Muslim-Americans Remember 9/11 and More

Today marks the 8th anniversary of the horrific attacks of September 11th, 2001.  As Americans reflect and mourn the loss of nearly 3,000 people, Muslim-Americans not only share their grief, but also express their own challenges amidst stereotyping, discrimination, racial profiling, and hate crimes.

As reported recently by Amy Sullivan in Time Magazine’s article, “Poll: Muslim Americans Still Struggle for Acceptance,” a new Pew Forum survey found that “nearly 40% of Americans still say they think Islam is more likely to encourage violence.”  CAIR (Council on American-Islamic Relations) also recently expressed concern about the “spike in anti-Muslim incidents” during the month of Ramadan, including a man who opened fire on his Muslim neighbors.

Rather than detail other incidents that Muslim-Americans have experienced recently (as I did in my previous post), I think it’s really important to acknowledge how many Muslim-Americans have preserved their identities as both “Muslim” and “American” despite the Islamophobia they may have experienced.

Since 9/11, the Muslim lifestyle has been so incredibly politicized that is almost impossible for us to withdraw from politics and current events.  Even for Muslims who have no interest in politics, they are not immune to ignorant questions or bigoted remarks they may receive from others.  There are some members in my family, for instance, who would rather not talk about politics in public, but whenever they disclose their national origin or religious beliefs, they are asked about issues such as terrorism and, even worse, often expected to answer for it.

A common experience that frustrates many Muslim-Americans is when certain non-Muslims ask them, “Where are all the moderate Muslims?” or “Why don’t Muslims condemn terrorism?”  It’s a question that frustrates us because we know far too well that Muslims have been defining ourselves and speaking out against terrorism since before 9/11.  The problem is that (1) people are not listening, (2) mainstream media does a very poor job covering the majority of Muslims, (3) anti-Islamic propaganda films like “Obsession” drown out the efforts and voices of Muslims who are breaking stereotypes and misconceptions about Islam, and (4) not all of the “moderate Muslims” are superheroes.  Smile.

In other words, when you hear certain non-Muslims complain that “moderate Muslims” are “not speaking up,” it sounds as if they’re awaiting some kind of mythical, uber-westernized, secular Muslim leader to reveal a Superman costume beneath their clothes and miraculously destroy all of the “radical Muslim” groups on the planet.  The reality is that the majority of Muslim-Americans do not have any kind “special link” or “connection” with these militant groups, nor do they have much influence.  This is because most of the violence that ensues in the Muslim world has very little to do with religion, but rather with post-colonialist liberation ideologies.

This is not to say that Muslim-Americans shouldn’t speak out.  As I have mentioned above, we have been speaking out, and we continue to do so.  There are brilliant Muslim-American authors and writers like Sumbul Ali-Karamali, Reza Aslan, Eboo Patel, and Dalia Mogahed who not only dispel stereotypes, but also enlighten Muslims and non-Muslims alike about what Islam truly is, as opposed to what is filtered in the mainstream media.  Also worth mentioning are the countless Muslim bloggers who engage in intra-community and inter-community dialogue, as well as analyzing stereotypical representations of their community in all forms of media.  Muslim feminists, in particular, have excellent outlets such as Muslimah Media Watch and Altmuslimah.

Muslims speak out in classrooms, on college campuses, in Mosques, in workplaces, and even through art, such as poetry, spoken word, film, and literature.  Across the nation, Mosques and Islamic Centers collaborate with Christians and Jews for progressive inter-faith and inter-cultural programs and events.  This Ramadan, for example, I saw events on my Facebook page about Synagogues holding Iftar dinners for Muslims.  There have been fundraisers for all kinds of causes, including for the displaced Pakistanis in Swat Valley - a humanitarian crises that was largely caused by the Taliban invasion of that region.

