An American Muslim Journal

Salam Al Marayati: Blasphemy Laws Are Against Islam

Blasphemy laws or laws prohibiting defamation of a religion are incompatible with Islamic thought and philosophy. The concept of Defamation of Religions denies a person their free will to choose -- one of God's greatest gifts to humanity -- and deprives individuals of their right to free speech and expression. It also creates a climate of intolerance that can breed discrimination and violence.

via www.huffingtonpost.com

Thank you Salam Al Marayati for writing this essay. I hope it gets circulated widely. This message needs to be shared.

I agree with your reasoning. I agree with your conclusion. It's because I so fully and wholeheartedly believe in my faith that I am willing to suffer the outrageous lies and insults that are unjustly levied against it and our beloved Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).  To allow for blasphemy laws or laws that prohibit the defamation of religion is to somehow say that Islam cannot withstand criticism.  If our beloved Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) could endure it in his own lifetime and if the Holy Quran makes it clear that there is no compulsion in religion, then it would be a grievous error on our parts to allow blasphemy laws to exist.

While I think very highly of Salam Al Marayati, I do wish this same position was taken, explained and disseminated by Muslim scholars. Maybe they have said this and written on this and I simply haven't seen it. If that's the case, please share the writing with me so that I can share it with others.

These are matters of religious doctrine and while I don't need an imam or Islamic scholar to tell me what to think, I do believe that this understanding as articulated by Salam Al Marayati would be so much more persuasive if it came from a well known Muslim scholar.

God and the Pakistan Flood of 2010

I don’t need sermons that try to soothe my anguish over 6 million children suffering and dying in Pakistan because of the floods.  This anguish is my only connection to the nightmare.  Without it I’d be oblivious to the suffering.

But I am looking to my faith for help.  This flood, like the recent earthquakes in Haiti and Pakistan and the tsunami a few years earlier, is killing and destroying and spreading disease so fast and with such ferocity that its simply overwhelming.  In the wake of this calamity I feel a bit of creeping despair.

The other day I saw a photo of children somewhere in Pakistan.  It was painful to see.  These boys and girls were about 4 or 5 years old.  They were sitting around  a flat tray - maybe an actual tray but just as likely a piece of debris -  and on it looked to be some kind of grain.  The children were huddled around the food.  A few of the children had welts on their faces.  All of them looked dirty and tired.  Their hands were scooping up handfuls of the grain and placing them in their mouths.  

Under normal circumstances the children’s behavior in the image might be described as “eating greedily” but not so in this context.  It’s been many hours or more since they last had food and by this point, a week or more into the flooding, even these small children sense the scarcity of food.

I know that I can do this to help and I can do that in my free time.  For example, I can give money for humanitarian relief in the amount of a weeks worth (or even a few months worth) of Starbuck’s coffee without flinching.  And that’s without actually giving up the daily coffee fix.  

But  what I really need to do is step it up a few notches and to do more.  What I need is a call to action that tells me I must step up and that I must act.  

The magnitude of the horror - depicted in photos and videos posted on the internet - leaves no doubt that the scale of the disaster is epic and that the human suffering is staggering.  The 20 million internally displaced Pakistanis, of which 6 million or so are children, need an an enormous relief effort just to sustain them as this “slow tsunami” continues.  If the decision to help remains just an option - a good deed to be done in order to feel good - then will these children get the help they need?  My gut says no.

I need some spiritual guidance.  Faith is important to me and if I can find something in my faith that compels to me act - not just rewards me for it - then perhaps I can really push myself.  I’d like an imam to articulate a call to service that puts this catastrophic natural disaster into perspective vis-a-vis my duty to God and my duty to my fellow man.  Tell me that I personally must do something.  Tell me that I need to give and to work and to put myself into uncomfortable situations in order to help these children who are in desperate need.

So far, no good.  

“It’s God’s Will.”  “Have patience.”  “Pray.”  These are the prevailing sentiments from the spiritual leaders I’ve run across in the mosque.

My response is: maybe, I’m trying and I do, respectively.  But surely they can say more, right?  

I read that an imam in Pakistan explained the floods there in this way: they are a punishment for those who have sinned and a test for those who are righteous.  Really?

Does this mean that the people suffering and dying in the floods are sinners?  And the rest of us - sitting abroad or in Pakistan itself - who are safe, sound and far from harms way are righteous?  No, that can’t be right.

