Thoughts about America
A large number of Arab and Muslim Americans now feel that he or she belongs to the enemy camp, and that being in the United States at this moment provides us with an especially unpleasant experience of alienation and widespread, quite specifically targeted hostility. For despite the occasional official statements saying that Islam and Muslims and Arabs are not enemies of the United States, everything else about the current situation argues the exact opposite. Hundreds of young Arab and Muslim men have been picked up for questioning and, in far too many cases, detained by the police or the FBI. Anyone with an Arab or Muslim name is usually made to stand aside for special attention during airport security checks. There have been many reported instances of discriminatory behavior against Arabs, so that speaking Arabic or even reading an Arabic document in public is likely to draw unwelcome attention. And of course, the media have run far too many "experts" and "commentators" on terrorism, Islam, and the Arabs whose endlessly repetitious and reductive line is so hostile and so misrepresents our history, society and culture that the media itself has become little more than an arm of the war on terrorism in Afghanistan and elsewhere, as now seems to be the case with the projected attack to "end" Iraq. There are US forces already in several countries with important Muslim populations like the Philippines and Somalia, the buildup against Iraq continues, and Israel prolongs its sadistic collective punishment of the Palestinian people, all with what seems like great public approval in the United States.
While true in some respects, this is quite misleading. America is more than what Bush and Rumsfeld and the others say it is. I have come to deeply resent the notion that I must accept the picture of America as being involved in a "just war" against something unilaterally labeled as terrorism by Bush and his advisers, a war that has assigned us the role of either silent witnesses or defensive immigrants who should be grateful to be allowed residence in the US. The historical realities are different: America is an immigrant republic and has always been one. It is a nation of laws passed not by God but by its citizens. Except for the mostly exterminated native Americans, the original Indians, everyone who now lives here as an American citizen originally came to these shores as an immigrant from somewhere else, even Bush and Rumsfeld. The Constitution does not provide for different levels of American ness, nor for approved or disapproved forms of "American behavior," including things that have come to be called "un-" or "anti- American" statements or attitudes. That is the invention of American Taliban who wants to regulate speech and behavior in ways that remind one eerily of the unregretted former rulers of Afghanistan. And even if Mr. Bush insists on the importance of religion in America, he is not authorized to enforce such views on the citizenry or to speak for everyone when he makes proclamations in China and elsewhere about God and America and himself. The Constitution expressly separates church and state.
There is worse. By passing the Patriot Act last November, Bush and his compliant Congress have suppressed or abrogated or abridged whole sections of the First, Fourth, Fifth and Eighth Amendments, instituted legal procedures that give individuals no recourse either to a proper defense or a fair trial, that allow secret searches, eavesdropping, detention without limit, and, given the treatment of the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, that allow the US executive branch to abduct prisoners, detain them indefinitely, decide unilaterally whether or not they are prisoners of war and whether or not the Geneva Conventions apply to them -- which is not a decision to be taken by individual countries. Moreover, as Congressman Dennis Kucinich (Democrat, Ohio) said in a magnificent speech given on 17 February, the president and his men were not authorized to declare war (Operation Enduring Freedom) against the world without limit or reason, were not authorized to increase military spending to over $400 billion per year, were not authorized to repeal the Bill of Rights. Furthermore, he added -- the first such statement by a prominent, publicly elected official -- "we did not ask that the blood of innocent people, who perished on September 11, be avenged with the blood of innocent villagers in Afghanistan." I strongly recommend that Rep. Kucinich's speech, which was made with the best of American principles and values in mind, be published in full in Arabic so that people in our part of the world can understand that America is not a monolith for the use of George Bush and Dick Cheney, but in fact contains many voices and currents of opinion which this government is trying to silence or make irrelevant.
The problem for the world today is how to deal with the unparalleled and unprecedented power of the United States, which in effect has made no secret of the fact that it does not need coordination with or approval of others in the pursuit of what a small circle of men and women around Bush believe are its interests. So far as the Middle East is concerned, it does seem that since 11 September there has been almost an Israelisation of US policy: and in effect Ariel Sharon and his associates have cynically exploited the single-minded attention to "terrorism" by George Bush and have used that as a cover for their continued failed policy against the Palestinians. The point here is that Israel is not the US and, mercifully, the US is not Israel: thus, even though Israel commands Bush's support for the moment, Israel is a small country whose continued survival as an ethnocentric state in the midst of an Arab-Islamic sea depends not just on an expedient if not infinite dependence on the US, but rather on accommodation with its environment, not the other way round. That is why I think Sharon's policy has finally been revealed to a significant number of Israelis as suicidal, and why more and more Israelis are taking the reserve officers' position against serving the military occupation as a model for their approach and resistance. This is the best thing to have emerged from the Intifada. It proves that Palestinian courage and defiance in resisting occupation have finally brought fruit.