In Sumbul Ali-Karamali’s book, “The Muslim Next Door,” she mentions how the media isolates the Muslim voice in favor of controversial images that only promote Islamophobia.  Images of Palestinians dancing in the streets after 9/11 was broadcast throughout the western mainstream media, but what the media didn’t show were the Palestinians who participated in candlelight vigils for the 9/11 victims.  There is also a debate on whether or not the video tape of Palestinians was just archived footage used for political purposes, so for all we know, the images were not responsibly used by certain media outlets.  The media also failed to mention that Muslim countries like Egypt, Pakistan, Turkey, and Indonesia — along with Islamic religious leaders like the Saudi Mufti — condemned the 9/11 attacks.  Nothing was mentioned about the Fatwa that was issued against Osama bin Laden, stating that he could not call himself a Muslim.  Nothing was said about Iran holding candlelight vigils for 9/11 victims either.  Astonishingly, hardly anything is ever reported on the efforts of organizations like CAIR, which has been strongly condemning all acts of violence around the world, whether they’re committed by Muslims or non-Muslims.

For me, the victims of 9/11 were not only the 3,000 lost in the attacks, but also the Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus, and non-Muslim Arabs and Iranians who were murdered, beaten, discriminated against, illegally detained, and subjected to racial profiling, humiliation, and the vilification of their way of life in the aftermath.  When Islamophobes ask Muslims to apologize for 9/11, it is not only offensive and insulting, but also reveals intolerance and bigotry.  No one — Muslim or non-Muslim — should ever feel guilty about an atrocity that they had nothing to do with.  No one should apologize for a crime that they didn’t even commit.  No child should be afraid to go to school where other students wear shirts that say “Islam is of the Devil.” No child should have to ask their parents, “Why do they hate Muslims?”

There is no place for this kind of hate and intolerance.  There is no place for discrimination and prejudice.  It does not reflect the true character of Islam or America or the very nature of what it means to be a human being.  We have to step outside of ourselves, empathize with others, understand each other, and build strong bridges for our future.  We don’t want our children to be deal with stereotypes and hate crimes that we may have suffered, and we don’t want them to answer for atrocities that happened way before they are even born.

For me, to be a Muslim and American is to understand that there is always hope and progress.  From my personal experiences, I know that I have met and worked with a lot of wonderful people, from all walks of life, and it reminds me that there is a lot to be cherished. Muslim-Americans are integrated in American society, and as President Obama said while hosting an Iftar dinner at the White House, “Islam, as we know it, is part of America.”

We have been coexisting with our fellow human beings for centuries, and we will continue to do so.

The Clarion Fund’s Film Jihad Against “Islamism”

This brilliant exposé of the Clarion Fund’s Islamophobic propaganda film was written by Azeezah, originally published at Muslim Lookout.

From the same team that gave America Relentless: The Struggle for Peace in the Middle East and the award-winning Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West comes a new blockbuster “documentary”: The Third Jihad: Radical Islam’s Vision for America. Undeterred by the thorough debunking Obsession received following its mass distribution in American newspapers last year (financed by the eminently shady Clarion Fund), producer Raphael Shore and director Wayne Kopping are back with more of the same in their latest offering.

The Third Jihad’s vortex of fear-mongering centers on the Muslim Brotherhood’s so-called “Explanatory Memorandum on the General Strategic Plan For the Group in North America,” a document dating back to 1991 that supposedly outlines the Muslim Brotherhood’s manifesto of “grand jihad in eliminating and destroying the Western Civilization from within.” (The memorandum is available exclusively on the website of Steve Emerson’s Investigative Project on Terrorism.) The Third Jihad premiered in Canada on Wednesday May 20 to a sold-out crowd at Toronto’s Eglinton Grand theatre; I attended the premiere to discover what my “radical” co-religionists envision for America. As the film’s narrator Dr. Zuhdi Jasser so ominously put it, “We all know about terrorism; this is the war you don’t know about.”

An exhaustive treatment of the film’s contents lies beyond the limits of this piece, and so what follows is an assessment of its most salient assertions and an analysis of the function those claims serve in The Third Jihad’s broader propagandic narrative.

“Where are the Muslims? Where are they in speaking out and condemning terrorism?” – Dr. Zuhdi Jasser

In Good Muslim, Bad Muslim: America, the Cold War, and the Roots of Terror, anthropologist Mahmood Mamdani described the American endeavor to discriminate the “good” Muslim from the “bad” Muslim. This distinction is political, rather than religious or theological: as Mamdani explained, “Even when Bush speaks of ‘good’ Muslims and ‘bad’ Muslims, what he means by ‘good’ Muslims is really pro-American Muslims and by ‘bad’ Muslims he means anti-American Muslims.” The Third Jihad shamelessly exploits this bifurcative dynamic to cast suspicion on the majority of the American Muslim community – belying its opening disclaimer that it is only about the “small percentage” of Muslims embodying “the threat of radical Islam” – while propping up its Muslim cheerleader for American neo-conservatism, Dr. Zuhdi Jasser.

