It was bound to happen sooner or later. The Islamophobes are out in force maligning the legitimate efforts of American Muslims to engage in civic action that seeks to bring about an independent investigation into the shooting death of Imam Luqman Ameen Abdullah by the FBI on Wednesday, October 28, 2009 in Dearborn, Michigan.
The reliable Islamophobes of Jihad Watch (a biased an hateful blog that is proudly Islamophobic) unfairly (surprise surprise) twisted the legitimate calls for justice at Abdullah's funeral last week by describing them this way:
They're trying to shift attention away from the jihadist violence allegedly being plotted at the Masjid al-Haqq, and onto the supposed excess of the FBI reaction.
Jihad Watch is also suggesting that because American Muslims called for justice at the funeral this means that the shooting of Abdullah was unjust. No, that is not what it implies. A person was shot and killed. What were the circumstances surrounding the shooting? Was the shooting necessary? Did the FBI act properly before, during and after the shooting? A call for justice is a call to have these legitimate questions answered.
The tactic is well known but too many honest people who are looking for a better understanding of Muslims and Islam fall for this tactic because these bigoted people are adept at creating an echo chamber of anti-Muslim hysteria that unfortunately gets passed off as legitimate information. The tactic is to impute a negative intent on otherwise benign words and then repeat the false charge over and over again until it "appears" that this is the popular and correct assumption.
In this case Jihad Watch and Steve Emerson and Robert Spencer and others are trying to argue that anything short of uncritical support for the FBI in its handling of the attempted arrest of Abdullah is a support for the alleged views and actions of Abdullah as recorded in the indictment and affidavit that predicated the arrest warrant. This is not the case at all. The allegations about Abdullah as set forth in the Leone affidavit are repugnant. But the allegations, not matter how heinous they may be, do not justify an unlawful shooting.
Unfortunately, it appears that the Islamophobes can notch this case up (at least thus far) as a success. Although major American Muslim organizations have called for an investigation (see here), there has been very little done at the grassroots level in places like Chicago to call for an independent investigation. This is possibly the result of fear. American Muslim leaders are afraid of speaking up because they are worried that their calls for justice will be perceived as support for the alleged actions and views of Abdullah.
What a shame. It is a shame that leaders of the American Muslim community have not taken a more vigorous stand on this issue. This is a time when American Muslim leaders can show that they understand how civic engagement works by effectively organizing and mobilizing people into constructive civic action that brings about a fair, full and independent investigation into the shooting death of Abdullah.
Locally in Illinois the largest (at least based on self-professed reach and scope and capacity) Muslim organization - the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago - is silent on the shooting death of Abdullah. One of the past chairs of CIOGC sent an emotional email to the community's leaders (it had its various shortcomings too) calling them to stand up and act for justice in the wake of the Abdullah shooting. Nothing came of it, and so far as public information discloses, nothing more is forthcoming from that past chair or anyone else.
The current chair, Zaher Sahloul, is surprisingly mum on the issue. That is very odd since he speaks of CIOGC as an institution that brings American Muslims together and works for justice and the common good. Today Sahloul said in an editorial that
CIOGC has been working relentlessly toward this goal of a justly balanced community, where Muslim Americans can play a role in bearing witness to their fellow Americans by defending justice, promoting common good and fighting evil.
I will concur that CIOGC has done some very good work in working for justice and promoting the common good. But where is it now? What is CIOGC doing vis-a-vis this issue? Sahloul invokes Imam Siraj Wahaj in the editorial this way:
According to Imam Siraj Wahhaj, chair of the Muslim Alliance in North America, the Council is one of the few organizations in the nation that is doing real work in the field to integrate the indigenous Muslim communities and the immigrant Muslims through its Mosque-pairing initiative and Intrafaith action.
What better way to show CIOGC's efforts to bridge the gap between the immigrant Muslims and African American Muslims in our community then by taking a stance on the shooting death of an African American Muslim? Interestingly, Sahloul's editorial is entitled "the power of unity". There certainly is power in unity, but is unity something that can be embraced when it is convenient and not at other times? Is that really unity?
Just talking the talk is not enough. It is (or it should be) unacceptable to let this important issue (the call for an independent investigation into the shooting death of Abdullah) fester while attention is focused on the community's elite rubbing elbows with Governor Quinn and complimenting one another on what greatly leaders we are at Saturday's annual community dinner.
There is still time to do the right thing. Sahloul can use the annual dinner as an opportunity to place the spotlight on the Abdullah shooting. Sahloul has some incredible people on the professional staff. He and his board can work with the professional staff to put together petitions for the dinner's attendees to sign. These petitions can be addressed to the Illinois congressional delegation asking them to support the call for an independent investigation into the shooting death of Abdullah by the FBI. Sahloul can raise tough questions during the dinner as members of the FBI will be there as guests as well. The question is, do our leaders have the will to speak out for justice when it may be uncomfortable or even inconvenient for them to do so?
Let's hope the maligning rhetoric of Islamophobes does not stop our leaders in Illinois from taking up another cause for justice.
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