Islam is...

Margaret Lawston was reluctant to tell her friends what she was doing on Thursday nights. When she finally told them she was spending her evenings at a mosque learning about Islam, most of them had the same reaction: Why?

One friend told her it was spiritually wrong. Lawston, a retired schoolteacher and a Catholic, assured her friend that she wasn't going to convert. Lawston just wanted to know more about the faith.

"I decided I didn't want to hear any more propaganda from either side. I wanted to learn about Islam for myself," says Lawston, who is taking a free 10-week course called "Discover Islam" at the SALAM center in Sacramento. "I wanted to get my questions answered and learn about their beliefs from someone who can explain them."

Violent protests over the Danish cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad have sparked renewed questions about and criticism of Islam. Not since the early days after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, say some Muslim leaders, have so many people questioned them about their religion. "A lot of people don't know what to think because there is a lot of misinformation out there," says Imam Mohammed Abdul Azeez of the Sacramento Area League of Associated Muslims mosque.

Mosque officials expected only about a dozen people to sign up for the course. Instead, 40 showed up.

http://www.lauramansfield.com/j/smalltownusa-5.asp

Jihad in Small Town America: Part 5 of a Series

by Laura Mansfield

Editor’s Note: African Americans make up 30% of those attending US mosques (Sunni), according to a study published by the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR).

The same CAIR study shows that 63% of new converts to Islam in the United States are African American.

I have often wondered how Islam can be so appealing to minorities.

I knew from personal observations that many Muslims felt that they shared many commonalities with minority groups – especially African-Americans and Hispanics. I have heard many Muslims express a solidarity of sorts with these groups, claiming as the basis the fact that Muslims too felt that they were discriminated against by the white Anglo-Saxon majority.

But until I received the video tape from a woman who taped the recruiting session earlier this summer at her local mosque, I did not understand the extent to which targeted recruitment was going on. I was also quite surprised what appears to be extensive racial stereotyping going on in this presentation

I have received the tape numerous times and have verified its authenticity.

The following article is an accurate representation of the session that was videotaped in a mosque near Atlanta, GA.

"Allah sent the Qu'ran to Mohamed to save the girl babies in Arabia who were being killed as soon as they were born; he sent the Qu'ran to America to save all the babies that are being killed before they even have a chance to be born."

The woman speaking was Sister Zuhayla, and the setting was a classroom in a mosque in suburban Atlanta.

Zuhayla was speaking at a "free seminar" at the mosque designed to teach women how to be happier and turn their life around.

I'll have to admit Zuhayla was one of the most compelling speakers I have heard in quite some time. She was a very attractive large black woman who reminded very much of Starr Jones. She was comfortable with her weight and exuded self-confidence.

Most of the women in the seminar room were young black American women.

Many had young children in the classroom across the hall, where free childcare was being provided. Almost all of the women were in jeans, wearing camis and low cut shirts. They were in sharp contrast to Zuhayla, who was covered from head to toe.

Zuhayla immediately put them at ease. She walked outside the door, said a few words to the two hijab-clad women sitting outside the door, and then closed and locked the door.

"Ladies, ain't no men here; what do you say we get comfortable?" she exclaimed, pulling off her hijab and long dress. The women in the audience looked at each other in surprise, then many of them started laughing.

Underneath her modest Islamic, Zuhayla was wearing jeans and a sexy summer top.

"Girlfriends, we just wear this hijab when the men are around. When we're home with our families, or are just around other women, we want to look fine too."

Zuhayla had managed to connect to her audience right away, and from that point on she had their complete attention.

"Let me tell you my story. I'll bet lots of you have the same story," she began.

"Five years ago, my man had left me. I had two babies, and one on the way. I didn't have no job, no money, no place to live. I stayed with a friend for a few nights, then another friend, like that. Then I started having labor pains but I wasn't even 6 months. So I went to the hospital and they put me in a room with this other woman named Khadija."

