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MPAC Bulletin – Oct. 15, 2006
What should Muslim American leaders
expect from US Gov't Iftars?
By Salam Al-Marayati
The Bush Administration is issuing invitations for Ramadan Iftars (fast breaking dinners), a kind gesture from our nation's leadership. While many Muslim American leaders will attend these gatherings, it is with the hope that they are not merely ceremonial. During this Ramadan, we
should address means to advance a substantial relationship between the U.S. government and the Muslim American community. We would rather have a serious discussion about human rights, which is more important than a government official saying nice things about our religion. Regardless of how much Islam is tarnished by extremists from the East and West, it will remain the religion that gives life to the dead of mind, gives reminders to transgressors and gives hope to the oppressed.
Here's the message we need to keep in mind with our government officials. We have yet to see serious, consistent, in-depth discussions about policies that affect our nation on both domestic and international fronts. We have yet to see the President or any Cabinet official assign a
Muslim American who is representative of the mainstream community, as an advisor on policy issues. We have seen an increase in the number of low-level analysts and linguists, but talk about them is so quiet in Washington that it appears there is fear about publicly declaring that
Muslim Americans are just as important in Capitol Hill policy discourse as anyone else. Why the fear? Ask our government officials. Ask them why they have failed to demonstrate the courage to stand up to those who continue to drive a wedge between Muslim Americans and the U.S.
government, at the detriment of U.S. interests, be they national security, peace-making or civil liberties.
A glaring example of misguided and baseless Muslim bashing which costs policymakers thoughtful and needed analysis from Muslim Americans comes from Congressman Peter King (R-NY), now chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security. It's no coincidence that King employs blatant scare tactics during an election season which finds his party under questioning because of the Iraq war, corruption and sex scandals. In the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, he accused American mosques of extremism, claiming that 85% of them are run by extremists. Last week, he turned on the Islamic Center of Long Island (ICLI), a mosque in his district he has yet to visit but finds convenient to bash, despite the fact that Christian and Jewish leaders also in the district have rallied behind the mosque. It's bad enough that King keeps pushing lies until they're
accepted as fact, but what is worse is that no public official has stepped forward with the truth. The leader of the mosque, Dr. Faroque Khan, has sat in meetings with FBI Director Robert Mueller in headquarters in Washington, has sanctioned ICLI youth participation in an interfaith
youth trip to the Holy Land, and has unequivocally condemned terror and religious violence countless times.
Some say that complaints over exclusion are simply whining, but they are the ones who are whining. Exclusion of Muslim Americans from U.S. politics has robbed America from its most important tool in fighting terrorism and advancing other domestic and international interests. It is
Muslims themselves who are the only one's capable of defeating the ideology of al-Qaeda, not the U.S. government. King's rants are only a small part of a pattern on Capitol Hill of scaring lawmakers from engaging with Muslim Americans. Forums have been canceled and meetings have been closed to the public for fear of a backlash from the likes of Rep. King. Whenever
Muslim Americans knock on the door of policy-makers for dialogue or apply for positions within the policy-making community, excuses abound as to why they cannot fit the position, all of them poor.
Muslim Americans have been transferred out of public liaison positions in the White House, and are relegated to working in closets from where they are rarely sighted. There is no Muslim American liaison in the administration or government agencies assigned to the Muslim American
community. Other Muslim Americans who have served our country with valor in law enforcement have been under political attack from the right and re-positioned as consultants. There is pushback whenever a Senator or a member of Congress wants to sit down and dialogue with a mainstream Muslim organization. Even awards for public service by FBI field offices have
been rescinded for fear of backlash inside the Washington beltway.
The best and the brightest young American Muslims have applied to assist the State Department to develop a message that bridges the divide between the United States and the Muslim world. The only response is they've received to date is "thanks, but no thanks." I have no doubt that
such policy positions are held by intelligent people, but they lack the understanding and religious knowledge needed in connecting with Muslim masses abroad.
The regular public character assassinations against Muslim organizations in the U.S. are not simply a practice of eliminating political opposition, but plays into Bin Laden's hand by fueling an ideological clash of civilizations. The scare-tactics used by the ideological right wing
are pushing disengagement rather than engagement with Muslim Americans. The repercussion from this disengagement serve to ghettoize Muslim American communities, and hence the seeds of a European phenomenon immigrants living in social isolation are now taking root in America.
It's time to call out those who want to have a relationship with Muslim Americans in private, where they gain information and analyses, but who remain fearful of publicizing the relationship. This will produce unease and tension, indeed, but not out of our making.
As Martin Luther King said to friends who questioned his tactics: "Actually, we who engage in nonviolent direct action are not the creators of tension. We merely bring to the surface the hidden tension that is already alive. We bring it out in the open, where it can be seen and dealt with. Like a boil that can never be cured so long as it is covered up but must be opened with an its ugliness to the natural medicines of air and light, injustice must be exposed, with all the tension its exposure creates, to the light of human conscience and the air of national opinion before it can be cured." He wrote that prose from a jail cell in Birmingham.
We are all imprisoned by injustice and ignorance today. It's high time we have that conversation this Ramadan with the White House, the State Department and all federal agencies.
[Salam Al-Marayati is the Executive Director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council.]
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