Unjustified Accusations against Muslim Americans
I am proud to be a Muslim American having diligently served my country for over 30 years. Now retired, yet active, I am distressed by a constant barrage of accusations hurled against Americans who are Muslim. These appear regularly in the comments on my articles, and of others posted online, or in the newspapers. They are highly biased and unfounded. Increasingly, we are blamed for terrorism. Undoubtedly, terrorism or killing of non-combatant civilians is a deplorable global phenomenon. It is carried out by certain individuals with a grudge, and states pushing their specific agenda on "others." It is unfortunate that the terrorist attacks of 9/11 were carried out by some Muslim criminals. These horrific crimes were forthwith condemned by Muslim leaders and prominent Islamic scholars world-wide, including all Muslim organizations in the United States, although mainstream media did not acknowledge the reports. If it is any consolation, of about 2,900 who died, 358 were Muslim. Terrorism is a response of the weak against actual or perceived injustices. We witness it daily as we listen to the news. Persons of foresight connected 9/11, to our complicity with Israel in cruelties committed on Palestinians. Others, to a million children and elderly dying as a result of decade long U.S. sanctions imposed on Iraq. Subsequently, our administration invaded Afghanistan and then Iraq, while no Afghani or Iraqi was ever involved in any act of terrorism against us. And what is the result? It is what is expected when wars are waged, and countries are occupied. Thousands of Afghanis killed, and hundreds imprisoned in horrible detentions centers such as Guantanamo and other secret cells within and outside of Afghanistan. The situation is Iraq is ghastlier. We have unleashed a horror, about 3,000 of our soldiers dead, and thousands maimed and injured; Iraqis about 700,000 dead, many more maimed and injured, and almost non-existing care facilities. The people there lack the normal essential facilities of water and electric, with sewer running in streets. Our presence has generated sectarian violence and a civil war. How could anyone accuse American Muslims for this debacle? The American public gave a resounding response in the last elections, telling the administration to stop this war. Even more flabbergasting are the accusations that the fault lies somewhere with Islam, or the holy Qur'an, which incite Muslims to commit terrorism. In fact these insults are directed towards the 1.3 billion Muslims worldwide, including thousands of Americans who adopted Islam after careful studies. One can render havoc with any document, particularly a sacred book, the Qur'an or Bible, by taking phrases out of text and without understanding their specific context. Thus even more terrible statements occur in the New and Old Testaments. Muslim Americans are among the highest educated with the lowest crime rate in America. Muslim doctors, specialists, lawyers, teachers, accountants and businessmen are serving all segments of American society, from the inner cities to the high tech reserves. As well as serving in the army, in substantially large numbers. Much more troubling is the fact that we have been unjustly targeted for five long years since 9/11, and despite widespread dragnet with drummed-up publicity, not a single Muslim American has ever been involved in a terrorist act. A fact acknowledged by the FBI. It is time that all decent Americans voice indignation against such wild accusations about their co-citizen Muslims. And stand shoulder to shoulder with us to remedy this widening gulf created through fabricated lies to further a bigoted and narrow agenda to ostracize Muslim Americans. Siraj Islam Mufti, Ph.D. a freelance journalist active in American Muslim affairs.
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Where is Romesh's reply ? Why, is he still busy searching for selective events around the globe to potray the worst pictures of Muslims ?
Again I urge my Muslims brothers and sisters to continue to have a strong enduring faith in Islam, a faith now facing the test of time.
American Muslims are also facing difficult period, in which perceptions, biasness, are the prevalent attitude of the populace in the country. By all means, please continue to be law abiding, display your resilience and be the exemplary American in accordance with Islam. I don't see the contradictions between the two. And I have always distinguish between the U.S administration and the American people.
I had American lecturers during my university days, they were always warm hearted individuals, open, and above all committed to their professions. I like to argue with my American lecturers because that's where the flow of ideas started to come in, and at the end of the day, it was another setting of high standards in academic.
I admire American Muslims who continue to contribute to the well being of the community around them. Be strong and make your presence meaningful. May ALLAH Bless you, always.
Regards,
Your Brother in Islam,
Kris
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/hardtalk/2493075.stm
Mr. Chander you have shown enough foolishness of yours with the kind of knowledge you have about Islam. Do not utter a word about Islam of that you have no knowledge. It is not your kind of idol worshipper mythology. You watch the dirt of your undercover idol worshipping where still innocent children are being sacrificed to your goddess and you got no shame for it but attacking Islam. You are trying to make your face not different to the western world. Watch your own face if you dare.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4903390.stm
Now... to follow his so-called rational line of thinking, this is just like saying "Mr. Romesh only cry when his non-family member hurts his family member: but rarely ever when his non-family member get hurt by his non-family member or his family members hurt non-family members."
As i have said, before commenting on further please dont jump to conclusions without doing research and education . It will just shows your 'Idiotarian' mentality further.
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In your post you wrote "Well, then, let me say here that the IRA had killed more than 20,000 including innocent civilians during their struggle against the British in Ireland. Can I now jump to a bad conclusion by saying that these are what the Roman catholic faith preaches ? No, and of course not.".
