We aren't all this mysterious! Photo by Rana Ossama via Flickr
By SHABINA S. KHATRI
HUFFINGTON POST
It’s good to get things out in the open. But sometimes the truth hurts.
It certainly hurt to hear that, according to recent TIME and CNN polls, most Americans oppose the Park51 project, a proposal to build a mosque and community center on private property about two blocks from Ground Zero.
For some Muslim Americans, the vehement opposition to Park51, the site of a former Burlington Coat Factory, comes as no surprise. It is just one of many Islamic centers across the country that have drawn the ire of ignorant and fearful people in recent months.
For most of us, though, the tirade of anti-Islamic sentiment against this particular project has made for a disheartening past few weeks, depressing news during a holy month that’s supposed to be about light and hope.
There are logical arguments to refute opponents. The First Amendment. The strip clubs and liquor stores sprinkled around the so-called hallowed ground. The fact that Muslims pray in the Pentagon, which was also a target on 9/11.
But logic is not going to work when emotions run so high. We need another strategy.
A few numbers jumped out at me in the TIME poll: 61% of respondents said they’re against the project. And 62% say they don’t personally know a Muslim American.
Hmm.
Is it possible that the people who don’t know any Muslim Americans are more likely to oppose Park51?
If that’s the case, perhaps there is a really simple way to resolve this mosque hullaballoo.
Perhaps you need a Muslim friend. Not a token one, a la George Costanza out to prove his affinity for black people after his boss challenged it. But an honest-to-goodness, plain Jane Muslim American friend.
That’s who I am to one college pal of mine, who wrote me this week. He says (and I share, with permission):
I grew up in a Jewish family and I remember my grandparents generation of relatives, who had survived the Holocaust and remembered the struggles Israel faced in its earliest years, held some pretty ugly stereotypes about Arabs and Muslims. I came to [college] not necessarily believing their views, but certainly not questioning them.
You were the first true Muslim friend I ever had and you played a big part in influencing my views on Muslims and what Islam stands for. I have to thank you for bringing to me my first Ramadan dinner and letting me get to know you. Any American who is not part of the small group of religions that have never faced persecution, intimidation, or torture and comes out against this mosque in the name of “sensitivity” is a hypocrite.
So how exactly does one buddy up with a Muslim American? Through the time-tested methods of friend-making. Encounter someone somewhere – work, yoga class, Facebook – and strike up a conversation. Find common interests, hang out and talk about them. Maybe Islam will come up all the time, or part of the time, or not at all. The point is social integration.
It will take extra effort – on your part, and mine. It’s a strategy we need to apply here in Qatar, where misunderstandings and stereotypes abound between the minority (15%) national population and the country’s sea of expats.
But the results – aren’t they worth the work?
The World Trade Center crumbled just weeks before my 19th birthday, when I was a sophomore in college. As a Muslim American, born and raised, I hated uttering what became a tired refrain: that 9/11 was – is – my tragedy, too.
I have a daughter now, and it’s my hope that she never has to prove how American she is, simply because of her religion. Perhaps if more people had Muslim friends, she won’t have to.
So let’s resolve America’s “Muslim problem” and stick to our constitutional guns on the issue of religious freedom by striving to understand our Muslim American neighbors as they should be understood – normal people who simply want what you’d want – a space to practice our faith, teach our children and converse with our communities.
Filed under: Clips, Uncategorized
I like this article and your advice of outreaching for Muslims from non-Muslims; however I see it as part of the solution for what you’ve ended your post with as America’s Muslim problem.
Your asked a good question: “Is it possible that the people who don’t know any Muslim Americans are more likely to oppose Park51?” In my opinion, the answer isn’t that easy of yes vs. no since the Park51 controversy reflects two points:
-1- The real image of stereotypes and misconceptions about Islam and Muslims;
-2- The Islamophobic hysteria towards Islam and Muslims;
These two points are not new for Muslims yet the Park51 project exposed the atmosphere that Muslims are called to deal with.
RELIGION, A MAN-MADE CURSE:
A message to Jewish, Christian, Muslim, and Pagan brothers & sisters:
1- Religion forced women to stay in marriage with abusing husbands by making divorces illegal and immoral and by giving all the rights and powers to husbands ( for example Muhammad gave only men right to divorce). if i am not wrong there was no divorce in judaism, hiduism or christianity untill recently.
2- Religion claimed women are inferior to men, and asked men to decipline them by beating them ( for example Muhammad claimed in sura 4:34 that allah perfers men over women because men are more intelligen than women, and asked his followers to beat them if they disobey. He also made 2 female witnesses equal to 1 male witness / sura 2:282). women had no right to vote even in western democracies untill recently. The people in those countries were influenced by the religious teachings in denying women even their basic rights.
3-Hidu religious texts have the following divine message:
LAWS OF MANU ( a tenets of hinduism ):
“animals, drums, illiterates, low castes, and women
are worthy of being beaten”.
a quote from hindu religious book, ” manusmriti or laws of manu”.