Is this imam suggesting that the Pakistani child whose image haunts me - with his face covered with flies as he looks out with eyes unblinking - is a sinner?  What sin did he commit to earn himself such a harsh punishment I wonder?

God has something to do with the floods in Pakistan, but it’s far more complex and subtle than simply being “His wrath upon sinners”.  A friend of mine, an agnostic from a Christian background, argued that the lesson to be drawn from the flood is that we have a duty to help each other in times of need and that this obligation is based on our shared humanity.

A man who presumably believes in a benevolent God attributes the suffering to the victims’ sins and to God’s punishment while an agnostic finds a far more humane and compassionate lesson.  I’ll take the latter.

I’ll take it because it makes sense to me.  A world in which I have a duty to my fellow man based on our shared humanity - a bond that transcends race, ethnicity and religion - is a world I can believe in.  A duty to my fellow man is a principle I can build a good life upon.  And it’s a frame through which I can internally manage the horror of the Pakistan flood without needing to tune it out (which is so easy to do).  

While very few imams invoke “duty” and “humanity” when making passing reference this Ramadan to the floods in Pakistan, both are well grounded in my Islamic faith.  In fact, I believe that striving to serve humanity epitomizes God-consciousness and that this is the principle God would want us all to choose to live by.  This, I believe, is the connection between God and the Pakistan floods.

A good reminder of the power of Islam - remembering the earliest days of our Prophet (s)

Last night we had a social event at our mosque.  It was meant to bring our children to the mosque for an evening of fun.  We watched the "Muhammad (s): The Last Prophet", an feature-length animated film about the life of Prophet Muhammad (s).

It was amazing to see the enthusiasm with which the children watch and took in this wonderful history lesson.  It was uplifting and empowering to be reminded of all the pain and suffering that Prophet Muhammad (s) and the first Muslims endured at the hands of the Meccans without ever raising a hand even in self-defense.

I need to make it a point to read the Seerah of Prophet Muhammad (s) more often...

Abdel Kareem Nabil Suleiman: Young, headstrong, sometimes right, sometimes wrong - but 4 years in jail? That is unjust!

I believe in the freedom of expression.  God created humanity with the power to think and the freedom to exercise that power.  Expression is the articulation of person's thoughts and beliefs and he or she must be largely free to do so.

Freedom of expression is not an absolute right though.  There are limits.  American secular law (as well as other nation's laws) creates numerous exceptions to the freedom of expression.  Essentially these exceptions are the result of a balancing between one person's freedom of expression and his obligations to others.

Freedom is at the core of Islam.  And while a Muslim majority state may develop laws to protect (or regulate) the right of free expression based on the principles and commandments of the Quran (and as expounded upon by the Sunnah), God does not prohibit an individual's right to think and believe and express himself.  I'm sure there are many Muslims who would like to muzzle anti-Muslim and anti-Islam expressions but such beliefs run afoul of Islam's core value of freedom.

Blogger Abdel Kareem Nabil Suleiman, then 22, was arrested in 2006 and charged with publishing opinions aimed at disturbing public order, insulting the head of state and defaming Islam. He was expelled from al-Azhar University, Egypt's most prestigious seat of Islamic learning.

via Reuters

I've read some of what Kareem wrote.  He must not have been attending classes at Al-Azhar University because his understanding of Islam is deranged.  I am speaking in particular about his March 25, 2005 blog post entitled "The Naked Truth about Islam..." (it was originally written in Arabic) which has been reproduced, along with his other writings, at FreeKareem.org.

This blog post is the product of a frustrated, angry and demoralized person.  It seems to represent a mix of disgust over some very disgusting things (the looting and pillaging of Coptic Christians in Alexandria, Egypt in 2005) and his angst over studying Islamic Law when that was not what he wanted for himself.  Remember, he was only 21 when he wrote "The Naked Truth about Islam..." and he wrote it a day after seeing some truly horrible things.  I think that's a lot of mitigation.

But regardless of the existence of mitigating factors, Kareem should not be imprisoned for his words.  That is wrong and it is un-Islamic.

In my professional life I've been assailed for holding very strong views on the freedom of expression.  Even to this day people try to use what I've said and what I've done vis-a-vis the freedom of expression to attempt to smear my reputation.  Most recently some extremist Muslims have taken to "outing" my support for freedom of expression in support of allegedly anti-Muslim/anti-Islam speech by sending annonymous emails to my mosque and to the leaders of other mosques in my community.  So, I understand the vitriol that is directed at Kareem as he languishes in an Egyptian prison, jailed for his words.

