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By Abdul Malik Mujahid
The Muslim Representative from Minnesota was elected by the voters of that
district and if American citizens don’t wake up and adopt the
Virgil Goode position on immigration there will likely be many more Muslims
elected to office and demanding the use of the Koran.” -Representative Virgil H. Goode,
Jr. (Republican from Virginia),
in a letter to his constituents.
“Insofar as a member of Congress taking an oath to serve America and uphold its values is concerned,
[...] America is interested in only one book, the Bible. If you are incapable of taking an
oath on that book, don’t serve in Congress.” -Talk show host Dennis Prager,
Townhall.com, November 28, 2006.
Despite the Islamophobia represented by these two
statements and those who supported them, Keith Ellison was still able to take
his ceremonial oath of office in early January 2007 as a Democratic
representative from Minnesota.
The first woman speaker Nancy Pelosi re-enacted taking the oath of office while
Congressman Ellison’s wife, Kim, held the Quran. And this copy of the Quran was once owned
by the quintessential American patriot: Thomas Jefferson.
Many would be surprised that Jefferson
even owned a Quran in the first place. I wonder if this holy book of 1.2
billion individuals on the planet sits on Prager’s or Goode’s bookshelves.
Highly unlikely. Unlike Jefferson, they don’t
seem interested in trying to learn, think and analyze beyond their perceived
understanding of Islam and Muslims.
This is an attitude characteristic of today’s
Islamophobic talk show hosts, self-proclaimed “patriots” and defenders of “American values.” Jefferson’s
copy of the Quran was purchased at a time when hatred for the Ottoman
Empire and all things Islamic was high, a recurring fear fed by
misinformation and the events of the day. Even the translations available at
that time, were made with a declared Islamophobic intent.
Jefferson’s response
to this Islamophobia was not rejection but to read the Quran and understand
Islam, a Book he considered not just Muslim holy scripture, but also a legal
text, which held special relevance for him as a lawyer. The attacks on Ellison
and his use of the Quran for his swearing-in ceremony are not about “American
values” and “American civilization.” Rather, they are about their
antithesis: Islamophobia.
Goode’s remarks represent Islamophobia par exellence.
He implied that all Muslims are immigrants when in fact, over half of the
Muslims in the United States
were born and raised here (including around 30 per cent of whom are African-
American). His letter also reflected fear of Islam. The subdued response to
Goode’s outrageous Islamophobic comments also points out how acceptable it is
in today’s America
to be a begot when it comes to Muslims. President Bush failed to
distance himself from them, as did his fellow Republicans. None of the
Congressional leaders of the Republican party or the Chair of the Republican
Party denounced Goode. While hardly anyone welcomed his statements, the overwhelming silence amounted
to tacit approval. Even a statement by religious leaders failed to gather much
momentum. They had signed a petition inviting Goode to visit a mosque.
Islamophobia is an acceptable Form of
Racism in America
Today
Over one-fourth of all American Muslims surveyed, by more
than one public opinion organization, stated that they have personally
experienced Islamophobia or know someone who has. More than 200,000 American
Muslims have been subjected to some kind of law enforcement activity since
9/11. Wages of Muslim men have gone down by 10 percent since 9/11, according to
a recent study. At least 31,000 Muslims have been detained, arrested, deported since that tragedy. A
horrible tale of how Islamophobia broke up a family was recently broadcast by
the NPR program “This American Life.” Listen to the 12/15/2006 Episode 322.
The prestigious Social Science Research Council examined
“the more than 300 prosecutions of individuals on terrorism related charges,
and found virtually none that were involved in a plot against America, a
finding verified by a Washington Post investigation last year.” It is due to
Islamophobia fanned by government policies and a media frenzy that a majority
of Americans continue to hold negative opinions of Islam and Muslims. And bin Ladenites around the world
contribute to authenticate this negative image. Forty-four percent of Americans
queried in a Cornell national poll favor curtailing some liberties for Muslim
Americans. Islamophobia is older than 9/11 and is based on ongoing ignorance Fear and hatred of all things
Islamic can be traced much farther back than 9/11. Edward Said’s landmark book
“Orientalism” outlined how European colonial masters viewed their Muslim
subjects with disdain and disgust.
This attitude continues to this day. That view of Muslims
as bloodthirsty, misogynist and violent savages persists. It is furthered by
Bernard Lewis, America’s
top Orientalist, and his neoconservative students, a number of whom are the
architects of the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
The
barring of Yusuf Islam in 2004 and Tariq Ramadan in 2005 from the United States,
are examples of how we are not only closing our borders to Islam but opening
them to Islamophobia. Even worse, we are closing our minds. As Diana Eck,
President of
the American Academy of Religion wrote in the Boston
Globe on February 2, 2006 about the Ramadan case, “Denying us face-to-face
access to scholars and theologians who contribute to critical reflection on the
religious currents of our world is an
intolerable impoverishment of the academic enterprise.”
The Academy is currently suing Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff for
barring Ramadan entry into the US. Thomas Jefferson would certainly not have approved
of this attitude. Not only did he try to learn basic Arabic, he also recognized that other
Americans should have the opportunity to learn the language. Revising the laws
of Virginia in the late 1770s, Jefferson
drafted a bill that proposed expanding the curriculum of his alma mater, the College Of William and Mary, to include Oriental
Languages.
I wonder how Virgil Goode, a representative of this state,
would have reacted to this?
This respect for others is the reason that the Supreme
Court of the United States
honored
Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, as a
great lawgiver by putting up his frieze to adorn the courtroom walls, in the
1930s. It depicted eighteen great lawgivers through ages, including Moses, Solomon,
Confucius ... and Muhammad. I also remember this respect when I opened my eyes
after resting my head on a wooden chair of the Library of Congress as I read
the name of the Prophet on its ceiling. None of these people were Muslims, but they were above the
Islamophobia of the day. Islamophobia and Anti- Americanism Harms Us All In my many
interfaith interactions in the last year, I have met several nice people. But I
was surprised to find at almost each event I attended, one or two Islamophobic people who
seemed to have a high dose of Fox News in their system. I listened to them and
prayed for them instead of responding to them. In similar ways, I had
difficulty communicating with those abroad, whose anti-American hatred does not distinguish between the US government
policies and the dehumanization of all Americans.
Terrorism, occupations and wars continue to pull America and the
world apart. And America’s
most important asset, it’s Muslim Americans, are unable to build bridges of
understanding. They have become suspect in this Islamophobic environment.
With no significant representation in any level of
government, American Muslims have a long way to go in fighting
Islamophobia. Perhaps one day, our voice
will also be heard and given weight, is the voice of another important religious
minority; Jewish Americans. A tall, Jewish leader stood up during an interfaith
meeting I recently attended
in Washington, DC and proudly announced that there are 30 Jewish
representatives and 13 Jewish Senators in the United States’ 110th Congress. I
admire how the Jewish community has fought anti-Semitism and become one of the
most accepted and admired communities in the US.
Islamophobia is today’s accepted form of racism. It will
require Muslims to fight hard against it. Muslims are neither solely
responsible for its creation, nor will they be able to fight it on their own.
It is a collective responsibility for all bridge-builders of the world.
Let us today take a stand to end all kinds of fear and
hatred of “the other.”
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