Dr. Jasser, founder of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy (AIFD), is The Third Jihad’s narrator and central protagonist. He is described in the film as “a devout Muslim,” as if his pious Muslim-ness qualifies him to speak authoritatively on global and local Islamic politics and history (it obviously doesn’t, given the quality of the political and historical analysis The Third Jihad offers; see sections below). Moreover, it is obvious that what characterizes Dr. Jasser as a “good” Muslim is not his devotion to his religion, but rather his uncritical devotion to the neo-conservative agenda: AIFD’s list of core principles includes an affirmation that “as United States citizens we support our American armed forces,” and expresses a commitment to “work to express the consistency of the principles of Islam with economic principles of free markets and capitalism.” The film ends with an American-as-apple-pie scene of Dr. Jasser playing soccer with his children and exhorting people to “stand up for the freedoms and liberties our forefathers fought to create.”

The Third Jihad’s promotional material bills Zuhdi Jasser as “the one person who is not afraid to tell you the truth” about “the jihadist quest to rule America.” He is also apparently the only Muslim willing to condemn terrorism: “Where are the Muslims?” Dr. Jasser wonders in the film. “Where are they in speaking out and condemning terrorism?” (To relieve his bewilderment he could refer to the lists of anti-terrorism statements issued by Muslim leaders and organizations, compiled by Rabbi Arthur Waskow and Sheila Musaji.) Mainstream American Muslim organizations, including the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), and the Muslim Students Assocation (MSA) are cast in the role of “bad” Muslim, working to undermine Western society from within while deceptively “presenting themselves as moderate.” While it is true that the Muslim Brotherhood named ISNA and the MSA as possibly friendly organizations in their putative “General Strategic Plan,” the film gives no evidence to suggest that the organizations are indeed participants in the Brotherhood’s nefarious “grand jihad” plot, or are vitiating American society in any other way.

The Third Jihad’s portrayal of the American Muslim community as a towering fifth column is a potemkin construct of half-truths. For instance: The film shows extensive footage of the Islamic Thinkers Society (ITS) proclaiming their desire to institute Shariah law in America, but it doesn’t reveal that the ITS membership is “less than a handfull [sic] of Muslims” localized in Jackson Heights, New York City. The film asperses CAIR because it was founded in 1994 by three former leaders of the Islamic Association for Palestine (described as a front group for Hamas), but it conveniently neglects to mention that support for Hamas wasn’t illegal when the CAIR founders were IAP members.

“In today’s context there are actually two different types of jihad. There’s the violent jihad, where the Islamists use violence and terror to try and overthrow their enemy. And then there’s what has been termed the cultural jihad, where these Islamists use in a most duplicitous way the laws and the rights they are given in our society to try and work against society and overthrow it.” – Dr. Zuhdi Jasser

The promotional material accompanying The Third Jihad notifies that “radical Islamists are taking advantage of the United States of America’s democratic processes, and using them to destroy the American way of life.” The film provides several sinister (European) instances of this “cultural jihad”: toy pigs being banned in a British office because they offended a Muslim employee; Burger King recalling a desert because its logo resembled the Arabic script for “Allah;” a Turkish lawyer attempting to sue a soccer team because its jerseys displayed a Crusader-like cross. (Interestingly, Barbara Kay trots out many of the same examples in her National Post article on “soft jihad.”)

While these cases may indicate the oversensitivity of individual Muslims to insult of Islam, they are hardly signs of a concerted strategy to “try and work against society and overthrow it,” much less the most serious current threat to liberal democracy and society. If a ban on toy pigs is a troubling assault on rights and freedoms, then where do you rank the USA PATRIOT Act, which permitted the indefinite detention of non-citizens upon secret evidence and extensive government surveillance of communications? Or the judgment of Guantanamo inmates in secretive military commissions, contravening all notions of fair trial? Is the American state also waging a “jihad” on Western civilization?

