By Asma Lori Saroya, Engage Minnesota

A Muslim family was detained at the MSP airport on their way home from a week-long vacation in Europe. They were told the search was “random” although others who were also detained were either of South Asian or Arab descent.

A young Muslim woman was detained as she entered the United States with her husband after their honeymoon. Her husband, a Caucasian-American, was not even questioned.

A Muslim sister was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs officials and harassed by a supervisor as she re-entered the U.S. after a 10-day international trip. She was questioned about her heritage, including questions about her parents’ place of birth. When she refused to answer, she was told, “Heritage has everything to do with your travels. It has to do with upbringing and values.” Her luggage was searched for “religious items.”

An Arab man was detained for six hours and placed in handcuffs after officials mistook his identity for someone on a watch list. He has a common Arab name.

Given the increase in the number of complaints to CAIR-MN alleging airport profiling of American Muslims, or those perceived to be Muslim, it is important that all those taking part in this year’s Hajj, or other holiday travel, be aware of their legal and civil rights and responsibilities.

As an airline passenger, you are entitled to courteous, respectful and non-stigmatizing treatment by airline and security personnel. You have the right to complain about treatment that you believe is discriminatory.

If you believe you have been treated in a discriminatory manner, immediately:

1. Ask for the names and ID numbers of all persons involved in the incident. Be sure to write this information down.
2. Ask if you have been singled out because of your name, looks, dress, race, ethnicity, faith, or national origin.
3. Write down a statement of facts immediately after the incident. Be sure to include the flight number, the flight date, and the name of the airline.

If you believe you have witnessed discriminatory treatment, you can:

1. Approach the person involved and ask if they feel they are being treated in a discriminatory manner.
2. Offer to speak to a supervisor with the person who has been treated in a discriminatory manner.
3. Write down a statement of facts immediately after the incident. Be sure to include the flight number, the flight date, and the name of the airline.
4. Contact CAIR-MN: info@mn.cair.com, 651-645-7102.

When returning from Hajj, or other international travel:

1. Airlines will NOT allow you to carry liquids in large quantities as hand luggage. For those returning from hajj, place any ZamZam water that you bring back with you in your checked luggage.
2. If you are bringing back dates, make sure they are processed and sufficiently dry.
3. When packing, ensure that your shoes are cleaned of any soil to avoid having your luggage opened at the airport. CBP has strict rules for allowing any soil or chemicals into the country.
4. If you are bringing back items worth more than $800 (per person) declare them using the CBP Declaration Form, made available by airline staff when landing.
5. Fingerprinting and photographing may be conducted for those traveling on a non-immigrant visa (i.e. non-U.S citizens or non-US. residents).

CAIR-MN offers a published “Know Your Rights” pocket guide in both English and Somali. CAIR-MN also offers “Know Your Rights” presentations, including one specifically for Muslims leaving for hajj.

CAIR, America’s largest Islamic civil liberties and advocacy group has 35 offices and chapters nationwide and in Canada. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.

For more information, contact CAIR-MN, 651-645-7102, info@mn.cair.com.

CAIR-MN is meeting with Customs & Borders officials in early December and is gathering narratives from the community to share with the officials. If you would like to share an incident (you can remain anonymous) in which you feel you were profiled, please email your narrative to: info@mn.cair.com.

Asma Lori Saroya is a Crime Victim Services Coordinator in Minneapolis. She is a graduate of the College of St. Catherine and lives in Blaine with her husband. In her spare time, Asma volunteers with the Muslim Youth of Minnesota and the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American–Islamic Relations. She also teaches English at the Cedar-Riverside Adult Education Collaborative.

By Zainab Ahmad

The evening of Wednesday, the 5th of November, was a great time to be in the United Methodist Church at Grove Street in downtown Minneapolis. Dr. Eboo Patel spoke to at an event arranged by many organizations such as the St. Paul Area Council of Churches, Blake School Diversity Symposium, CAIR Minnesota and Muslim Youth Minnesota, along with many others. He spoke to a diverse audience about his work with the Interfaith Youth Core.

Eboo gave a great message of hope and faith as he said, “the winds of change were in the air” and a new atmosphere was sparked by the election of President-elect Barak Obama where everything was possible. I was moved by his speech as well as the format of the evening in which two young boys, a Muslim and a Jew, were the ones introducing Eboo and managing the event. They were members of the Interfaith Youth Core and a splendid example of how young people could be trained to embrace religious pluralism and become leaders to unite youth together.

To find out what Eboo Patel is all about, his book, “Acts of Faith” is a must-read. I place him “up there” on my list of people to pray for, along with Greg Mortensen, who is building schools in rural areas in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Eboo is an inspiring, dynamic young leader who is successfully engaged in his version of the war on terror, armed with the weapons of peace, love and tolerance.

Eboo spoke about the history of America which was built on pluralism and how it is the role of Americans to draw on that rich tradition and reclaim our respective faiths from those who were projecting faith as intolerant and narrow-minded. He stressed the importance of working with the youth of all religions and showed how his organization, the Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC) was highly successful in breaking barriers by engaging diverse groups of youth in service projects together.

I was particularly impressed with two things this evening. One was how Eboo was able to shine a positive light on everything and make the audience believe that these are indeed good times to be alive and young, and great times to be Muslim in America. After his speech, the audience was invited to chat with their neighbors and to write a question for Eboo to address. A young person asked how we should deal with older people whose ideas are deeply entrenched and resistant to change. Eboo replied that after the November 4th election results, he was sure that minds can be changed and hearts swayed by appealing to common values. His answer received great applause from the audience!