What has not changed, however, is the US position, which has been escalating towards a more and more metaphysical sphere, in which Bush and his people identify themselves (as in the very name of the military campaign, Operation Enduring Freedom) with righteousness, purity, the good, and manifest destiny, its external enemies with an equally absolute evil. Anyone reading the world press in the past few weeks can ascertain that people outside the US are both mystified by and aghast at the vagueness of US policy, which claims for itself the right to imagine and create enemies on a world scale, then prosecute wars on them without much regard for accuracy of definition, specificity of aim, concreteness of goal, or, worst of all, the legality of such actions. What does it mean to defeat "evil terrorism" in a world like ours? It cannot mean eradicating everyone who opposes the US, an infinite and strangely pointless task; nor can it mean changing the world map to suit the US, substituting people we think are "good guys" for evil creatures like Saddam Hussein. The radical simplicity of all this is attractive to Washington bureaucrats whose domain is either purely theoretical or who, because they sit behind desks in the Pentagon, tend to see the world as a distant target for the US's very real and virtually unopposed power. For if you live 10,000 miles away from any known evil state and you have at your disposal acres of warplanes, 19 aircraft carriers, and dozens of submarines, plus a million and a half ,people under, arms, all o,f them willi,ng to serve ,their country, idealistically in the pursuit of what Bush and Condoleezza Rice keep referring to as evil, the chances are that you will be willing to use all that power sometime, somewhere, especially if the administration keeps asking for (and getting) billions of dollars to be added to the already swollen defense budget.
From my point of view, the most shocking thing of all is that with few exceptions most prominent intellectuals and commentators in this country have tolerated the Bush programme, tolerated and in some flagrant cases, tried to go beyond it, toward more self- righteous sophistry, more uncritical self-flattery, more specious argument. What they will not accept is that the world we live in, the historical world of nations and peoples, is moved and can be understood by politics, not by huge general absolutes like good and evil, with America always on the side of good, its enemies on the side of evil. When Thomas Friedman tiresomely sermonizes to Arabs that they have to be more self-critical, missing in anything he says is the slightest tone of self- criticism. Somehow, he thinks, the atrocities of 11 September entitle him to preach at others, as if only the US had suffered such terrible losses, and as if lives lost elsewhere in the world were not worth lamenting quite as much or drawing as large moral conclusions from.
One notices the same discrepancies and blindness when Israeli intellectuals concentrate on their own tragedies and leave out of the equation the much greater suffering of a dispossessed people without a state, or an army, or an air force, or a proper leadership, that is, Palestinians whose suffering at the hands of Israel continues minute by minute, hour by hour. This sort of moral blindness, this inability to evaluate and weigh the comparative evidence of sinner and sinned against (to use a moralistic language that I normally avoid and detest) is very much the order of the day, and it must be the critical intellectual's job not to fall into -- indeed, actively to campaign against falling into -- the trap. It is not enough to say blandly that all human suffering is equal, then to go on basically bewailing one's own miseries: it is far more important to see what the strongest party does, and to question rather than justify that. The intellectual's is a voice in opposition to and critical of great power, which is consistently in need of a restraining and clarifying conscience and a comparative perspective, so that the victim will not, as is often the case, be blamed and real power encouraged to do its will.
A week ago I was stunned when a European friend asked me what I thought of a declaration by 60 American intellectuals that was published in all the major French, German, Italian and other continental papers but which did not appear in the US at all, except on the Internet where few people took notice of it. This declaration took the form of a pompous sermon about the American war against evil and terrorism being "just" and in keeping with American values, as defined by these self-appointed interpreters of our country. Paid for and sponsored by something called the Institute for American Values, whose main (and financially well- endowed) aim is to propagate ideas in favor of families, "fathering" and "mothering," and God, the declaration was signed by Samuel Huntington, Francis Fukuyama, Daniel Patrick Moynihan among many others, but basically written by a conservative feminist academic, Jean Bethke Elshtain. Its main arguments about a "just" war were inspired by Professor Michael Walzer, a supposed socialist who is allied with the pro-Israel lobby in this country, and whose role is to justify everything Israel does by recourse to vaguely leftist principles. In signing this declaration, Walzer has given up all pretension to leftism and, like Sharon, allies himself with an interpretation (and a questionable one at that) of A,merica as a r,ighteous warr,ior against t,error and evi,l, the more to, make it appear that Israel and the US are similar countries with similar aims.