Thankfully, I live in America and so far most of our civil rights and civil liberties are intact.  So I am going to exercise those rights to speak out for Kareem.  I don't like what he said and I don't share his opinions, but I cannot sit silently while he is imprisoned for his ideas.  That is neither humane nor Islamic.

Visit FreeKareem.org and find out about what has happened to Kareem.  In his case the Egyptian dictatorship is using Kareem's words about Islam as cover to suppress his other, more political commentaries about the Hosni Mubarak regime.  But rest assured that there are extremist Muslims running around in our own communities with some narrow understandings of Islam and these folks too would be keen and eager to mete out similar punishments to those of us who challenge their rigid set of interpretations.

So, regardless of what you think of Kareem's ideas, you should consider adding your voice to help all people around the world who are oppressed for their beliefs and for their words.  Kareem is among them.

_________________________________________________________________

Note: I realize that there are many other individuals throughout the world who are being held by oppressive forces simply because of what they believe and this blog post is in now way suggesting that this person's plight is more or less important than the others.

Domestic radicalization and FBI-American Muslim Relations: What is the best strategy?

Should the 5 young American Muslims picked up in Pakistan be charged with any crimes in the United States?

"Charging them and throwing them in jail is not the solution," said Nihad Awad, national head of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which approached the FBI on behalf of the families. "The government has to show some appreciation for the actions of the parents and the community. That will encourage other families to come forward."

The men, ages 18 to 24, traveled overseas just after Thanksgiving without telling their families and were arrested near Lahore on Dec. 8. A Pakistani court this week ordered them held for up to 10 more days of interrogation, but officials say their likely return to the United States could take months. Pakistani officials say the men were in touch with a Taliban recruiter and were aiming to join up with al-Qaeda and battle U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

No one has been charged, and the men's friends and spiritual advisers say they never saw any sign of radical beliefs or activities.

Federal prosecutors in Alexandria, where any criminal case would probably be brought, declined to comment. But law enforcement sources say prosecutors are likely to consider charges that include providing material support to terrorist organizations. Prosecutors face complexities that include whether the men's reported admissions to Pakistani authorities are admissible in a U.S. court and whether any statements were coerced.

Via the Washington Post

Did these 5 guys actually commit any crimes by the time they were apprehended?  What is to be gained by not charging them?  Does a greater prospect of domestic radicalization portend an even more strained relationship between American Muslims and the FBI?

There is an argument for U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to be lenient with these 5 young men.  There is a lot to be gained for restraining the full force of the law and instead trading leniency for a more concrete and collaborative strategy that brings together the American Muslim community and the FBI in order to curtail future radicalization within the American Muslim community and to also accelerate the weeding out of those violent extremists who now dwell amongst us.  Also, these men may be good candidates for de-programming or de-radicalization.  With that de-programming comes the opportunity to learn a great deal about what caused them to snap in the first place.

Some of the questions I would like answered include: (1) How did these 5 young men conceal their hatred for America so well?  (2) Was the radicalization an acute event with some particular event causing these young men to snap?  (3)  What kind of religious environment did they have in their home?  and (4)  What kind of involvement did they have in their mosque and how did they view that involvement (were they using the mosque as a cover or did they in fact seek and receive spiritual guidance there)?  These are some of the questions I would like to have answered, because I think answers to these questions will be helpful in understanding the thinking of these young men.

If Holder decides to prosecute them aggressively with the severest possible charges, then we run the risk of these men becoming recalcitrant and opting to use the criminal prosecution as a soapbox for their ideas.  The recent prosecution (and conviction) of Ehsanul Islam Sadequee in Atlanta, GA for terrorism related charges is an example of just such a situation.  Sadequee, a 23 year old U.S. citizen, opted to defend himself, and in so doing, he seems to have squandered his opportunity to defend himself in exchange for sermonizing and speech-making on Islam.

On the other hand, being lenient could send the wrong message to other would be hirabis.  Being lenient on these 5 young men may suggest to other would be violent extremists in our midst to continue with their schemes and plots with greater impugnity.