“The clash between Islam and Christendom has now been going on for 14 centuries.” – Dr. Bernard Lewis

The Third Jihad condenses 1400 years of Islam into three jihads, rendering history thus: The first jihad was the 7^th century spread of Islam out of Arabia (and “that was obviously not done by peaceful persuasion,” comments Bernard Lewis), and the second jihad was the Ottoman expansion beginning in the 15^th c. CE. According to Zuhdi Jasser, “we’re [currently] in the third and final phase of their mission to bring about the domination of their version of Islam.” The graphic accompanying this cobbled-together history shows a map progressively covered by metastasizing star-and-crescent symbols, until the whole world is dominated by Islam. This domination is portrayed as a cumulative process, leaving one with the erroneous impression that the Ottoman Empire still exists and controls significant portions of the globe. One is also left puzzling when the Islamists conquered the continents of South America, Australia, Asia, and Africa, since the film deals mainly with North America and Europe.

Edward Said remarked in Orientalism that the Orientalists (including Bernard Lewis) saw Islam as a “ ‘cultural synthesis’ . . . that could be studied apart from the economics, sociology, and politics of the Islamic peoples . . . The impact of colonialism, of worldly circumstances, of historical development: all these were to the Orientalists as flies to wanton boys, killed – or disregarded – for their sport.” And so The Third Jihad draws straight, spurious lines of continuity from the Ottoman Empire to the modern day, blithely ignoring pesky historical “flies” such as the emergence of the modern system of nation-states, the colonial and post-colonial encounters between “Islam” and “the West,” the Cold War, and the processes of modernization and globalization that have been so instrumental in shaping the contours of political Islam. Juan Eduardo Campo makes an incisive analogy: “One can only imagine the objections that would be raised if a respected American Studies scholar were to interpret Chicano or African American gang activity in American cities in terms of ancient Aztec or African warrior religions, while neglecting to discuss the immediate social, cultural, and economic causes.”

Provided with no description of the different ways Islam has been interpreted and enacted throughout its history, the unfortunate viewer of The Third Jihad is left to imagine that the “version of Islam” spread through subsequent jihads is synonymous with the worst behaviors of Muslims documented in the film: extremism, oppression, and intolerance. (Incidentally, the branch of Islam that seems to constitute The Third Jihad’s greatest concern – Wahhabism – only achieved prominence in the early 20^th c. CE, a period entirely elided in the film’s telescoped history. Wahhabism was considered a form of heresy by the 18^th-century Ottoman Empire.) Moreover, the film’s insinuation that Islam as a religion was spread purely by the sword is misleading: even Daniel Pipes notes that in the prevailing classical conception of jihad, its purpose was “political, not religious. It aim[ed] not so much to spread the Islamic faith as to extend sovereign Muslim power.” Bernard Lewis’ castigation of the Muslim empires for using means other than “peaceful persuasion” to expand is historically anachronistic – is there any empire which extended its sovereign power without using force?

The film situates this piecemeal history within a cosmic clash between two “religiously-defined civilizations” which will only end when “they [the Muslims] triumph universally” (according to Bernard Lewis). The “clash of civilizations” thesis has been discredited ad nauseum (see, for instance, Francis Robinson’s “Islam and the West: Clash of Civilizations?”), so I will refrain from entering into a full rebuttal of it in this piece. However, one wonders if Zuhdi Jasser realizes that if Bernard Lewis was correct – that the “Islamic” and “Western” civilizations really are fundamentally incompatible – his dream of creating “a world where my children can grow up, and there’s no conflict in their hearts between being American and being Muslim” would be unattainable.

“The real war is not a war against a bunch of terrorists. It’s a war between the values of freedom and democracy, and the values of barbarism.” – Dr. Tawfik Hamid, “former Jamaa Islameia terrorist”

The Third Jihad plays as fast and loose with contemporary politics as it does with history to extend its Manichean grand narrative to the current age. Sundry conflicts are stripped of their contexts and presented as fronts in a unified Islamist movement. In Dr. Jasser’s analysis, “When we look at the conflicts in India, Chechnya, Indonesia, Gaza, Iraq, Somalia, and countless other countries,” what’s at root is “the quest for Islam to become the dominant religion.” No allusion is made to the history of violence between Muslims and Hindus in India, or the brutal repression of Chechen separatists by the Russian government, or America’s pre-emptive war in Iraq, or the 60-year Israel/Palestine conflict. The Muslim actors in these theaters are robbed of all rational political motivation: “It’s an entire movement,” states Rudy Giuliani, “and the idea of it is hatred for our way of life.”

