Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, May/June 1998, Pages 115-116

Mahjabeen’s Musings: A Muslim Traveler Along the American Way

Muslim Self-Determination—It’s Time!

By Mahjabeen Islam-Husain

It’s the same old whine, it seems to me, and yet the question is more urgent than ever. What is the extent of Muslim involvement (activism seems too advanced a word) in issues that concern them here in the U.S. as well as internationally?

Muslim behavior as seen in small groups bears strong resemblance to our behavior as larger groups and even as entire nations. I have felt for a long time that disagreement with fellow Muslims is what defines a Muslim. “I beg to differ” sadly typifies us.

The United Muslim Association of Toledo (UMAT), a group with representation from the five mosques in Toledo, was formed in September 1996. In a meeting on Feb. 15, 1998 a handful of members felt that we should voice our protest about possible U.S. military action in Iraq. The date for the protest was set for Friday, Feb. 20.

Essentially four UMAT members went to work—typing up and printing pamphlets explaining why there should not be military intervention, drawing up placards and sending out press releases. I was given the “honor” of being interviewed by a local radio talk show host, well known for his anti-Arab bias, and a brand of humor that he voiced repeatedly before and after my interview in which he talked about “one bomb, one plane,” a nuclear attack which he said would effectively take care of things.

The task of calling Muslim families was divided between three callers, I being one. We called 800 families, with an extrapolation of there being 2,000-plus Muslims in the Toledo area. Our calls were very well received, our vision was appreciated and our “courage” complimented. Due to the great professionalism of one of our UMAT members, all of the local TV stations not only were informed but also all showed up for the demonstration.

The evening before, my interview with Mr. Personality went exceptionally well, in that I was able to slip in all the relevant information between his wisecracks. I spoke about the genocide in Iraq, in these our modern times. Many in the Toledo area were less surprised to hear my voice on the radio than they were at how “nice” he was to me. The bonus was that our protest rally was announced on the radio four times.

Friday afternoon was a chilly one. The camera crews were there before time, as was the local newspaper reporter, and of course Mr. Personality. All of 154 people were there, about 7 percent of the Muslim population in the Greater Toledo area.

Television footage appeared in the 6 p.m. and the 11 p.m. news, including interviews with Iraqis who gave poignant accounts of their losses in the 1991 Gulf war. An Iraqi woman wondered what America wanted from old people and children, for they were all who were left in Iraq. Most importantly, a front-page photograph of our demonstration in the newspaper showed a placard stating clearly, “American Foreign Policy should be based on Justice.”

Accolades are great for the ego. Everyone told us we had done so well. But had we really? Or had we done merely the basic minimum duty of every Muslim?

Statisticians might feel that 7 percent representation from a particular population group is good, but idealists like me beg to differ. Excuses/explanations for the 154- strong showing ranged from mildly plausible through creative to ridiculous. People were afraid for their visa status, their standing in their workplace, neighborhood or social circle, or their personal safety or even their lives!

Shamefully, the only Pakistani-Americans present were my family, and two little old ladies dressed in Pakistani garb—great targets for February frostbite. In fairness, however, many other community members were out of town, a reasonable situation given Toledo’s winter weather.

However, I suspect that some of the young Pakistani-American princesses could not take time out from their daily soap opera addiction to make an appearance. I wonder what they might do if, God forbid, their own children were ever imperiled.

Since then I, too, have just returned from Cancun after a great sun-filled vacation with the family. On the flight back I kept trying to get pieces of the Washington Report read, between games and laughter with my daughters.

I started to read the piece by Kathy Kelly on page 22 of the April ’98 issue, where she described her visit to Iraq with Voices in the Wilderness. Suddenly, and much to my embarrassment, I found myself crying. I put down the magazine and blinked away the tears. Then I picked up the magazine and tried again. This time the tears just streamed, and my daughters noticed.

I showed them the piece, and toyed with momentary psychosis—with wanting to wail and show all the passengers on the flight how our government is not just killing people but innocent little children, not just a few, but thousands upon thousands.

