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September 8, 2005
Portrait of a Post 9/11 American Muslim
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
Muslims in America are not the same after 9/11attacks which changed America for ever and this change has profoundly affected the seven million-strong American Muslim community. The prevalent atmosphere of official discrimination and anti-Muslim campaign by media and others for the last four years has created a state of fear and hopelessness amongst many in the Muslim community. Muslims have been made the scapegoats in the witch hunt that ensued after 9-11. What is taking place in the country now is the most massive campaign of ethnic profiling since the World War II when seventy thousand Japanese American citizens and around forty thousand Japanese aliens were sent to internment camps.
Hereunder a Muslim friend describes his feelings in the post-9/11 era which may resonate with the thinking of many Muslims in America:
1. I am reluctant to go to mosque for prayers because I may be considered a “practicing” Muslim thus a potential terrorist lead. During the ‘voluntary interview’ of thousands of Muslims in 2004 many were asked “are you a practicing Muslim?” Some of the questions during the voluntary interviews were: How often do you go to mosque? Who do you see there? What are their names? How do you feel about the war in Iraq? What is your view of President Bush? (1)
On January 16, every year we observe the "Religious Freedom Day." This year we commemorated the day when 228 years ago Thomas Jefferson and other patriots met in Fredericksburg to draft the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom. This is the first legislation in history to guarantee religious liberty for every citizen which later served as the model for the First Amendment in the U.S. Bill of Rights. Recognizing the importance of faith to our people, our founding fathers guaranteed religious freedom in the constitution. However, I had little to celebrate on this day because I see my religious freedom diminished by biased government policies and bigotry by media and many political and other leaders.
It is an open secret that the Islamic centers and mosques are constantly under FBI surveillance and some may have a FBI mole as reported recently by the Muslim community of Lodi, CA. Probably, these days the safest thing for Muslims here is to be less Muslim as the list of suspicious behavior includes praying regularly and going to the mosque.
2. I am afraid of a FBI knock at my door for a ‘voluntary interview’ or investigation in a possible ‘terrorism’ lead under the Patriotic Act that allows for “sneak and peek” searches of homes (2).
3. I have stopped giving charity to Muslim Islamic centers, mosques and charity organizations because at any of time in the future I can be implicated in terrorist activities because the Islamic charity is charged with links to terrorism or declared a terrorist organization in future. A federal crackdown on Muslim charities continues unabated since 9/11 while the government has declined repeated pleas to create a list of Muslim charitable organizations to which one can safely donate. (3)
4. I am accustomed to profiling at airports but now I am reluctant to visit abroad because on return I may be interrogated, why and where I went? I am also afraid to attend an Islamic conference abroad. I fear that just like the group of 36 American Muslims returning from Toronto, Canada after attending an Islamic conference, I may be forced to be finger printed and photographed and told by the Customs and Border Protection officials that “I have no rights.” (4)
5. I am reluctant to borrow books from public library because I may become subject of a government probe by checking out a book. (5)
6. I am hesitant to express my view on many government policies because it may be construed as unpatriotic and I may not enjoy the protection of freedom of speech as given to an Arizona newspaper that published a letter that urged fellow Americans to kill Muslims to retaliate for the death of American soldiers in Iraq. (6)
7. I wonder why the American Muslim organizations were forced to issue a fatwa that Islam is against terrorism. Why the adherents of other religion are not asked to do so? Why Islam is linked to terrorism? Why Christian faith is not linked to terrorism when evangelist Pat Robertson calls for the killing of elected president of Venezuela, Chavaz Perez. Neither Christians nor Jews feel compelled to take out newspaper ads declaring their faith’s innocence whenever acts of violence and extremism are carried out by individuals or groups who share their religion. (7)
8- It is indignant to see that Muslims and Islam remain a popular past time for the US media and many religious and political leaders who never miss any opportunity to attack Muslims and their faith in the name of extremism. (8)
9. I am not astonished at the public opinion polls showing that a large number of my fellow Americans have negative attitude towards Islam and hate crimes against Muslims continue unabated. This is the logical consequence of stereotyping of Muslims and fuming venom against my faith by media, talk show hosts and many agenda driven religious and political leaders.
