You’ve probably seen a Muslim in a public place at some point in time. Given the rising anti-Muslim sentiment in the US, you probably went through the brief discomfort associated with the questions: “Is it wrong to feel suspicious about this guy?” and “How do I know he/she isn’t plotting something?”

Right wing pundits wish to make you believe that you’re being forced under the pressure of illogical “political correctness” to treat Muslims with equality. I’m here to tell you that you can put all notions of political correctness aside and simply look at the facts:

- By far, more Muslims have been victims to terrorist attacks worldwide than non Muslims. It is likely that the random Muslim you see at the mall will have a relative that was injured or killed by a terrorist attack somewhere in the world. Of all people, it is Muslims who have been suffering the most on the hands of terrorists, both directly by being attack targets and indirectly by becoming targets of increased bias from non Muslims.

Muslims know this, and they surely do not appreciate terrorists for making their lives more miserable.

- Muslim governments, religious scholars, and lay people have been more effective in fighting terrorism than all Western governments’ efforts. Millions of dollars spent on wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have not been as effective as the many, many Fatwas from prominent Muslim scholars condemning terrorism. Muslim governments in the Middle East have been at the forefront of fighting terrorists for decades. US politicians can attest to that, and more recognition of this fact should be portrayed by the media.

Moreover, Since 9/11, most Muslims have taken it upon themselves to be anti-terror advocates within their own communities. This has been a particularly powerful tool in internally curbing fanaticism, arguably far more effective than any surveillance measure or “sting” operation the FBI can enact. In other words, the next Muslim you meet has probably done more to hamper terrorism than you did. You’re welcome.

That said, Islamic centers in the US need to place more focus on creating engaged, socially active youth programs that strive for global justice while rejecting terrorism as a tool.

- On the other hand, people are quick to forget the policies and geopolitical/economic circumstances that feed anti-western fanfare. No radical Muslim scholar has been more inspirational to terrorists than the F16 or drone that bombs Muslim villages. The dire straits in which many U.S. policies put already rife Muslim nations often results in many negative attitudes being strengthened and confirmed among people in majority Muslim nations. Yes, you’ve heard that many times before – that doesn’t make it false.

- Lastly, it goes without saying that, statistically speaking, most mass shootings in the US have been perpetrated by non Muslims. That Muslim that you’re looking at is probably just as afraid of violence in society as you are. In addition, he or she probably is especially anxious because they feel that there’s a good chance of people being biased against them.

- American Muslims are giving up rights in order to avoid FBI scrutiny. The unabashedly brazen profiling against Muslims in airports, surveillance, and online activity, coupled with the many instances of complete overruling of the constitutional rights of Muslim US citizens, has forced many Muslims to “voluntarily” give up freedoms you enjoy. Many Muslims refrain from speaking their minds, buying weapons, or displaying pride in their religion for fear they may be subject to FBI monitoring. So before you think that Muslims enjoy all the rights and freedoms America has to offer, they don’t. That Muslim you’re suspicious of is paying the same taxes as you are while living less free.

- Even if, hypothetically speaking, right wing pundits get their way and all Muslims are driven out of the US, do you really think these pundits won’t find another minority to ostracize? Without a make-believe “enemy within”, they will all but surely evaporate spontaneously.

- Without Muslims, many Americans would be largely ignorant of world politics. Muslims in blogs, on Facebook, and in various walks of life have been instrumental in educating Americans about the other side of foreign affairs. This is, at the least, a strong enrichment for society if not an essential elixir for world peace.

- It’s just ridiculous to be suspicious of 1/5 of the world’s population. I mean, what kind of life is it when every fifth person you meet is an enemy until proven otherwise? The pundits are using your emotions to make profit while making you more anxious and afraid.

You can be the better person by shutting them off.

One of my high school friends grew up to become an orthopedic surgeon. He works in a busy hospital in which he sees all kinds of cases — from trauma to congenital malformations to tumors. When I asked him what he considers the most difficult cases to treat, he said that the one thing that raises the hair on the back of his neck is not seeing a tumor on a radiograph; it’s being able to see bone through the skin.

Read the rest of Hani’s piece here.

African American Muslims make up a large part of the American Muslim community, constituting at least 30% of the population. You may be familiar with African-American Muslims of the twentieth century, but Muslims were here long before that–nearly as long as Europeans. Black History month gives us a great opportunity to look back at the rich history of the Muslim African American presence in our country.

Read the rest of Zafar’s piece here

Arms and liberty. There is an accepted connection between the two, a connection perpetually repeated by pro-gun pundits. Soon after the Sandy Hook tragedy, pro-gun activists took to the airwaves and the internet in a frenetic frenzy, warning the populace that their freedom is at stake and that they should stock up on all kinds of weapons before it’s too late, especially borderline-illegal heavy duty artillery that is just waiting to be outlawed by nature.

The frenzy worked.

