The Hijab- It's My Prerogative and My Right

If a mere scarf causes discomfort, dissension and social nullification, then its obvious that there is a problem with the way Muslims are being treated and a problem with how non-Muslims in America are becoming more discriminatory. If we hold each citizen to democracy’s standard that insist on equality for all and privileges for none; of we hold each citizen ot democracy’s standard that each American, regardless of background, has equal standing in the public forum -then we must agree beyond words, that this nation is an inclusive nation rather than an exclusive group of human being where everyone’s voice counts, along with the way they manifest their convictions. Central to making this social transactions is truth, we must acknowledge that everything is not fine here and many people are experiencing  the most cruel kind of punishment form a crime he did not, himself commit.  This basic understanding assures that all parties in the conversation recognize that there are systematic social inequities operating in our society, and that the playing field is not level. We may have different ideas about how to repair unfairness , but an acknowledgment of the such incivilities is essential to a productive solution. 

Following Your Instincts

What we often do, is not only suppress, but divert our ethical instincts because we believe that religious solidarity requires us to do so. We do it by giving preference to a sanctioned subculture. We do it by ignoring the rule or the standard that dictates a difference in the treatment between foreign born and American born. At the end of the day, however, you tell yourself the truth about brotherhood. There are two groups of people called Muslim in America,  They are all real people, in two real worlds, with a real but separate human dilemma. Then I tell myself that this dilemma is enough to bury someone. 

All of a sudden, faith kicks in. Then the belief in amazing grace convinces me that all is not over, a sense of disaster subsides and I feel I have a divine assurance that all of this is going to get better, and with increased awareness and merciful enlightenment, for one more day God has given me the ability to overcome. There isn't anything like that feeling. Its like being born again. Amazing !

Being True to Oneself

 Cultural shenanigans and blatant discrimination often reduced converts to becoming supplicants for acceptance. These were people who were in fact victimized twice though in different theaters. 

Being in such crossfire bore into me and challenged my owe acquiescence. It would be fair to say that every individual who silently complies with an injustice shares some degree of blame. 

As an individual what could I do and how long could I submit to my own fears and weaknesses. Lastly, where does someone turn when there is no voice left to listen to, no map to follow, or no obvious direction? Where is a real hiding place when a woman looks behind her and see that she is only being pursued by herself? 

Without being true to oneself, you lose a sense of definition. I tried to assemble the vestiges of my spirit and fuse it together to create the Muslim I first set out to be. In starting out I was remiss, far too impressionable. I did not know, at first, whom to revere and why, whom to deny all consideration and why, and exactly who had a right to my loyalty. Eventually I learned only after counting out the passing of really tough years. I needed to keep my own visions, not have it give way to behaviors or judgments faulty in ethical principle and practice. 

In the end the issue was not being faithful to America or my Arab or Muslim brothers.  The issue was me and what truths I needed to uphold. Love of religion could not erase a bruised history. 

In had to look inward and examine my own fantasies about brotherhood and identity, patriotism and religion, not only as a psychological phenomenon, but what the force of social and historical implications have on the Muslim individual and his personality. 

The Madness of Media

People, typically, can identify all the news that journalists see fit to print, but it’s

more difficult to determine what they chose to ignore. 

Without any meaningful backlash, Islamophobia found its way into the American

mainstream, accessing a national platform and audience through such tributaries

as cable TV and conventional newspapers such as the New York Post and

Washington Times. Imbalances in the way journalists frames news creates an

allusion used to past on biases that overwhelmingly support conservative views.

But then, perception is often the stepchild of stupidity, particularly when

controlled by those with the most to gain. Media, an institution, has erected a

mighty wall between analysis and refutation - one that might promote the

expression of disagreements in print and in public circles of cable discussion. A

venue that purports to provide a ‘fair’ basis for opposition and the building of a

consensus without provocative maneuvers and schemes in reality has allowed

for much of its work to be in concert with those who control the minds of a nation.

“Respected analyst” has strategically created a sense of calm and undeserved

trust while propaganda used to promote rightist point of views have won an

ethical exemption, even while a campaign of bigotry is waged against a selected

group of people. We rarely hear loud spoken voices willingly denouncing

intolerance and support for religious freedom. Prejudice is therefore allowed;

discrimination does not count and oddly appears reasonable. They are not seen

for what they are - immoral, illegal, hateful and unjust.

How Do You Achieve Religious Rights, When You Ideas Are Judged Wrong?

The concern with the growth of “political” Islam is not new and over the last forty years, the rise of Islam and/or the Islamist movement as a political force across the Muslim world is a phenomenon which has been greeted with fear and trepidation by the West. Western scholars and government practitioners have not learned or have flatly refuse to accommodate it. The language of political opposition in the Middle East, then as now, is overwhelmingly Islamic; the question of the day is whether there are any useful distinctions to be made among the various Islamist divisions of ideas, and whether any will permanently accept a democratic model and adhere to a doctrine of "one man, one vote."