Nothing could be further from the truth, since Israel is not the state of its citizens but of all the Jewish people, while the US is most assuredly only the state of its citizens. Moreover, Walzer never has the courage to state boldly that in supporting Israel he is supporting a state structured by ethno-religious principles, which (with typical hypocrisy) he would oppose in the United States if this country were declared to be white and Christian.
Walzer's inconsistencies and hypocrisies aside, the document is really addressed to "our Muslim brethren" who are supposed to understand that America's war is not against Islam but against those who oppose all sorts of principles, which it would be hard to disagree with. Who could oppose the principle that all human beings are equal, that killing in the name of God is a bad thing, that freedom of conscience is excellent, and that "the basic subject of society is the human person, and the legitimate role of government is to protect and help to foster the conditions for human flourishing"? In what follows, however, America turns out to be the aggrieved party and, even though some of its mistakes in policy are acknowledged very briefly (and without mentioning anything specific in detail), it is depicted as hewing to principles unique to the United States, such as that all people possess inherent moral dignity and status, that universal moral truths exist and are available to everyone, or that civility is important where there is disagreement, and that freedom of conscience and religion are a reflection of basic human dignity and are universally recognized. Fine. For although the authors of this sermon say it is often the case that such great principles are contravened, no sustained attempt is made to say where and when those contraventions actually occur (as they do all the time), or whether they have been more contravened than followed, or anything as concrete as that. Yet in a long footnote, Walzer and his colleagues set forth a list of how many American "murders" have occurred at Muslim and Arab hands, including those of the Marines in Beirut in 1983, as well as other military combatants. Somehow making a list of that kind is worth making for these militant defenders of America, whereas the murder of Arabs and Muslims -- including the hundreds of thousands killed with American weapons by Israel with US support, or the hundreds of thousands killed by US- maintained sanctions against the innocent civilian population of Iraq -- need be neither mentioned nor tabulated. What sort of dignity is there in humiliating Palestinians by Israel, with American complicity and even cooperation, and where is the nobility and moral conscience of saying nothing as Palestinian children are killed, millions besieged, and millions more kept as stateless refugees? Or for that matter, the millions killed in Vietnam, Columbia, Turkey, and Indonesia with American support and acquiescence?
All in all, this declaration of principles and complaint addressed by American intellectuals to their Muslim brethren seems like neither a statement of real conscience nor of true intellectual criticism against the arrogant use of power, but rather is the opening salvo in a new cold war declared by the US in full ironic cooperation, it would seem, with those Islamists who have argued that "our" war is with the West and with America. Speaking as someone with a claim on America and the Arabs, I find this sort of hijacking rhetoric profoundly objectionable. While it pretends to the elucidation of principles and the declaration of values, it is in fact exactly the opposite, an exercise in not knowing, in blinding readers with a patriotic rhetoric that encourages ignorance as it overrides real politics, real history, and real moral issues. Despite its vulga,r trafficking ,in great "prin,ciples and val,ues," it does ,none of that, e,xcept to wave them around in a bullying way designed to cow foreign readers into submission. I have a feeling that this document wasn't published here for two reasons: one is that it would be so severely criticized by American readers that it would be laughed out of court and two, that it was designed as part of a recently announced, extremely well-funded Pentagon scheme to put out propaganda as part of the war effort, and therefore intended for foreign consumption.
Whatever the case, the publication of "What are American Values?" augurs a new and degraded era in the production of intellectual discourse. For when the intellectuals of the most powerful country in the history of the world align themselves so flagrantly with that power, pressing that power's case instead of urging restraint, reflection, genuine communication and understanding, we are back to the bad old days of the intellectual war against communism, which we now know brought far too many compromises, collaborations and fabrications on the part of intellectuals and artists who should have played an altogether different role. Subsidized and underwritten by the government (the CIA especially, which went as far as providing for the subvention of magazines like Encounter, underwrote scholarly research, travel and concerts as well as artistic exhibitions), those militantly unreflective and uncritical intellectuals and artists in the 1950s and 1960s brought to the whole notion of intellectual honesty and complicity a new and disastrous dimension. For along with that effort went also the domestic campaign to stifle debate, intimidate critics, and restrict thought. For many Americans, like myself, this is a shameful episode in our history, and we must be on our guard against and resist its return.