But as writer Melanie Phillips suggests in The Third Jihad, “surely it’s more sensible to look at what they [radical Muslims] actually say they’re doing.” For example, Al-Qaeda’s 1998 declaration of jihad “against the Jews and the Crusaders” outlined three goals of the jihad: the withdrawal of American troops from Saudi Arabia, an end to sanctions against Iraq, and the establishment of Islamic control over holy sites in Jerusalem. These objectives were obviously not driven by abhorrence for American “freedom and democracy,” but rather by specific elements of American foreign policy that have crippled freedom and democracy in parts of the Muslim world. Portraying the situation as an ineluctable “clash of civilizations” – in which the enemy “hates us for what we are, not what we do” – may provide absolution for America, but it does nothing to address the root causes that give rise to violence. Obviously violent Islamism and anti-Americanism do exist, but The Third Jihad mischaracterizes both its motivations and its scale.

“Islamism is like cancer. You either defeat it or it will defeat you.” – Dr. Tawfik Hamid

Ironically, The Third Jihad mirrors the “us-against-them” logic and rhetoric of the anti-American radical Islam it so decries. And its farrago of innuendo and half-truth is extremely persuasive. Following the screening, a member of the audience stood up and drew a parallel between Islamism and Nazism, arguing that Islamists have to be destroyed as the Nazis were – a dangerous proposition, considering the blurry line the film draws between radical Islamists and the rest of us Muslims. But that is the inescapable conclusion of The Third Jihad’s perverted message. If the dog is to be put down, it must first be declared sick.

Stop Judging Me

by Guest Writer Ahmad Yousaf, originally published on his blog, i-Slam

In the Name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

I was driving in my car listening to AM radio and for some God-forsaken reason, I tuned in to Mark Levin (a man who makes Rush Limbaugh sound intelligent and reasonable). My blood boiled as he repeatedly used words like ‘Islamic terrorists, Islamic, hate-mongerers, Islamofascists, ect.’

After slamming my fist into the steering wheel, imagining the Nissan sign in the middle was Levin’s face, I saw that I was low on gas so I pulled in to an Exxon. While my gas was being pumped, my frustrations about judgemental and ignorant human beings seemed to actually get worse. I decided that the best way to cool off was to eat something (explains a lot about my recent weight gain). I stepped in to the little gas station ‘mini-mart’ with my face red with anger and my stomach ready for retribution. I picked up a bag of Doritos and a bottle of Gatorade, went up to the register and handed the lady behind the register my credit card. The following poem ensued.  Keep an open mind while you read it and please comment and tell me what you think.

STOP JUDGING ME!!!

It was late, and her register was the only one open.
She was about 50 years old, caucasian and looked tired

She gave me a familiar cold stare that I had gotten used to
since the word Muslim became synonymous with the word terrorist.

I tried to look at myself through her eyes
See myself for what she sees me as, lies
Or at least ignorance, but contentment in ignorant bliss
Has the truth conveniently missed
It has the innocent painted
The purity of simple souls tainted
With blood soaked beards and masked executioners,
Having the masses seeing me as Osama incarnate, straight from the sands
Guilty by religious association, they have caught me with red hands
As if I personally tore down the towers brick by brick
That I made them sick with anthrax tricks
That on September 12th I had a smile on my face
Like I didn’t wish I could go back to the history books and hit backspace
As if I am building the dirty bomb they dream about in their nightmares
That I sting the eyes of mourning moms and churn out their widowed tears
As if I am the Wal-Mart of sorrows
The one stop shop crusher of happiness and snatcher of tomorrows
Like I mass produce grief and woe
And I sliced the throat of lady liberty and let her blood flow
And she thinks this of me before shes sees anything except my name
And before I can apologize for something I never did I am tagged with blame
So from her, I get a funny look, a rolling of the eyes
A smirk of disbelief or a suspicion ridden sigh
Relegating me to someone who belongs in Abu Ghraib or Guantanamo
No longer worthy of the right of opportunity, a chance to show
Who I really am… to explain with which eyes I see
Instead she keeps a watchful eye on me
As if I am going to jump over the counter and steal her liberty
But what she doesn’t realize is that she has already given up the freedom to think
And I watch as, in her false sense of patriotism, she sinks
When I reach out to help her, she flinches as if I am a murderous crook
And in reflex I say, 
“Lady, its been eight years, pick up a freakin book,
I am not a terrorist; Islam is not evil as they say
I do not drink the blood of children,
and hide from the sunlight during the day
I am just like you, just another human being
And it kills me to know that when you look at me all you are seeing
Is another sociopathic mass killer or another Saddam!”
She put up her hand,
Her face became red but her demeanor remained calm
‘I am sorry, I didn’t mean to look at you strangely or make you feel this way
And I know that many do judge you unfairly in the world we live in today
But I– I am just a single mother of one
And you look so much… well, the truth is you remind me of’
And now her tears began to run…
‘and I really miss him so much, but you look just– like my son………’