This tenacious democracy that once insisted that all; regardless of race or creed, religious rights and independent thought are more likely to secure peace, deter aggression, expand open markets, protect American citizens, combat international dissension and uphold human and rights. Then a tragic and unthinkable event occurs and the tragedy, itself is been overshadowed by the many tragedies of its
aftermath.

Loud voices that once spoke passionately for patriotic values are quieted. The American government curtails the civil liberties of its citizens and patriotic values are not inconsistent with the cultural
contradictions of the post 9/11 Patriot Act. The meaning of patriotism is relatively unclear. A nation which feels entitled to self-defense and even to vengeance willingly condones immigrant registration, profiling, no fly listings, and wide-range security clearances which have been declared by the conservatives as being meritorious. Fairness and reasonable seem irrefutable, regardless of its composition. Champions of the security issue were for the most, the ones governing the discussion. The Framers of an altered Constitution were government officials and they sat the policy for an entire nation. And so their actions, their behavior, spoke to something more than just one system of rights.  Many foreigner born immigrants were left legally vulnerable, because they looked foreign born. Their only argument was justice. But justice, poorly argued, is no match for the political ingenuity of the powerful.

Such a reaction should not come as a total surprise. politics from colonial times, right into the twenty-first century has been plagued by manic delusions. Local political “exaggerations, premonitions and conspiracy fantasies” have existed to complement the more widespread versions. With Armageddon around the corner, alien ships leaving there mark in corn fields, rays from space and the illuminati set to mastermind the events that will lead to the establishment of the new world for, what harm does it do to add another conspiracy to the mix?  Why not spout Islam at the evolving threat to democracy and world civility: a religious ideology thats been around for more than 1400 years? Isn’t it odd that no one saw this dire plot to control the world coming?

America has succumbed to waves of hysteria over various immigrant groups: Chinese, Irish, German, Italian, etc. Then came the Red Scares of the 1920s, followed by concentration camps for Japanese Americans during World War II. After that there was fear of communism and McCarthyite persecution. Then followed the paranoid reaction to the civil rights movement, and on it goes.

Every one of these episodes formed the basis for imagined enemies embedded in the homeland and seeking its ultimate destruction, alleging Orthodox Christianity, along with American democracy is to be destroyed and replaced with Islamic Sharia. Persons with a polytheistic outlook--with rarely an absolute truth associated with its thinking, Ideas of morality (notions of right and wrong) are relative to the individual or culture--are to be suspect as disloyal subversive traitors out to undermine national sovereignty and promote anarchy.

A very old game with a new group to name as the enemy. It’s been happening from the very beginning, since the first pioneers stepped foot on American soil and found others here waiting for them.

It would appear that people are most susceptible to these paranoid feelings and fears under conditions of cultural challenge and social uncertainty. In turn, such uneasiness is subject to manipulation by assorted demagogues, the media and politicians in general. This is particularly the case if outsiders are felt to be a source of trouble.

An American Identity

The emergence of a rigid definition of an “American” identity may actually be a response to the rise of multicultural diversity. A decade of finger-pointing has increased this phenomenon and there seems to be too much to overcome towards initiating a way of reversing this social shift.

Even with globalization and multicultural interaction around the world,  the evolving human mind and its psychosocial needs have not transitioned to the point of favorably responding to the varied definitions of Islamic culture. Both the human mind and other religious institutions of our societies increasingly struggle with tolerating Muslim beliefs, even though to more than a billion people worldwide, Islam is a way of life, a belief system, and a guide.

There has never been a time when the mainstream classes of our modern societies were more aware of and living with conflicting religious claims, sharply distinct sources of meaning, and widely variant claims on ethical norms. Among it all, Islam is the least of the appealing. Dubbed by both its advocates and critics as a political religion, bizarre and unconventional concepts of Islamic fundaments have emerged. In spite of the multiplication of Islamic organizations, Islam remains an enigma to Americans because its essence is still unknown to the average American, although it continues to affect many Americans.  There is, therefore, a profound fear of the unknown or an unwillingness to discover.  

And this is one of the major obstacles towards Christian-Muslim dialogue initiated some time ago, but still at its initial stage, remains cognitively impaired in the United States. 

When Will We Wake Up From the "Dream?"

Every year we celebrate the virtues of Martin Luther King. We celebrate the “Dream.”

I wonder if the “dream” is nothing but a palpable illusion we use to trick ourselves into believing in a democracy that does not truly exist. The “dream” is, sadly, taking us away from the truth. The “dream” is not allowing us to acknowledge that we still manipulate the labor of the poor, segregate schools, disenfranchise the poor and deny our own moral impotency. The “dream” is becoming a familiar myth in progress: a celebration of self-awarded respite from concern for those who continue to suffer and from those who continue to be oppressed in “the land of the free.” 