Yes, Catholicism is fully responsible for the actions of IRA; the church sanctioned them; at least the church never opposed them. Church sanctioned Inquisition; there was an office of Inquisition at the office of Pope. Church was fully responsible for the 'destruction' of Maya Indians in South America and natives in Phillipines and in Goa.
No, you cannot absolve Catholicism from the actions of its followers. Same way, Islam cannot separate itself from the actions of its followers.
To all my Muslim brothers and sisters, please do not be easily provoked by Romesh and his elementary attitude towards events in the globe.
He can't even spell " wasn't " properly and in one e mail to me he spelled it as " was'nt ". ( see the article The decimal of mathematics ) He's no big deal. You can't find any element of intellectualism in his writings. All you can find is his insatiable rage over Islam.
He cannot put history and events at a right perspective. In his recent piece he said you can't separate an action of a Muslim and Islam.
Well, then, let me say here that the IRA had killed more than 20,000 including innocent civilians during their struggle against the British in Ireland. Can I now jump to a bad conclusion by saying that these are what the Roman catholic faith preaches ? No, and of course not.
What about the Inquisitions ? What about the acts of the Spanish conquistadors in Latin America when they killed thousands of Incans and mayans tribes ? What about the excursions of colonial powers including the Dutch and British and early Portuguese to the East, where thousands were killed ? India was not spared too !! What about the Ku Klux clan in the USA that killed blacks just because they were born with the " less fairer " ( I'm not using the real term ) skin. All in the name of their faith and religion.
And let's not forget one thing as a fact. The fighter of India's independance, Mahatma Ghandi was killed by a Hindu extremist.
There you have it, so can I apply Romesh test now.....
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You write "I don't understand how this writer so surely mentioned that Muslim did 911?".
Let us see. Does Mohammed Atta sound like a christian or jewish name? No, it is a muslim name. Do parents of Mohammed Atta deny that they are not muslim? They still live in Egypt. Moreover, 15 highjackers were Saudis. Are you saying that Saudis are not muslim? How much investigation you need.
You don't have to be genius to figure this out. Just apply a little bit of common logic.
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You write "wake up people why are taking the blame for 911 NO islam has nothing to do with it visit www.youtube.com search 911truth".
Can you separate Islam from Muslims? Can anyone separate a religion from its followers? No.
Quite hiding behind the rhetoric "Islam is against this or that, etc". What is islamic? It is what muslims do; it is that simple.
You cannot separate practice from teachings. Obviously, if your practice was wrong, then teaching was wrong unless you are a hypocrite.
Please don't take it otherwise. Your name sounds similar to the name of John Allen Muhammad, are you that John? If not why then only name will make him Muslim? Islam does not support killing innocent people. If Islam supports killing innocent people then there wouldn't be any Hindu left in India and any christian in Middle-East. I still remember that biased media did never said John always said Muhammad to make it sounds like its Islam that is to be blamed.
http://www.vialls.com/nuke/bali_micro_nuke.htm
http://www.truthdig.com/dig/item/20060910_robert_scheer_holes_9_11/
http://www.whatreallyhappened.com/fiveisraelis.html
http://www.vialls.com/nuke/bali_micro_nuke.htm
However, No non-muslim in US is convinced. Because, in a normal course of affairs, nobody in US asks anybody which religion a person belongs. Unless, you advertise that you are a Muslim, nobody will know that you are a muslim and hence no possibility of any kind of discrimination; literally nobody will ever ask you which religion belong.
US is not a religious society, though lot of people just go to church (and hence they are merely a church-going society and not a religious society). After leaving the church, they just forget about church. Bible is found only in hotels and a good decoration at home, not for any kind of study (I doubt any christian organization is going to issue a fatwa for my head for blaspheming christianity and its followers).
I have a beard and look like a muslim (though I am not) and live on US-Canadian border; drive to Canda frequently and come back to US without any hassles. Nobody has ever asked me about my religion any time.
Please get away from the old Jewish tactic of Self-Victimization.
You may be entitled to your opinions, but not your own facts.
Sid
WAKE UP PEOPLE!
Visit ST91.org and learn from the hundreds of American Scientists, Engineers, Pilots, Ex-CIA & FBI personnel, ex-military personnel who absolutely prove rhat muslims did not do 9/11.
It may sound bit unconvincing, but there is no reason for any Muslim who live in USA to prove any thing or offer any appology. You should not be spending time showing frustration or being huffy and puffy on this game of accusation. As a Muslim brother in Islam, my suggession to you is that you shuld spent time to see how can you work for the Ummah to help her become powerful, because this is the only way out of the funk that Ummah is in. May Allah rewards you for the time well spent.
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You did not get my point which was very simple. Muslims only cry when non-muslims hurt muslims; but rarely ever when non-muslims get hurt by non-muslims or muslims hurt non-muslims.
