“This is the true agenda of much of Islam in America,” a narrator intones. “A strategy to infiltrate and dominate America. … This is the war you don't know about.”

This is the feature-length film titled “The Third Jihad,” paid for by a nonprofit group, which was shown to more than a thousand officers as part of training in the New York Police Department.

Read more from The New York Times at “In Police Training, a Dark Film on U.S. Muslims“

This leave Ron Paul as the only candidate in the presidential campaign fighting the bill and generally advocating civil liberties as a rallying point for his campaign. Paul offered another strong argument against the Patriot Act and other expansions of police powers in his last debate. He also noted that the Patriot Act provisions were long advocated before 9-11, which was used as an opportunity to expand police powers. As discussed in a prior column, Obama has destroyed the civil liberties movement in the United States and has convinced many liberals to fight for an Administration that blocked torture prosecutions, expanded warrantless surveillance, continued military tribunals, killed Americans on the sole authority of the President, and other core violations of civil liberties.

The White House is saying that changes to the law made it unnecessary to veto the legislation. That spin is facially ridiculous. The changes were the inclusion of some meaningless rhetoric after key amendments protecting citizens were defeated. The provision merely states that nothing in the provisions could be construed to alter Americans' legal rights. Since the Senate clearly views citizens are not just subject to indefinite detention but even execution without a trial, the change offers nothing but rhetoric to hide the harsh reality. The Administration and Democratic members are in full spin — using language designed to obscure the authority given to the military. The exemption for American citizens from the mandatory detention requirement (section 1032) is the screening language for the next section, 1031, which offers no exemption for American citizens from the authorization to use the military to indefinitely detain people without charge or trial.

At least Senator Lindsey Graham was honest when he said on the Senate floor that “1031, the statement of authority to detain, does apply to American citizens and it designates the world as the battlefield, including the homeland.”

I am not sure which is worse: the loss of core civil liberties or the almost mocking post hoc rationalization for abandoning principle. The Congress and the President have now completed a law that would have horrified the Framers. Indefinite detention of citizens is something that the Framers were intimately familiar with and expressly sought to bar in the Bill of Rights. While the Framers would have likely expected citizens in the streets defending their freedoms, this measure was greeted with a shrug and a yawn by most citizens and reporters. Instead, we are captivated by whether a $10,000 bet by Romney was real or pretend in the last debate.

Even more distressing is the statement from sponsor Senator Levin, Chairman of the Armed Services Committee that “The language which precluded the application of Section 1031 to American citizens was in the bill that we originally approved … and the administration asked us to remove the language which says that U.S. citizens and lawful residents would not be subject to this section.”

Source: Guardian

Click here to view the embedded video.

Transcript:

بسـم الله الرحمن الرحيم

I will first start with a verse from the Qurʾān, which I will recite in Arabic and then read the English translation.

“Truly, God does not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves.” (Qurʾān 13:11)

America is facing immense challenges today. Often, pressure is put on our leaders and politicians to solve them. But tonight, I would like to focus on another group of people. A group that's supposed to hold the real power. A group that have always helped reform America. These are the American citizens, people like you and I. Because we are the people America desperately needs today. But where are the American citizens today?

To understand our place in society, we have to understand the concept of popular consent. Popular consent is how democracy runs– we elect our leaders, who represent us in government. But in our history, consensus has been a double-edged sword, because it was consensus that once endorsed slavery, that prevented women from voting, that kept alive segregation and racism after it was outlawed.

So, consensus can sometimes mask a country's true ideal, because the opinions people have can be manipulated. Fringe groups understand too well the power of fear and bigotry. The impact the KKK had for example, was to de-sensitize Americans to levels of violence and terrorism they would have previously never accepted. This is what made racism so rampant and hard to overcome.

And this is why Dr. King was so special: he was able to fight a skewed consensus, by popularizing the concept of freedom and dignity and the idea that “we are all created equal.” He realigned America with its own constitution. And that was his dream.

But yet again, America's vision has become clouded, thanks to the steam of hate mongers. We no longer look at our nation with hearts that believe in “we are all created equal,” but with suspicions based on ethnicity and religion. When it comes to terrorism and Islam, the American public has again tragically been misled.  For it is not Islam or Muslims that we see, but rather unconcealed hate from fringe groups on both sides, which only desire to make us forget that “we are all created equal.”

And many of us have forgotten. Now, instead of lynching in the south, or concentration camps in California, we have Guantanamo and the Patriot Act, and full body scanners.

And so today, I have a dream to make “we are all created equal” a reality. And I need your help.

It will perhaps surprise you that I was never taught the Islam most Americans learn from their televisions. The Islam I was taught by my madrasah, which is the Arabic word for school – not terror camp -, actually gave me many lessons that can benefit America today and clear our vision.

At madrasah, I learned the true meaning of mercy and love – how one would never gain mercy from God if he never showed mercy to God's creation, how mercy and a concern for society's well being is a natural extension of faith, that removing obstacles from the road was really a form of worshiping God.