Her son had passed away at a young age and that ‘cold’ stare she gave me wasn’t cold at all. It was just one of sadness because I reminded her of someone she loved.  I hope the title ‘Stop Judging Me’ meant something different when you started the poem and when you ended it.

(Photo Credit: Pascal Deloche/Godong/Corbis)

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 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.

Nationwide Demonstrations for Gaza

Thousands of Arabs, Muslims, and non-Muslims alike marched throughout the United States in protest to the recent Israeli airstrikes on Gaza which have killed nearly 400 people and wounded over 2,000. From Los Angeles to Chicago to New York, thousands of people refused to be silent and gathered to demonstrate against an atrocity that the mainstream media continues to report as “justifiable” and “self-defense.”  For 5 consecutive days, Israel did not stop its airstrikes and relentless launch of bombs and missiles, while President Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert blamed Hamas for provoking the attacks.

What’s absolutely infuriating is that President Bush and the Israeli Prime Minister completely ignore the fact that Hamas fired rockets into Southern Israel because of the blockade Israel has placed on the people of Gaza.  The Israeli blockade on Gaza has been in action for months and the 1.5 million Palestinians living in the region have been unjustly deprived of food, water, medicine, and electricity. While Palestinians suffered and died without these basic necessities, the rest of the world stood by and ignored their plight.  President Bush and Prime Minister Olmert also didn’t mention that the Hamas rockets killed one Israeli and injured four civilians.  In response, Israel launched this devastating airstrike on Gaza which has killed nearly 400 people.  As Israel claims to be targeting Hamas and “terrorists,” all one needs to do is look at the bodies of the murdered Palestinians:  Children, teenagers, women, elderly, civilians, etc.  If this is not terrorism, genocide, or ethnic cleansing, then I don’t know what is.

I recently participated in a protest for Gaza in Philadelphia on Tuesday, December 30th.  The incredible display of energy, passion, and most of all, unity is what made the experience truly unforgettable and deeply touching.  I saw hundreds of people from all different ethnic and religious backgrounds:  Arabs, South Asians, Caucasians, African-Americans; Muslims, Jews, Christians, etc.  The way everyone came together brought back a sense of hope for me, especially regarding the Muslim community, which I tend to criticize a lot for not displaying enough unity.  The fact that other large protests took place in cities like Los Angeles, Chicago, New York, and even in Syndney and London, shows the world how serious the Palestinian issue really is.  Protesters in Philadelphia held signs reading, “Obama, Obama, we need change!” and “Stop Killing the Children,” and “Time for Peace, Not War.”  Jewish protesters proudly marched in the streets and held signs reading “Philly Jews Say Not in My Name” and “Shalom, Salaam, Peace.”  Cheers and applause roared after Palestinian speakers urged President-Elect Barack Obama to fulfill his promise of change and bringing peace in the Middle-East.

As I welcome the new year, I can still hear the passionate shouts of “Free, Free Palestine!” and “Long Live Palestine!” and “Stop the Occupation Now!”  I could not bring myself to even acknowledge the new year without remembering and praying for the thousands of Palestinians suffering in Gaza right now.  We cannot forget the atrocities and we cannot stop raising our voices.  The more we speak up, the stronger our voices become.  May this new year be a beautiful and blessed one for you and your families.  May we all work towards bringing peace, understanding, and compassion into the world.  And may Allah answer our prayers and bring healing to all those who suffer in the world.  Ameen.