So spectacularly so that weapon sales spiked high enough for me to say that the biggest beneficiary of every mass shooting appears to be the weapons manufacturing industry itself.

Sure – the solution is not a sweeping arms ban and I’m not here to defend such a ban. In fact, I’m all for being able to purchase a deterring weapon for safety when one has good reason to feel threatened in his/her home. However, I’m just not seeing the connection between liberty and guns.

First of all, since the writing of the Second Amendment, government has grown far more physically powerful, quantity and quality wise, than any militia within the US is capable of opposing. Recent years have seen many militias dismantled and apprehended by government forces with relative ease.

But the truly revealing fact about the disconnect between guns and liberty is that the government has already stripped us, the heavily armed people of the USA, of some of our most basic rights as a free people. Ever hear of the NDA Act that was signed by the president in 12/2011? It literally allows the military to detain any US citizen inside or outside of the US indefinitely and without due process. It’s currently being challenged by a few congressmen in order to allow for a “trial”, without stipulating a maximum length for detention or the kind of trial (could be a military tribunal). It is even said that some Americans are already detained under this act. It is, right now, law.

And how about the fact that the government is currently, and has been for a while, recording and storing every phone or internet conversation, every post, every e-mail, and every text message we send or receive? They may not be monitoring our conversations in real time (which they do whenever they so wish), but when they need to use our recorded communications against us years later, they’ll know where to look.

Have our weapons done anything to stop this? In fact, has any gun enthusiast done anything substantial to try to stop it even without using weapons? Here’s a list of the plaintiffs currently suing the Obama administration for the NDA Act, AKA those who are actually doing something about it:

Chris Hedges: an American journalist, author, and war correspondent. Self proclaimed liberal. Not a gun enthusiast.

Daniel Ellsberg: a former United States military analyst who does not have a YouTube channel flaunting his machine guns.

Noam Chomsky: an American linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, and activist. Probably the most soft spoken favorite target of conservative pundits. Can’t imagine him hurting a fly.

Birgitta Jónsdóttir: a member of the Icelandic Parliament, and she’s fighting for you, red blooded American with a semi automatic.

Jennifer “Tangerine” Bolen: the founder and Executive Director of RevolutionTruth, an organization dedicated to restoring bla-bla-probably-never-fired-a-weapon-in-her-life.

Kai Wargalla: a student and activist who is involved in the Occupy Movement. Enough said.

Alexa O’Brien: who founded usdayofrage.org, which endorsed and helped organize the September 17 action to Occupy Wall Street. Will probably never be a guest on a conservative talk show.

I do not see a gun enthusiast on the list. So not only are weapons not doing anything to stop the government’s continual erosion of our civil liberties (because weapons really can’t), but weapon lovers are largely warming the benches as they pretend to be the only “real men” out there with their camouflage suits and beer.

Until I’m proven wrong, my gut feeling about gun lovers is right: they love guns because they love grown up toys. The only freedom they defend is the freedom to buy guns as an extension of the freedom to buy toys. There is nothing wrong with loving toys and God knows I have my share of toy obsessions, but if it’s liberty we seek, our options are the courts, the streets, and the media. Guns are not on the list simply because they are evidently not capable of forcing the government to give us freedom.

So instead of showing off your weapons on Youtube as if you’re the champion of liberty/manhood, why don’t you actually do something about the erosion of civil liberties by calling your Representative and demanding an end to the NDA Act?

On December 14, 2012, late in the afternoon – I became aware of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. It was painful to read the stories, emails and newsfeed as they poured over the tragedy. In times of crisis and pain like this, as a Muslim I immediately turn to prayer to gain strength and to reflect on the situation. In the evening, I joined an online prayer service on SeekersHub in Toronto.

The Toronto team was able to gather a large crowd at the Hub and online for our prayer for the victims and families of the murder in Connecticut. “The believer is pained by the pain of another,” said Shaykh Faraz Rabbani while leading the prayers for the affected families of Connecticut.

Read the rest of Fedwa’s article here.

Like everything else in life, another election has come and passed. It’s funny how, on Wednesday morning after it was all done, a sense of calm enveloped everything. I love my neighborhood for the fact that I hardly see any yard signs at all no matter how heated the elections get, which means that my neighbors are either that apathetic or that intelligent – I will choose the latter. But even the passion of the most passionate advocates on both sides seemed to wither away in the cool winds of the Minnesota fall.

Although I didn’t vote for Obama, I do have a slight sense of relief. A relief not because he won, but because Romney didn’t. Unfortunately, that’s how it goes in most elections these days:  many are forced out to the voting booths not out of love, not out of enthusiasm or hope or a dream of a better future, but out of fear of the opposite side. When politics becomes so polarizing with every party smearing the other with caustic labels like “socialist” and “racist”, people vote because of fear.