I learnt that the Prophet Muhammad said that leaders are the servants of their communities – that they should serve the public before they serve themselves. 14 centuries ago, he established that lobbying was illegal, that it was wrong to use government money for funding personal luxuries. The Prophet Muhammad himself developed the institution of shura – a democratic council wherein he consulted his followers, and took their opinions. Because, at the end of the day,  he desired to do the most correct thing.

And the most profound lesson I learnt was from the verse I just recited. ““Truly, God does not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves.” (Qurʾān13:11) And I believe this message is extremely relevant to America.

Because, America, whenever it strayed away from its Constitution, was always reined in by its citizens, such as Dr. King, Malcolm X, and so many others. And this is what brings me immense hope.

Ladies, and gentlemen – we are the ones who have to change. A healthy democracy requires a healthy citizenry that can build an informed consensus.  We have to realize that there will be no hope, no reform, until we reform ourselves, unless we dig in our heels, open our eyes and realize that the mass media we have been absorbing is doing nothing but promoting the world views of the corporations that own them, that real knowledge about a subject comes from witnessing things for yourself and embarking upon your own path of discovery.

Our democracy is the strongest in the world, and thus we are potentially the strongest citizens in the world. The consensus you and I form, the opinions you and I have, has a huge impact on the world. We have to realize that America will never become a beacon of light in the world, until we become beacons of lights in our communities, that we will never make peace with the world if we can't make peace with ourselves and our families, that the world will continue to glare at us with angry eyes, so long as we continue to close our eyes to the actions of our government, that our government will never listen to us if we don't raise our voices, resist the pressure to live in herds, and aspire to become leaders at whatever level we can.

But, today, most of us seemingly are living our own lives, even as our country slips further and further. Yet we must remember: If we are all content to blindly trust our government and stop educating ourselves and participating, we do not deserve our status as citizens and we should not expect any rights.

Ladies and gentlemen, change is long overdue. But, tonight, I want everyone to ask themselves a question:  are we ready to change ourselves?

• Mohamed Elibiary is a Dallas-based Texas Muslim community leader and an Advisor to the Homeland Security Enterprise.
• While the recent report by Ackerman on FBI's “Islam training” is troubling, Elibiary provides some contextual insight
• How is the key FBI trainer, Gawthrop, viewed in FBI circles? Who is Coughlin and his relevance?
• Allaying Muslim community concerns & learning from the “Texas model”
• Elibiary's own personal experiences in dealing with the FBI

Insights about the Exposé

Earlier this week, a news story broke and achieved what rarely happens, broad-based scrutiny and indignation towards the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI). In Wired Magazine, Spenser Ackerman' s article exposed FBI Counter-Terrorism training at Quantico as unprofessional and inaccurate. The training manuals were filled with information based on anti-Muslim bigotry or Islamophobia. As a liaison between the FBI and the Muslim community, I can attest that there is nothing new in Ackerman's reporting and could add volumes more to it of FBI wrongdoings; nonetheless, it has been disquieting and demoralizing for someone in my position to watch the ripple effects upon our community's psyche.

In response to this FBI anti-Muslim bigotry training story breaking, a dear friend wrote to me lamenting that “this report goes against almost everything we are working as a community to do to reach out to authorities. It's like we moderate orthodox Muslims are left out to dry, and all of our arguments that there is little to no racism and bigotry within the circles of security agencies in America against Muslims are all bogus!”

The sentiments of this influential national community leader were echoed by another community leader who summed up her community's concerns as “OMG, look at what they are doing to us?”; she continued by relating an example of how many millions were possibly spent in her hometown over the years promoting such ideas. I realize that our communities are scared and outraged but I would like to emphasize the following points as we read reports like Mr. Ackerman's:

Who is Gawthrop? - William Gawthrop, the analyst who authored most of the training in the article, is well-known and detested in many FBI circles. The reason we're seeing his work being made public is because there are agents inside the FBI trying to marginalize him and push him out. If one reads between the lines, even the article's author hints at FBI insiders assisting. These forces are trying to make Gawthrop's tactics public, as it's not easy to fire a federal employee because of all the rules involved.

The Coughlin Factor - I would encourage concerned citizens to study the case of Rtd. Major Stephen Coughlin, who gave his inaccurate understanding of Hanafi, Malaki and Shafi Fiqh as true foundations of terrorism to the Joint Military Chiefs of Staff themselves before having his contract retired and pushed out of the Pentagon.

• For full disclosure, I did not play any role at DOD concerning Coughlin, but did fly up to the Freedom and Justice Foundation office years ago with well-known scholars like Dr. Waleed Basyouni to deeply analyze the arguments in Coughlin's Master's thesis on this topic. I shared that research with some FBI and Homeland Security Intelligence Enterprise allies back then.
• What Coughlin and Gawthrop type analysts are essentially arguing to National Security officials is that violent extremism is a product of religious (theological, not identity) “radicalization” and not sociological, psychological or political. People like Robert Spencer on the outside try to perform the role of echo chamber in order to mainstream such analysis and provide it with a base inside the political system.
• I believe as Coughlin's career was ended, so will Gawthrop's and other less infamous full-time analysts inside the National Security enterprise, due to many factors about our country's resilient value system and scientific inquiry appetite that these individuals hardly understand.