10. I am cautious in using my phone which may be bugged since the Patriot Act has expanded the FBI’s ability to demand Internet, telephone, financial and credit records on its request alone, without going through a judge at all. It bars the recipient of the demand for these records from disclosing the secret search, forever. (9)
11. Despite a state of siege prevailed for the American Muslims after 9/11, I still have confidence in the principles of our founding fathers as enshrined in the Declaration of Independence and Bill of Rights on which our founding fathers aspired to build the new country. I see the scapegoating of the Muslim community as nativism, i.e. a pattern that has emerged during similar crises, when the nation’s security becomes threatened, and in times of economic recession, that some sociologists describe as a recurrent tide of Jingoistic racism.
I have a strong sense of optimism and anticipation that the current wave of anti-Islam and anti-Muslim will recede in due time and American Muslims will regain their civic vitality and rejoin the mosaic of other minorities and ethnic groups. The American Muslims will join their predecessors: Japanese Americans, American Jews, Irish Americans and African Americans who also, in times past, endured national intolerance, social prejudice, and legal injustice.
Many people many not agree with these observations but the biased government legislation and policies which infringe on the civil rights of the Muslims and Arabs and the growing use of anti-Muslim and anti-Islam rhetoric by media and some local and national opinion leaders give credence to the arguments of my friend.
References
1- Stacy Tolchin, an attorney with the National Lawyers Guild in San Francisco, reveals that during a voluntary interview, her client, a Turkish immigrant, was asked if she prays. (Los Angeles Times – July 18, 2004)
2- The Patriot Act Section 213 allows for “sneak and peek” searches of homes. The police can break into a home or office, root around, copy computer files and seize DNA or even physical possessions without telling the owner for weeks, months or indefinitely.
3- A Chicago Tribune report of July 11, 2005 entitled “For American Muslims, charity can carry risks” confirms Muslims’ dilemma. “Your religion, like most others, demands that you give to charity. In fact, it's one of the central tenets of your faith. But giving to the wrong charity, even unbeknownst to you, might put you on the wrong side of the War on Terror.”
4- Several of the Muslim citizens, returning from Toronto, Canada on December 27, 2004, after attending the titled "Reviving the Islamic Spirit" conference were held at the Lewiston Bridge crossing near Niagara Falls, New York for up to six hours. When objected strenuously to being fingerprinted, they were told by Customs and Border Protection officials that "you have no rights" and that they would be held until they agreed to the fingerprinting procedure.
5- A study of the American Library Association reported on June 20, 2005 that law enforcement officials have made at least 200 formal and informal inquiries to libraries for information on reading material and other internal matters since October 2001. Section 215 of the Patriot Act, dubbed as the library section, lets the government secretly obtain our medical, financial and library records. It also makes it illegal for anyone who knows about the search or library record inquiry to tell the suspect about it.
6- The Arizona state Supreme Court found unanimously the Tucson Citizen was protected by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and could not be sued for printing the letter.
7- Perhaps, Prof. Robert Pape’s book, "Dying to Win: The Strategic Logic of Suicide Terrorism," provides some guidance: Terrorism has little to do with the teachings of any religion but is rather a response to policies that condone occupations.
8- Colorado Republican Congressman Tom Tancredo calls for a nuclear attack on Islam’s holiest site, Mecca, if there is another terrorist attack on US. A Washington DC radio talk show host said "Islam is a terrorist organization" 23 times on his July 25, 2005 program. He also repeatedly said that "the problem is not extremism. The problem is Islam."
9- The Patriot Act Section 505, expanded the FBI’s ability to demand Internet, telephone, financial and credit records on its request alone, without going through a judge at all. It bars the recipient of the demand for these records from disclosing the secret search, forever.
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