Change Your Condition.Net

In the name of Allah the Most Beneficent the Most Merciful

 

And there came a man, running, from the furthest end of the City. He said: “O Moses! The chiefs are taking counsel together about you, to kill you: so go way [escape], for I do give thee sincere advice.” [Holy Qur’an – 28:20]

 

In the spirit of naseeha I would like to respond to some of the sentiments and comments in a recent blog entry posted by the astute and knowledgeable Imam, Abu Laith (may Allah preserve him and allow us to continue to benefit from him) on his blog entitled, “Islamophobia; Is That Our Only Response to Criticism?”

 

With all due respect I recognize my position in knowledge and age with respect to yours can only be that of a sincere adviser as noted in the famous hadith recorded in Imam An-Nawawi’s (r) “Arba’een”. So it is in this spirit that I have to respectfully disagree, in part, with what you have concluded, unless of course I have misunderstood your comments.

 

In large part I agree and support many of the points that you make. However, I wish to offer an additional perspective and points of clarification to the issue under discussion, namely; ‘Islamophobia’. In the introduction to the article you note,

 

“As Muslims, accurate and responsible use of categorical verbiage is a moral obligation, and in this case, a vital tactical adjunct for Muslims in America. This is why it is critical that before we wage jihad against islamophobia, we accurately define the terminology.”

 

While I agree with the notion of clarifying terminologies and more importantly using correct terminologies, herein, I contend that despite the abuse of terms by Muslim and non-Muslims alike we should not loose site of the issues as I see it.  Let’s not miss the forest in spite of the trees.

 

Firstly, if we are to discuss terminologies, I would say that the issue is not that of so-called ‘islamophobia’ rather what we see amongst intellectual, political, cultural and media currents is nothing short of varying aspects of Informational Warfare (yet another elusive term). Whether the attempts are premeditated and calculated or accidental and uniformed it is disquieting in any regard.  

 

Informational Warfare can take the form of “ideological/psychological warfare[1]” was well as “propaganda campaigns^[2]” as noted by Martin C. Libicki in his book “What Is Information

 Warfare?”, he writes,

 

“Information warfare, as a separate technique of waging war, does not exist. There are, instead, several distinct forms of information warfare, each laying claim to the larger concept. Seven forms of information warfare-conflicts that involve the protection, manipulation, degradation, and denial of information-can be distinguished: …(iv) psychological warfare (in which information is used to change the minds of friends, neutrals and foes),”

 

Libicki further includes,

 

(vi) economic information warfare (blocking information or channeling it to pursue economic dominance) and (vii) cyberwarfare (a grab bag of futuristic scenarios). All these forms are weakly related. The concept of information warfare has as much analytic coherence as the concept, for instance, of an information worker”.

Germane to our discussion are the references to psychological warfare and economic information warfare. If we are to move this discussion out of the context of a “phobia”, and what it suggest of absurdities, and into the context of a “war” or “campaign”; then I contend that we can’t dismiss the relationship with Americas Foreign Policy as it was dismissed in your post.

 

It would be wise as this point to make clear that this is not a call to hysteria or frenzy and panic. Rather, it is simply to “call a spade a spade”, as they say. Why is this important? The answer should be obvious!

 

However you look at it, the media and information resources of the Middle-East and Africa pale in comparison to that of the United States and its European allies, rendering the poorly equipped third-world respondents of such a strategy asymmetric at best. Similarly the indigenous American Muslim community does not control the resources and means to counteract the media and intellectual outlets that have histories, organization and financial foundations spanning decades and in come cases centuries.

 

This brings me to the second issue which is the transposing of information regarding specific peoples, ideologies, incidents and issues on the entire Muslim world. That is to say, if a terrorist attacks in Israel then it is transposed as a “Muslim” issue or “problem with the Muslims” or “violence in the name of Islam” despite the various groups and leaders that have decried such acts. Still, we are all too aware of such phrases which exaggerate and protract these issues as not merely the concerns of the parties involved. No! They must become issues which the “International Community” must respond to - down to local their administrative domains – though they lay thousands of miles away and affect those who have no responsibility, connection or appreciation for the incidents, peoples, ideologies and issues in question, a very loose and unjust attempt at “guilt by association”.

 

This is not to overstate the issues. To lay aside foreign policy from the discussion of propaganda and information campaigns would be like dismissing the issue of terrorism in discussing “The War on Terrorism”. As I see it, there has been a consistent effort to dismiss Muslims in the West as not being “real Muslims”. Well before 9/11 Muslims were dealing with this issue of polarization. It has always been the Muslims in the Middle East that were the “real Muslims”. It was only the Islam of the Arab world that represented the “true Islam”.