The one factor that may (should) tip the scale in favor of leniency is the fact that the families actively sought the help of the FBI.  That is precisely the kind of cooperation the FBI wants.  The American Muslim community in the DC area is no stranger to the sordid history of the FBI with American Muslims but they recognized that the FBI is a valuable resources in protecting American Muslims as well as the broader community and in the interest of protecting these 5 young American Muslims, the families reached out.  Thankfully, and possibly as a direct result of this early outreach, these 5 young men were scooped up in Pakistan before they could harm anyone (including themselves).

Sooner or later we will reckon with the fact that we cannot alienate and marginalize American Muslims and still expect to garner this community's support in rooting out extremism within the American Muslim community.  Partnering with the American Muslim community is the only way, short of shredding our Constitution, to combat home-grown hirabah.  This is an opportunity to begin mending fences and building some trust between the American Muslim community and the FBI.

Michigan State University to hold conference on Islam & the media in February 2010

EAST LANSING, Mich., Dec. 15 (UPI) -- Lectures, a panel discussion and a Muslim comedian are all on tap for an "Islam and the media" conference slated for February at Michigan State University.

Rami Khouri will be the keynote speaker. He is the director of the Issam Fares Institute of Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut and the editor-at-large of Beirut's Daily Star newspaper.

The conference is the final project of a grant that also funded the new class “Reporting on Islam,” and the new Web site IMAJE, or Islam, Muslims and Journalism Education.

via UPI.com

This sounds like a very interesting and educational conference.  Kudos to MSU for studying this important area.  I would love to hear more about it.  Does any from the Michigan community know anything more about the conference?

Countering homegrown radicalization: Muslims Must Reclaim the Mosque as a Center of Religious Life

The news of so many home-grown terrorism schemes and plots being uncovered in the U.S. over the past two months is very disturbing.  The men who stand accused of these plots are not so different from me in age, religious observance and socio-economic status but their outlook on life seems incomprehensible to me.  With all due respect to some of our nation's dedicated American Muslim leaders and institutions who continue to downplay the problem, I do think the problem within our community is more dire than we are willing to state publicly.

When we discovered that British Muslims were responsible for the London bombings several years back and that they were born and raised in the U.K. there was a concern in the U.S. about something similar happening here.  With the exception of Hizb-ut-TahrirI could not think of any other Muslim organizations who were openly hostile to America and the West, and since, at the time of the London bombing Hizb-ut-Tahrir was long gone from the local scene (it had been many years since we had to endure their shouts and taunts in the mosques), I felt confident that the radicalization that took place among the London bombers could not happen here.  After all, we American Muslims are far more integrated into American society and comfortable with our identity as American Muslims.

CIVIC INTEGRATION: A BULWARK AGAINST RADICALIZATION

Even before 9/11 but certainly afterward, American Muslims stepped up their efforts to develop and execute strategies for civic integration into American society.  Unlike most other places in the world, the United States' affords many freedoms which empower American Muslims the ability to become "American" on their own terms.  A lot of us are taking advantage these freedoms to carve out our own unique American Muslim identity. 

The youth and the young adults seem to be the greatest beneficiaries of the freedoms.  Unlike places in Europe and even in a Muslim majority country like Turkey where public expression of one's Muslim faith is increasingly being curtailed, in America the freedom of religion still means something, and that allows American Muslim youth to develop a well integrated and stable identity. 

I see this process of integration taking place among the youth in mosques all over northern Illinois.  My own mosque in the northwest suburbs of Chicago, the Islamic Society of Northwest Suburbs (ISNS), is a good example of this positive development. 

This seamless melding of American and Muslim is particularly noticeable during congregational prayer.  In my mosque you see the youth lining up for the afternoon prayer with us at the end of Sunday school.  These kids are wearing their Bears and Bulls jerseys and the other trendy fashions.  The shoes, left just outside of the mosque's prayer hall, pretty much run the gamut of Air Jordan's to Transformers and Barbie brands and so on.  During breaks in between Sunday school classes kids will sneak out of the building to shoot some hoops or throw a football around.  This is level of integration is free form and perhaps due in large part to our consumer culture and the pressure to conform and be like everyone else.

Here in Illinois we have some very thoughtful and talent youth organizers who understand the challenges faced by American Muslims.  One youth organizer who rarely gets much attention but is doing outstanding work is Amal Ali.  Ms. Ali is the youth organizer for the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago(CIOGC) and she has both the academic training and hands on experience in the field of youth work.  Over the years Ms. Ali has been a personal mentor to scores of young American Muslims and through CIOGC she has developed programs to help build young American Muslims' self-esteem through retreats that feature mentoring, spiritual nourishment and tough physical challenges that blend individual courage with team efforts.   She works with the Muslim Students Associations in the Illinois universities and colleges to help build leadership skills and again, to provide mentoring from young American Muslim professionals and highly respected spiritual personalities that promote positive and constructive integration while also instilling a commitment to serve humanity.

