Can We Reciprocate Hughes' Effort?

People stay channeled in their thinking by listening only to others who have opinions and points of view that resonate with their own. By avoiding dissonance, the anxiety or confusion resulting from exposure to "strange" ideas, we end up recycling and regurgitating the same information over and over again.

 

This is why the launching of Karen Hughes' "Listening Tour" is a gesture that should not go unnoticed by Muslim Americans. Nor should it be left unreciprocated.

 

At least by name, a "Listening Tour" has the ring of Stephen Covey's 5th Habit, "Seek First To Understand, Then To Be Understood." Listening leads to understanding the other. It also builds the other's trust in you. According to Covey, one of the key benefits of empathic listening is that you can learn how others' perceptions differ from your own. This is how Muslim Americans can break out of the repetitive processes of thought and (in)action that lead us to the frustrating result of not feeling understood.

 

If you were a car salesman and nobody was buying your vehicles, even though they were of excellent quality and price, would you blame the customer?

 

Though Muslims may be skeptical of Hughes' and the Bush administration's intentions in the "Listening Tour," we can still ask what we have done along these very same lines. Trying to help others understand Islam and Muslims is not listening; it's broadcasting our own ideas and opinions. The current state of affairs is that both sides have been shouting past each other in an attempt to persuade the other to see it their way. For obvious reasons, this has not worked.

 

Muslim Americans must take on the role of seeking to understand their fellow Americans' concerns about the Muslim community. We don't do this because we're afraid of what we might hear. Nevertheless, we should approach the situation as empathic listeners, taking in everything that others have to say about us without defending, correcting, or arguing. Afterwards, we must be able to reflect back to them not only their ideas but also the feelings, whether fear, anger or frustration, associated with their thoughts. This is how we can grow to understand other viewpoints. It is also how we can let them know we care enough about them to understand.

 

Seeking to understand, and successfully expressing that understanding back to Non-Muslim Americans contributes to expanding the Muslim American Circle of Influence. We must be sincere, however, and not merely go through the motions of listening so that we can, in turn, get to a hidden agenda of "educating Americans about Islam" or "convincing them that their policy towards the Palestinians is unfair."

 

We want Americans to understand Islam, but first they should understand Muslims. That is not likely to happen until Muslims take positive steps towards understanding Americans and America. 

A Mujahid Against Jihad?

Pakistani-born Christian preacher Robinson Abid has been crusading against Islam in America for the past six years under the name "Mujahid el-Masih," or Warrior of Christ. The stage name he has chosen for himself is derived from the Arabic root "j-h-d," which gives us the word "jihad." "Mujahid," then, means one who makes jihad or, in today's media and political parlance, jihadist. 

 

Mujahid el-Masih's own agenda is to warn Christian Americans about the "silent jihad" in which Muslims plan to take over the country by the year 2020. Regardless of the unlikelihood of his claim, Mujahid el-Masih deserves to be asked about his choice of pseudonym. It seems that somebody giving himself the title of Jihadist has little credibility warning others against jihad, just as a man employing the moniker "Marx" shouldn't go around speaking out against Marxism. Imagine a self-proclaimed Democratic Party with an anti-democracy platform, or an anti-homosexuality movement calling itself the "Gay Way." It just wouldn't make sense.

 

And what does it mean to be a Jihadist for Christ, anyway? Is Mujahid el-Masih pro-jihad or anti-jihad? If he is relying on the often-quoted, but mis-translation of jihad as "holy war," then what is his objective? Is war evil when waged by Muslims, but just and good when waged by Christians? If that is so, then why didn't Christ lead a war against the Romans and Jews of his time, especially when he was offered support in doing so by his own disciples? WWJD?, or What Would Jesus Do?, is quite in vogue among Christian Americans youth today. How could we know what he would do? The only evidence available to work from is in The Bible, or What Did Jesus Do?, or in this case, what didn't he do? Answer: He certainly didn't wage jihad, so why would he ask you to do so? He was peaceful even when confronted with his own persecution, detainment and crucifixion. After all, Christ is known to his followers as the Prince of Peace. So, how credible is a jihadist in the name of the Prince of Peace?

 

Christians can't be jihadists any more than Muslims can be crusaders. The concepts are self-contradictory. Mujahid el-Masih is an oxymoron.