If you’re interested in watching the footage I video taped from the protest in Philadelphia, feel free to watch it below.  I interviewed some people and captured some really amazing displays of passion and unity.  The entire protest is divided into three parts.  The links for part 2 and 3 are provided below:

Emergency Protest for Gaza in Philadelphia - December 30th, 2008 - Part 2 of 3

Emergency Protest for Gaza in Philadelphia - December 30th, 2008 - Part 3 of 3

The Day “24″ Became Academic Material

I felt my heart drop when my professor for “Mass Media and Society” announced that we were going to watch “24” for the entire three hours of class. It took me a moment to overcome the shock and sort things out in my mind: “This is the same ‘24’ I’m thinking about, right? The television show where American-Muslims are illegally locked up in detention centers?” After self-confirmation, I confidently raised my hand.

“May I ask why we’re watching ‘24’?” I asked politely.

My professor kindly explained, “I believe ‘24’ had some positive influences on how the U.S. government treats prisoners and I also would argue that it played a huge role for the Obama campaign since the show has an African-American President. I really believe it helped prepare the country for that.” I’m paraphrasing here, but that’s what she basically said. I was sure she was referring to Guantanamo Bay when she mentioned the U.S. military’s treatment of prisoners, but it confused me how criticism of prisoner abuse would cancel out the show’s stereotypical portrayal of Muslims and Arabs as terrorists? And the Obama thing was just absurd in my opinion.

“It’s just odd to me,” I said, “because more than anything, I strongly feel that the show vilifies Muslims and the religion of Islam. These stereotypical images are very hurtful to the Muslim community.”

As I said this, I saw heads turning and eyes staring at me. I don’t know anyone in the class because we only meet once a week, so I wasn’t expecting any support, but after the professor responded and said something completely irrelevant to what I said, I couldn’t believe people remained silent.

She mentioned the film, “Crash,” and expressed that she felt discriminated against since there were no Jews in the film. My initial reaction was: what does that have to do with “24” and the representation of Muslims? Was she suggesting that every group is fairly misrepresented in the media or was she just trying to dodge my points?

“I understand that,” I replied, “but at least the movie doesn’t depict the Jewish people as terrorists or in a negative light.” Then I brought us back on topic, “In ‘24’, we only see Muslims being associated with terrorism.”

She interrupted and said there were episodes where a “good Muslim” helped the American protagonists fight against the Muslim terrorists. I knew she was referring to Alexander Siddig’s character who is an “ex-terrorist” and pretty much represents every stereotype that right-wing pundits want us to think about “moderate Muslims,” i.e. (1) they’re at first resistant to help the U.S. because they’re worried about being “puppets”, (2) they’re paranoid about speaking out against “Islamic jihadists”, and (3) they’re considered ‘traitors’ by fellow Muslims if they condemn terrorism. I skipped this critique of Alexander Siddig’s character and just simply said, “but the bad guys are still Muslim, and having a ‘good Muslim’ character doesn’t mean the show is exempt from being racist or Islamophobic.” As usual – whenever I feel it is relevant – I mentioned Spike Lee’s film, “Bamboozled,” where a female White media consultant says to the Black characters that she can’t be racist because she has Black friends and a Ph.D. in African-American studies. Of course, this is untrue; anyone can be racist, no matter what.

I observed my classmates around me. They were giggling, laughing, scoffing, whispering, or giving me looks that suggested that they anxiously wanted me to shut up so we can just watch the show. This made me feel very uncomfortable, but I told myself to stand my ground.

Again, she went off topic and spoke about Italians and Jews being stereotyped in Hollywood films. I quickly interjected and said, “but there are many positive representations of Italians and Jews as well. Some of the greatest actors, actresses, and filmmakers in Hollywood are Italian or Jewish. The difference with Muslims is that there aren’t any memorable and positive depictions of them. If you’re going to show ‘24’, then are you going to show an Arab film or a film with Muslims? I think that would be fair.”

At this point, I could hear my voice strain. I was frustrated that she was not understanding and empathizing with me. I mentioned statistics of hate crimes and discriminatory acts against Muslim-Americans ever since 9/11, I spoke about the Islamophobia in the recent presidential elections, and I reemphasized how offensive television shows like “24” are.