These integration efforts are not just for the youth.  Again, CIOGC has played an important role in promoting civic integration.  Under the leadership of Dr. Abdul Malik Mujahid and now with Dr. Zaher Sahloul, the American Muslim community is effectively developing healthy interactions with civic and philanthropic boards and with elected leaders.  In May 2009 CIOGC took nearly 500 American Muslims from northern Illinois to Springfield for a day of common good advocacy.  CIOGC partnered with Faith in Place and Protestants for the Common Good to develop a common good agenda that went beyond Muslim "special interest" issues and addressed the environment and the inequities of Illinois' public education funding system.  I was there for this event and it was amazing to see the sense of empowerment among every age group from high school through senior citizens!

The idea is to forge an identity that allows American Muslims to be comfortable being American and Muslim.  Seeing and feeling the reality of civic integration is instrumental in building a positive sense of self among American Muslims.  That positive sense of self, that healthy American Muslim identity, is what empowers American Muslims to be passionate about the many injustices visited upon Muslims throughout the world with a sense that they have the power to do something about it within the system.  Civic integration empowers American Muslims to understand the tools and resources available to them and sustains hope that they can make a difference in a meaningful way.  In essence, civic integration can arrest the feelings of hopelessness and fear, and in the absence of these two emotions, American Muslims may be inoculated from radicalization.

NOT EVERYONE IS KEEN ABOUT INTEGRATION THOUGH...

Many American Muslims support civic integration, but there are individuals, groups and even mosques that pride themselves on their lack of integration.  It is not uncommon to hear an Imam shrieking during a Friday sermon about the sinfulness of befriending Christians and Jews.  Some American Muslims use our mosques and our communications tools to promote shallow Muslim supremacist ideas.

Groups like Hizb ut Tahrir are returning to the mosques and promoting a shallow message of top-down theocratic world domination and selling that simplistic notion as the answer to all the ills and suffering faced by Muslims through out the world.  Other groups are less public but equally resistant to integration.  Within our mosques we have co-religionists who are intolerant of others who do not accept other's understanding of Islam.  Reason and freedom of conscience have no place in such people's outlook.  I have had many unsavory encounters over the past 15 years with these types of American Muslims.

Their favored tactic is to attack the sincerity and genuineness of another's faith in Islam.  For example, when I disagree with a point of view or a particular interpretation I am accused of deviating from the Quran and Sunnah (which, in my view, is tantamount to an accusation of apostasy).  This extremist approach has a chilling effect on some mosque administrators.  Rather than cutting off the extremists from institutional power, they are allowed to participate in mosque governance and often times they impose the "hecklers' veto" on programs and projects that do not comport with their particular religious understanding.

BRINGING MORE AMERICAN MUSLIMS INTO ORGANIZED RELIGIOUS LIFE IS ESSENTIAL

As we grapple with concerns over the radicalization of American Muslims it is critical that we recognize that we need American Muslims to be more involved in organized religious life.  At first blush it may seem counter-intuitive, but organized religious life is the best means of inoculating American Muslims from the extremist ideologies proliferating on the internet.

The five young American Muslims who recently traveled to Pakistan in search of jihad were largely radicalized via their exposure to violent extremist propaganda and e-fatwas extolling the merits of terrorism.  Where was their mosque's youth program when it was needed most?  Many mosque youth programs focus on apolitical issues in part because of the presence of the extremist voices that impose the "hecklers veto" on thoughtful discussions.  The educational forums offered by mosques rarely discuss socio-political or civic aspects of American Muslim life as well.  Again, this is due in part to the extremists' "hecklers veto".  As a result, many American Muslims, the vast majority who espouse mainstream and healthy Islamic values, feel either uncomfortable in mosques or feel that the mosques simply do not offer them anything useful (outside of Friday and Eid prayers).  Research on the American Muslim community suggests that only a fraction (perhaps as little as 5%) of American Muslims are affiliated with a mosque.

The isolated religious existence, while protecting American Muslims from the vocal minority of extremists within the mosques, can also become an incubator of extremism as well.  Maj. Nidal Hassan is one recent example.  While he attended the mosque for prayers on a regular basis, Nidal Hassan was not very actively engaged in an American Muslim community environment.  His spiritual and religious outlet came via the internet and blogs and electronic bulletin boards.