First published in March 2002 by Al Ahram Weekly
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Has really put America on front end today
it's very bad.that he need to have a Fight on order for him to say iam big and bad and iam not
the one to just sit down iam going to fight when
i have the power to over rule anything are any people iam going to do what i want never mind
what the whole of the people say i don't care iam
the boss because i call the shots in USA the big
and the Great me never mind what Army family i mess over are they lose there life. so what i have
somewhere i can go to protect myself thank you American for putting me in office i love you and i can broke the law and make it sound good remember you did put me in office iam the winner
thank you American.were's the justice please tell
me God is good.
It is so frustrating. And how do I raise my children here? Don't let them watch or read the media. I'm tired of ignorance all around me. Not that I am the utmost of intelligent, but it doesn't take much to be culturally aware.
Innocent charities and it's employees have been unjustly taken to jail and held without charges. The good work they did has been written about as if they helped no one. In the meantime, there families have been tramatised and the honest life they once lead is slandered. Pictures of them even havebeen distorted to make them look evil. Our communities should be crying out loudly in protest. This action has hurt not only those working for the charities but all those who were being helped by them. Orphans, widows, the homeless, the ill ect... all these people are suffering also because major chairties were declared wrongly of being connected to terrorism and money for them has stopped. Several chairities immediately offered help to the victims of 9-11, but this somehow meant nothing. Why are so many in our communities sitting back and hoping if they don't say or do anything these injustices will go away!!
Wassalamu Alaikum
signify that the person came over on his/her own free will like mr. said did when he decided to leave his native land and come to the us. Mr. said's comment reminds me a a sheik i knew who taught at the isalmic center in nyc. he was a ph.d grad of al-ahzar. he wrote a book abt islam in countries africa, and he didn't include his own country, egypt, on the map because in his mind egypt is arabia, not africa. when it was brought to his attention, he was embarrassed, and he that error in the edition of the bk. what does mr. said's comments say abt his connection to the Black movement in america -the history of slavery, the struggle for rights, the current struggle for reparations, which he pushes so hard for for the palestinians.
may allah assist the muslim and islam all over the world ameen.
By the way, just like Brother Rodney, I also am a Muslim and an American. I happen to agree with Brother Rodney completely, in regard to his previously posted comments for Dr. Said's well-expressed observations (and opinions). Jazak Allah, Brother Rodney, for your military service to my country.
I am also grateful to Allah that some armed services personnel have discovered Islam - evidently, during or after an assignment to the Holy Land. I would like to express, however, a sense of disappointment that such members of our ummah, after having had (an admittedly coveted) opportunity to see the Holy Land for themselves, appear to be so few in number. Perhaps when members of our Muslim Ummah are no longer expected to refrain from expressing pro-American sentiments, more such Muslims shall emerge, Insha'Allah.
If it's any consolation to my dear and cherished African, Arab and Asian sisters and brothers, I would like to share a small confession with any Muslims who might feel uncomfortable on sidewalks, at airports, at the marketplaces, etc. I feel much the same way, myself, while at Masjid - shortly after prayers have been completed. Tawak-Kalto Al-Allah (I place my trust in Allah).
Allah alone is worthy of praise.
Assalamo Alaikum.
The terrorist attacks on Sep 11 were a horrible assault on this great nation. Those responsible should be hunted down and judged. Lest you forget. About a decade ago America came to the aid and liberated a muslim nation which was invaded by another muslim nation. Remember? I lost 3 friends in Desert Storm. I have trained and fought in the military so that you can make your opinion known; right or wrong. I love America. And without America the world would be worse off because we have some how some way helped or financed every country in the world. But I regress. DO NOT!! Tell me that I should look down on America or that I should side on issues because I am a muslim. Or what the government or media is saying. I could go on, but I won't. America is a great nation created by God. Thank-You
One day I used the word "NUT" for Esther in my comment to her, but Islamicity did post my comment after deleating it. WHY?
One day I asked Islamcity to give me Esther email but you totally ignored it. If it is Islamicity policy not to give email, then you could write me back about this policy.
I was thinking to become Islamcity member, but now I changed my mind.
I know many American Moslems---none Arab, though. Not one of them would agree with Professor Said's assessment of the U.S. or its policies. They think that Arab and Persian Moslems are "crazy people." The distortions evinced in Professor Said's views have a clear scientific explanation, and though you "crazy" Moslems seem to be opposed to science---except as a means of mass murder---I will try to share it with you.