What is the solution? - As counter-intuitive as it sounds, the solution on a national level is not top down but requires that we work city by city and state by state to reorient the system. Even with the portions of my bio I elected to share below, someone in my position very infrequently travels to the White House or engages with the National Security Council Staff on these issues. The real work that needs to be done is at the local city and state levels.  Federalism is a powerful concept, and American Muslim advocacy strategies have yet to be leveraged effectively.

The Tipping Point - When a community working with its local law enforcement partners gets relations at a regional FBI field office to the tipping point, then you'll see local FBI officials push back to HQ and the intelligence community on the ideas that Gawthrop and co. promote. You will also see the top FBI official in a city put out clear messaging to local police executives of what is the true relationship with the local Muslim community, contrary to what politicians like Peter King might message on a FOX opinion show. Accurate and beneficial counter-terrorism law enforcement training will replace bigoted, for-profit, alarmist nonsense that undermines local security by disenfranchising American Muslims allied in countering violent extremism.

Look for good FBI agents - Just like there are bridge burners like Gawthrop, I also know of FBI agents who, out of their own pockets, buy proper Islamic books for office libraries, read Bukhari and Muslim, and confer with community-based allies about training materials HQ instructors have taught them at Quantico.

The bottom line is that we live in a democracy, and, just as we have in this country civilian oversight of the military, we also have civilian oversight of Intelligence, Counter Terrorism and Homeland Security systems. The challenge for the Muslim community has always been simply: how do we “step up our game” and become civic leaders of society around these topics? Or as Mahdi Bray used to say in community fundraisers I attended growing up, raising our children to become “headlights” and not just “taillights”.

Muslim Community Concerns

Sitting one day in a government meeting at DHS-HQ last year, I recall in a briefing we were receiving from a national polling agency on the public's attitude towards various law enforcement agencies that American Muslims generally had a 60% confidence level in the FBI. The numbers broke down a little less for African-American Muslims than other segments of the community but that certainly is expected given the well documented historical experiences there. It has been a long time since I've witnessed a media report resonate across so many segments of Muslim communities as this Ackerman report, so we'll have to wait to see if it produces a long-lasting impact upon the Muslim community's confidence in the bureau.

Those of us who, while informed by the past, are constantly looking forward might then wonder, so what next? How does one size the scale of this problem of inaccurate counter terrorism training at the FBI and across the wider law enforcement community? How does this problem get fixed? How much impact on national security policy development do Islamophobia's promoters really have and which forces can one strengthen to counter and marginalize them?

The reality is that a dissertation can be written about each of these questions, but considering the points mentioned above can help distinguish reality from perception. As Muslims, we know, more than any other segment of society, that the public does not get an accurate understanding of Islam and Muslim issues simply through the media and that personal contact is the more accurate conveyor of reality. Similarly, what's good for the goose is good for the gander in this case, and so replacing FBI for Muslim in the preceding sentence is similarly accurate.

One must engage with the FBI across its various enterprise elements (ex. local Agent, support staff, Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF), supervisors, Special Agents in Charge (SAC), national security branch Asst. SACs Head Quarters Intelligence Analysts, HQ Section Chiefs, Office of Public Affairs (OPA), CT Division, Directorate of Intelligence, Asst. Directors, Exec. Asst. Directors, the Director, previous Directors, retired FBI personnel, FBI whistle blowers, Overseas FBI Legal Attaché Officers, other elements across the National Security Enterprise that engage with various parts of the FBI, etc.) to get an accurate temperature of the organization's policies, attitudes and “culture”.

Learning from the Texas Model

Several hundred Texas Muslim community leaders from each city across the Lone Star State were present at a conference our foundation organized on Homeland Security inside the Texas State Capitol on September 10, 2004. I told them it simply boils down to “Your Rights as Americans, Your Duties as American Muslims.” Yes, surveys show we're patriotic and the majority of us are supportive of law enforcement, but who amongst us wants to have our kids waiting for the FBI to figure out all the Muslim world's complexities all on its own?

In Texas (Dallas & Houston), our community charted a third way over the past decade, not with the National Security hawks who scrutinize every benign social development amongst Muslims globally and not with the big government types who would forsake civil liberties in pursuit of domestic security. We didn't have to throw national community groups or other law-abiding American Muslim leaders under the bus to solve these problems as sell-out Muslims do, but we also didn't elect to sit behind our keyboards and complain that we have no power to act because that's not our deen either.