 

One defense Mujahid el-Masih may offer is that "jihad" doesn't mean "war," but rather "struggle," particularly in the sense of the our inner struggle to overcome the demons and vices leading individuals, families, and societies to our own ruin. This has also been the response of mainstream Muslims since the term jihad entered the English lexicon. To think of jihad solely in terms of violence towards non-Muslims is ignorant. Similarly, the word crusade in English does not limit itself to the bloodbaths perpetrated by European Christians some 1,000 years ago. To invoke such images is meant to provoke hatred towards the very people Mujahid el-Masih claims he is duty-bound to love. This is odd, indeed.

 

The only way Mujahid el-Masih can avoid being a walking, talking paradox, is to adopt the latter, introspective and non-violent definition of jihad as the avenue he is pursuing in his own ministry. In this case, he should be truthful in his use of the word jihad in reference to Muslims and Islam. Irrespective of the truthfulness of his claim that the "jihad" is referenced more than 35,000 times in the Qur'an, including the definition of "mujahid," he should make it clear that the meaning of the word is not restricted to the current violent interpretations utilized by non-Muslim media, politicians, and preachers.

 

For the full article, click here.

Muslim Americans Finding Their Own Voice

Sandi Dolbee, Religion and Ethics editor at the San Diego Union Tribune, nicely captures the unique and growing Muslim American ethos. Some excerpts are quoted and commented on below. Click here for the full article.

A generation of homegrown Muslims is coming of age.

These sons and daughters of immigrants, many with families still living in the Muslim world, are learning to speak out both as Americans and followers of Islam.

"Their parents were the first generation of American Muslims," says Affad Shaikh, as he watched people paint banners for last month's demonstration. "They are afraid to take a stand and afraid for their children, because they don't want to risk their futures, their careers.

As we've previously noted, Muslim Americans fall into two main categories: Children of Muslim immigrants and American converts to Islam. While there are some key differences between these two groups, they share the experience of trying to enter fully into the American mainstream in spite of the negative stereotypes typically associated with their immigrant Muslim predecessors.

Islam doesn't have to be at odds with the West, Hussam Ayloush, head of the council's Los Angeles office, tells the participants. "We as American Muslims can play that bridge role. We can fix the misunderstandings."

This is the purpose of this Muslim American blog. Leadership in the Muslim community will eventually pass from the largely immigrant population into the hands of Muslim Americans. One of the key differences must be the transition from a defensive-reactive position to a proactive and positive one.

Christopher Adam Bishop, another UCSD student who became a Muslim four years ago, shrugs when asked about the critics. If they're going to continue to be politically active, they have to get used to some flak, says Bishop, 22. "The results we leave to Allah."

And this is a risk Muslim Americans are willing to take. It is easier for us because we don't face the risk of being deported or fired from our jobs. As Americans who've grown up in America, we understand our rights better. We understand our various audiences better. We speak the language better. We think like other Americans. We're familiar with the techniques and strategies for more effective communication. We are fully adept with the technologies for communicating our positions better. Websites, newsgroups, emails, mobile phones, and blogs are at our disposal, as well as the more traditional newspaper, television, and radio. And we understand and appreciate the political forces and processes that affect Muslims at home and abroad.

Abid, who is studying structural engineering, puts it this way: "It's not about us feeling accepted. It's about them accepting us."

Despite the negative voices in politics and the media, Islam is becoming more widely accepted as part of the American fabric. "Mosques" are frequently mentioned in the same phrase as "churches and synagogues." But this is not a one-sided issue. Muslim Americans must also accept other Americans. The current defensive-reactive mindset in our mosques and organizations still paints America and Americans as the adversary. Is a Muslim American his own enemy? Of course not.

Hassaine says he has many friends from various backgrounds, and he rejects suggestions that Islam, a monotheistic religion that came after Judaism and Christianity, is intolerant of the other faiths. "I'm not supposed to hate or not like people just because they don't have some beliefs," he says.

This is what it means to be an American. It is also what it means to be a Muslim. Hatred and mistrust within the Muslim community largely stem from transplanted attitudes originating "back home," wherever that may be. The ethnic and religious diversity of America are not the norm in most of the the world. European Christians are struggling with it to this day. Israel is confronted with ethnic and religious tensions within the Jewish community there. And so are Arabs, Pakistanis, and the rest of the Muslim world. However, in America, to the dismay of many Anglo-Americans, the principles of equality of our nation have been established regardless of race or religion. The same goes for Islam.

In spite of what our co-religionists or compatriots put into practice, it is towards the ideals of both Islam and America we must aspire. This is the new voice of Muslim Americans.