Done right, a mosque can provide a wholesome and nurturing environment that promotes an authentic application of Islamic values and creates a community life that supports a healthy Muslim self-image.  But to do it right, a mosque has to be an open and welcoming environment.  Women must be made to feel welcome.  The programming has to be engaging.  It has to be in English (except for the ritual prayer).  The imams who lead the spiritual life of the mosque should be well attuned to and positive about American culture because, at the end of the day, that is the culture of the vast majority of the 6 to 7 million American Muslims today.  The religious education for the youth and the the adults needs to be tailored to an American point of view in order to be effective.  The mosques must serve as a social safety net for a range of issues ranging from unemployment, hunger, substance abuse and domestic abuse.  And of course, there must be a social component within mosque community life (particular for the youth) as well.

SHIFTING PRIORITIES, BEING MORE BOLD

American mosques are largely funded by domestic contributions from American Muslims.  Since Islam forbids interest-based transactions, American mosques are purchased and built with cash.  And the mosques in America are being built in more and more places and existing mosques are expanding all the time.  I suspect that 90% of mosque donations are used to maintain physical structures and to fund expansion projects.  The vast majority of American mosques are also run and administered exclusively by volunteers.

American Muslims need to shift their priorities from bricks and mortar to programming and human resources.  Beautifully titled prayer halls with traditional domes and ornate chandeliers and exquisite Quranic calligraphy adorning the walls are not the antidote to radicalization.  In fact, these things are not even the answer to bringing more American Muslims into the mosque.  And yet, we continue to channel millions upon millions of dollars to support these types of projects.

All the while, mosques have no budgets for youth organizing, hiring trained professional youth workers and counselors, or for attracting more American Muslims to pursue careers as imams and Islamic spiritual leaders.  There is little money allocated to programming to create meaningful and engaging activities for American Muslim youth and young adults.  These are, however, the things that mosques need to spend on in order to create the kind of mosque-centric life that will help counter the radicalization being promoted on the internet and even within our mosques through the unregulated and unstructured study circles and discussion groups held in mosques but without much oversight by mosque administrators.

Moving forward, American Muslim leaders and administrators must be bold.  We have to stop kowtowing to the extremists within our community.  We lament the need to defend Islam and ourselves against the violence perpetrated by our co-religionists, but what we should really be angry about is how mosques have allowed the intolerant behavior of some extremists to stifle ideas, projects and programs that would create a more welcoming environment in our mosques.

If mosques will not provide thoughtful programming and an environment conducive to building a wholesome Muslim community, then American Muslims need to go the route of the Mohammed Webb Foundation in the western suburbs of Chicago.  The Webb Foundation is organization that provides a lot of the civic, social and educational programming in an open and welcoming environment that mosques should be providing but often do not.  We know what our priorities ought to be, and now we need to act boldly in pursuit of them!

ONE VIOLENT EXTREMIST IS ONE TOO MANY

It is true that the vast majority of Muslims, in America and throughout the world, are peaceful and faithful people committed to living an Islamic life of peace and justice.  And in the face of bigots and Islamophobes who viciously malign Muslims and Islam as violent, we are right to point to the billion plus Muslims who categorically denounce violent extremism as a solution.

We must, however, hold ourselves to higher standards.  One violent extremist is one too many.  In a community of 6 to 7 million American Muslims the handful of individuals accused of plots of violence is not even 1% of our community but its still unacceptable.  As American Muslims we have an enormous obligation to the rest of the world.  It is not about American Muslim "exceptional-ism" but rather, it is a simple matter of resources and opportunities.  We have the freedom and the resources to do much good for Islam and for the cause of justice at home and abroad.

We hamstring ourselves by allowing our co-religionists to succumb to the hirabi creed promoted by Al Qaeda and other violent extremist groups.  There is too much at stake for us to allow this to continue.

The veil, the Quran, and the Muslim women's movement / The Christian Science Monitor - CSMonitor.com

Islamic feminism faces strong resistance from the faith’s conservatives who want to preserve the male interpretation of Islam. But the movement’s roots in the Koran give it a better chance at changing attitudes than a transplanted women’s liberation movement from the West. In the end, the Koran may be an Islamic woman’s most direct route to equal rights.

