U.S. Muslims open annual gathering with prayers for Sept. 11 victims

WASHINGTON (AP) - The largest annual gathering of U.S. Muslims began Friday with prayers for victims of Sept. 11 and for Muslims who have been harassed since the attacks.

Muhammad Nur Abdullah, president of the Islamic Society of North America, said in his opening address Islam condemns violence and Muslims, like others in the United States, want terrorists to be punished. "We're for justice," said Abdullah, a St. Louis imam, standing on a stage flanked by U.S. flags.

"This is our country. American Muslims, we care for the betterment of this country and for every human being."

Khadija Abdullah of Los Angeles read a prayer she wrote for those who died in the suicide strikes, thanking God for the efforts of the rescue workers and for the "comfort and courage" victims gave their families in their final phone calls. She also urged Muslims to "answer scapegoating and hatred" with love.

The impact of the attacks is a central theme of the conference, the most important U.S. Muslim meeting this year. Up to 30,000 people are expected to attend the four-day event, which is run by the Islamic Society.

It is the first time the convention - in its 39th year - is being held in the U.S. capital and comes as Muslims seek a greater public voice in what for many is their adopted country.

They have taken pains since the suicide hijackings to proclaim their loyalty to the United States, even as critics - including Rev. Franklin Graham, son of evangelist Billy Graham - condemned their religion as evil.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Washington-based advocacy group, has received 2,000 reports of harassment of Muslims since Sept. 11.

The opening prayer of the meeting was a verse from the Qur'an that urges Muslims to "stand firm for Allah" and "let not the hatred of others...make you deviate from justice."

The conference will touch on many facets of Muslim life, including health care, parenting, charter schools and investing. Muslim law restricts how much profit may be made on investments.

Marriage also will be on the agenda. Families seeking spouses for their children will have the chance to meet face-to-face through a marriage service connected to the Islamic Society.

The National Coalition to Protect Political Freedom, a coalition of groups including the National Lawyers Guild and the American Muslim Council, have scheduled a rally starting at noon Sunday at Freedom Plaza.

The event will end with a discussion of political strategy for Muslims in elections. Muslim organizations made their first collective endorsement of a presidential candidate in the 2000 race, when they backed George W. Bush.

There are no exact statistics for the number of Muslims in the United States. Estimates vary from two million to six million.

The Islamic Society of North America, based in Plainfield, Ind., is an association of Muslim organizations working in education, social service and other areas.

I read recently on a liberal sheet that only 15% of Muslims would be extreme enough to embrace a Jihad. Well, I don't know but that sounded pretty high to me.

You know, this is a very good point and one I don't think gets enough attention.

Let's put that in contrast. Let's say there are 4 million Americans radical enough to join our "militant society"- the US Armed Forces. That would still be less than 2% of our population and I believe the actual number of active military members is less than 4 million. If looked on in this light, our military constitutes our radical extremists, folks who believe in the American way of life to the point where they have actively gone out and sought a role in an organization that uses force to defeat our enemies.

Now, take this 15% of musliims who would be extreme enough to become jihadis. People always say we shouldn't view them as a reflection of Muslims as a whole. People say they are the exception, not the rule.

But the same could be said for the average American. The average American doesn't want to fight or kill anyone. The average American probably doesn't want to join the military or even be a police officer. Yet the average American does support, if only financially, the military of this country and many give the military their moral support. Yet when our radical small percentage of Americans go and make war on another country- all Americans are blamed and rightly so because we are the support element for that militant wing. There are millions of pacifists in America who don't support military actions under any circumstances and there are loads of young war protestors yet our enemies lump them right in there with those of us who call for all out nuclear war.

I don't see why this same analogy doesn't hold for the Islamic world. They see themselves as one people under Allah- national boundaries are a secondary concern. When a muslim is offended somehow in Israel, muslims in Indonesia say they are offended as well. When an Imam in Saudi issues a fatwah calling for jihad against the US, muslims in the Phillipines take up arms. In this respect, it must be remembered that the sole intent of Islam is to set up a theocracy- which is a form of government. This theocracy already exists to the exact extent that Islam is spread out on the world map. It is in fact, in my view, already one nation/entity governed by one document and the national boundaries within Islam could be viewed more properly as state/regional boundaries like the Counties in Ireland, the provinces in Canada or the States in the USA (remember each of those USA states started out as an individual colony and some like Texas were their own nations outright).

We see muslims celebrating whenever Westerners die. Their apologists say, "yes but this is only a small percentage" but I would say yes and only a small percentage of Americans actually go to "pro USA rallies" as well. The concept of jihad is how the muslim world has chosen to attack us. That "not every single muslim" supports it is irrelevent. Not every American supports war with Iraq, yet when we attack them, we will all be blamed by the Iraqis.

My position is: the Islamic world is in fact one entity, they are a theocracy governed by their "holy men". These holy men have authority that ranges across traditional national boundaries. Muslims all over unite behind the same causes and feel slighted when total strangers who happen to be muslims are injured. If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck- it probably is a duck and I posit that Islam should be regarded as one entity of governance, their "small percentage of jihadis" should be looked on as their military wing, just as our small percentage of actual military members could also be regarded as our radical element and that they should be dealt with in this fashion. We only invite confusion in our foreign policy when dealing with the hand or foot of Islam as one independent nation instead of realizing and recognizing that they are all parts of the same body.