Three years ago, a group of interfaith torchbearers met in Tel Aviv to commiserate about peace and justice. It was lead by the son of Martin Luther King, Jr. Since then, I have noticed, progress has not picked up speed and moved at rates un-”dreamed” of. American children still go to bed hungry and teeth still rot in the ghetto. 

The “dream” is more of a hallucination. It is like mental illness. There is no basis for optimism. Rage surged in Martin’s time and continues during our time. Rage is more technologically advanced and it has grown worse. Twisted and contorted, the lives of Latinos, Palestinians, detainees at Guantanamo Bay, gender oppressed women, the homeless, the hopeless people of color - all these lives have grown only more intricately twisted into a nightmare that we continue to deny and give proof to the fact that “time does not heal all things” but only makes more of us passive, tranquil and invulnerable observers of the numerous scenes of pain. 

Omid Safi, professor of Islamic Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, summed it up best when he said, “It is time to stop and ponder not who killed Martin, but who kills the Dream now. A bullet killed Martin on April 4, 1968. We kill Martin every day, we kill the Dream now, when we stand aside and look, when we ignore the prophetic challenge that this beautiful liberated man of God posed to us.”

We as Americans have the most powerful military in the world, a dominant and pervasive culture, some of the best universities, and still one of the most creative economies. As Spiderman once said, "With great power comes great responsibility." This day, every day, if we want to honor Martin, let us realize that: "Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love."

Next year, same time and hopefully significant change in the moral state of mankind

Khalilah Sabra

Muslim American Society

Immigrant Justice Center, Raleigh, NC

Invocations to Lived visions

MAS Immigrant Justice Center MESSAGE CENTER

What About the Children?

Time can be the teacher of harsh lessons. By the time children reach puberty, there's a part of them that may be already dead, and hard to bring to life again. Some call it innocence. It happens to children in a subtle way: they become passive spectators of television and other forms of media, like the internet. These mediums become powerful education tools, as well as entertainment. It is important for parents to protect their children from the paranoia against Islam that are often transmitted through them . Children need clear guidelines to help them filter the distorted images that are filling the information highways. In regard to the young, it has been said that "they are like molten cement. Anything that falls on them makes a lasting impression."

Muslim students in America are becoming extremely hesitant to present their religious self in any way to their classmates or teachers.  As inhabitants in both worlds, young Muslims are struggling to achieve an ideal cultural self that will be productive to the values of both traditions during a period in which many Americans are expressing a lot of opposition to Islam. Synthesizing the core of two identities is not an easy task when one of these identities has become such a contentious topic. 

A young and inexperienced mind can become crushed from the weight of difficulties raised by such dualism. Islam's attitude towards democratic ideals had been clarified many times by community elders but America continues to be inundated with slanderous distortions.

Self-determination is an inheritable right of all America’s citizens, including Muslims. Most have lived in predominantly Christian communities since birth. They, too, deserve to see themselves reflected positively in as many ways as possible. Sadly, Islamophobia may be destroying whatever social bufferers against negative messages offered by the larger society today.

Muslim parents often hear from their young children about the embarrassment they have felt in school when the subject of 9/11 comes up in the classroom, ironically one of the few times that the subject of Muslims and Islam is included in the school curriculum. Embarrassed by the portrayal of their group as terrorist, they fidget in their chairs as they feel the eyes of non-Muslims looking to see their reaction to the sordid details.

Such comments may unintentionally set the foundation for self-rejection. It is important to consider the kinds of thoughts children are acquiring about the relative worth of being Muslim. If  islamophobia is harmful adults, what kind of an affect is it having on Muslim children?  Not only do children need to be able to recognize distorted representations, they also need to know what can be done about them. Learning to recognize cultural and institutional racism and other forms of inequity without also learning strategies to respond to them is a prescription for despair. Unfortunately, few adults feel empowered to stand against the demeaning or derogatory depictions of Muslims and Islam. How is a child suppose to respond to being the target of prejudice or discrimination?

This nation’s people should do what they can to encourage positive development rather than interfere with it. Parents, along with the community, are obliged to provide the Muslim adolescents with identity-affirming experiences and a space to practice and take pride in their own cultural groups.  Youth sometimes struggle emotionally due to feelings of marginalization and rejection. But when one is able to freely explore his own spiritual connections, he is more likely to internalize a strong sense of personal security. He is much more likely to be willing to establish significant associations across group boundaries with others who are tolerant of his self-definition.

The last decade has shown that this country has a limited understanding of the different cultures, and it has not, by any means, integrated well enough to understand and respect the differences that lie in between. This means we all have a responsibility to address such ideological bigotry, whether we are the recipient or a bystander.  If we simply allow behavior grounded in injustice to be made, we convey that we tacitly approve the behavior. The task for parents is to support their children’s developing a positive sense of where they come from and who they are. These skills included recognizing insensitive jokes and developing constructive, practical solutions for confronting racist behavior directed toward Muslim adolescents.

        Life, liberty and happiness are the rights of all America's children. Isn't it time we all worked towards making this possible?