This is pulled from the Christian Science Monitor. I'm glad someone is talking about this topic and shedding light on the critical thinking over women's rights in Islam and human interpretation of Islam vis-a-vis the Quran and the Sunnah in general.

Articles and editorials in the Christian Science Monitor are great because it helps the broader community better understand the diversity of thinking among Muslims in America and abroad. I hope Muslim organizations, Muslim thought-leaders and mosques will pick up this issue more often and with greater urgency in the very near future.

I respect Muslim women who choose to wear the hijab. What bothers me is the imposition of segregation and second class status on Muslim women. I am speaking about behaviors in the U.S. and in particular those behaviors that take place in mosques.

I attend and serve on the board of the mosque my father helped found. Things are improving in many facets but women's rights remains a hurdle.

Interestingly, many of my fellow board members agree that the offensive barrier used to segregate men and women in our activity room during events is not religiously required and that it is therefore demeaning. To boot, it impedes participation in the mosque's activities by women.

A few weeks ago we had an Eid dinner at the mosque. We had agreed a few weeks earlier that we would create a space for those women who felt they needed to be segregated and that we would provide them access to the speakers and so forth via a live television feed. The rest of the space (the majority of the space) would be set up for an integrated family seating arrangement.

When I arrived at the mosque an hour early my jaw dropped as I saw the room divider splitting the room in two.  I saw our board president and I asked him what this was all about.

"I knew you'd bring this up" he replied.  He and I had an intense discussion.  I had told my family and friends to come to this event and to become a part of our mosque because, as I saw it, we were really becoming the mosque I've wanted to be associated with.  Now they were going to come and see this room divider. 

Sigh. Same old same old.

My colleagues on the board buckled under the pressure of the vocal members of our mosque who wanted to separate the men and women with a barrier.  My colleagues on the board wanted me to be patient and to go slow and ease into the more open and respectful treatment of women (that's not how they phrased it but that's how I took it).

"No" I told the president.  We ve been dickering around this issue for 2 decades.  We cannot go any slower for fear of going backwards (and going backwards is a real concern since we have made solid strides elsewhere when it comes to civic engagement).

In the end the mosque president pulled out his ace card to end the discussion.  What was his ace card?  Democracy. 

He said the majority of the members wanted the segregation.  That's where we ended our discussion for the evening but frankly, that is not the end of this issue.

I am asking American Muslims who are not already members of a mosque to come and become a member of mine.  I need other like minded folks to join so that we can leverage the facilities and the resources of the mosque for programs and activities that we need and want.  We cannot sit on the sidelines and lament the direction that some of our co-religionists are taking our faith.  If we do not approve of it, then we need to get up and do something about it.  That call to action is a core part of our faith.

That said, I do not believe the majority supports the divider but the majority is afraid of raising the ire of the aggressive and outspoken minority of men whose most articulate argument is "Quran and Sunnah brother" as if uttering the words "Quran and Sunnah" is somehow meaningful as an explanation.  Most members of our mosque are very low key and opt to avoid confrontation, and as a result they keep their head down and avoid getting too involved with the mosque.  They come for Friday prayers, they drop off their kids for Weekend Islamic School and they attend an dinner here or there and that is the extent of their involvement.

I do not blame them for their approach.  Life is complicated and stressful.  Butting heads with the folks who want to keep women behind walls and barriers is frustrating and time consuming.  And who among us has a bunch of spare time on her hands?

I am not interested in getting into arguments and fighting over these issues either.  The mosque should be a place of prayer, reflection, education and social justice.  But I am not afraid to stand my ground either and that is precisely what I am going to do.

My daughter asked me after the eid dinner a few weeks ago: "Baba, why did they put all the girls and moms behind the wall?  That's not fair."  Voila!  There's my inspiration.

Major American Muslim Leader says "Repentance is the only option for the Fort Hood killer"

Yesterday the Wall Street Journal published an op-ed by Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) executive director Salam Al-Marayati in which Salam made two main points: (1) Maj. Nidal Hasan needs to repent for his heinous crimes and (2) Hasan's understanding of the Quran is woefully misguided as evidenced by such things as the powerpoint he presented to colleagues at Walter Reed Medical Center and other comments and writing attributed to Hasan.

Both points need to be made in the media by well respected and thoughtful American Muslims like Salam.  I'm sure that, for those not already decidedly anti-Muslim but confused about why a religious person would do such horrible things, Salam's expertise on the subject may help distinguish the alleged criminal's actions from his Islamic faith.