"Well, I have to tell you, girlfriends, there was an angel looking out for me that day, hamdullellah. We got to talking and when she heard about the fix I was in, she picked up the phone. 'Fore I knew it, she'd found me a place to stay. Then she got the social worker at the hospital to come get my Medicaid started, and even got me a job over at the mosque in the preschool", she continued.

"Now I don't know about you but no one ever did anything like that for me without expecting something big in return, so I didn't quite trust her. But after I got out of the hospital, she called and came to see me, and stopped by to visit me at the preschool. And when my Amir was born, Khadijah took care of my other babies, and the women from the mosque made sure I had everything I needed for him too."

"But the best thing they gave me was teaching me about Islam."

The women were staring in rapt attention. Zuhayla was someone they could relate too. Most of the women in the group were black, and most were single mothers, many with children from different fathers.

Zuhayla immediately honed in on this commonality. “Girls, let me tell you, becoming a Muslim was the best thing that could have ever happened to me. You know what, Islam is designed for women. That ain’t what you here on the news, but it is.”

"Allah sent the Qu'ran to Mohamed to save the girl babies in Arabia who were being killed as soon as they were born; he sent the Qu'ran to America to save all the babies that are being killed before they even have a chance to be born."

“See, before the prophet Mohamed, peace be unto him – we say that every time we say his name. Before the prophet Mohamed, peace be unto him came, nobody wanted to have girl babies. The pagans would bury the girl children in the desert right after they were born. Girls were nothing but trouble. Islam changed all that. One of the first things the prophet Mohamed, peace be unto him did was to stop people from killing the girl babies. Then to make sure that the women were protected, Allah told him to let the men have four wives, and to treat them all good.”

Zuhayla went on to explain in depth her views on the role of women in Islam, and on how woman-friendly the religion actually was.

“Listen here – how many of your men step out on you? Every last one of you, right? Let me tell you, every man in the world has got to have more than one woman. That’s just their nature. Well, in Islam the man can have four women. But he’s got to commit to all of them and treat them all good. He can’t treat one like a queen and make the other 3 her maids. No. He has to treat all equal. You don’t like to share? Girls, you’re sharing already – you just don’t know it. This way you know who your man be with, and you don’t have to worry bout him bringing home no surprises.”

The women in the room nodded agreement with her.

“What about your kids? Do your men take care of them?”

There were shouts of “no” from the women in the audience.

“Well, a Muslim man has to take care of his family. If he can’t the mosque will help. They’ll make him take care of them. They’ll even help find jobs if you need them. And we’ve got lots of fine men here looking for fine women too!”

Then she shifted into the final sales pitch – playing the so-called “race card”. “

You girls know that what I’m saying in true. How many of you go to church?”

There was mixed reaction from the women. Some said they went to church regularly, others acknowledged going occasionally, and a few said they hadn’t been to church since they were children.

“Well, sisters, let me tell you that Islam worships the same God that your Baptist, your Methodist, your Holiness churches worship. Same God. Allah is that God. He is the one and only true God. But here’s the difference. By the time our prophet Mohamed, peace be unto him, came along, the Christian religion had already been perverted. It was already turning into a religion of the white man. You see pictures of Jesus in your church? He’s a white man isn’t he? But let me tell you prophet Mohamed, peace be unto him, was a black man just like me and you. He understood us. And he set down a way of life for us in the Quran.”

After answering a few questions, Zuhayla wrapped up the seminar. She invited those women who wanted to become Muslims to stay afterwards for a private meeting, where they could say the “shehada”. She explained that the women of the mosques would even provide them with Islamic clothing.

In closing she invited all participants to come back for another meeting. She handed out certificates that they could use for a free week of day care at the child care center affiliated with the mosque.

After listening to this “sales pitch”, it is easy to see that Islamic outreach in the United States is targeting this segment of the population.

This particular speaker was extremely adept at recruiting for Islam. She focused on the issues she knew were important to the women in the audience: their children, the men in their lives, and their relationship with the men. Her closing pitch, claiming that Christianity was a “white” religion, while Islam was a religion for blacks, clearly resonated with her audience.

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