The second thing that impressed me was the fact that for Eboo, respect for other religions came from deep within him; it was not just an outer façade he projected. One question someone sent was about Christian Evangelicals and how to deal with them and engage them, since the impression is that they are overzealous to convert others and single-minded. Eboo again changed the atmosphere from “Oh we have so many problems and some people are just too different” to one of love and respect and true understanding. He replied that Christian Evangelicals are the group of people that were doing the most work for the greater good in America and outside of it. They had dug the most wells, fed the most people and so they deserved our respect and admiration. He emphasized that close friends of his in IFYC were Evangelical Christians and he had great experiences working together with them. He acknowledged that they would not agree on points of theology and lay exclusive claim to heaven, but that was beside the point. The point in this world was for us to get together and do good deeds and help others and we had plenty of things that could unite us.

I was awed by his response and felt that this was true leadership that Muslims badly need at this time. We need to really reach out to other faiths with our hearts and not just “tolerate” the other but truly respect and admire them for their qualities and good work. Only then can we receive respect in return.

After the event there was a book signing and we waited in line to meet this extra-ordinary man. My nine year old daughter walked out happily after Eboo wrote a kind message to her on our copy of “Acts of Faith”. I mentioned to Eboo that there was also a need for more “intra-faith” love and understanding so that Muslims were more accepting of differences amongst themselves. He agreed and said our theology was our personal business and no one need judge us for it. Once again he gave a message of hope that things were slowly but surely changing for the better.

By Lolla Mohammed Nur, Engage Minnesota

It is 7 a.m. on November 5th, and I am in my living room in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia with the TV on. CNN has just announced that Barack Obama has won the electoral vote and is therefore the new president-elect of the United States. An endless flow of tears start streaming down my face. My tears are those of joy and victory, not of sadness.

This was the moment of victory Obama and so many others—including me—had been waiting for so long. This was the announcement of success Obama had strived so hard to achieve, regardless of the never-ending attacks that he had to endure all year long on his policies, experience, personal life, and roots. As I tried to dry my face which was proving to be impossible, I reflected on why I was crying so much.

I realized the reason for my dramatic reaction to Obama’s victory is that, ever since following his campaign in January, I have felt a deep connection with Obama. Despite the labels of guilt-by-association pointed at him throughout the campaign by his desperate Republican opponents and the racist comments that were thrown at him by some Americans themselves—some of which I never thought could be used as insults, and all of which I took very personally—Obama has made history by winning the Presidency, and I feel like I have won with him.

Being an East African Muslim, I have some things in common with Obama. Two of these things are the color of my skin and my roots. I am black as Obama is black. I am Ethiopian and he is Kenyan—our countries even share a border. And I am Muslim as his roots are Muslim also.

Although he has stated clearly—almost defensively—that he is and always has been a follower of Christianity and not Islam, most of his Kenyan family members are Muslim. Therefore, I have felt, as do most other Africans and especially African (American) Muslims, that I share a special connection with this inspiring African-American. It is because of this, in some ways intangible, connection that I feel as if I have gone through the twisting rollercoaster of emotions and unexpected moments the election campaign of 2008 has turned out to be.

Political apathy

I was never interested in politics until I came to Minnesota as an international student in the fall of 2007. I grew up in Saudi Arabia with the ever-present idea that meddling in politics is dangerous. I only had to look at the long list of political leaders and activists who have been assassinated in the past century, or have been made to live in paranoia all of their lives, to confirm the fears of being affiliated with the political world. In high school, I never even dreamed of studying, let alone having a career in, politics.

Although I never thought about it much in high school, looking back now I can say that there were several reasons for my indifference to anything political. Not only is politics considered dangerous by many in my family and my home country, Ethiopia, but I also never had the encouragement, inspiration, and confidence to ever think of trying to be a political leader. To be a politician of a country, a person has to feel attached to that country and be able to call that country “home.” However, I grew up in a country that was not mine, a country that I did not feel I belonged, Saudi Arabia.

Although I was born in Riyadh, the capital city, as were my siblings, we were not given Saudi citizenship. Also, while Arabic is the main language used in Saudi Arabia, my first language is English because I studied at the American School in Riyadh ever since Kindergarten, the same school where I received my high school diploma. Finally, while I look like an Ethiopian, I was not born and have never lived in Ethiopia.

Thus, being what is called a “third culture kid”—a kid born in a country other than his or her parents’ and then living somewhere else—I have never felt like I can call any country my home. As a result, I never had the interest and courage to be a political leader of any country, or share any connections with a leader of any country. I think also growing up in the society of Saudi Arabia—a society composed of a monotonous demography whose members are almost all Muslim, Saudi and/or Arab, most of whom are either doctors, engineers, businessmen or otherwise very wealthy, a society in which women are not encouraged to be independent and get involved with government and politics, and a society in short, which I believe to not be as dynamic as the American society—automatically forced my brain to switch to the default setting of tuning out anytime someone brought up something not meshing with the status quo, such as politics.

My freshman year in Minnesota, however, has changed my political apathy, and I truly believe that Barack Obama has everything to do with this change.

“Obama-mania”

I started getting interested in the election campaign in January 2008, which was primary season. I was surprised at how politically involved other university students were, something which I had never encountered back at my American high school in Riyadh. There was a recent buzz in Coffman Memorial Union because the Hollywood actors Scarlett Johannsen and Kal Penn, as well as Representative Keith Ellison, were coming to visit the University of Minnesota as part of their nation-wide campaign for Barack Obama. My friends and I were excited and went early to the theater to get front row seats. I remember the tingle of excitement I felt when Scarlett, Kal, and Keith spoke about a future African-American president so passionately. Everything they said about Obama appealed to me, especially his plan to help reduce university tuition, a problem I was having since the tuition for international students is very inflated.