I applaud the Wall Street Journal for opening its pages to a highly respected American Muslim leader like Salam Al-Marayati.  This newspaper has a decidedly conservative readership and this community, general speaking, is less aware of authentic Islam and more prone to look to sources clearly espousing anti-Muslim sentiments for insights into Islam.  Allowing Salam to share important insights into the Fort Hood shooting from an American Muslim perspective does a lot for the Wall Street Journal.

Salam is very clear about Nidal Hasan's gross misunderstanding of the Quran when he writes:

His now infamous PowerPoint presentation is rife with distortions of the Quran. Entitled "The Koranic Worldview As It Relates to Muslims in the U.S. Military," it provides anything but a Quranic perspective. Maj. Hasan's critical fault in understanding the Quran was his failure to distinguish between two very important categories of verses: those tied to the specific context of seventh-century Arabia, and those that are absolute and permanent.  He ignores the Quranic mandates, for example, to stand for justice even if it is against your own interest, and to avoid transgression in the pursuit of justice.

These are some very basic and very important points that too many people simply do not understand about Islam.  And then Salam concludes very nicely by pointing out what we all know but are happy to hear from one of the top American Muslim leaders in America: Nidal Hasan committed heinous sins and that he must repent for what he has done.

Not surprisingly, the comments on Salam's essay on the Wall Street Journal's website included some of the same old bigoted and Islamophobic views with which we are now so well acquainted.  These comments are important to note by all Americans.  It is short-sighted to dismiss them.

Despite years and years of tyring to speak out and putting forth an accurate picture of Islam and of Muslims to counter the hateful images advanced by Osama bin Laden and other violent extremists, some Americans just do not know what an authentic and accurate reading of Islam looks and sounds like.  Reading these comments is critical to understanding the challenges that lay ahead for Muslims and for all Americans.

The challenge is not simply to correct Islam's image.  It is also about confronting religious extremism in the Muslim world (including the American Muslim community) and the perverse interpretations of the Quran that lend support to religiously inpsired murders.The challenge is also to push back against the forces of fear trying to tear apart America's religious pluralism by leveraging the violence of Osama bin Laden, the Taliban, Al Qaeda and their ilk to advance a radical Christian vision of America as the solution to their "Islamic boogeyman".

These challenges are not for Muslims alone.  All Americans have an obligation to become engaged in safeguarding our freedoms.  One the one hand, American Muslims will have to continue doing a lot of the heavy lifting when it comes to conveying an accurate portait of Islam and of Muslims (this includes confronting extremism within the Muslim community whenever and where ever it appears).  But non-Muslim neighbors and friends and relatives can do their part by witnessing the sincerity of the Muslims in their lives to others who may not have personal relationships with Muslims. 

Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden - The Bumbling Balloon Boy Sheriff thinks killing Muslims is funny!

The bumbling baffoon doubling as a sheriff in Larimer County, CO - Jim Alderden - is now adding to his infamy.  You may remember Alderden from his oafish handling of the "boy in the balloon" hoax.

Now the man who couldn't find the little boy in a single family home and instead led first responders on a costly wild goose chase is showing off some more of his mental muscle.  He thinks killing Muslims is funny.  Or at least that's what he said to a group of Marines at a social function recently.  But don't blame the Marines in the audience for outing Alderden.  No, this self-described "straight shootin' John Wayne" posted his comments on his office website.  No, not on his personal blog, but on the sheriff's office website.  Nice job fella.

One reader at Coloradoan.com said this about Alderden:

One more ignorant statement from Jim is like one more tree in the forest. There's so many you hardly notice them anymore.

Another reader at Coloradoan.com said this:

Freedom of speech, yes, but not freedom from the consequences of speech.

Amen to that.

I am angry about Alderden's stupid words.  Bigots like him make it harder for good people like the ones who posted the comments on the Coloradoan.com website to build bridges within our communities.

Make no mistake - Alderden is a bigot.  He fits the definition - one who regards or treats the members of a group (racial, ethnic, religious) with hatred or intolerance - and that does not bode well for the people of Larimer County, because that kind of ignorance can be unleashed on others in the future.  That's not exactly a sought after trait among law enforcement.

Hopefully the good people of Larimer County will get rid of him.  Whether he apologizes or explains away his stupid comments or not, it's hard to feel secure knowing that the person charged with protecting the community is such an idiot.