Muslims are no exception. A poll showed that 85% of American Muslims who voted gave their votes to President Obama. Surely that’s not because he’s perceived as a friend to Muslims. Anyone who follows civil rights news (the news that no one cares about) will easily see that Obama’s administration has been positively horrific in its egregious encroachments on civil rights (indefinite definition, prosecuting whistleblowers, giving more power to the Homeland Security Agency, more aggressive surveillance and domestic spying). Outward displays of Islamophobia in many states have been by far the worst under the Obama administration. Muslims know this (I hope), but Republicans, with their conspicuously wide base of Islamophobes, are scarier to them than Democrats. Muslims voted against the greater of the two evils.

I voted for neither, because I’d rather vote for Cookie Monster than for the two choices that Big Money graciously provided me. Cookie Monster’s independently moving eyes speak of freedom to me more than any Democratic or Republican candidate. I’m not idealistic, I just didn’t feel the urge to make a choice between a president who signed the NDAA act (which allows the military to arrest and detain anyone inside or outside the US indefinitely and without due process based on suspicion of supporting terrorism directly or indirectly) and a candidate who would have lowered taxes on the rich.

Someone once told me that cynicism is optimistic in its nature. I’d say that cynics expect more from people because they have faith that people can do better. What’s so idealistic in hoping for a candidate who has fiscal responsibility and cares for the poor? Who defends family values and cares for the environment? Who loves God and is not totalitarian?

It’s not idealistic, because that would imply that such a candidate does not exist. But he does, and in large numbers. There are many who care for national security and seek a foreign policy that is not exploitative of developing countries. Oh, and they don’t view women as a “minority” and they don’t have a single racist bone in their bodies. They exist – I see tens of them every week..

In my local mosque.

And every mosque is teeming with them. They don’t change their views for money. They don’t womanize or drink. They are too humble to even realize how good they are. They love science and live by it because they see no contradiction between science and religion. They are highly educated. They are what America needs and they are what most Americans dream of for president, whether they believe it or not.

Food for thought. Muslims will always be victimized until they realize that what they have to offer is far superior than what current American politics is capable of. They can choose to keep voting for the lesser of two evils or start working on changing the system so that, one day a hundred years from now, Americans can vote out of love again.

For now, I will keep watching Sesame Street for poetic inspiration.

Autism Spectrum and Other Disabilities Awareness Fair

Activities for kids of all ages!
Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2012
10 a.m.–2:30 p.m.

Islamic Center of Minnesota
Gynasiumm
1401 Gardena Avenue,
Fridley

Autism Spectrum and Other Disabilities Awareness Fair provides a great opportunity for family members to talk to the medical and educational representatives about resources options; visit with organizations, disability, life insurance and wellness program representatives, as well as some community organizations that provide health and wellness programs.

For more information, contact Nemeh Sarraj at sarrne11@hotmail.com or 763-516-6065

There will be gluten free/casein free samples.

This year’s fair highlights include speeches by:

• Theresa Namie from ANSWER
• Nora Slawik from Autism Society of MN
• Nancy Michael from Amaze Works

The following organizations will be present to answer your questions:

Legal:

• Autism Law and Advocacy Center

Education:

• The Whole Learning School

Advocacy:

• ANSWER
• ARC

Employment:

• Opportunity Partners

Rehabilitative Services:

• Fraser
• Midwest Special Services

Other services:

• Art Without Boundaries
• Special Music of MN
• In The Company of Kids
• Amaze Works
• Dodge Nature Center

Your attendance and support is welcome!

The civil unrest in the country of Jordan is the result of complicated local and international circumstances. Blame gets thrown in all directions among the public, the royal family, successive governments, business tycoons and influential tribes. In my limited view, no one is free of guilt except perhaps the impoverished working class. One reason for the unrest would be familiar to Americans in this election season: specifically, the debate about how much government regulation is necessary to ensure fair worker wages and benefits.

Read the rest of Hani’s piece here.

On Sunday, October 7th in North Minneapolis, Masjid An-Nur will host the 2nd annual Twin Cities Day of Dignity, a day to celebrate dignity and well being in the Twin Cities. 

“It means alot to the communities,” said Masjid An Nur Imam Makram El-Amin.  He added that there are: “a ton of services as well as direct services to really help people have a higher quality of life”.

The event is a combination of day of service to the community and a free block party.  There will be many free services including health care services, hair cuts, books & school supplies, winter clothing, meals and health and hygiene kits.

CAIR-MN will be organizing a Free Brief Advice Legal Clinic at the Twin Cities Day of Dignity. This is the state’s only Muslim-run free legal clinic! Any lawyers or law students interested in volunteering, please contact CAIR-MN at info@mn.cair.com

Last year’s Day of Dignity had live music by Brother Ali and Freeway.  This year, there will be live music by Atmosphere and Stalley of Maybach Music Group.

The Day of Dignity – “We’re Here To Help Everyone”

The event will take place outside Masjid An-Nur Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.  Masjid An-Nur is located at 1729 Lyndale Ave N.