Islamophobia in USA

New Crusader AGAINST ISLAM
King Wants Profiling in USA

Just when we thought it was safe for Muslims to come out of the closet - another "Islamophobe" picks up the cross of hatred against Islam. Read this article from Dr. Aslam Abdullah and then comment below... (inshallah):

Peter King, a very 'radical Christian', is now the new crusader.

King is supported mainly by rightwing Republicans, embracing fundamentalist evangelical interpretations of the Bible, and he is trying to re-create the hatred and fear that the Catholic Church created against Islam and Muslims from the 11th century onward culminating in the crusades. He wants a witch hunt against Muslim Americans. He wants to incite Republican rank and files against those Muslims who in his views are not acting as agents of FBI or other law enforcement agencies. He wants the country to believe that Muslims are not true American citizens and the nation cannot accept their claim of patriotism seriously. He wants to create conditions to ensure that Muslim voices in the political arena of the country are silenced.

In fact, he is repeating what was written in 1391 as an expression of the views of the Byzantine emperor Manuel II Palaiologos, one of the last Christian rulers before the fall of Constantinople to the Muslim Ottoman Empire, on such issues as conversion, holy war, and the relationship between faith and reason. The passage, in the English translation published by the Vatican, is as follows: "show me just what Muhammad brought that was new and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." A comment also quoted by the present Pope.

King's main premise for holding the congressional hearing on Islam and Muslim Americans is that the Muslim community does not cooperate with the law enforcement agencies, an accusation that is spread by evangelical Christians. An easy way to determine the accuracy of this allegation was to ask law enforcement agencies all over the country to define their relations with the Muslims. From 2001 until 2010 December, several hundred town hall meetings involving Muslims and law enforcement agencies have taken place in most of the 50 states. During this period, FBI agents have addressed Muslims in more than 200 Mosques all over the country. Scores of Muslims have attended the FBI or Police citizen Academy training programs. On situations related to Somalia, Lebanon, Palestine and Pakistan, FBI has interviewed thousands of Muslims who cooperated with whatever information they could share. Thousand of Muslim Americans have been stopped at the airport without incidents of non-cooperation. Most of the major terrorist plots busted by FBI relied on the information given mainly by Muslims.

Muslim Americans are part of this country and if and when they become aware of any one thinking of using violence to hurt fellow citizens, they happen to be the first to alert the law enforcement agencies, a fact that would be testified by law enforcement agencies.

So why have this congressional hearing? Peter King and his rightwing Republican supporters are trying to ride on the way of Islamaphobia created by extremists and religious fundamentalists so that in the coming elections Republican ranks and files can be mobilized to come out in support of the party call to save the country from Islam and Muslims. The ground reality testifies that. In Ohio and other states the introduction of legislation against "ghost sharia law" speaks of the politics of fear and hatred that the Republicans are playing up.
The presence of individuals in law enforcement agencies who are close to this Republican agenda cannot be denied. After all it was our former attorney general John Ashcroft who made the remark "Islam is a religion in which God requires you to send your son to die for Him. Christianity is a faith in which God sends his son to die for you." William "Jerry" Boykin, an Army general in 2003 sparked controversy for giving speeches to fundamentalist Christian audiences during which he asserted, among other things, that Muslims worship idols and that the real enemy of America is not Osama bin Laden or Saddam Hussein but Satan. In a 2003 appearance in Oregon, Boykin said: Islamic extremists hate the U.S., he said, "because we're a Christian nation, because our foundations and our roots are Judeo-Christian." 

It is these individuals with an anti-Islamic agenda who might testify and concoct information against Muslims. They might even find some Muslims too to testify on their behalf for a hefty reward. After all several Muslim informants were paid a handsome amount of money to run sting operations within the community.

With Peter King as chair of the committee, the objectivity of the congressional hearings cannot be guaranteed. Obviously, the hearings and its results are pre-determined and known. The hearings will indict the entire Muslim American community and might create a climate of intolerance that might lead to violence against Muslims.

The Muslim strategy should be based not on the opposition to the hearing but on exposing its proponents. Muslims have nothing to fear. Their record is clear and known to their neighbors. Of those identified by law enforcement agencies as threats to the American society, the number of Muslim Americans is almost nil. Among those who are described by our law enforcement agencies as pedophiles, or trigger-happy individuals or supporters or gangsters or drug dealers or even as domestic abusers, their record is clean and clear. They are being targeted by the Republicans influenced by fundamentalist evangelical Christians for religious and political purposes and not for the security of America 

This game of Peter King is well understood by the interfaith community and many other citizens all over the country. Let King continue his crusade against Islam while we continue to strengthen interfaith movements and programs of mass outreach with people of conscious. Let us learn from the compassion that our beloved Prophet showed to the enemies of Islam. With compassion Muslims can overcome the hate mongers. It is not out of place to suggest that the leadership of national Muslim organization should organize a national goodwill tour visiting smaller towns responding to the fears created by the Republican hate mongers.

Dr. Aslam Abdullah is president of the Nevada Islamic Society