I think it is very powerful that although I am not an American, the connection I felt with Obama on that day—and more days to come—even though he was not present, was very real. Little did I know that I was only beginning to be enwrapped by the rapidly-spreading phenomenon later to be called “Obama-mania”.

I remember my ecstatic excitement when I heard Obama was coming to Minnesota in January (just two weeks after Scarlett, Kal, and Keith came to the University) to speak at a rally at the Target Center in Downtown Minneapolis. My first question was: Can I go? My second was: If so, how? I had never, in my life, seen a politician with my own eyes (besides Keith Ellison), never met or talked with a politician, or any sort of leader for that matter. In short, I have never had some of the opportunities my American peers and friends have been so lucky to experience all of their lives, and probably have taken for granted. Therefore, anyone would understand the reasons for the sheer excitement I felt at the prospect of receiving two free tickets to see and hear Obama speak at the Target Center.

That day was unforgettable. That day I cried and cheered so much that my eyes and throat were sore by the end of Obama’s deeply touching and beautiful speech. That day I was inspired by Obama—his presence, his words, his eloquence, his calls for change, and the fact that he was a symbol of all minority groups. His audacity to hope so much, his slogan “Change we can believe in,” as well as his mantra “Yes, we can” all made me feel alive in a way I have never felt before. It was from that day that I really felt the connection I share with Obama materialize and envelope my very being.
It was from that day I fell in love with politics.

Caucus week in Minnesota is also very memorable for me.

I was pleasantly surprised when I heard that the University of Minnesota was reserving several locations around campus to allow students to vote. My friends—most of them Muslim and all supporting Obama—were planning to vote in Coffman Memorial Union, and I remember wanting to vote but knowing I couldn’t because of my international student status. All three floors in Coffman were stacked with students in line; most of them would be voting for Obama, proof of the phenomenon he has caused amongst young Americans.

I think it is the profound ability Obama has to speak eloquently and articulate his passions and goals so clearly that allows him to engage people of all ages, faiths, and racial backgrounds. Not only has Obama engaged Americans, but also the world. He has literally caused a world-wide “Obama-mania”, a phenomenon steering all Americans and non-Americans—Africans, Arabs, Asians, Europeans, Muslims, Jews, and Christians—to feel as if Obama is representing all of us.

Obama outside America

I recently visited my extended family in Ethiopia, none of whom speak English, all of whom know who I am talking about when I mention Obama’s name. Even my four-year-old cousin would randomly chant “Obama! Obama!” Taxis across Addis Ababa, the capital city, were plastered with pictures of Obama, and clothing stores displayed T-shirts depicting Obama’s smiling face. My mother, like myself, never used to be even remotely interested in politics. In fact, I remember her discouraging me from involving myself with politics, because of the inherent fear of politics she has—a fear that has been rooted in her mind since her childhood.

However, when Obama came into the picture, she became as engrossed in his campaign all year long as I had been; she felt hurt as I had felt when Obama was insulted and attacked by his opponents; and she cried with me when Obama was announced the President-elect of the United States. Obama has touched my mom’s, my relatives’, and fellow Ethiopians’ hearts in a way no other American politician has.

Barack Obama has also specifically impacted the Muslim world in a unique way.

Islam is not exclusive to any ethnic background, but Muslims do represent every racial background and ethnicity. Therefore, many Muslims feel the same connection I feel with Obama because of his color, although color is not the only reason for the massive international support he has gained. Obama’s passion and his evident will for diplomacy and fair play appeal to the international world—especially the Arab and Muslim worlds—which are hungry for America to restore its image and regain its leadership role on the world stage. When Obama said he will pull the U.S. out of Iraq if elected president, and that he will talk with Iran without pre-conditions, he won the hearts of Muslims worldwide who feel that the Muslim world has suffered very much under previous U.S. administrations’ foreign policies in the Middle East.

Muslims can’t help but also hope (as Obama himself has repeatedly encouraged Americans to do) that with an Obama administration, perhaps the Israeli/Palestinian conflict can be somehow conciliated within the next four years. Many Muslims and Arabs believe that the root of the world’s problems, such as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the Iran problem is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  Many also believe that the U.S. has not done anything concrete yet to help solve the conflict but has only aggravated it, especially in recent years. However, Muslims hope as do I, that Obama’s calls for change, his will for peace and unity, as well as his policy of diplomacy first will all play out when it comes to dealing with the Middle East, as with the rest of the world.

The ever-presence of racism in America

I think the huge victories Obama has gained have and will continue to inspire Americans of all minority groups to be more involved with politics. As Colin Powell said in an interview when he endorsed Obama last month, there may very well be a Muslim- or Arab-American president in the near future, since Obama has just paved the way for all minorities to succeed.

Obama has truly made history, and let us not forget how hard he has fought and how long he has toiled to do so. However, there is a dark side to all of this as well.  Although many Americans would like to ignore the harsh truth, racism unfortunately still lurks in America. Many Americans, particularly in the South, did not vote for Obama because of his skin color. Throughout his campaign, Obama was falsely called an “Arab” and a “Muslim,” as if these are terrible things to be associated with. He was also labeled a “terrorist” because of his name.

Some McCain supporters deliberately emphasized his middle name “Hussein” when referring to him, and others even went as far as to call him “Barack Hussein Osama bin Laden”. In a desperate attempt to discredit Obama last month, a McCain ad called him “risky,” while Sarah Palin put much of her effort talking about his decades-ago friendship with an American who’d committed terrorist acts; both were trying to attack Obama personally.

All of this labeling hurt me because in truth, these were attacks on my personal identity. I am black, Muslim, and grew up in the Arab world and have many Arab friends, yet I know that I, my Muslim, African, and Arab family, friends, and relatives are not even remotely harmful.

