President Obama has yet to set foot in an American Muslim mosque since being elected. This may have electoral consequences in Michigan and Florida, key swing states for his re-election.
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aziz
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aziz
a great story: Muslim and Jewish students join to celebrate art.
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aziz
There’s a new website for the book, I Speak for Myself Volume 2: All-American. I am proud to be a contributor to this collection of essays, and you can read bios of all the 45 contributors at the new site. Check it out!
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aziz
A muslim girl’s teammates wear hijab in solidarity. Really inspiring!
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aziz
Another accusation that muslims do not condemn: about Trayvon Martin:
What is particularly noteworthy is the fact that — with the exception of a few Muslim advocacy groups and a khutbah given by Imam Suhaib Webb — no other Muslim organization or leader has made any statement of condemnation, offered condolences for the family of Trayvon Martin or sent messages of solidarity for protests across the country. Worse yet, the response from the Muslim community, particularly the immigrant community, has been silence. As African-American Muslims, we sense a general apathy that has permeated the attitudes of the immigrant, including second-generation immigrant, Muslim community towards the Black community.
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Why haven’t we yet built “true” coalitions that allow us to support each other’s struggles as we demand the respect and dignity granted to every citizen in this country?The answer apparently lies in a commonly held, but rarely — if ever — expressed view that the African American community is irrelevant and inconsequential in the eyes of the largely immigrant Muslim community. This view need not be made explicitly; one need only look at the actions, or omissions, of the immigrant Muslim leadership and the greater community.
Unfortunately, it does not only seem to be the foreign-born Muslim community that has taken such an attitude. It is also their American offspring who have inherited this apathetic attitude towards African-Americans.
I strongly disagree.
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aziz
to elaborate, yes, I do see a division between the African-American wing of American Islam and everyone else. But thats as much cultural as anything else – I don’t see that much mixing of desi muslims with arab communities either. I think that a beter approach would be to call for unity on the broader topic of civil rights and fold TRayvon Martin into that as an example. But by pointing to Trayvon and saying, “hey you non-black muslim americans; YOU DONT GET IT” it’s just perpetuating teh divide instead of bringing us together.
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Fatimah
Salam Alaikum. This ismdefinitely true, and no Immigrants do not get it. If they did, they would have reached out and condemned this. But, that’s nothing new to us. Thing is, they wonder why a lot of American Muslims do not support them. And they wonder why,they are going through hard times now. The reason why you do not see African Americans mixing with you is because they know that they will not be accepted. No one has time for the foolishness. We do get IT!
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aziz
I formally declared my support for Obama in 2012.
http://blog.beliefnet.com/cityofbrass/2012/02/a-muslim-for-obama.html
If you agree, then donate!
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Mc Kiernan
Was anyone else in the running ?
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aziz
not this cycle, no.
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Matthew
I can’t quite join you, Aziz, but only because I’m not Muslim. I voted for Obama twice last time (once was in the primaries). While the options this time around only seem worse, I will vote for him because I really do support him. Of course, that doesn’t mean I’m a supporter of his failed promises, like the promise to close Guantanamo. Or for his fiscal conservatism. (He is a conservative on fiscal matters, though not as conservative as some or maybe most in Washington. Bernie Sanders is unlikely to run for president anytime soon.*) I support him because we live in a two-party system where voting for third-party candidates is not very realistic. I support him because the last third-party candidate who wasn’t an absurd caricature ran before I was politically aware (against Reagan and Carter). But the limitations of the American, two-party system only make the choice easier. Honestly, I support Obama for all kinds of reasons. Chief is probably his approach to American politics. Though he’s been chastised by some for emphasizing dialogue and consensus building, I think in the long term those are powerful tools that need to brought to Washington. I will also support him because he may be the first American president ever to really understand either Jewish America. He won nearly 80% of the Jewish American vote last time, and I expect, with the available options, that will go up at least slightly this time. (Santorum, the antithesis of anything Jews have ever voted for before, sent out Hannukah cards with a passage from John on them.) Of course, much has been made in the press about Obama’s “Jewish problem.” It is said that Jews don’t like Obama. Funny thing, that’s a perennial media trope that’s never been true before. I see no reason for it now. His handling of the economy (well, really, a situation that couldn’t be “handled” given the political climate) caused Jewish support to drop, but Jewish support dropped less than support among the general electorate. So good luck with this.