No muslim complained when US bombed Serbia (a Christian nation) or Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia (Buddhist nations) or genocide in Darfur (even though it is muslim on muslim genocide) or shiite/Sunni killings which are going on in Iraq to-day.
As somebody said regarding the reason for muslims not complaining about Darfur killings -- no Jews are involved in Darfur or regarding Iraqi killings, again no Jews involved.
Do some self-analysis fellows.
"It is time that all decent Americans voice indignation against such wild accusations about their co-citizen Muslims. And stand shoulder to shoulder with us to remedy this widening gulf created through fabricated lies to further a bigoted and narrow agenda to ostracize Muslim Americans" Where do we start?
He said, "Man, I wish there is a Muslim right infront of me. Be it Arab, Indians or anyone. I would have punch his face for causing 9/11."
The teacher overheard this and said to him, "Junior, you are a Latino right?"
The boy replied, "Yeah".
The teacher then said, "So you are telling me that for all the rapes, killings and other criminal activities committed by the Latinos in the US, I should come up to you and punch your face instead?"
The boy replied, "Errr...no, because I didn't commit those crimes"
The teacher said, "Well, it's the same for the Arabs, Indians and all Muslim. Those responsible for causing 9/11 should get punished. You cannot hold others responsible for what these men had done!"
America's "bigotry" is not a surprise to me; America loves to loathe. In general this country has rallied its' citizens by having someone to hate. If not Black Americans, it was Communism, or Nazis or the Japanese or those who stood for peace during the Vietnam debacle or more recently demonizing of the word liberal.
America loves to loathe and most hatred and bigotry is born out of ignorance and fear (trumpeted by the TV evangelist and other neo-cons).
There are certain elements of American society which propagate this bigotry; these individuals (TV evangelists, Media personalities, and politicians) take advantage of the low self-esteem (which is why a large segment of bigots tend to be less educated and economically deprived, thus easier to manipulate) of their audience to bolster their positions to increase their financial gains and power.
We have seen this type of manipulation with J. Edgar Hoover, Hitler, George Wallace, Sen. Joe McCarthy, Bill O'Reilly, Rep. Virgil Goode (VA) and the list continues.
I guess my experiences and knowledge of the "American psyche" does not allow me to be "surprised or disappointed" in America' attempt to demonize Islam & Muslims. When they do not understand, they hate. It is much easier for them and takes a lot less effort. Of course this is just my opinion, based on my experiences as an American who has lived here for over 30 years.
Can it change? Insha'Allah.
Well, 15 of the 19 hihjackers were Saudis. Is Mr Mufti suggesting that US should have invaded Saudi Arabia, which might have led to destruction of Holy Cities there?!!
Mohammed Atta was Egyptian. Is Mr Mufti suggesting that US should have invaded Egypt leading to destruction of Al-Azhar and other Holy places?!!
One can ask you same question..why India is lagging behind in science? You blame islam and its teaching for muslim countires not advancing in science. But what about india? they do not have any such teachings, if you think that is the reason for muslim countires poor contribution in science. Actually, its the corrupt politicians and bad infrastructure which will have to blame for that. Adherence to islamic teachings would help one to excel in his field, whatever it may be, science or spirituality. If you look at the literacy rates in muslim countries it is very poor, which is one reason, people are not aware about proper islam and its teachings. God wills, someday that will change.
while it comes to bragging old traditions, as an indian i think, hindus are on the foremost in that path. For example, you worship idols, and follow some rituals, which are just traditional things which your ancestors used to do. Can you deny that? I do not know how long have you been outside india or you have forgotten about hindus and hindu culture, but i would say, hindus are foremost when it comes bragging something from the past. As far as, foreign rules are concerned, i think and history suggest that indian hindus have been greatly benefited from such invasion or ruling, otherwise we would still see widows are burning with their dead husbands, which happens even these days here and there in india, thanks to the past glory of their ancestors and old tradition!
During WWI, Germany did not invade US; but US did invade Germany anyhow.
During WW2, Italy and Germany did not invade US; but US did bomb Italy and Germany to almost oblivision.
During WWI, Germans were suspect. During WW2, Germans and Italians were suspect. Japanese ended up in 'concentration camps'.
I din't find any muslims objecting to US bombing of Italians and Germans (both christian countries). Why not?
During 1960's & 1970's, US invaded Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos (all mostly Buddhist nations). I did not find any muslim object to those invasions. Why not?
US bombed Serbia. No muslim objected. Why not?
US would have invaded Afghanistan if AlqUida was christian and Afghanistan was non-muslim. US would have invaded Iraq even if Iraq were christian, as long as there was oil in Iraq.
We are making it a religious issue which it is not. It is an issue of insane policies of nation-states (like US). If siituation arises tomorrow, US will be very happy to invade UK (remember, US was founded by Englishmen).
Well, the involvement of Pakistan in 'helping' AlQuida (and Taliban who gave sanctuary to AlQuida for several years prior to 9/11/2001) is well documented. You are not suggesting that instead of invading Afghanistan, US rather should have invaded Pakistan?