Articles
WRMEA, Sept/Oct 2010, Pages 52-53
Muslim-American Activism
Dr. Akbar Ahmed Discusses His Research on Muslim Americans
After traveling to 75 cities and over 100 mosques interviewing Muslim Americans, Dr. Akbar Ahmed, Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies at American University, spoke at the Middle East Institute in Washington, DC on June 23 about his research and the importance of cultural understanding.
Ahmed's new book, Journey into America: The Challenge of Islam, which is based on his research, addresses three levels of issues. The first, explained Ahmed, is "straightforward ethnography." The second level addresses theoretical questions, such as how Muslim Americans assimilate. The third level, he said, deals with how "problems over there [in Islamic countries] affect us over here."
How the United States reacts to the Muslim-American community is "a test for America," said Ahmed, challenging "the core notions of the very dignity of the American citizen."
Ahmed and his team received much positive feedback during their research. Many Muslims, especially those interviewed in Utah, said that "for us, this is the best place to be living." They found that Utah's Mormons reached out to the Muslim community there, heightening these Muslim Americans' experience of assimilation.
"What was discouraging," said Ahmed, "was that there were just too many stories," adding that possible sources of homegrown terrorism include the bullying and discrimination that young Muslim Americans face. In response to an audience member's question as to why the discrimination faced by other ethnic and religious groups does not result in terrorism, Ahmed pointed to the histories of other immigrant groups as compared to that of Muslim Americans. Most Muslims are fairly recent immigrants who have slipped into America's middle class, often unnoticed by the general public. After 9/11, according to Ahmed, an onslaught of negative stereotypes and misconceptions flooded Americans' minds, causing an abrupt, unparalleled surge of hostility.
While on the subject of the benefits of cultural awareness, Ahmed addressed the mistakes the United States has made in Afghanistan due to a lack of understanding of the region, saying, "We cannot win the game if we do not understand that game." Describing recently resigned Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal as being "one finger in the dike," Ahmed opined that had McChrystal been at the forefront at the beginning of the war, the conflict would not have been prolonged. "We are literally pumping money into a huge black hole," he said, arguing that instead the United States should have focused on creating strong judicial and civil service systems, with the police forces and army acting as support, rather than the other way around.
Withdrawing troops at this point, in Ahmed's view, will not contribute to a solution. "All the Taliban has to do is wait it out," he explained. Organizations in countries such as Afghanistan are accustomed to biding their time during the invasions of imperial powers, he noted, until these powers eventually leave.