In Dallas and Houston, where 90% of the Texas Muslim community lives, there are many strong relationships between local Muslim community leaders across dozens of masajid, Islamic schools and local community groups and multiple FBI Special Agents, Joint Terrorism Task Force Supervisors, and Special Agents in Charge & Asst. SACs

National Muslim groups, like CAIR and Muslim Advocates, have issued their press releases and called upon elements within the Department of Justice and FBI to conduct their investigations, so these groups are already taking care of the top-down solution method our community has been employing since the early 90s. We can, in our various cities, enhance these efforts by expanding the grassroots work happening at the city and state levels that the Texas Muslim community has begun to become recognized for at the national level as the “Third Way” model of building a Centrist Environment. For these are the problems that no President can truly solve on his own.

There are 56 FBI field offices, 16 of which in major American cities have 60-70% of the FBI's counter terrorism personnel, about 400 small town resident agency (RA) offices and a handful of agents in LegAt offices in US Embassies oversees. There are way more of us then there are of them, so let's love them with the self-confidence that our religion teaches us that God doesn't put a burden upon a people who can't carry it. I'm not saying to 'move on, nothing to see here' in Mr. Ackerman's work, but instead let's get to work because there's nothing “new” here to anyone already working extensively on these challenges.

My Personal Experience

On Thursday, September 8^th FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III personally handed me the Louis E. Peters Memorial Service Award for 2011 in front of an audience of over five hundred retired Directors (ie. Judge William Webster who was Director of not just the FBI but also the CIA), a couple of dozen national security and law enforcement VIPs and several hundred retired FBI officials.

The Peters Award is the highest honor awarded annually to a civilian by the FBI whose assistance was invaluable in a major investigation. This year signified the first time it was given to someone working in the Homegrown Violent Extremism sphere that the American Muslim community has been struggling with post 9/11.

It was a closed-door ceremony in a banquet hall without media, a bit like the scene in the movie Charlie Wilson's War where the CIA gives him their highest civilian award for all he did to help remove the Soviets from Afghanistan. Two of the cases, in which I played the unique role of having one hand stretched out to the FBI and the other hand stretched out to local Muslim community leadership across multiple cities, were shared.

In both of these cases, like others, involved my being the trusted diplomat in two worlds who from my vantage point are married at the hip for the foreseeable future. Both the FBI and the American Muslim community are riding in the same boat, and should God forbid another disaster like 9/11 befall our country, neither party will be able to save its skin from the wrath of the American people by throwing the other party under the bus.

In the introduction explaining why I was receiving the award, Lester Davis as the Society of Former Special Agents of the FBI stated that “For the past eight years he has been working closely with the FBI and the Muslim community to create a relationship built on trust and respect. Never once has Mr. Elibiary requested any compensation or recognition for his efforts. The work he has undertaken to spot, identify and address radicalization in the United States cannot be understated.”

The FBI continued on their website press release by further stating that “Mr. Elibiary, of Dallas, Texas, was selected as a result of his extraordinary contributions to specific cases in support of the FBI's counterterrorism mission. He has also been a consensus builder between the national Islamic community and the numerous agencies dedicated to the prevention of terrorism.”

One thing I stated in my speech to that audience is that while “the last decades have witnessed a transformation of our FBI into the global intelligence led crown jewel in our nation's security architecture, with such awesome power comes awesome responsibility also of the bureau as the guardian of our civil, democratic fabric.”

In private, I further relayed to the Director that our community is willing and able to help FBI-HQ address homegrown violent extremism challenges more effectively but that in the meantime, we will continue to work at the grassroots level to help build up relationships with field offices. The message was clear and constructive, so as long as we act like empowered citizens and continue then more positive changes are inevitable, God willing.

In every advocacy strategy employed there are foundational assumptions. Though not an activist pre-9/11, nor belonging to a national community organization, I convened a few dozen community leaders at a Dallas hotel about a year after 9/11 to lay out my own foundational assumptions on how “the system” was working and the beginning of a road map for us as Texas Muslims on how we'd address governmental challenges. Over the years, traveling coast-to-coast visiting with all kinds of Muslim community leaders I've learned to appreciate the wisdom behind federalism even more.

As the FBI's own press release highlights, I elected after 9/11 to perform a consensus building role, whether across government security agencies or the national Islamic community. Just like there are good Muslims and bad Muslims, there are good FBI and bad FBI. What the average American Muslim needs to understand is that, while our post 9/11 relationship might have been securitized with our fellow countrymen due to factors beyond our control, if we step up our game and learn how to identify the good FBI, ally with them and stay the course, then it's a simple “we win and they [anti-Muslim Bigots] lose”.

As a father, I asked myself years ago: do I want to pass on these challenges to my kid's generation or do I want them to get a better position in America's bright future? Each one of us has to answer that question for ourselves, get busy working in our cities to engage deeper with the FBI and win this marathon of reorienting America's National Security Enterprise, or we can sit on our hands, complain and hope by some miracle the politicians will fix it for us.