Psychological experiments have verified that people tend to cling to their first impressions, ignoring evidence that would confute their beliefs and remembering only that which would tend to confirm them. This phenomenon is referred to as "Primacy Effect." False convictions are then reinforced by slick arguments pasted together after inconvenient, non-conforming facts have been discarded. When you challenge sufferers of Primacy Effect with better, fact-based arguments, and they get a feeling of unease---a form of "cognitive dissonance"---which will usually cause them to lash out at you. They prefer the comfort of their blissful ignorance to the uneasy sensation of confronting their own mortal fallibility. Professor Said's facility with language only makes him more adept at self-deception, however well intentioned he may be. He should stick with language and not pretend to be an expert on history, current events, or the disposition of all American Moslems.
Here in the U.S., our freedom of speech daily forces us to confront new facts and arguments. Our histories consider all the facts, unlike those taught you by your government or church controlled schools. Our perspectives are broader, and we see ourselves as virtuous.
Jesus learned from Socrates that the way to Truth was doubt. He thus included Thomas among his disciples. Try it.
The moral virtues of Christianity are now a part of me, but I have put aside the childish supernatural trappings of religious b
2. Arab refugees in Israel began identifying themselves as part of a Palestinian people in 1967, two decades after the establishment of the modern State of Israel.
3. Since the Jewish conquest in 1272 B.C.E. the Jews have had dominion over the land for one thousand years with a continuous presence in the land for the past 3,300 years.
4. The only Arab dominion since the conquest in 635 C.E. lasted no more than 22 years.
5. For over 3,300 years, Jerusalem has been the Jewish capital. Jerusalem has never been the capital of any Arab or Muslim entity. Even when the Jordanians occupied Jerusalem, they never sought to make it their capital, and Arab leaders did not come to visit.
6. Jerusalem is mentioned over 700 times in Tanach, the Jewish Holy Scriptures. Jerusalem is not mentioned once in the Koran.
7. King David founded the city of Jerusalem. Mohammed never came to Jerusalem.
8. Jews pray facing Jerusalem. Muslims pray with their backs toward Jerusalem.
10. The Jewish refugees were forced to flee from Arab lands due to Arab brutality, persecution and pogroms.
15. Under Jordanian rule, Jewish holy sites were desecrated and the Jews were denied access to places of worship. Under Israeli rule, all Muslim and Christian sites have been preserved and made accessible to people of all faiths.
16. The UN Record on Israel and the Arabs: of the 175 Security Council resolutions passed before 1990, 97 were directed against Israel.
18. The U. N was silent while 58 Jerusalem Synagogues were destroyed by the Jordanians.
19. The UN was silent while the Jordanians systematically desecrated the ancient Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives.What will we tell our grandchildren we did when there was a turning point in Jewish destiny, an opportunity to make a difference? START NOW!!
False. you use all of our products. You use everything we create. American products are your biggest imports and YOU KNOW IT. You are the biggest hippocrits in the world if you think that you can attack us like you do verbally and physically. And it is obvious that you do. The question is why do you hate us so when you use our products so much. Is it that we help you and your countries so much. Is it because America tries to help Armenia, a muslim nation (as if i have to tell you) when being attacked by a fellow muslim nation. should we not help any of YOU? or should we? You tell us. BEFORE YOU ATTACK US AGAIN!!!! YOU THINK YOU ARE SO SMART. don't you. Americans think you are smart as well. But what Americans don't know is that you are as ignorant as pathetically simple as the Romans were, back in the medeival period. Attack and defend (for g-d), that was their motto. What's yours??
There's more to lives of muslims around the world than (Middle East) contemporary politics. Now, you love highlighting a one-sided view of authors who claim no reference to Islamic doctrines. One fails to notice even a slightest error in Palestinian way of fighting. The other discusses (White European) racial profiling which is in contrary to non-racial Islam (Quran 49:13).
You overlook most muslims who strive every day for advancement in science, culture, art, medicine, sport, etc. This goes against your mission statement that is "to invite people to Islam with wisdom and beautiful preaching".
Put the heavy political content on the side bar or somewhere else.
In my opinion, it is better to teach muslims (your visitors) how to live by the true Islam rather than to critize American authority who will pay no heed. Why didn't you channel your criticism via your Senator?