 

Through the lens of “Orientalism” Western media has created a snapshot of Islam that they wish to sale to the public at the expense of the majority of Muslims living outside Arab lands. To disclose the indigenous Muslim populations in the West that have existed hundreds of years and have congealed in the last 100 years would be to disclose that Islam and Muslims are not authenticated by Arabs and “Middle Eastern Islam”. You should know this all too well! This needs to be made explicit for those who do not know or have familiarity with the indigenous community that has been purposefully sidelined. At present the only mention of indigenous and long-time immigrant Muslim populations in the West is in the context of threat assessment. There is no discussion of our contributions and development. Nay! Our peaceful coexistence! We are pushed into a corner only to justify our existence and purpose here. I believe I see this same sentiment in your article which downplays the efforts of Muslims in this country despite our “issues”.

 

How many Muslim communities were a bastion to ex-drug addicts and prisoners seeking to reform? How many Muslim communities where involved in reducing drugs, and gang-violence in the inner-cities where churches and social work had failed? How many of our Imams and activist have stood on the front lines of marches and demonstrations for social and political reform in this country? How many Muslims function in this society at professional levels in medicine, education, social work and information technology?

 

Has it not been the policy of the US to support Saudi Arabia and Pakistan providing outlets through the local embassies for dawah material to be dispersed to the American Muslim community? Has it not been the policy of the US to support Wahhabi’s financially and politically for well over 100 years? Now that the Wahhabi dawah materials prove to be problematic are we to succumb to random searches of masajid tracking leaflets, books, CD’s and DVD’s?

 

The consistent influx of US supported dawah efforts inside the US has been a concern to Muslims in America for at least 30 years. Has it not? The elders of our community were well aware of the out of context fatawa, staunch positions and stultifying rhetoric that has emerged through these foreign instruments. From Ahmadiyyahs, extreme Sufi’s up to the current Salafi/Wahhabi Movement. African American Muslims, specifically, have contended with these ideologies that always had the profile of being government supported. We have seen leadership, communities, and masajid fragmented and fractured in these ideological fights. We hold our own account of casualties and collateral damage in an ideological war that started long before 9/11.

 

So I do find offensive to call on Muslim, in a nutshell, to put-up-or-shut-up because America is a “what have you done for me lately” kinda country. Have we gotten caught in the whirlwind of “prove your patriotism” that was ushered in under the current administration? Should Muslims acquiesce to secularist and atheist only to present our sins at the alter of relativism so as to confess, “Indeed religion has failed us too”? Surely, that is what they wish to follow from this public tabloid approach that Muslims have adopted in broadcasting and spreading the sins and misdeeds of the Ummah. Are we seeking a media baptismal as we confess our shortcomings and sins? Is it to say, “We are like you!”

 

Yes, we have our internal issues and problems that need to be addressed. Allah knows best the condition of this Ummah. Masha Allah we are in predicament that Muslims have not really been in before. May Allah guide us, strengthen our Iman and gives us the tawfiq to judge by His criterion. But I don’t quite understand reasoning that suggests that we are to accept the bashing of Islam as a result of our sins. Is it really the case that we should sit by and accept the media explain to the world who and what Islam and Muslims are about because ‘islamophobia’ really only represents a 1% threat and therefore is not a real priority?

 

How can it be the case that Muslims should not be concerned about prejudice that translates into stringent domestic policy? When the FBI and CIA can legitimately and secretly investigate your finances, tap your telephone calls, read your e-mails and capture your Instant Messages based on your religion or race. We should not be concerned about this? A person is no longer innocent. You are guilty until proven guiltier in their book!

 

In the current milieu, guilt by association is what derailed the innocent plans of Debbie Almontaser in her efforts with the Khalil Jibran schools. It is the fuel for the current media unrest over the new ICNA dawah campaign. It is enough for a man that he had written a check to support Palestinian children that he somehow be associated with Hamas.

 

So I ask, is it only a matter of time before our zakat payments are scrutinized, that our schools are investigated, and we are told which books and Islamic materials are acceptable and which aren’t? Will we be refused patronage at restaurants because our wives hijab makes the other patrons “uncomfortable”? Will making salah in public be looked upon as a security threat?

 

By your estimation, if we are to simply ignore the threat of the current “propaganda campaign” because someone gave it the term “islamophobia”. Then I say that we are not too far off from these things if we simply turn inward and concern ourselves with our sins while not taking actions against injustices that are being committed against us. We have to work on both fronts in a nuanced manner.

 

I intend no ill will and hope that you would respond in kind for perhaps I have misunderstood you.

 

Sincerely your brother in Islam,

 

Tariq