Gee I sure hope no Christians go on a psychotic rampage wanting to kill me for posting that.
Posted on 09/03/2006 7:00:27 PM PDT by voletti
WASHINGTON: Ihsan Saadeddin is proud to be an American. But he's tired of having to prove it just because he's a Muslim too.
The Palestinian grocery store owner in Phoenix has called the United States home for 25 years and feels as American as the next guy. He met his wife in Arizona, sent his three children to public school and has a weakness for McDonald's.
But Saadeddin says the September 11 attacks were a tragic watershed which turned US Muslims from ordinary citizens into objects of suspicion and discrimination overnight.
He believes it is why he was questioned at the airport for 45 minutes last month and asked repeatedly if he supports terrorism.
"Being born in another country does not make me less American than the secretary of homeland security," Saadeddin said.
Estimates of the number of Muslim Americans vary between three and seven million, including Arabs, Iranians, South Asians, African Americans and many other communities.
News of domestic wiretapping, monitoring of mosques, immigration crackdowns, public support for racial profiling and bans on some Muslim scholars visiting the United States has made many Muslim Americans feel like targets of racism.
Imam Mohammad Ali Elahi from Dearborn Heights, Michigan, speaks for many when he complains that officials including President George W. Bush use terms such as "Islamo-fascism" to describe the militant threat. They say such terms are inflammatory and liken their faith to dictatorships.
"This type of thing really hurts," said Elahi, an Iranian-born Shi'ite religious leader.
Outreach efforts
US officials deny they unfairly target Muslim Americans and say community leaders have better access to top US officials than ever before. Outreach efforts include townhall meetings with law enforcement officers and training courses for officials by community members.
"It's obvious that Muslim Americans face civil rights challenges now that they never faced before," said Daniel Sutherland, who heads the civil rights and civil liberties office at the Department of Homeland Security.
"As the government, we need to engage better with Muslim Americans. And we're trying hard within our department and you'll see it with state and local governments," he said.
Bwahahaha!!
VERY nice point.
Amen. It is tragic that in country that promises freedom of religion we see this sort of religious bigotry.
I don't agree with Islam and am not particularly attracted to Muslims as friends or associates, but in this country we are suppossed to have respect for other to practice their person beliefs...without showing hatred and intolerance for them.
The article does not identify any of these moslem "Americans" as being American citizens. Interesting.
Maybe because they don't want to have their heads cut off?
Aw-w-w-w come on, by the 'religion of peace'?
That's an interesting typo that has some possibilities. If you don't patent it, I will. "Partiotic": placing one's lame party ahead of national interests.
"It's obvious that Muslim Americans face civil rights challenges now that they never faced before." Like being randomly murdered by the followers of muuhamhead! (Pigs be inseminating her)
Said me and many other Americans!
Well, there is no centralized "muslim leadership" to issue your requested statements, but you may want to check these out -
http://groups.colgate.edu/aarislam/response.htm#Statements%20from%20Leading%20American%20Muslim%20Organizations:
I await the anticipated flurry of " you can't believe them" posts, but if that's the case why bother asking in the first place ?
You refuse to believe that there are peace-loving Muslims in America and elsewhere.
I believe that many at FR DO believe there are 'peace-loving' Muslims in America. With that said, however, there is still a wee bit of a problem that NONE of those peace-loving Muslims have addressed. Namely, the EXPRESS instructions in the Koran that are fundamentally in opposition to the U.S. Constitution - the most notable being the total intolerance of ANY religion other than Islam. IMO the bottom line is that NO ONE gave a rats a** about what religion anyone in this country had until we all suddenly found ourselves having the REALITIES of the Islamic RELIGION itself shoved in our faces. Until the 'peace loving' Muslims tell us in plain English just where they stand on the BASIC TENETS of the Koran, they are going to be viewed as (A) desiring the rule of their religious law in our country, which is totally contrary to our republic, and (B) believing that everyone but them is inferior and needs to convert or die. This is serious stuff, not some 'failure to communicate'.