I enjoyed your picks during Prophet Muhammad pbuh birth commemoration. It can be expanded to featuring other muslim public figures who have contributed a great deal for Islam. This is the best way to counter negative media coverage on Islam because the other version of Islam (of Al-Qaida) has gained popularity through their tireless efforts in producing video tapes and press releases with threatening messages.
I'll pray for your best. May allah bless you.
Salam.
One point to disagree with is that 2 wrongs don't make a right. America made mistakes and handled their weapons irresponsibly, and Afghani's died because of it. But wasn't it the Taliban who didi the actual killing, and it was USA's irresponsibilty that led to the killing? The Sept. 11 attacks were intentionally done by these people, therefore they should have to pay. AMerica should be held responsible as the catalyst for murder, while Al Quaida should be held responsible for murder. Similarly, America should be held responsible for murder in Vietnam. And no Muslim or American or Muslim-American, Chrisitan-American, etc., should be held responsible for the acts of their government, obviously. Fortunately Bush is not explicitly punishing Muslim-Americans for Sept. 11, but we do need to keep a close eye on him. He may be forging an evil new path and is so stupid he doesn't even know it.
masalam
The inconveniences arabs suffer in the current situation, and the notion that the vagueness of current US policy is due to character flaws in the White House.
I travel frequently and my name causes me some inconvenience. However, 5,000 people weren't killed by Irish, Chinese, or Europeans. They were killed by arab men. It is ridiculous to think we shouldn't pay particular attention to a group that has demonstrated itself to be a specific risk. In the US, most murders are committed by men. When you investigate a murder, naturally you focus on men. You consider women, but that rarely bears fruit.
In my opinion, this vagueness is part of the hazards of mounting a terrorist campaign. Current laws of war address rules for combat between armies (state sponsored professional organizations). They are designed to minimize non-military casualties. In the US, you typically hear that we are at war with "The Government, not the peoploe". In a terrorist campaign this concept is turned upside down. If arab governments are actually cooperating to end terrorism, and terrorist organizations continue to function in those countries, we have an unprecedented situation. That is, a situation where the US government is actually at war with the people and not the government. The laws of war do not cover such a situation and do not apply. If you apply the laws of war to such a situation you effectively render governments and their people defenseless (which is not the intent of the laws of war). So, we are in a very vague situation where no rules exist. In that circumstance, it is understandable that policy will be vague, and subject to constant change.
I have other observations, but the 2,000 character limit isn't sufficient to cover them.
Thanks for your time.
i agree fully with the article about the "American way".I recently watched the "West Wing"_an American Show)and the it clearly portraid an Amercan perspective on Islam.As a muslim,I felt heartsore to listen to an interrogation of an Arab who worked at the White House.Although only a program I clearly understand why so much hate is felt towards the "land Of the free".
All it will take is for the muslim ummah to stand together and work as one and Insha-Allah we will overcome the oppressors of Islam.
Unfortunately Edward W Said is not a Muslim, he is one of the best US renowned scholars and a Palestinian Christian (Should the editor say it again?).
Here are some of his books that I hope could enlighten your mind (you can buy them from Amazon.com or just read the review):
1. Orientalism
2. The End of the Peace Process: Oslo and After
3. Culture and Imperialism
4. The Politics of Disposession: The Struggle for Palestinian Self-Determination: 1969-1994
5. Covering Islam: How The Media and The Experts Determine How We See The Rest of the World
Co-author:
1. Unholy Wars: Afghanistan, America and International Terrorism
2. Acts of Aggression: Policing Rogue States
3. Kim
PS: By the way... how about if the poor Indians who are mostly living in nowhere land say the same thing to you? Where would you return to? Oops now you're saying that four letter words again.
God bless you and me.
Frankly, I wonder why you american Muslims continue to support and love america in the way that you do. Sure, it's the land of the free, land of opportunities, but the hate spurred by the biased jewish-american media has resulted in wide spread naivete and bigotry on the part of the american public. By reading many of the preceding comments, including one by a moron calling himslef Thomas Jefferson, you will see what I mean. We as Muslims have a superior faith and to let these idiots humiliate you as they are presently doing is nothing short of enfuriating. They are narrow minded ... who will not accept you no matter how hard you try to integrate yourselves into the american society.
InshaAllah, our day will come...
Does not our religion teach us to show our goodness and compassion? I can think of many good deeds that America has done. What good has any so called Muslim country done in recent history?
To live in this country and then put it down does not make sense to me. I wonder what would have happened to Mr Said if he had written his article against the Saudi Monarchy while living in Saudia Arabia.