What has disappointed me the most and unfortunately has made Muslims around the world skeptical is that Obama did not say anything in defense of Muslims or Arabs when he was insulted with those racist comments.

Muslim- and Arab-Americans are two rapidly growing communities in the U.S. which have for the most part supported and voted for Obama. We Muslims would have liked him to say that there is no problem with being Muslim or Arab, and that being a follower of Islam does not mean you are a terrorist. I also wish that he had talked more about his Kenyan Muslim family as a solid example of peaceful Muslims who he knows personally. A possible reality is that perhaps if he had spoken on behalf of Muslims and Arabs, he may not have been where he is right now. He probably guessed this and decided to play it safe by defensively stating several times that he was not and never has been Muslim, and just left it at that.

As much as this does disappoint me, I am still waiting for Obama to redeem himself because I believe he will. I genuinely feel that Barack Obama as the next U.S. president will be a huge benefit to the Muslim community, all minority groups, the American community as a whole, the Arab world, and the wider world also. For the first time possibly since JFK, an American president has caused an unforgettable phenomenon, one which allows him to connect and engage with others like no other president has done before.

The major difference this time is that the phenomenon—of Obama’s persona, of what he represents, and of his resonating calls for peace, unity, and change—is global. Obama’s message has crossed America’s borders and has reached all continents of the world.

I know that Obama has inspired the world as much as he has inspired me.

By Martha Bigelow, Meeting Minnesota’s Muslims

Multicultural education seeks to include a range of perspectives often suppressed by the majority culture as well as include students from diverse backgrounds in the process of learning.  What is sometimes lost in efforts to create inclusive educational experiences is serious thought to how to welcome students of minority religions.  In the case of Muslim students, the barriers typically include lack of knowledge of Islam and strategies to accommodate Islamic religious practices in school settings.  In the same way it is essential to have classrooms that make students of different ethnicities, genders or family income levels feel invested in learning, it is equally essential to make Muslim students feel that they belong to the learning community. Like all students, we need to keep Muslim kids engaged in school because of the importance of high school diploma for so many post-secondary options students wish to explore.

Diversity within the Muslim community

Many Muslims in our schools are refugees or immigrants (often from East Africa), but there are also many Muslims who were born in Minnesota or somewhere else in the US.  The most recent refugees to Minnesota are from Burma and many of them are Muslim, reminding us that Islam has many faces.  I have come to see nationality as only one way Muslim students differ.  To a non-Muslim, the cultural differences often seem quite vast.  Muslim students differ, for example, with regard to how and when girls choose to veil, or how comfortable students are when doing classroom activities with members of the opposite gender.  It can be confusing to educators when they see students who identify as Muslim, behave in dramatically different ways.  Like in other religions, there is a wide range of practices that constitute “being Muslim” and when adolescence is thrown into the mix, decisions about “who you are” can change from day to day, or even moment to moment.  The call to educators is to be aware of religion as an important area of diversity among students and that Islam itself is diverse as it is enacted in families and individuals.

Because there are so many differences within Islam, being Muslim at school often presents very individualized challenges and responses to negotiating a religious identity within a non-Muslim learning climate.  Sadly, youth often feel caught between worlds, often embodied by vast differences between home and school cultures.  Negotiating this “in-between” can be difficult for Muslim youth and their families, but can also result in a process of intense and productive identity formation that results in strong individuals who have figured out ways of embracing and understanding the multiple layers of who they are.  This in-between place is quite real and many Muslim youth have become masterful in navigating it.  It is my hope that more and more Minnesota educators will become skilled at recognizing this important identity work in action and providing the anti-oppressive space and support for it to occur.

The politics of Islam at school

The media would have us think that religious extremists are all Muslim.  The negative portrayal of Islam in the media, and a preponderance of Islamophobia in the US, is not lost on Muslim students.  Being Muslim in a post 9-11 world can be difficult and students can feel pressure to represent an alternate view of Islam to non-Muslims.  They are also at risk for experiencing bias and discrimination at school.  For this reason, it is essential that all students learn about Islam and the perspectives of their Muslim classmates.

Some would contend that accommodating the needs of Muslim students in public schools violates the establishment clause of the first amendment separating church and state.  This is not so.  Providing food options without pork, physical education classes separated by gender, allowing girls to veil, accommodating fasting during the holy month of Ramadan, and releasing students to pray in no way jeopardizes the separation of church and state because the school is not sponsoring religion, only allows students to practice their religion.  Not doing so, on the other hand, does violate their constitutional rights in the US.

The skill and the will

Besides having the skill to create inclusive learning environments that welcome Muslim students, educators also need the will.  They must believe that religious diversity is important and may marginalize students.  Learning about Islam, the diversity within Islam, as well as understanding in more depth the way anti-Muslim views permeate the media and public consciousness, we can generate educational practices that will encourage Muslim students to stay engaged in school and find ways to be themselves wherever they are - at home or at school.

Educators wanting to know more about teaching Muslim students and about Islam in general have the opportunity to attend a free event this Saturday at the Islamic Center of Minnesota.  The event is part of the Institute for Global Studies’ Meeting Minnesota’s Muslims project, in collaboration with the Islamic Center of Minnesota and the Islamic Resource Group.  For more information, or to register, go to http://www.mmm.umn.edu/ or call 612-624-7346.

Martha Bigelow is an Associate Professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction at the University of Minnesota, with research interests in immigrant education, second language acquisition and multicultural education.

By Tanweer Janjua, Engage Minnesota

As a long time admirer of Barack Obama’s leadership, I was moved by his speech on Tuesday night. There is no doubt that Barack has shown his leadership again and demonstrated that he deserved to be in the highest office of the land. This is truly an historic and remarkable event and we should all cherish this.  It is truly a time of joy for those who believed that our country needed different direction and leadership. It is indeed a proud day to be an American.

