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MAS-ICNA Convention Dec. 25-28, 2003 American Muslims discuss balance AMP Report Thousands of Muslims discussed the need to integrate with mainstream American society while maintaining their unique beliefs during a four-day conference titled "Muslims, Citizens of the West: Rights, Duties and Prospects," at the Hyatt Regency, Chicago. The Dec. 25-28 2003 conference was jointly sponsored by the Muslim American Society and the Islamic Circle of North America. The convention brought together African American Muslims, Arab immigrants and groups of different religious backgrounds. Dialogue with fellow Americans "I believe it is in the hearts and minds of eight million Muslims in America that we must dialogue with open hearts with our fellow Americans," said Imam Yehia Hendi, Muslim Chaplain at Georgetown University and head of MAS Dawah department. "It is the mission of Muslim American Society and Islamic Circle of North America," he added. Scott Alexander, a panelist and Director of the Catholic-Muslim Program at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago, cited pieces of advice given by Pope John Paul II to enhance dialogue among humanity. He said dignity of every human being should be respected and the solidarity of the human family enhanced, let alone the natural law, which Alexander considered as parallel to fitra in the Islamic context. "When nationalism is used to raise a fraction of the universal family in terms of economy, social service and military sphere then this is the nationalism that contradicts the fitra and the natural law," Alexander added. American Muslims were isolated The Sept. 11 attack was a "watershed event" that "shell-shocked" Muslims, said Raeed Tayeh, a Burbank native and spokesman for the society. Tayeh, who gave a lecture on how to address the media, said Muslims in America, many of whom are immigrants from the Middle East and Asia, were isolated from larger American society before the tragedy. "I think we're like any immigrant community that came to the United States and built their own enclaves and became insulated," Tayeh said. "We were a bit at fault for part of the problems that resulted from Sept. 11, whether it be discrimination or unfair government policies, because we didn't do enough outreach." One of the ways the group hopes to change that is through political activism. Civil rights violations in the name of “keeping Americans safe” “The greatest purveyor of the targeting of my rights is my own government,” said the Muslim American Society’s Freedom Foundation executive director Mahdi Bray. Citing several cases, Bray pointed to that of Abdulrahman Alamoudi, calling his arrest on non-terrorism related charges of violating U.S. political sanctions imposed on Libya, a case of selective prosecution, pointing out that non-Muslim Americans who have maintained contacts and conducted business with Libya, if prosecuted, were prosecuted in under civil, not criminal law. Directly pointing to the Bush administration and its supporters, civil rights and immigration lawyer Ashraf Nubani said that present attacks against the American Muslim community are tolerated because the administration is couching justifications for the campaign in the name of “keeping Americans safe.” “There is not going to be any outcry, no political fallout, if you tell the American public you are keeping them safe.” Nubani noted that the Bush administration, by allowing federal law enforcement agencies to wantonly harass American Muslims, has “alienated the very community they needed to help them in the fight against terrorism.” American Muslims, seeing massive and unjustified arrests and prosecutions, along with deportations, “Out of fear for themselves, they will not inform, that they too will be arrested.” Bray said that because American Muslims are politically weak, opportunistic politicians can advocate the repression of the community for election purposes without fear of political cost. Some politicians are campaigning “on the backs of American Muslims by spreading fear, who can use them as a political tool,” for there is “No political price to pay for abusing us,” he said. Maad Abu-Ghazalah, 41, a Palestinian-American who is running for Congress in California, added: "We have to show other Americans that we care about this country. A good Muslim helps the entire society and not just Muslims." Professor Mustafa Abu Sway, the director of Islamic Research Center at Al-Quds University in occupied Jerusalem, said the dialogue with the other has now become a must for all Muslims after the 9/11 attacks on the United States. Given the global age where we live the dialogue "is an obligation," added Abu Sway. |