I think this is a great artical.Thank you
Excellent article. However, perhaps mr. said should acquaint himself with the self-proclaimed "scholars" of Islam who see it as their divine duty to defend and promote U.S. interests at all costs, even if it means sanctioning the murder, cruelty, and torture that is everyday U.S. policy. After all the interests of the slave master seem to outweigh the interests of the other slaves.
skh
My Dear Brothers/Sisters, you are just begining, I
repeat just begining, to understand what it means
to be Black in America. And you and the rest of
the Arab, Middle Eastern U.S. Muslums are outraged
as well you should be. U.S. Black Americans have
been outraged for close to 400 years in the U.S.
May Allah Bless us all.
Wassalaam
Dave W. Be
its borders that any Islamic nation would not? No Islamic State would tolerate a group of people openly trying to destroy it and nor should America. I don't see Islamic Americans 'Droping Dimes' and turning in the cancerous Islamic radicals to the authorities. The only way to get at these people is unfortunatly to shake the whole tree and see what falls out. When more Islamic Americans start joining the law enforcement and FBI to become involved in infiltrating and destroying these criminal organizations will it be possible for the government to stop 'shaking trees' and concentrate solely on the bad people.
Most people here think I'm an American first and then my faith come. You think that you are an American, then defend it and dont be offended if you are questions in the search for the bad actors. I've been stopped by the police simple because I resembled by race someone who commited a
crime in the area I was in. I didnt take offence to being asked questions. Islamic Americans shouldnt take offence either.
As for Iraq. America should let the middle east
take care of itself and withdraw all aid from any country there. If they want to kill eachother, why should America care? It seems what ever we do there ends as a wasted effort so lets just cut our losses
So no matter how you flip it muslims are being oppressed even in their own homeland because in most muslim countries the Shariah is NOT being put in place.
May allah teach me what i know not? Ameen
They should find a better way of getting the terrorist rather than dislocating the innocent people of the Arabs, we have not hear in a day America fighting terrorism in any other country except the Arab country, is it to say that there are no terrorist in some other countries?They should allow the over 80% of the Muslim refugees get a home to live.For the sake of global peace ,America should consider the implication of all this war threat.
Thanks.
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=313235
titled A strange kind of freedom
brothers who reside in america and think of thgem-selves as american citizen r mislead to the notion of freedom. we as muslims have a duty to allah first and formost,no other can judge us but allah. yet we let the zionist jews kill our brothers in palistine, somalia, sudan, iraq, etc.
i would call upon all muslims to unite and to bring back our own islamic economic system for all muslim nations. i know that september 11th was not the work of muslim terrorists, (al Quida)
but the work of the Cia and other organisations within USA.
when u look at the media corporations,financial institutions of the world u will find, jewish sovrenty. they own the lot. we muslims r merely porns within the equasion.
they control the IMF, the white house etc. i just pray that the muslims can unite and show the world our way of life. I hold USA resposible for war crimes against humanity. they want to kill every muslim in the world, and they wont stop at iraq, eventually they will attack saudi arebia. i can only pray that by that time we the muslims unite and stop the attrosities which the muslims face day to day.
I am not advocating America but the world knows the way muslim community is going , and whatsoever is been done with muslims there is just the outcome of the way you are going.
OSAMA BIN LADEN SHOULD FOLLOW ISLAM , BUT NOW A DAYS IT SEEMS THAT WHAT OSAMA IS DOING IS BEING CONSIDERED AS ISLAM.
PLEASE , DO GO THRU QURAAN E PAAK AND THEN THINK FIRST ARE YOU A MUSLIM IN REAL SENSE.
HINDU'S GITA SAYS NOBODY IS RESPONSIBLE FOR WHAT YOU ARE GETTING IN LIFE EXCEPT YOU ! SO WHAT MUSLIMS ARE GETTING IS DUE TO THEMSELVES ONLY.
AND IF THEY REALLY BELIEVE AMERICA IS NOT IN THEIR FAVOUR THEN SIMPLY LEAVE AMERICA AND GO TO ARAB COUNTRIES. WHY THEY ARE STILL THERE ?
PAAKISTAN IS ALSO DOING THE SAME WHY YOU ARE NOT COMMENTING OVER IT.
WITH CARE ,
YOUR BROTHER
Now about what you have said regarding religon and state.. Well i kind of like the fact that people can follow any religon they like without goverment interferance. Remember we all pray to one god so we must all be praying to the same one..true? And in the end it will be the induvidual that will meet allah not the religon.