Who could ever imagine this 45 years ago? It is less than half century ago, when Civil Rights Act passed and now we see an African-American heading for the White House. Barack’s success should not be perceived as anything incidental and easily achieved. Many people gave their lives, spent their lifetime in struggle, suffered humiliation, torture and discrimination but, they did it and a dream was fulfilled on Tuesday night.  

It is also an opportunity for American Muslims in general and Twin Cities Muslims in specific, to reflect upon our current situation we are in. In spite of the large numbers Muslims have been just good spectators of the political show from sidelined for too long. They didn’t realize, while they were enjoying the show, somebody was compiling their definitions and preparing different name labels for them.

Since last February’s caucus, when flocks of people came out to vote, I have been working at a local political grass root level. Through a series of local conventions and our political filtration process, I was elected as a National Delegate to DNC in Denver.

I remember that evening of late August, when Barack Obama walked up to the podium in Invesco Field and accepted the party nomination. A new chapter was introduced in history books. Like many Americans, I was moved to see an African American presenting himself to the entire world and running for the highest office. Many were convinced and yet still many around the world could not comprehend just the idea of ‘a black American president in USA?’ 

That evening, I promised to myself that on my return to MN, I will work hard with my Muslim Community, and try to motivate everyone to be politically involved. This is the only way I found where Muslims can assimilate and be part of the mainstream America, without jeopardizing the religious identity. 

In last few months, while putting lots of hours in Obama’s campaign, I was encouraged with the support of local community and many party leaders in Twin Cities. Last September, during my absence from the country, I was nominated and elected on Asian Pacific American (APA) Board. I am thankful to my APA board colleagues who trusted me. Since then, I worked on many political rallies, literature drops, door knocking and canvassing around Twin Cities.  

I have also been working with American Muslim Taskforce (AMT), to mobilize and motivate Muslim voters in Twin Cities so they can be more involved in this election. The goal is to show a main stream American John Doe, that Muslims are as American as anyone else. Muslims are as civic as anyone else could be and they are as responsible as any other American could be.

A few brothers and I were committed in these efforts and we went from mosques to community centers to educate Muslim voters. We had open discussions on our involvement in the political arena. We were welcomed at many places with open hearts and support. On the other hand, we were denied access to some places. These denials didn’t stop us and we kept working on getting Muslims out to vote. I was very encouraged to see that our Somali Muslims brothers and sisters were actively involved in different political activities this election. Many took time off from work so they could volunteer their time at polling locations. This is great and I salute to those who volunteered. Obviously, they realized the value of their time and the money they were investing, and it will pay off in the long run, inshallah.

In our latest Muslim GOTV efforts, we invited some distinguished Muslim guests from other states, who spoke to local Muslims and emphasized on the importance of political involvement. We arranged gatherings for our Somali brothers and sisters where more than 500 people attended these gatherings. They asked questions, expressed their concerns on different issues and appreciated these kinds of gatherings.  

With little reservations, I may say that our combined efforts may have had an impact on the large Muslim turnout this election. I am very encouraged in working with Somali Muslim Community and believe that our better days are still ahead. By no means, are we claiming that our work is done but merely started. We need to be rational and clearly understand the challenges we are facing. Like other successful ethnic communities of the past, we can tackle these challenges too, if we are united, focused and committed.   

Along many other challenges we are facing today, I like to point out couple major challenge the Twin Cities Muslim Community is facing today. First challenge relates to the Somali Muslim youth, who are being killed in street violence. This is alarming and Twin Cities Muslims should not turn away from these issues. This is not only a Somali Community problem but it is a Twin Cities Muslims problem and we all have to come together in an attempt to find a solution. Many Somali Leaders have expressed their outcry for help on this issue and now it is our obligation to step up and offer whatever we can. This is a very complicate and sensitive issue and it will take a lot of efforts from all of us.  

One other challenge I like to point out is that there is big disconnect between local Muslim leaders and the portion of Muslim community. There is a large number of Muslims who are just turned off and disgusted by different Imams and their power grabs techniques and just don’t want to be affiliated with any mosque. These are good Muslims and we don’t have right to suspect their good intentions. They just want to practice their faith in private without being grabbed into community disagreements. We have an obligation to be bridge these gaps and bring all the Muslims together. 

At these historical moments, let’s promise that we all will do our part, in all sincerity, and try to do whatever we can, to relieve our brothers and sisters who are in pain. It is time to put our social, cultural, and ethnic differences aside and strive to rise as an exemplary Muslim Community in America. I truly believe this is the land where we can not only practice our faith in freedom but we can also offer the best of our faith to our fellow Americans.

We should also offer the same sincerity and commitment to our neighbors, community and citizens; regardless of their faith. These actions will speak much louder than any other loud speaker in our community centers or in mosques.

Next time you are at a dinner party at someone’s house, you will notice we have lot of talent in discussing all aspects of the life. Weather it s a social, religious or political issue at local, regional or international level, we have experts who can present viable solutions to these challenges right at the dinner table. It is time to bring these discussions from dining room to the community room so our fellow Americans can benefit from our discussion and realize how a Muslim can be a viable thread of the American fabric.

This will make all of us Proud American Muslim.

By  American Muslim Taskforce, Engage Minnesota

Washington, D.C.  11/04/08: The American Muslim Taskforce on Civil Rights and Election (AMT***), an umbrella group representing major Muslim organization, has congratulated president-elected Barak Obama at his world-historic victory and pledged their full support for his efforts to build a better world.
 

The AMT statement in part reads:
 
“Today, as a nation we have given substance to the Declaration of Independence, especially its foundational principle that all men are created equal. Our nation has thus risen to new majestic heights.
 