*Of course, if Sanders runs, I fully expect him to be attacked as a Zionist, with the term understood to mean “Jew.”
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Mc Kiernan
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aziz
I don’t find Rubio even remotely credible.
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Mc Kiernan
That seems to be a projection. Most of that stuff is from last October and appropriate measures have been taken. see:
http://southfloridadailyblog.blogspot.com/2011/10/librul-fishwrap-herald-defends-marco.html
Right now all I know for sure is, I’m not voting for Santorum.
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Mc Kiernan
Oops, sorry. Didn’t know the link would be that big.
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Mc Kiernan
Okay, the question is:
How can over 20 % of the thermometer (in Red) be represented by a mere $ 20.00 and the rest of the thermometer represents $ 4980.00 US ? Which means each 20 % remaining represents $ 1246.00. Is this strict liberal thinking ?
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aziz
????
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aziz
The data: muslim informants preventing terrorism – http://blog.beliefnet.com/cityofbrass/2012/02/muslim-informants-prevent-domestic-terror-the-data.html
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Arwi
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aziz
Fordson: Faith, Football, and Fasting – open in limited run through September 15th:
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Jo
Aziz: thanks for posting the trailer on Fordson. The movie looks very inspiring and shows the community of Dearborn as quite courageous. I will try to catch it. Though “limited in distribution” it is actually playing close by
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aziz
I’ve signed this “Muslim American Declaration” as a statement of principles.
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aziz
@zack_a and @thabet1979 dismissed it “weird” and a “loyalty test”. I don’t see it as a loyalty test, I see it as a much needed affirmation driven by genuine civic pride and nationalism. Given the different milieu that muslims experience in the US versus the UK, I suppose it’s not surprising that the reasoning behind teh declaration might be foreign to a UK-based muslim, but from our perspective it’s really quite simple: we are under attack by a concerted and well-funded smear campaign, and we must respond.
Pretending that we don’t have a PR problem on principle alone will only widen the gulf. We must act in good faith. And we do.
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svend
I’ll admit that I’m of two minds on this. I certainly get tired of indulging misinformed (or even outright bigoted) perceptions of Americans Muslims as disloyal or extremist with endless reaffirmations of basic human (to say nothing of American) values, but however one feels about the fairness of the MSM/Beltway conversation about Muslims and Islam there are undeniably serious perception and communication gaps that ultimately threaten us all (Muslim Americans by depriving them of equality and non-Muslim Americans by dumbing down the political process in ways that encourage self-defeating choices domestically and internationally).
With all the misinformation that’s out there I think it’s often necessary to do the opposite, unapologetically turning the tables and debunking misconceptions, but there’s no getting around the necessity of addressing (and periodically re-addressing, sadly) the concerns that normal people have, rightly or wrongly. There are some people who’ll never be satisfied and who’ll idiotically label this as “taqiyya” (or as Lady Macbeth protesting too much), it’s true, but this isn’t about them. This about reaching the many well-meaning people who have reached a point where they instinctively distrust Muslims because all they ever hear about us is negative. You’re unlikely to plant the seeds of dialogue with them by being defensive, even if it’s eminently justified in many cases.
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Aziz
Yasir Qadhi also has a piece that might also be uncharitably called a “loyalty oath” (we are muslims, we are safe, harmless, etc). It’s a good piece. See:
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Arwi
The mention of Muslims in teh Civil War made me curious, and a few clicks away I discovered Hadji Ali aka Hi Jolly.
I think the Hi Jolly Statement of Principles would be more appealing. Truth, justice and Camelmania, perhaps?
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aziz
The 30 Mosques crew report from South Dakota with an amazing and beautiful profile of an American convert to Islam and his Malysian wife. They married while he was in prison.
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bingregory
Singaporean. But yeah, that was great.
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aziz
er, oops. *blush*
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Jo is discussing. 
Fatimah and 
Mc Kiernan, and 
Arwi is discussing. 
Jo 4:40 pm on May 14, 2012 Permalink | Log in to Reply
and many American Jews ( just right of center) have commented that he never set foot in Israel. Poor guy. Crushed on all sides.(she said with tongue in cheek). Hope not