We have a religouse tollerance here that is just accepted by all. I do think some people fear Islam now buy agian that fear grew out of the attacks not buy the religon itself. I wish i could continue but out of room here.
HELLO, I HAVE JUST FINISHED READING YOUR ARTICLE "THUGHTS ABOUT AMERICA", AND I COMPLETELY UNDERSTAND HOW YOU FEEL. I AM AN AMERICN MARRIED TO A PALESTINIAN MAN, AND I DAILY SEE THE INJUSTICES DONE, BUT I THINK THAT FOR THE "MUSLIMS" TO SAY THAT AMERICANS ON A WHOLE ARE INJUSTLY CRUEL TO THEM IS UNFAIR. YOU COULD SAY AMERICANS GOVERMENT, THE CONGRESS, OR YAHOUD ARE UNFAIR, BUT MOST AMERICANS ARE JUST IGNORANT. ALL THEY KNOW IS WHAT THEY ARE TOLD... AFTER SEPTEMBER 11,2001, THE WORLD CHANGED. IT WAS ANGRY AND CALLED FOR A CAUSE AND EFFECT CLAUSE TO BE PUT IN PLACE. AFTER SUFFICENT EVIDENCE WAS MADE AVAILABLE THAT BIN LADEN AND HIS MEN WERE RESPONSABLE FOR THE ATROSTIES COMMITTED THEN DUE PUNISHMENT MUST BE CARRIED OUT. I, NO MORE THEN ANYONE ELSE, WANTED TO SEE MORE INNOCENT LIFE LOST, BUT THAT IS THE CASUALTIES OF WAR, AND MUST BE LABELED AS SUCH. I DIDN'T WANT TO SEE THE 3000 PEOPLE THAT DIED ON SEPT. THE 11 DIE EITHER,BUT IT HAPPENED. NOW HERE WE ARE ALMOST A YEAR LATER, AND WHAT HAS BEEN ACCOMPLISHED???PERHAPS INSTEED OF INSTILLING MORE HATERED AND SADDNESS INTO THE HEARTS OF YOUR READERS YOU COULD ENCOURAGE THEM TO ENLIGHTEN "AMERICA" WITH THIER KIND WORDS, AND GENEL TEACHINGS. MOST AMERICANS THINK THAT ISLAM IS THE FURTHEST RELIGION FROM THEIR OWN, INSTEAD OF THE CLOSET. SOMETIMES WHAT IT IS MORE IMPORTANT TO REMEMBER IS THAT YOU WILL GET MORE BEES WITH HONEY THEN YOU WILL WITH VINAGER. BEING THE BIGGER PERSON IS SOMETIMES THE HARDEST THING TO DO, BUT IN DELICATE SITUATIONS SUCH AS THESE IT IS ALSO THE MOST IMPORTANT. THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME. MASALEMA.
SINCERELY,
MELISSA FARSAKH
We should not let the voice of this Representative die- or let him beleive for a second that his speech fell upon deaf ears. Please contact him and personally thank him for the words he expressed. Let him know that his speech alone re-instilled your faith in the system and that the gov't is not the single mind of 'hate and war' that many perceive it to be.
Contact Congressman Dennis Kucinich (Ohio) @
http://www.house.gov/kucinich/
you and your family!
Paper Chaser!! Welcome to the REAL America! As a
'son of Africa', born in America, attentive to the vagaries
of American politics and, by the Mercy of ALLAH,
recently (22yrs) reverted to Islaam, I find my dear
brother's rant/ plea for 'the America that could have
been' regretable. The 'Veil' has been removed from
those who want to see! Will we live for what could have
been or should we live to promote, define, and defend
Islaam as our Creator, and HIS beloved Prophet, has
shown us it can be - if HE/ They are our priority and not
just our beliefs!
Could you encourage more to go along the same path of fairness and reason?
Jazakum Allah Khayran
Elsayed
I think, finally Allah responded to those innoccent people and punished those evils. But thanks to Allah that those evils don't have any place to hide on the face of the earth.
Unfortunately millions of all muslims around the world suffer. It is still time we muslims should act according to Allah and prophit's orders.
Wassalaam.
Does the admonition of the Profit (pbuh)to fight to protect our land only apply if you live in a muslim country, or does it mean protect the country that you are a part of? I read a hadith regarding this, but I can't remember which one).
Wa Salaam.