Louis Farakan (sp) is head of the Nation of Islam. He's not in Saudi, he's not in Kuwait, he's not in Iran, he's in the United States. He/the Nation of Islam certainly do not embrace the principles of the United States, either.

Farakan/the Nation of Islam is comparable to Arafat/PLO. If/when he thinks he has enough followers (Islamic) out of the 2-6 million, with 300k-900k Jihadists, all he needs is some pretense to "claim" America as Mohammad's second birth land or some such.

America may very well resemble Israel soon. That is, pockets of Islams claiming the land in the US as a separate nation from the US.

With Hispanics claiming Azlan, possibly muslims claiming Azislamiland, the continent could resemble the third world by becoming a bunch of small state/nations.

The break up of the US--Can't happen? So the Romans thought about their empire. And the Aztecs, Mayans, Incas, Persia, USSR, etc. History pages are littered with fallen empires. The US is not immune. If it doesn't make some serious anti-PC corrections soon, history can repeat, and a century or two from now the Greatest Nation may occupy less than a full page in the history texts.

The concept of jihad is how the muslim world has chosen to attack us. That "not every single muslim" supports it is irrelevant. Not every American supports war with Iraq, yet when we attack them, we will all be blamed by the Iraqis.

I don't believe in collectives -- the "Muslim world" decides nothing, and neither does "America." Ayatollahs, imams, presidents, and congressmen decide, and most of us sheep go along to get along, in either case, and a few intrepid souls question what goes on in a forum such as this one.

Nonetheless, you're forgetting the most important factor. Muslims are not compelled -- outside of a handful of genuine theocracies -- to even act in a certain manner fitting their religion, or fitting how it's interpreted. And even in the theocracies, the religious dictators can't compel minds.

Yet in this country, we are compelled at the point of the guns standing behind the Infernal Raping Service to support the actions of this government, financially, whether we like it or not. Only some of those who actively resist such coercion escape it. We could all choose to do so, as well as elect representatives who will keep the troops we pay for here, to defend our lives, property, and borders. Yet we don't.

Many Muslims around the world have religious tyranny pushed upon them, and vast numbers resist it. Americans have financial and personal-liberties tyranny pushed upon them, and almost no one genuinely resists it.

Big difference in moral culpability there ... since you're comparing Americans as a group to Muslims as a group. (And not said Americans versus the tiny and murderous Muslim minority who attacked these shores a year ago.)

If we're assessing groups, which has more to answer for? Those individuals, like vast numbers of Muslims, who do resist being enslaved, by religion or anything else? Or those individuals, like far too many Americans, who enslave themselves to governments on all levels, especially in the guise of "fighting terrorism"?

Those individuals, like vast numbers of Muslims, who do resist being enslaved, by religion or anything else? Or those individuals, like far too many Americans, who enslave themselves to governments on all levels, especially in the guise of "fighting terrorism"?

I must admit, I have not noted all this resistance in the Muslim world of which you speak. Perhaps you could point to them for my benefit? The American Colonists resisted and they had no guarantee that they would succeed- to the contrary they had no real reason to expect they would but they decided it was better to fight and die than live under tyranny. That is resistance. Going to a rally and waving a sign is merely a token.

If Muslims in vast numbers resisted the theocracy under which they live, they would not be living under tyranny but rather under democratic rule. What I note in the Muslim world is a lot of loud complaining that it is the USA that "denies" them democracy and there have been several articles posted in the last few days and weeks that detail that very thing. It is not the responsibility of Americans to ensure democracy in Iran. People get the government they deserve and as of yet the Iranians and the Middle Eastern world at large have not deserved democracy.

Your perception of slavery in America is understandable I suppose, by some, but not by me. If you think Americans are slaves at the moment, what, pray tell would we term true slavery? Americans can come and go as they please. They can own property, read what they want, listen to the music they want, pray to the God they wish to pray to or not at all. They can protest against their gov't and they can vote that gov't straight out of office. Is this what you call slavery? I think anyone who was ever a slave would feel that you have made a mockery of their situation for they certainly would not have called it slavery. To me this is no more than hyperbole- the same as the democrats calling our President a "dictator". Americans are fortunate and they have earned that good fortune. An American confronted with extra security at the airport will scream of slavery and fascism afterwards when people in any other country would wish they had it so good. Nobody owns any American and if you do think you are owned- take a trip outside the borders of America- you will see, nobody stops you. You are free.

You say Muslims are not compelled? Homosexuals jailed in Egypt? Dissidents jailed in Syria? Kurds gassed in Iraq? Women stoned in Nigeria and circumcised in Sudan? Young people imprisoned in Iran for listening to music sung by a woman? Women covered head to toe in Saudi Arabia? Young girls raped by court order in Pakistan? Young women shot in the head in soccer stadiums in Afghanistan? Christians attacked in Indonesia? This is an incomplete list. I think it is better to claim that there are only a handful of Muslim nations (and a meager handful at that) where thuggery is not the word of the day.

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