Mohamed Elibiary is a Dallas-based Texas Muslim community leader and an Advisor to the Homeland Security Enterprise. He has served for multiple years on the Training Advisory Board of the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS), and was appointed by DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano to the Homeland Security Advisory Council (HSAC) in October 2010 after his earlier service on the Countering Violent Extremism (CVE) Working Group helping craft the department and broader law enforcement community's framework to addressing Homegrown Violent Extremism (HVE). Mohamed has testified on Homeland Security matters before both the Texas State Legislature and the US Congress (“Working with Communities to Disrupt Terror Plots” – March 2010). He works as a private consultant at Lone Star Intelligence, LLC and speaks often on Homeland Security, Counter Terrorism and Community Partnership matters at law enforcement conferences. Mohamed has assisted multiple offices at the Dept. of Justice to advance Community Oriented Policing methodologies and the Building Communities of Trust (BCOT) Initiative. The Congressional Research Service (CRS) in a report to Congress highlighted how in the previous administration Mohamed assisted the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) Program Manager for the Information Sharing Environment (PM-ISE) to crafter landmark civil liberties protecting guidelines for the Nationwide Suspicious Activities Reporting Initiative (NSI). These landmark federal guidelines for Fusion Centers were expanded upon by a broad-based coalition of faith-based civic groups and DPS and passed by the Texas State Legislature in 2011 as Law enacted through the Texas Fusion Center Policy Council (TFCPC).

*****************************************

Giving in to enormous pressure from the Jewish Federation and the Jewish Community Relations Council of the East bay, the Museum of Children's Art (MOCHA) in Oakland cancelled an exhibit of Palestinian children's art called “A Child's View From Gaza.” The art exhibit including nearly 50 pieces by Palestinian children ages 8-14 'that reflect their realities and their dreams for the future' was scheduled to take place at the Museum of Children's Art. This exhibit, arranged by the Middle East Children's Association was supposed to also highlight the Maia murals, part of the 'Water Writes' global mural project: http://www.mecaforpeace.org/news/us-artists-gaza-over-water-crisis.

In a press release, Barbara Lubin, the Executive Director of MECA, expressed her dismay that the museum decided to censor this exhibit in contradiction of its mission “to ensure that the arts are a fundamental part of the lives of all children.”

“We understand all too well the enormous pressure that the museum came under. But who wins? The museum doesn't win. MECA doesn't win. The people of the Bay Area don't win. Our basic constitutional freedom of speech loses. The children in Gaza lose,” she said.

“The only winners here are those who spend millions of dollars censoring any criticism of Israel and silencing the voices of children who live every day under military siege and occupation.”

The art exhibition was scheduled to take place on September 24th, 2011, but was cancelled. Click here to let MOCHA know what you think about their censorship of Palestinian children's voices by sending them a letter.

mocha | museum of children's art
538 Ninth Street, Suite 210
Oakland, CA

To view the rest of the images, visit MECA's Facebook page.

To view the rest of the images, visit MECA's Facebook page.

Check out this previous MM post which gives a detailed account of the incident that brought the Irvine 11 into court.

During the pre-trial hearings, there were multiple attempts for the charges to be dropped against the Irvine 11.  The Orange County District Attorney's prosecution of these students is one that has been criticized as

1. being unnecessary due to internal university disciplinary actions
2. overly harsh and unprecedented
3. targeting a Muslim minority
4. having political motives

The defense team had tried to get the charges against the Irvine 11 dropped based on the alleged misconduct of the prosecution team in investigating the case and selective prosecution of these students based on their religious beliefs  among a few other bases.   The judge denied all motions to drop the charges.  The community also placed pressure on the DA's office to drop the charges against the Muslim students, many of the efforts headed up by the Irvine 11 campaign team.  From letter writing drives to petitions to demonstrations held outside the courthouse, the community was hoping that the DA would get the message and drop the charges or remove himself from the case so that it would advance to the state level.

Another main focus of the pre-trial hearings was the ruling on status of the 4,800 documents that the prosecuting team attained in its investigation.  The judge's rulings were mixed, but many of them were favorable for the defense. Some of the documents were ruled as privileged and the judge kept the grand jury transcripts sealed.  There was also a gag order issued on both sides in order to protect the students, especially since this case has been receiving so much media attention.  Due to the prosecuting team's misconduct in obtaining, reviewing and using  the privileged documents which contained sensitive material, the lead investigator and three of the attorneys (including a lead attorney) were removed from the case, even though the defense team had been fighting to get the entire DA's office removed from the case due to misconduct.  One of the biggest victories for the Irvine 11 came from some of the documents being ruled as classified.  The charges have been tentatively dropped for one of the defendants and the “Irvine 11” has now become the “Irvine 10.”  This individual had an exceptional case from the rest of the 10 students, he did not interrupt the speech of the Ambassador and was merely pulled out of a crowd of chanting students who were walking out of the room.  Upon his completion of 40 hours of community service, Hakim Kebir will be free of all charges, inshā'Allāh.

Please keep the Irivne 11 in your dua and please spread the word about their fight for free speech.  Check out the Irvine 11 campaign website: http://www.irvine11.com/and Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/Irvine11 for more updates as they come.  If you are in the LA area and are interested in attending part of the trial, check out the Irvine 11 website for more details. You can also support the Irvine 11 through donating to the Muslim Legal Fund of America.