Manusmriti records the words of Brahma, the hindu god of creation.
4- Religion accused women for the expulsion of Adam ( the fictional character) from Eden by convincing him to eat apple and disobey God (i am still looking for god ).
5-Religion allowed Moses and Muhammad and their followers to to attack pagans without any provocation, plunder their cities, rob them of their wealth, and take female captives after the battle as booty and have sex with them, sell them or trade them with other soldiers ( sura 4:24/4:03/33:50).
6-Christianity burned women on stakes by falsely accusing them for practicing witchcraft.
7- muhammad set the precedent by maintaining a harem of 22 women. His followers to this day follow have been following his example of harems full of young women, where women have been kept as domestic animals with no freedom of movement and no regard for their needs or dignity. The women in the harem had no say in any matter at all, even today they are going through the harems’ hell in middle east. mormons and many other faiths allow their followers to marry more than one woman.
8-Hinduism committed crimes against its own followers by dividing them into higher and lower castes and forcing the lower castes to serve the higher castes and live at sub-human level. The lower caste members were not allowed to get education, worship at the same temples, eat, drink, mingle or even sit next to higher caste member. The caste system was written down in vedas and shastras to convince the massess that it was sanctioned by god. in ancient times if a lower caste member was caught listening to the ashloks of sanskirt he would be captured and molten lead would be poured in his hears. he was not allowed to listen to divine language.
9-Most religions sanctioned child abuse by making the marriage with baby girls legal and moral. For example muhammad set the precedent by marrying a 6 year old baby girl and then sleeping with her when she was only 9.
10-Hinduism forced widows to burn with the dead bodies of their husbands and sactioned this barbaric practice of sati or sacrifice by women for their departed loving husband. Husbands were not asked to make the same sacrifice for their departed wives.
11-Hinduism encouraged the youg girls to become the devadasis of the goddess yallama and other goddesses in order to satisfy the sexual desires of clergy and worshippers. These girls usually die very young within few years from veneral diseases.
12-Christianity encouraged women to become nuns. These poor souls suffer all their lives in the name of religion and at the same time provide clergy the opportunity to sexually abuse them.
13-All religions encouraged the followers to wage war against those who disagreed with them by glorifying the violence, calling dead as martyrs and promising them rewards in afterlife. Muhammad offered paradise and unlimited sex with virgins for killing non-muslims. In fact religion sent millions and millions of its followers to their early deaths.
14- Religion caused crusades, the 30 year religious war in Europe, and a civil war in England that ended with the beheading of king Charles.
15-Catholic church tortured and burned on stakes moors in spain and kathars in southern france under the vetican’s plicy of inquisition.
16- The Spanish conqurers forcibly converted red Indians in south america to Christianity and destroyed their language and their civilization.
17- Religion also gave Islamic armies incentive and aspirations to attack and plunder other civilizations, destroye their holy places and plundere their cities.
18- The budhist king Brihadrata was assassinated in 185 BCE during a military parade, by his commander-in-chief of royal guard, the Brahmin general Pusyamitra Sunga, who then took over the throne and established the Sunga dynasty. Buddhist records such as the Asokavadana write that the assassination of Brhadrata and the rise of the Sunga empire led to a wave of persecution of Buddhists, and a resurgence of Hinduism. According to Sir John Marshall, Pusyamitra may have been the main author of the persecutions.
19-King mirikula (AD 502-AD5 30), a worshipper of shiva, did his utmost to massacre the budhist population and destroy budhist temples and civilization. Both mihirkula and pusyamitra sunga committed the budhist genocide in the name of their religion. The genocide of budhist population transformed india into hindu india.
20-In 1947 muslims committed the crime of treason by dividing the motherland india in the name of their religion. the partition caused deaths of 2 millions and displacement of 20 millions. no one should ever forget that this tragedy was caused by religion. Though my hindu brothers were also partially responsible but the major blame for partitin lies on the shoulders of muslims, and muslims only.
21- The jewish holy book Talmud teaches that jews are superior to all people and all races in the world.
22-Religion has divided the humanity for eternity and made people hate and kill one another forever.
“Religion is the biggest vacuum cleaner ever sold to the people by the people to rip off people”.
“Let us all work togther to liberate mankind from the curse of religion, bring the humanity closer, and make this world a better place to live for next generations”.
Think critically.
zulfiqar Tareen, a friend of all, enemy of none.
please check out how religion destroyed my aunt’s life in my facebook profile.
RELIGION, A MAN-MADE CURSE:
A message to Jewish, Christian, Muslim, and Pagan brothers & sisters:
1- Religion forced women to stay in marriage with abusing husbands by making divorces illegal and immoral and by giving all the rights and powers to husbands ( for example Muhammad gave only men right to divorce). if i am not wrong there was no divorce in judaism, hiduism or christianity untill recently.