“Today, America has redeemed itself and the nation has undergone a cultural transformation that has the potential of impacting the whole world.
 
“We applaud the graciousness shown by Sen. John McCain in his concession speech, and we offer our full support and cooperation to president-elect Barak Obama in his efforts to build a better America and a better world.”
 
“Today, the whole word can hear America sing. In the timeless words of Whitman:
 
I HEAR America singing, the varied carols I hear;
 
Those of mechanics-each one singing his, as it should be, blithe and strong;
 
The carpenter singing his, as he measures his plank or beam,
 
The mason singing his, as he makes ready for work, or leaves off work;
 
The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat-the deckhand singing on the steamboat deck;
         

The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench-the hatter singing as he stands;
 
The wood-cutter’ s song-the ploughboy’s, on his way in the morning, or at the noon intermission, or at sundown;
 
The delicious singing of the mother-or of the young wife at work-or of the girl sewing or washing-Each singing what belongs to her, and to none else;
 
The day what belongs to the day-At night, the party of young fellows, robust, friendly,
 
Singing, with open mouths, their strong melodious songs
 
 
(***The American Muslim Taskforce on Civil Rights and Election is an umbrella organization representing American Muslim Alliance (AMA), American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA), Muslim Alliance in North America (MANA), Muslim American Society-Freedom Foundation (MAS-FF), Muslim Student Association - National (MSA-N), Muslim Ummah of North America (MUNA), and United Muslims of America (UMA). Islamic Educational center of Orange County (IEC), Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) and Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) are affiliated with AMT as observers.)

By Luke Wilcox, Engage Minnesota

During my six months as a policy intern in Washington, DC, my days were filled with important tasks critical to national security, such as copying memos and creating Microsoft Excel sheets. Thankfully, I was also able to escape the office once in a while to attend some really great hearings and events. One of my absolute favorites - and one that is reoccurring here in the Twin Cities - was the book launch of Who Speaks for Islam? What a Billion Muslims Really Think.

In the book, Dalia Mogahed of the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies and John Esposito of Georgetown University draw on 6 years of systematic research conducted by Gallup. Rather than unfounded assumptions, 50,000 verbal interviews of Muslims back up Mogahed and Esposito’s claims. If you care about sound methodology - or if you want to hear, from Muslims, what Muslims think about the world - this is the book for you.

On Wednesday, November 5, Mogahed will present on the book’s conclusions at an event sponsored by the Islamic Resource Group and the Muslim Christian Dialogue Center of the University of St. Thomas. The huge sample size of the Gallup study, representing Muslims across the socioeconomic spectrum, of all ages, and both rural and urban, gives her conclusions a rigorous credibility that many have (unfairly) demanded from Muslims and defenders of Islam post-9/11.

This is a last-minute preview, but below are some of my observations and notes from Mogahed’s presentation in DC. It’s hard to believe, but all of these interesting facts and comparisons are only an excerpt of what you’ll be treated to if you attend the event this Wednesday.

From the Book Launch of Who Speaks for Islam? with Dalia Mogahed:

One of the big questions addressed by the book is the origins of extremism. What makes a radical? Is Sam Harris right in asserting that the cause is religion per se? One need only look at the widespread religiosity across the world-for example, 68% of Americans and 74% of Iranians say religion is an important part of their life-to see that pervasive religion does not necessarily translate into pervasive extremism. Using statistics to categorize extremists, the book reports that 7% of Muslims (approximately 91 million) believe that 9/11 was completely justified. The book terms this 7% the “politically radicalized” group (statistically they were an outlier in their responses to interview questions). Whereas those who condemned 9/11 frequently spoke of the loss of human life and often used religious justifications for their views, the 7% did not use religious arguments. The mainstream often quoted the Quran (e.g., killing one innocent life is like killing all of humanity), while the 7% focused on counter-hegemony, geopolitical arguments rather than theology. It is also interesting to note that the 7% were, on average, more educated and affluent than the mainstream.

What about President Bush’s claim that terrorists “hate our freedom” (September 20, 2001 speech)? When asked what they admire most about the West, Muslims ranked technology first and liberty and democracy second. They expressed widespread admiration for the freedom of expression and assembly, rule of law, and government accountability they see in the West. The politically radicalized 7% were significantly more likely to say moving toward democracy would help Muslims. When asked what they resent most about the West, neither radicals nor moderates said freedom; instead, both perceived a “race narrative” of disrespect. The most resented aspect of the West was the moral breakdown of society, but the second was perceived Western disrespect for Muslims.

Thus the number one response to the question of how the West can improve relations with the Muslim world was to show greater respect for Islam and Muslims. This perception of being regarded as inferior and the need for the West to respect Islam was shared around the world and across the political board, both among the 7% and the mainstream. Muslims consistently felt a powerful victimhood and perceived both hatred of their faith and racism. One respondent said, “They think we’re barbarians, that we’re backwards. They need to recognize that we’re human, too.” Among psychologists, this perception of humiliation has been called the “nuclear bomb” of emotions because of the response it can engender.

But what distinguishes the humiliation felt by the 7% and that felt by the mainstream? First, the 7% also felt threatened. While the greatest fear of the mainstream was crime and lack of security, the greatest fear of the 7% was occupation, U.S. domination, and imminent U.S. invasion of their country. The 7% perceived that they were being threatened and controlled. Second, the 7% was more likely to see the U.S. as insincere in its democracy promotion and to doubt the good will of the U.S. Thus they were also less likely to view better relations with the U.S. as a possibility.