Look for some more updates in the near future on MuslimMatters,  inshā'Allāh.

Dear Dean of Comedy,

Asalaam Alaikum,

I am a fan, so please take my comments as constructive criticism, inshā'Allāh, a conversation starter for American Muslim activists to examine our messages, strategies and tactics.

In response to your piece on CNN, I would like to make the following points:

Point #1 – Please do not add fuel to a fire: “Not only is Cain's policy regarding American Muslims morally wrong and illegal, how would it work from a practical standpoint? How could he tell if a person is Muslim? Job applicants could lie about their religion in order to have a chance at a job, especially in this tough economy.” – A major smear against our community is the “taqqiya” (lying to or deceiving of non-Muslims to get the upper hand over them) concept. It has been used so effectively with some segments of the population that they will not accept anything a Muslims says or does. The above quote actually will read to those folks as “see, I told you them Muzlims will lie to get what they want!”

Point #2 – Muslims should consider ourselves equal to anyone and everyone else: With regards to your analysis of Romney and McCain in 2007, McCain also said that cabinet level appointments should be based on merit and qualifications alone. This is a very American standard and one that Muslims should adopt so that we are not putting ourselves on the path to entitlement thinking. In 2007, Romney said that the American Muslim population was not significant enough to warrant a cabinet level appointment. So while Romney's position has moved in a more just direction, Muslims should continue to focus on producing some of the best educated and most successful members of society. That is what we have done and what we must continue to do to determine our long-term success. The path Romney described in 2007 is one of a special interest group.

Point #3 – Islam & Muslim are not terms that equal to a race. Muslim diversity must be promoted: While I love the Reagan quote you used to close the article, the way you structured your piece conflates the very different forms of bigotry that Reagan saw fit to list as separate threats. Yes, the fact of the matter is that Herman Cain is against Muslims as a group. Yes, the majority of the American Civil Rights movement is one of racial tension. While anti-Semitism provides a middle ground, Muslims do not have a single racial, ethnic  or cultural background which makes the defamation we face much closer to the founding fathers concerns over religious persecution.

American Muslims are as diverse as America itself so what better way to respond to the so-called “constitutionalists” than to show them how they are going against the Framers of the Constitution desires for our nation?

We are not a race and should be very careful of using racial analogies to frame our modern issues. Want proof? Look to the same Gingrich statements you paraphrase in your piece. Gingrich makes ridiculous analogies between Islam, Communism and Nazism. Silly arguments like this can only be made if Muslims are allowing ourselves to be seen as a monolith. Racializing Islam sets the stage for the artificial analogy between Muslims and Nazis and Communists because the rich diversity of our Ummah is ignored and we are then seen as a tribe rather than a religion. The argument has become that by virtue of simply being Muslim (if seen as a monolith) we have joined a totalitarian doctrine. Our diversity of thought, diversity of religious interpretation along with the greater Muslim community's richness of spanning vast ethnic divides can all be seen with suspicion rather than the admiration it rightfully merits.

Point #4 – Good work on not using tired, problematic terminology: I applaud you for not using the term Islamophobia, which re-enforces the problems I list in point 3. The use of the term ultimately leads to the logical conclusion of Huntington's the clash of civilizations theory. When we say that fear of Muslims is Islamophobia, non-Muslims can be made to believe that Islam itself is the problem. This is because we did not address the fear. It does not matter if the fear is misplaced, it only matters that it exists. By simply telling someone who is terrified of small spaces that they are claustrophobic, I have not given them any therapy, I gave their fear a label. As someone not suffering from claustrophobia, it may give me a sense of satisfaction to know a term that describes the condition, but did it help me deal with the claustrophobe?

This open letter is nothing more than an opportunity to discuss some key strategic and tactical issues. I did in fact really appreciate your piece and applaud your effort. Thank you for a great opportunity to examine how we see ourselves and how we challenge anti-Muslim defamation. Thanks for making us laugh and by all means keep destroying stereotypes with humor!

JazakAllahu Khairan,

Iesa Galloway

A violent and unhinged dictator has used overwhelming air power and foreign mercenaries to mow down Libyans who dare protest against his tyranny. Teachers, lawyers, and peasants have taken up arms in a rag-tag rebellion against the dictator. Egyptians vow to help their brothers and sisters in Libya but can do little due to their own difficult political situation. There are a great many similarities between the genocide perpetrated by the forces of Mussolini in his vain attempt to re-enact the Roman conquest of Libya and the actions of Gaddafi today.

Back then, the Libyan people faced seemingly insurmountable odds against victory. They were armed with ancient rifles and swords whilst the Italian army faced them down with all the resources available of a modern state, everything from tanks to fighter planes. Despite the desperate situation, Libyans continued their struggle against their oppressors with persistence.