I'm of Irish and German descent. I never became offended when I heard of Irish terrorists. That's because I'm not a terrorist. Likewise, I'm not offended by the term Nazi, because I'm not one of them either.
There are a few high profile muslims who speak out against terrorism. Unfortunately they live in fear for their lives from their brethren. At least those few have the guts to do it.
So true. We should paint with the same brush of tolerance and inclusion that Muuuhamhead Atta painted with on 9-11!
That is the brush of fundaMENTAL is-Slime!
"Islam isn't in America to be equal to any other faith, but to become dominant. The Qur'an should be the highest authority in America, and Islam the only accepted religion on earth"
--Omar Ahmed, Chairman of the Board of CAIR (Council of American Islamic Relations), San Ramon Valley Herald, July 1998
Qur’an 8:12 “I shall terrorize the infidels. So wound their bodies and incapacitate them because they oppose Allah and His Apostle.”
Qur’an 8:57 “If you gain mastery over them in battle, inflict such a defeat as would terrorize them, so that they would learn a lesson and be warned.”
Quran-4:89— Take not friends from their ranks until they flee in the way of Allah. But if they turn renegades, wherever ye find them; and take no friends or helpers from their ranks.
Sura 9:5 of the “Koranus,” “wherever you find them, and take them captives and besiege them and lie in wait for them in every ambush.”
" upon such of those to whom the Scriptures have been given as believe not in God." Sura 9:29
"Strike off their heads then, and strike off from them every finger tip." - Sura 8:12
You're a breath of fresh air, Jorge. Apparently religious freedom only matters to some folks as long as it's THEIR religious freedoms we're talking about. I don't agree with the Muslim religion either, but I also don't agree with a few other religions nor the extremists within those religions. I've heard enough and read enough comments by Muslims ("normal" ones, for lack of a better word), to know that they are not all evil people. What a shame that one even has to mention that fact on what is supposed to be a more intelligent, mature, and thoughtful forum.
There are a few high profile muslims who speak out against terrorism. Unfortunately they live in fear for their lives from their brethren. At least those few have the guts to do it.
They would be viewed as HEROS by all Americans if they were much, much, much more vocal and visible. One thing there is plenty of evidence for: Americans at large are a friendly, open, and tolerant people who admire and respect courage.
Message to American Muslims: "So act like it! Tell the authorities where the bad guys are and what they're up to. Boot the bad imans and clerics out of your places of worship. Clean up your religion."
A conversation between a former muslim (Wafa Sultan) and a muslim. The muslim host could barely contain his rage at hearing the truth. http://www.memritv.org/Transcript.asp?P1=1050
Imam Mohammad Ali Elahi from Dearborn Heights, Michigan, speaks for many when he complains that officials including President George W. Bush use terms such as "Islamo-fascism" to describe the militant threat. They say such terms are inflammatory and liken their faith to dictatorships.
"This type of thing really hurts," said Elahi, an Iranian-born Shi'ite religious leader.
I'm the first to defend (genuinely) moderate Muslims, of which there are plenty. But I'd add that defending real moderates requires identifying and denouncing fake moderates, of which there are also plenty.
I'm trying to imagine, if I were a Christian, and if something like Identity Christianity (an extreme racist and antisemitic sect, so called because it asserts the "identity" of White Europeans with "Israel," and claims that Jews are Satanic fakers)... What if something like this had millions of followers, rather than a few thousands, and was asserting itself with some success as a normative version of Christianity, rather than being highly marginal and effectively marginalized...
Would I be upset at this being referred to as "Christian Fascism"? I'm actually trying to empathize with that perspective, but I failing to do so. I can only think I would be comforted and reassured by the distinction being put in terms as sharp and unequivocal as possible.
So I must say I'm slightly suspicious of Muslims who are upset by this (with some allowance for variable mileage).
Are any Christians out there upset if I call Christian Identity and similar sects, examples of "Christian Fascism"?
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