In a more theoretical sense, the book identified three lenses, or “prisons of pain,” through which the U.S. is seen: 1) cultural disrespect, 2) political domination, and 3) acute conflicts such as those in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Israel and Palestine. The authors stressed that these overlap and reinforce each other; for example, the Abu Ghraib pictures represent both 1 (flushing a Quran down a toilet) and 2 (occupation).

Other interesting statistics and comments from Ms. Mogahed’s presentation:

• The American public and Muslims around the world were just as likely to condemn or condone attacks on civilians. There was no statistical difference, for example, between the percentage of Americans and the percentage of Saudis who said attacking civilians is acceptable.

• Starting with the premise that religion is important around the world, interviewers asked: what role do you want for religion in legislation? The majority of Muslims thought Sharia should at least be a source of legislation. Egypt desired implementation of Sharia law most strongly, with 65% saying Sharia should be the only source of legislation. Overall, gender was not a significant differentiating factor on the role Muslims wanted for Sharia in legislation. The book’s authors concluded that this call to give Sharia at least some role in legislation can be seen as at least in part a call for the rule of law in Muslim countries.

• When the same question about religion and legislation was asked in the U.S., using the Bible instead of Sharia, the majority of Americans believed the Bible should have a role to play in legislation. Nine % said the Bible should be the only source.  

• The majority of Muslims wanted no direct role for religious leaders in forming legislation.

• In most countries, the majority of Muslims did not think the U.S. is serious about promoting democracy. In the Middle East and North Africa, Muslims widely believed that the U.S. will not allow them to fashion their own political future and that the U.S. is adamant about controlling the region.

• Question: why do terrorists continue to use the language of religion if their main motivation is often about geopolitics and the structure of world power?

Ms. Mogahed: they know their audience, know that religion is important. In fact, it’s not only terrorists that use religious language-everyone does. You have to use the dominant social currency.

• Question: why haven’t we heard more from Muslims condemning terrorism?

Ms. Mogahed: First, we have heard from them-there have been innumerable public condemnations-they just don’t get covered in the media. Second, we need to create some definitions: what does it mean to condemn something loud enough? If we try to isolate or “otherize” terrorists, to tell Muslims to condemn terrorists, we say to Muslims: you are all one group and you are thereby guilty by association. For example, we simply assume that Christians condemn and disagree with the KKK, so we should extend the same assumption to Muslims, for both moral and strategic purposes.

• When Americans were asked what they respect most about the Muslim world, the top two responses were 1) nothing and 2) I don’t know. Increasing American respect for the Muslim world is critical.

• Part of the problem of lack of respect is the asymmetry of information flow. For example, 24 is one of the most popular TV shows in Egypt and Western literature is a part of the curriculum in many Muslim majority countries. People there learn much more about us than we learn about them.

 Luke Wilcox recently graduated from Boston University with a Masters degree in International Relations and Religion and has published articles on civil society and human rights in Morocco. He is new to the Twin Cities.

By Fedwa Wazwaz, Engage Minnesota

The elections this year turned ugly as presidential candidate Barack Obama was continuously portrayed as a Muslim, with a hidden negative inference that being Muslim means that Obama supports terrorism, and that being Muslim means bad and ugly.

While such attacks came mainly from the Republican party, the Democratic party did not show a strong backbone to repudiate these attacks.  Even Obama showed weakness in not fighting these attacks against Muslims and Islam by proclaiming he is not Muslim, he is a Christian.  He lacked the ability to affect a change in the pscyhe of Americans by challenging them to not define their Muslim neighbors by negative stereotypes.

To add to the wave of insults, in many US swing states an extremist group has mailed a copy of the movie Obsession to 28 million homes via mainstream newspapers, including the New York Times.  The DVD is a hateful piece of propaganda that is meant to influence Americans to vote for John McCain via its fear-mongering and hate-mongering. The alarming part is not that there are extremists promoting such propaganda, but that credible and mainstream newspapers would allow such hate-filled propaganda to be mailed to Americans via their newspapers.

Americans—both Muslim and non-Muslim—value the freedom of press, speech and expression, but what value are these freedoms if we embrace them without critical thinking?  Wouldn’t these freedoms be harmful to society if they are devoid of critical thinking?  Taken from the “Practical Guide to Critical Thinking,” by Greg R. Haskins, let us ask regarding the movie Obsession:

“Is there any ambiguity, vagueness, or obscurity that hinders my full understanding of the argument?  Is the language excessively emotional or manipulative? Have I separated the reasoning (evidence) and relevant assumptions/facts from background information, examples, and irrelevant information? Have I determined which assumptions are warranted versus unwarranted? Can I list the reasons (evidence) for the argument and any sub-arguments? Have I evaluated the truth, relevance, fairness, completeness, significance, and sufficiency of the reasons (evidence) to support the conclusion? Do I need further information to make a reasonable judgment on the argument, because of omissions or other reasons? “

The Islamic Resource Group has reached out to the University of Minnesota and University of St. Thomas to bring more reliable sources for information on Islam and Muslims to challenge the propaganda and the Islamophobia that makes Obama afraid to associate himself with Muslims.

Events are sponsored by the Islamic Resource Group with support from the Meeting Minnesota’s Muslims Project, the Institute for Global Studies in the College of Liberal Arts, School of Journalism and Mass Communication, the Freeman Center for International Economic Policy at the University of Minnesota, and the Muslim Christian Dialogue Center at the University of St Thomas.

Dalia Moghahed is a senior analyst and executive director of the Gallup Organization’s Center for Islam Studies.  In the wake of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001, Gallup Chairman and CEO Jim Clifton commissioned his company to research the views and attitudes of Muslims around the world. The result of this research is the book Who Speaks for Islam? written by Mogahed and co-authored with Georgetown University Professor John Esposito.