A large explanation of the will and resolve of the Libya people was exemplified in their leader – the Grand Sanussi. Although a native of Algeria, he studied in Morocco and developed his Sufi order in Makkah thereafter, before finally settling in Eastern Libya.  The Grand Sanussi was the very embodiment of Muslim unity for his followers. From his base in Zawia Baida (the White Monastery), he called people back towards an Islam free of sectarianism and superstition. His message reverberated around the world, but nowhere more than his adopted homeland of Libya. Within his lifetime it was estimated that a third of all Libyans were part of his movement.

Muhammad Al-Mahdi left behind one of his followers–Omar Mukhtar– to continue the struggle.  A Quran teacher from near Tobruk, Omar led the Libyans in their seemingly impossible struggle. Through a combination of faith and excellent military strategy, he managed to keep the hopes of victory alive. The oppressors showed no mercy, however, imprisoning large sections of the Libyan population in concentration camps attempting to starve them into submission. Over half a million died before Omar Mukhtar was captured by the Italians. Three days later, he was hung to death in front of his own people as a warning to all those who dared to believe they could overthrow the oppression of tyrants.

For a brief moment, the people of Libya allowed themselves to dream they may have achieved victory. Unfortunately, their hopes were dashed as they watched the ambitious young Captain quickly take on the persona of the tyrants they had once fought and, worse, became ever more repressive. Yet again, for the next 42 years, freedom would be put on hold. Until now. The majority of the Libyan people have risen up once more, refusing to give up even when Gaddafi brought his vengeance to the gates of Benghazi. As NATO and the West implement a No-Fly Zone and launch air strikes to prevent a massacre soon to be on the scale of Rwanda, the fate of Libya and Libyans still rests in the balance between the armies of a murderous dictator and the true sons of the Sanussi.

“Is there something wrong with being Muslim in this country?  The answer is no, that’s not America.”

-   General Colin Powell -

MY FELLOW AMERICAN

National Campaign to Share the Untold Stories of Muslims in America

62% of Americans have never met a Muslim.

Do you know a Muslim? Share your story through Youtube.

• A Muslim that you know personally.

  • A wedding, road trip, studying for an exam, attending a concert, overcoming a difficulty together, or other event that stands out for you.

• A Muslim that you don’t know personally.

  • A kind deed, generous gesture, or friendly exchange with a stranger who happened to be Muslim, which made an impression on you.

• A Muslim that you never met.

  • An athlete, entertainer, politician, soldier, health care professional, academic, who inspired you.

1. Visit www.myfellowamerican.tv and sign up for alerts.
2. Encourage your friends and family to join our fan page: http://www.facebook.com/MyFellowAmericanProject

ABOUT UPF
This campaign is being spearheaded by Unity Productions Foundation (http://www.upf.tv/), a nonprofit foundation that works to create peace through the media.

CONTACT US
Khuram Zaman
Khuram.zaman1@gmail.com
443-223-0308

Daniel Tutt
Daniel@upf.tv
202-298-8088

For Muslims this is rooted in two false and foundational depictions: that all Muslims are monolithic (ethnically, culturally, politically and/or racially) and that Islam itself is anti-American or incompatible with western civilization.

In strategic communication, semantics matter and the language we use to define ourselves can serve to clear misconceptions or aid those seeking to make us an “other.” The construction “Muslim-Americans” serves those who wish to paint us as monolithic. It helps create an otherness about Muslims both inside our own self-image as well as in how our neighbors view us.

As basic as this may seem, the starting point toward better messaging is to decide if we are Muslims (as a noun) or if we are Muslims (as an adjective). As you know a noun is the name of a person, place, thing, or idea and an adjective is a word that describes or modifies nouns.

The word Muslim is a noun; it can only function as an adjective and not become one.

Linguistically, using “Muslim-American” means your American identity is modified by your Muslim identity. This feeds the notion that the “good” Muslims are those that compromise their religion and are Americans first. The problem begins when we realize that what it means to be culturally an “American” (or one of us) is a hot topic that is debated and has never been clearly defined.  Who defines what being an American means? The conversations about Muslims in the US all seem to eventually suggest the need for a discovery process, a litmus test of who is a “good” Muslim. This places all of us under collective suspicion, all the time.

The “who is the ‘good’ Muslim” conundrum comes from the very same reasoning of those Muslims who would advocate for the use of Muslim-American. It is rooted in the idea that, “I am a Muslim first.” However, when someone says “I am a Muslim-American” their primary identity is American, but in a flimsy way, in that their Americaness is altered by their Muslim identity.

This is because in English, nouns when working as an adjective always come first or before the noun it is describing. [i]

Furthermore, because “American” identity is constantly in flux and it refers to one's culture and nationalism it does not have to conflict with religious practice. In other words accepting that there is a conflict or that your Muslim identity is “first” is a charade that falls into the traps set by anti-Muslims and Muslim radicals.

However, if you use the construction American Muslim, what differentiates you from other Muslims is your nationality, not your practice of Islam. This is factual and it places creed and culture in their proper roles. What actually differentiates us from other Americans is our creed, the blessing of Islamic monotheism, and we should be proud of that.