“There are no Muslim characters in the episodes that I’m showing” she responded. “If I felt they were going to be anti-Islamic, I wouldn’t show them.”

Was this supposed to make me feel better? Regardless if there were no Muslim characters in the episodes she was showing, the association is still there. I simply nodded and said “ok.”

Two or three years ago, I would have walked out of class, but I chose to stick around just to watch what “progressive” message she was pulling out of these shows. But there were none. I only saw sexism and stereotypes.

There were no Muslims in the episodes she showed, but there was a White female terrorist who has sex with a man in the bathroom of an airplane just to nab his ID – basically suggesting that women have to use their bodies to get what they want. Then the camera lingers on her bare legs and almost gives us a peak beneath her skirt – this is known as the “Male Gaze” (women being depicted in a way that men want to see them).  Meanwhile, the protagonist’s daughter sneaks out of her house to party with guys, but then realizes that she made the wrong decision and that she should have listened to her parents – apparently, the writers don’t think women can make smart decisions on their own. Oh and the protagonist’s female partner turns out to be the villain at the end of the episode – of course, women are not be trusted!

I remember sitting there and thinking: How is this academic material? What’s the point? We don’t even learn much about the African-American President because he’s too busy receiving assassination threats.

I left the class feeling ignored and pushed out. I heard other students speaking to my professor about some upcoming episode, and my professor responded cheerfully about when and where she bought the second or third season on DVD. She did not bother to speak to me after class, write me an e-mail, or talk to me on our last class. I walked to the campus parking lot that night feeling very alone and unsupported. Later on, I thought perhaps there were a few students who agreed with me and just didn’t speak up, but at the time, I felt like no one cared. It really hurt me, and I don’t know if others will understand, but I felt very insignificant. No human being should feel marginalized or alienated just because of their race, religion, culture, gender, sexual orientation, etc. No student should ever feel shut out.

I was happy to receive support from my inter-cultural communication’s professor, who even suggested that we address this issue professionally by writing to the education board. I pray that all students, no matter what their situation is, are blessed with the kind of support that my inter-cultural communication’s professor showed me. She ended class a half hour early just to speak to me. Like her, we all need to understand that it’s important to empathize with individuals. We shouldn’t just react to their words, but their feelings. We need to be strong for them. We need to be supportive for them.

Otherwise, what does it mean to be an educator?

You Cannot Believe Without Questioning

Hi everyone!  This is Jehanzeb, the new Administrator  for “Islam on My Side.”  I’m excited about this opportunity to share more about the Muslim-American experience and to collaborate with fellow bloggers.  The following is an article that discusses issues concerning  Muslim-Americans in the upcoming U.S. election. The article was original posted on my personal blog.  Please feel free to share your thoughts!

There is no doubt that Barack Obama dominated the first Presidential debate against John McCain. Obama was confident in his responses and he completely hammered McCain with a solid plan for improving the U.S. economy, while McCain looked tense and countered with unsubstantial responses. Most notably, perhaps, was how McCain didn’t make eye contact with Obama once, which I interpret as being incredibly disrespectful and immature. As other political commentators and analysts have pointed out, McCain’s debating style personalizes the differences between both candidates. In other words, by not making eye contact or addressing Obama directly, McCain reaffirms his self-perceived dominance over Obama, but he also alludes to Obama being his “opponent” (or even “enemy” according to the Bush Doctrine’s your-either-with-me-or-against-me sermon). Obama, on the other hand, looked at McCain directly and even addressed him by his first name, “John.” Obama even looked into the camera to address the viewers, which I believe earned him a significant boost in the debate.But there are issues to discuss and question, especially for the Muslim community. There can be no argument that Muslim-Americans have been stigmatized ever since September 11th, but even more so after the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. When both candidates talk about the “spirit of national unity” after September 11th, this may be true for most Americans, but it is certainly not true for the Muslim community. There have been over 3,000 reported incidents regarding discriminatory acts, hate crimes, and prejudice towards Muslim-Americans, and neither of the candidates have spoken about it. Obama seemed to allude to it during the debate when he mentioned the world’s perception of American has changed significantly as a result of the wars, but he didn’t mention the repercussions Muslim-Americans have experienced and still endure.