The book, based on six years of research, challenges conventional wisdom about what motivates Muslims worldwide. Gallup researchers conducted the largest poll of Muslims to date by interviewing tens of thousands of individuals residing in more than 35 countries.

Mogahed will discuss her new book, Who Speaks for Islam?: What a Billion Muslims Really Think, twice on Nov 5^th: in the afternoon, at the 3M Auditorium located in the Carlson School of Management on the University of Minnesota campus, and in the evening at University of St Thomas.

Mogahed’s work has appeared in a number of publications, including the Wall Street Journal, Foreign Policy magazine, Harvard International Review and the Middle East Policy journal. Her audiences have included the High-Level Group of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations, the Community of West and Islam Dialogue (C-100) group of the World Economic Forum, British parliamentarians, U.S. senators, and religious leaders from every faith.

This event will be one day after the elections.  We encourage people, particularly those who value the freedoms of press, speech to attend and critically evaluate the arguments and facts. We further encourage Minnesotans to embrace these valuable freedoms with critical thinking and facts so they do not become sponges for emotional and manipulative propaganda.

Dalia Mogahed: Who Speaks for Muslims?  What A Billion Muslims Really Think.
Wednesday, Nov. 5th
2:00 p.m.: at 3M Auditorium, Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota, West Bank Campus
7:00 PM: at 3M Auditorium, Owens Science Hall, University of St Thomas

Read more:

This guide should be used in evaluating the movie Obsession: “A Practical Guide To Critical Thinking” by Gary Haskins: http://skepdic.com/essays/Haskins.html

Fedwa Wazwaz is a Palestinian-American freelance writer who lives in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota.

By Elias Karmi, Engage Minnesota

 
The word ‘Shariah’ is a bit prickly even among many of the better educated in the West. I and many Muslims, however, grew up viewing Shariah as an exit from current-day injustices. Now, instead of having to read me blabbering away about it, fortunately for you I came across a highly insightful article by professor Noah Feldman, law professor at Harvard University and adjunct senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. The following are two paragraphs from the first page of the article. Please check out the article and let professor Feldman do all the talking:

“In some sense, the outrage about according a degree of official status to Shariah in a Western country should come as no surprise. No legal system has ever had worse press. To many, the word ‘Shariah’ conjures horrors of hands cut off, adulterers stoned and women oppressed. By contrast, who today remembers that the much-loved English common law called for execution as punishment for hundreds of crimes, including theft of any object worth five shillings or more? How many know that until the 18th century, the laws of most European countries authorized torture as an official component of the criminal-justice system? As for sexism, the common law long denied married women any property rights or indeed legal personality apart from their husbands. When the British applied their law to Muslims in place of Shariah, as they did in some colonies, the result was to strip married women of the property that Islamic law had always granted them — hardly progress toward equality of the sexes.

In fact, for most of its history, Islamic law offered the most liberal and humane legal principles available anywhere in the world. Today, when we invoke the harsh punishments prescribed by Shariah for a handful of offenses, we rarely acknowledge the high standards of proof necessary for their implementation. Before an adultery conviction can typically be obtained, for example, the accused must confess four times or four adult male witnesses of good character must testify that they directly observed the sex act. The extremes of our own legal system — like life sentences for relatively minor drug crimes, in some cases — are routinely ignored. We neglect to mention the recent vintage of our tentative improvements in family law. It sometimes seems as if we need Shariah as Westerners have long needed Islam: as a canvas on which to project our ideas of the horrible, and as a foil to make us look good.”

Instead of fearing Shariah or Islamic Law, it would be great for people to first truly try to understand how it was developed and know how it was implemented historically.

“Are they in essence accepting that the past eight years has been a
total failure?”

By Zafar Siddiqui, Engage Minnesota

Perhaps never in the history of the presidential elections has the word “change” been bandied about as it is being done during the current elections. The palpable thirst for change is a result of the American public’s frustration with the direction the country is headed in. The dismal financial situation, the ever escalating “war on terror“, the never-ending wars, the increasing anti-Americanism both in the East and the West, and literal drought of fresh ideas cry out for a change in all these areas.

Obama epitomizes the word change in every respect. Apart from being the first African-American nominee of a major political party, he is an exciting candidate like no other in recent memory. His background,
struggles, academic excellence, compassionate community work, sharp acumen in world matters, and cool head are the stuff of legend. Obama’s claim to change has been challenged during the primaries. But
Obama’s nomination all but clinched the issue of who stands for a real change.

 
The most appalling hijacking of the word “change” came about when the self-declared maverics, McCain/Palin, jumped onto the bandwagon of “change.” This was a non-starter from the beginning. After eight years of Republican administration under President Bush, the American public clearly spoke out loud by giving Bush the second lowest approval rating in the history of this country.

 
When McCain/Palin talk about change, one is left wondering what they are going to change? McCain has been in the Congress for over a quarter century and if there was anything left to be changed, he would
have changed it by now. And a glance at his manifesto shows that it will be just more of the same as in the Bush administration. It surely must be an embarrassment for not only Bush and his administration but the entire Republican party when McCain/Palin call themselves mavericks. Are they in essence accepting that the past eight years has been a total failure?

If that is the case, then McCain’s 90% votes in favor of Bush measures belie his pseudo claims to change. The recent change in McCain-Palin rhetoric, which has resulted in unbridled hatred and division, points to politics as usual. McCain-Palin supporters calling Obama a “terrorist” and shameful shouts of “kill him” heralds nothing but an undesirable change where any sense of decency has been short-changed for naked
hatred.

Obama’s multi-ethinic, multicultural, and multinational experience is a surreal combination. If anyone can lay a claim to the word “change,” it is Obama.

Zafar Siddiqui is a community activist who lives in Blaine.