airline had not been notified the investigation was complete. He said the passengers were offered full refunds and are now welcome to fly on AirTran after being cleared by authorities.

“At the end of the day, people got on and made comments they shouldn’t have made on the airplane, and other people heard them,” Hutcheson said. “Other people heard them, misconstrued them. It just so happened these people were of Muslim faith and appearance. It escalated, it got out of hand and everyone took precautions.”

Christopher White, a federal Transportation Security Administration spokesman, said the situation was handled appropriately.

White said the pilot, after being informed of the remarks, requested that two federal air marshals on board remove the individuals. TSA then alerted authorities, including the FBI, which conducted an investigation. Once authorities determined there was no threat, it was up to the airline whether to allow the family to reboard.

“If the pilot is uncomfortable with someone flying on their plane, that’s their decision,” White said.

A spokesman for the FBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.

One of the passengers removed, Abdur Razack Aziz, said he will consider a lawsuit.