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Nov. 21, 2006
Muslims are not reluctant Americans
By Kaleem Kawaja
The recent election in US was a watershed for the now 300 million strong American nation - the world's third most populous country. With a clear signal to the government and political parties to change the direction of the 3 plus year old very damaging war in Iraq the American voters took a decisive and meaningful step. For the now six million strong Muslim community in US also this election brought new recognition and new meaning to their American citizenship.
For the first time in the history of US, a Muslim American was elected by popular vote and a convincing margin to the US Congress as a Congressman. Only a decade ago most Muslims did not think that this was a near-term possibility. Representative Keith Ellison of Minnesota is an authentic representative of the Muslims of America. Born in US, of US parents, he converted to Islam as a teenager on his own conviction. While his career as a lawyer and a politician blossomed on main street America, he continued to seek the many positive features of Islam for guidance in a contradictory and turbulent world. He neither runs away from Islam nor wears Islam on his sleeve. He is a practicing Muslim who sees the American Muslim community as a positive force for the growth of America in a positive direction.
In addition to Keith Ellison another handful of American Muslims also succeeded in entering the halls of political power by triumphing in the recent election. One is Saqib Ali of Gaithersburg, MD, who was elected as a Delegate in the Maryland state House of Delegates. This young man who was born in US of Pakistani-American parents successfully pursued a career as an Information Technology engineer, while nursing his plans to enter the American political and electoral arena.
Other than the above successful personalities, another dozen or so Muslim-Americans contested the primary elections in the Democratic and Republican primary elections in July-September and the election in early November. Four names that come to mind are: Shakoor Ahmad of Prince Georges County, Maryland who contested the Democratic party primary for the position of a Delegate in the Maryland state House of Delegates; Tufail Ahmad who contested in the democratic party primary for the position of a Councilman in Maryland's Montgomery county; Janet Siddiqui who contested for a position on the Board of Education in Maryland's Howard county; Morshid Alam of New York who contesated for a seat on the New York City Council. Even though they were not elected they achieved a very important milestone for the community - namely putting America's Muslim community on the electoral and political map of the American nation.
Up until the November election the highest elected Muslim official in US was Larry Shaw - a Delegate to the House of Delegates in Tennessee State. In the 2004 election too a few Muslim candidates had competed but were not elected.
Today, barely five years after the terrible terrorist attack on the key symbols of the American nation by a set of very misguided individuals who happened to be Muslim, the US Muslims as a community appear to have shrugged off much of the very defamatory fall out from that disaster. From Boston and New York to Dallas and San Francisco, from sea to shining sea, the American-Muslim community is demonstrating a new resolve, a resolve to overcome the heavy odds and succeed in entering the halls of American political power on their own merit.
Across many states and cities in US where Muslims live in sizeable numbers they have formed numerous Muslim Political Action Committees and Muslim political councils, at federal, state and county levels. Through these Muslim platforms that have increasingly integrated themselves with the nation's two main political parties - Democrats and Republicans - in the six months preceding the November election, hundreds if not thousands of Muslims campaigned for candidates of their choice and conducted fundraising events for them. In the aftermath of the election, Muslim PACs in many states are advocating with political leaders who were elected governors and county executives, to give highly visible political appointment positions like cabinet and sub-cabinet level positions, to Muslims. After a thirty year wait the American Muslims are becoming savvy in the art of participating in the mainstream political process and are deriving benefits from it.
The 2004 conventions of the Democratic and Republican parties saw a significant number of Muslims, mostly young men and women, attend them as convention delegates of their respective parties. For the last five years, every year a small San Francisco based Muslim group has placed young Muslim students as interns in the offices of US Senators and Congressmen during the summer vacations. This program begun by late Marghoob Quraishi, with financial help from the Muslim community, manages this very beneficial program every year.
In the states where Muslim population is sizeable e.g. Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, Michigan, Illinois, California, Texas, Florida, Georgia one notices a new phenomenon in the Muslim community. The well educated and well to do professional Muslims, who thirty years ago dedicated themselves to building Islamic centers, mosques and Sunday schools, are now switching over to the building of Muslim political organizations and participation in mainstream American civic, electoral and political forums.
For about five years now most Islamic Centers in US have regularly conducted interfaith programs with much vigour, especially in the month of Ramadan, to invite non-Muslim Americans and government officials to their Centers and mosques for dialogue, intermingling and to discuss common interest civic issues.
Yet the areas of mainstream American life where we do not see adequate representation of Muslims are the armed services, police force and media. The number of Muslims in US army, navy, air force, marines, coast guard, security forces, and police force continues to be very paltry. These are well paid respectable services. One hopes that soon the youth of the community will start joining them for service to the nation. The almost total absence of Muslims from the mainstream American electronic and print media is though a cause for much concern. Again let us hope that very soon more of our young men and women will enter the important field of journalism which will help correct the misbalanced image of the community.
Today about a dozen national organizations of American Muslims, e.g. Council on American Muslim Relations, Muslim Public Affairs Council, American Muslim Alliance, American Muslim Taskforce, Muslim American Society, Islamic Society of North America, Islamic Circle of North America, Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy etal have opened liaison and public relations offices in Washington DC - the nerve center of America's political activity.
Today one finds Muslim professionals continue to do well in all professional fields e.g. engineering, medicine, pharmacy, financial services, accountancy, academics, law, business, and one sees a lot of off springs of these first generation Muslim citizens either as young professionals or as students in colleges of their choice. A remarkable phenomenon in this area is the very large number of Muslim women and girls becoming high achievers.
The indigenous American Muslims who may have lagged behind in education and socioeconomic arena are however well represented in the political and civic fields. With 42 African-American Congressmen on the Capitol Hill, one of whom is now a Muslim, and the common bonds of being a minority, the prospects of Muslims being more successful in American politics can be very promising.
The total picture of the American Muslim community is, that about forty years after they became a community in America, the Muslim citizens are enthusiastic Americans. America's six million Muslims are high on the American nation, its value system, its work ethics, its regard for democracy and justice for all, and its ethos of equal rights. Not only they are an integral part of the American life in most areas, they are trying to utilize the Islamic ideals to correct the aberrations and shortcomings of daily life in America.
(Kaleem Kawaja is a community activist and UMA representative in Washington DC.)
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