Like Kathy Kelly I felt ashamed for having what I do—health and abundance. Nothing is more valuable to a mother than the well-being of her children, and mothers in Iraq live to see their children die, hopelessly, helplessly.

My guilt and my anger were boundless. Muslim Americans live in plenty and go on vacations to get away from it all—all the stress and the toil that make those very vacations possible.

Well I have news for all of us. Firstly, each Muslim has two types of duties—the first called huqooq-allah or the rights of God, and the second, huqooq-ul-ibad, or the rights that our families, friends, and people at large have over us.

It is very well known that God in His Infinite Mercy will forgive us certain transgressions—examples being lapses in our routine obligations of prayer, fasting, charity, etc. But problems will arise from huqooq-ul-ibad. It is widely believed that in this arena the individual you have wronged must forgive you before God forgives that particular transgression.

I was so wholly distraught with what Kathy Kelly wrote that it took some time before my memory bank could recount my personal token effort.

Collective Ineffectiveness

The collective ineffectiveness of the Muslim world enrages me. In the U.S., Muslims this time probably were more vociferous than ever before. And yet considering our numerical strength of six to eight million, our representation is pathetic. Considering that Muslims worldwide are one billion (a fair number sitting on heaps of oil and other natural resources), our voice is akin to dead silence.

God in the Qur’an states clearly that He helps only those who have a consciousness to help themselves. He also states, “Hold on tightly to the rope of Allah and be not divided” (Qur’an 3:103).

But we have been, are and perhaps always will be divided. We have lost the forest for the trees, and energetically differ, harangue and hinder one another—at an individual level, community level and national level.

The Jews are berated in the Qur’an for changing God’s laws, but I feel that the accursed are the Muslims. We were massacred out of Spain, in Bosnia, in the Iran-Iraq war, and now genocide proceeds unchecked right under our noses.

But our personal agendas take precedence. We are afraid for multifarious reasons—the major one connected in some way to our personal economics.

More news guys! God guarantees the livelihood of every soul—so whether you get out there and write letters to the newspapers, participate in a protest, write to your political representative, stand for office or just sit in mental sloth in your mansions and your Mercs—your due shall come from God.

What would it take to awaken America’s slumbering Muslims? How can one correct our collective myopia? What should we imagine our children suffering in order for us to metamorphose from spectators into participants?

Even more news! Perhaps to humor his pro-Israel lobbyists and their greenbacks, Al Gore is reputed to be considering a plan to put the first Jewish president into the White House. Meanwhile, we Muslim Americans, who already are more numerous in the United States than our Jewish compatriots, are still only dreaming of having just one Muslim among 535 members of Congress, and can’t even imagine the day when there might be a Muslim in a presidential cabinet or on the Supreme Court.

The rumored plan, as I understand it, is that while Republican officeholders chase their tobacco and gun lobby dollars, thus assuring that mainstream voters can’t take them seriously, and with the Israel lobby bankrolling his own presidential bid, Gore will choose an attractive Jewish running mate, perhaps Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California who, come 2008, would nudge AIPAC’s dream into reality.

Do I hear scoffing? If peacenik Clinton can be presidential in the Oval Office and allegedly adulterous in the cubicle next door and still see his approval ratings rise, and if the United States remains the willing instrument to carry out genocide in Iraq—in the absence of effective political activity from our community we most certainly can expect to see U.S. acquiescence as Israel continues to bar Muslims and Christians from their Holy Places in Jerusalem, and Palestine smoothly erased from the face of the earth.

Muslims must fulfill their duties to their fellow Muslims. The key is awareness and action. Action can be individual or collective. Write to your congressman/senator, get involved at your mosque or community center, become a member of the American Muslim Alliance (Tel: 510-742-1126) or the American Muslim Council. Vote in the primaries and the general election. Most ideally, stand for office—so that the Muslim point of view is represented in the laws that are drafted.

Give Voices in the Wilderness a call (773-784-8065) with monetary or medical help, not to forget our deep gratitude.

All this is not just hysterical drama, only ruthless reality. For those of us with faith in the Last Day, let us not stand unquestioningly loyal to Clinton, Albright and Co. lest the blood of Iraqi children should spill over onto us.