Then we have the next question, is our status as a Muslim modified by our status as an American?

A better way to understand this is to divide the question into two:

1)      What kind of Muslim are we?  Meaning, where are you from?

The problem here is that it is assumed that you must be from somewhere else, foreign, i.e. an “other.”

2)      What kind of American are we? Meaning, how do you self-identify as an American (racially, culturally, etc.)?

Answer to 1: For me, as a convert, I am an American kind of Muslim, I am from here just like everyone else whose ancestors immigrated.

Answer to 2: I am also an American (citizen) kind of American in that I will not accept a second class citizenship status relative to anyone else. It also means that I will not try to impose a second class citizenship status on any other American.

So, how do we see ourselves? How will we communicate who we are to others?

As Muslims we are grappling with defamation. We naturally look to history and other communities to learn from their experience. However, one area that makes Muslims truly unique is our diversity. We have intersecting identities. We are racially, culturally, politically and devotionally diverse. This point is crucial to combating anti-Muslim hate, because few if any other faith communities are as diverse, at such significant levels as Muslims in the U.S. are.

The key here is that “Muslim” does not indicate a racial background. If we racialize[ii] our identity we buy into the hyphenated status as an American and therefore in many ways accept the “otherness” that is pushed on us. More importantly, we will be turning our backs on the legacy our faith. Islam came to break tribalism; the Prophet’s last sermon, as well as so many hadith clearly show that the status of a Muslim is related to that person’s relationship with Allāh and their individual character and not their lineage.

We should gravitate toward American Muslim. That is, “American Muslim” with no hyphen, because the hyphen model of identity is primarily used with regards to one’s ethnic or racial lineage.

Generally racial groups go with the formula: X + hyphen + American = “X- American” where X can be anything like African, Hispanic, Latino, Italian and etc.

History shows that to be a citizen of the United States one used to have to be legally defined as “white,” a created racial status.[iii] Using a hyphenated racial identity, should then be seen as flowing from a legacy of being by default, un-equal before the law. However, that is not the charge against American Muslims, it is instead that we are a threat. Fear mongers even claim that American Muslims are using the law for a nefarious agenda (Google ”shariah creep”). Therefore the language of X-American is not only the wrong tool for our challenges, it may also feed into the fifth column defamation used against us.

It says a lot about how we see ourselves if we use construction X- American, (the racial/cultural model) like Lebanese-Americans, Mexican-Americans, and etc. use. If we use this label then we are making a claim to something about our racial and/or ethnic lineage. If we try to impose that type of identity on what it means to accept Islam, then we are empowering the message that being Muslim is exclusive by a measure that is foreign to our theology.

Being a Muslim is exclusive because of who you worship, who you don’t worship, how you worship and where you seek guidance - there is no ethnic or racial measure.

Another demonstration of this idea is found in the common saying, “Not all Muslims are terrorists.” This is today’s equivalent to saying, “I have black friends.” In both of these claims (often used as precursors to stereotyping) the core element is that there is a distinction that separates the identity of the group being spoken about from the rest of that society. This is a step backward into neotribalism.

It should also be noted that an established standard for religious groupings is the “American + X” pattern. Test it with a quick Google search. Try: “African + American,” then “American + African.”  Now do another search changing a racial grouping for a faith grouping: try for example: “American + Catholic,” “American + Jewish” or America + X (X = faith/religion).

Catholics are a faith community that closely resembles American Muslims in terms of ethnic diversity as well as historical and current PR challenges. They have decidedly embraced the phrasing of “American Catholics” in all their messaging.

Baptists are another faith community with some commonality to Suni Muslims in regard to the community structure being built around each individual house of worship. Baptists also follow this model of self definition. This is consistent at both the state and national levels. Baptist use “American Baptist” consistently. Locally, in my neck of the woods they use “Texas Baptists.” (see how the BGCT describes its members.)

Will using American Muslim over Muslim-American solve all our problems? Will it stop anti-Muslim activists from attacking us? No, but it will help. It rejects the foundational attacks that Muslims are not REAL Americans and that Islam is a threat to America.

We must realize that what we say and how we define ourselves are the only parts of the conversation about Islam and Muslims that we can actually control.

In my view it is more natural for our community's psyche to make peace with the fact that our American identity is not necessarily modified by our Muslim identity, nor is the opposite necessarily true either. In other words we have multiple identities. If you are an American, that is a fact, it is one part of your total identity. It is the part that pertains to your nationality and some elements of your culture. If you are a Muslim, that is your religious identity, a choice you make due to Allāh's Mercy and Guidance. This means any American can be a Muslim. It places our faith as a set of beliefs and values that gives us a source of: morality, guidance, pride and the confidence to share our beliefs, talents and gifts with all Americans.  The other way is not so attractive.

[i] http://www.englishclub.com/grammar/nouns-adjective.htm & http://www.brighthub.com/education/languages/articles/37060.aspx

[ii] http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/racialize