2- Religion claimed women are inferior to men, and asked men to decipline them by beating them ( for example Muhammad claimed in sura 4:34 that allah perfers men over women because men are more intelligen than women, and asked his followers to beat them if they disobey. He also made 2 female witnesses equal to 1 male witness / sura 2:282). women had no right to vote even in western democracies untill recently. The people in those countries were influenced by the religious teachings in denying women even their basic rights.
3-Hidu religious texts have the following divine message:
LAWS OF MANU ( a tenets of hinduism ):
“animals, drums, illiterates, low castes, and women
are worthy of being beaten”.
a quote from hindu religious book, ” manusmriti or laws of manu”.
Manusmriti records the words of Brahma, the hindu god of creation.
4- Religion accused women for the expulsion of Adam ( the fictional character) from Eden by convincing him to eat apple and disobey God (i am still looking for god ).
5-Religion allowed Moses and Muhammad and their followers to to attack pagans without any provocation, plunder their cities, rob them of their wealth, and take female captives after the battle as booty and have sex with them, sell them or trade them with other soldiers ( sura 4:24/4:03/33:50).
6-Christianity burned women on stakes by falsely accusing them for practicing witchcraft.
7- muhammad set the precedent by maintaining a harem of 22 women. His followers to this day have been following his example of harems full of young women, where women have been kept as domestic animals with no freedom of movement and no regard for their needs or dignity. The women in the harem had no say in any matter at all, even today they are going through the harems’ hell in middle east. mormons and many other faiths allow their followers to marry more than one woman.
8-Hinduism committed crimes against its own followers by dividing them into higher and lower castes and forcing the lower castes to serve the higher castes and live at sub-human level. The lower caste members were not allowed to get education, worship at the same temples, eat, drink, mingle or even sit next to higher caste member. The caste system was written down in vedas and shastras to convince the massess that it was sanctioned by god. in ancient times if a lower caste member was caught listening to the ashloks of sanskirt he would be captured and molten lead would be poured in his hears. he was not allowed to listen to divine language.
9-Most religions sanctioned child abuse by making the marriage with baby girls legal and moral. For example muhammad set the precedent by marrying a 6 year old baby girl and then sleeping with her when she was only 9.
10-Hinduism forced widows to burn with the dead bodies of their husbands and sactioned this barbaric practice of sati or sacrifice by women for their departed loving husband. Husbands were not asked to make the same sacrifice for their departed wives.
11-Hinduism encouraged the youg girls to become the devadasis of the goddess yallama and other goddesses in order to satisfy the sexual desires of clergy and worshippers. These girls usually die very young within few years from veneral diseases.
12-Christianity encouraged women to become nuns. These poor souls suffer all their lives in the name of religion and at the same time provide clergy the opportunity to sexually abuse them.
13-All religions encouraged the followers to wage war against those who disagreed with them by glorifying the violence, calling dead as martyrs and promising them rewards in afterlife. Muhammad offered paradise and unlimited sex with virgins for killing non-muslims. In fact religion sent millions and millions of its followers to their early deaths.
14- Religion caused crusades, the 30 year religious war in Europe, and a civil war in England that ended with the beheading of king Charles.
15-Catholic church tortured and burned on stakes moors in spain and kathars in southern france under the vetican’s plicy of inquisition.
16- The Spanish conqurers forcibly converted red Indians in south america to Christianity and destroyed their language and their civilization.
17- Religion also gave Islamic armies incentive and aspirations to attack and plunder other civilizations, destroye their holy places and plundere their cities.
18- The budhist king Brihadrata was assassinated in 185 BCE during a military parade, by his commander-in-chief of royal guard, the Brahmin general Pusyamitra Sunga, who then took over the throne and established the Sunga dynasty. Buddhist records such as the Asokavadana write that the assassination of Brhadrata and the rise of the Sunga empire led to a wave of persecution of Buddhists, and a resurgence of Hinduism. According to Sir John Marshall, Pusyamitra may have been the main author of the persecutions.
19-King mirikula (AD 502-AD5 30), a worshipper of shiva, did his utmost to massacre the budhist population and destroy budhist temples and civilization. Both mihirkula and pusyamitra sunga committed the budhist genocide in the name of their religion. The genocide of budhist population transformed india into hindu india.
20-In 1947 muslims committed the crime of treason by dividing the motherland india in the name of their religion. the partition caused deaths of 2 millions and displacement of 20 millions. no one should ever forget that this tragedy was caused by religion. Though my hindu brothers were also partially responsible but the major blame for partitin lies on the shoulders of muslims, and muslims only.
21- The jewish holy book Talmud teaches that jews are superior to all people and all races in the world.
22-Religion has divided the humanity for eternity and made people hate and kill one another forever.
“Religion is the biggest vacuum cleaner ever sold to the people by the people to rip off people”.
“Let us all work togther to liberate mankind from the curse of religion, bring the humanity closer, and make this world a better place to live for next generations”.
Think critically.
zulfiqar Tareen, a friend of all, enemy of none.
please check out how religion destroyed my aunt’s life in my facebook profile.