Being Muslim In 2010
Islam is a religion of great unifying force which advocates peace, justice tolerance and love and like the other known religions it calls for freedom of belief, mutual understanding and love. Islam is so keen to remind us that its not mere lip service, rather its an all encompassing way of life that must be practiced continuously to be Islam. The Muslim must practice the five pillars of the religion declaration of faith in oneness of Allah and the prophethood of Muhammad, prayer, fasting in the month of Ramadhan, alms-tax and the pilgrimage to Mecca and believe in the six articles of faith (Ghassian, 2005).
Approximately six million Muslims live in the United States with roots from all around the globe from Albania to Senegal, Guyan to Pakistan. 34 of American Muslims are of South Asian descent, 26 are of Arab extraction and a quarter is African-American. The rich texture of American Islam not only draws from the mixture of race, ethnicity and national origin but also from a spectrum of religious expression (Elliot, 2007).The September 11 attacks were a series of coordinated suicide attacks by Al-Qaeda (a group of Muslim individuals) upon the United States on September 11, 2001.The incident was devastating to most Americans and it left many people around the world shocked. Approximately 2995 people died, including the 19 hijackers and 2976 victims. More than 90 countries lost citizens in the attacks in the world trade center (Greene, 2006).
September 11, 2001 timeline.
Osama Bin Laden Started as a Mujahideen, a freedom fighter, who fought against Russian occupation in Afghanistan. This was not unusual in the 1980s since the Afghan movement attracted activists from all over the Muslim world but the unusual thing was he had a lot of money and wealth and as such was not expected to venture into such an act. Personally worth over 300 million. The fact that he chose to face the challenges and the risks was indeed worth to be noticed and praised and the purity of his purpose symbolized his desire for sacrifice but as the Afghan war toned down, he began looking into horizons beyond Afghanistan. As a result he fell out of favour from his own homeland due to his radical views with respect to the established customs and traditions (Sehgal, 2010).In 1994, two attacks took place involving hijacking of two planes that were crashed into two buildings, including one by an Islamic militant group. In a third attack, a lone pilot crashed a plane into the white house yet even after the 911 aviation attack and security officials were still shocked that terrorists could hijack airliners and crash them into landmark buildings.
Despite the fact that Osama was from a wealthy background, he did not personally finance his group (Al-Qaeda). It is believed that by the time he came to Afghanistan in the mid 1990s he had already lost his potential inheritance in Saudi Arabia and that all his personal assets had been taken from Sudan and as such, the Taliban group provided refuge and support to him. This enabled him to come up with fundraising networks that were linked to wealthy people in Saudi. Most of his donors were from the Gulf countries particularly Saudi Arabia. After the 911 attack, terrorism analysts found out that Al-Qaedas finances were being generated from a network of charity groups, non-governmental organizations, mosques, websites and banks. The Bush administration was aware of the Saudi Arabias support to the Al-Qaeda but chose not to confront it over its support for terrorism and their refusal to help in investigations.
Post September 11, 2001.
In response to the September 11 attack, the United States responded by launching war against the act i.e. terrorism. This was done by invading Afghanistan to deal with the Taliban who had harbored the Al-Qaeda terrorists. In addition, the United States also put in force the USA Patriotic Act that restricted freedoms and supported precautionary procedures against ideals that contradicted the basic values and culture of the American society. Such procedures involved targeting of Arabs and Muslims at airports and invasive personal searches or even placing them on hold for several hours basing on their physical features plus names. Along with them, several other nations strengthened their ways of dealing with terrorism (anti-terrorism legislation) and expanded their law enforcement powers. In order to make the American people feel safe in their country once again, President Bush authorized an electronic surveillance system to be used in detection of terrorists getting into the country. This surveillance mainly concerned investigation of persons within the United States and collection of foreign intelligence by the United States National security Agency (NSA).Included in this surveillance program was monitoring of phone calls, electronic mails, and internet activities, text messaging and other communications that involved parties that were not part of the USA.This surveillance program covered both Americans and other individuals who lived in the United States (Richelson, 2010 )
After the September 11 attack on the United States, the administration of President Bush decided to detain any person who was suspected to be a member of the Al-Qaeda or the Taliban groups and hold them for an indefinite time for as long as the war on terrorism was on. The major purpose of this system of preventive detention was to incapacitate the suspected terrorist so that they could not disappear and facilitate interrogation which could lead to obtaining more information about their links and networks in the country. In addition, preventive detention was also meant to hold the suspects when criminal charges were not feasible for a number of reasons. Although the rationale for preventive detention was legitimate and despite the fact that its need was real, the present US administration looks into it as having been reactionary, illogical and probably unconstitutional. Approximately 762 suspects were arrested in connection with the investigations of the September 11 attacks and every detainee was put on hold until cleared, specifically by the FBI of any connection with the terrorists. Most of these people were charged with violating immigration laws such as remaining in the US illegally. This policy of preventive detention was only applied to aliens and not the US Citizens. Material witness warrants were used for the citizens to arrest and detain material witnesses to criminal activity when it was believed that the witnesses would leave the jurisdiction to avoid testifying (Cooper, 2008).
Muslim life after September 11
Ethnic profiling took root in the United States of America after the September 11 attack in that the country became particularly sensitive to Arab-looking people who were detained in disproportionate numbers at airport security screenings. The reason for this was based on the ethnic background of the people who were involved in the terrorism act in the US. In the months that followed the attack, the American-Arab anti-discrimination committee took many cases to court that involved people of Arabic origin who were removed from flights despite having passed other security checkpoints .In reaction to this, the courts determined that removal of passenger from planes based on their ethnic origin could not be exercised any longer. As aresult, transportation safety rules were changed to show that racial profiling at the airports was illegal hence the new systems were designed to be race-neutral. In the seven days following September 11, Arabs and south Asians reported many cases of bias and hate. This discrimination does not make the citizens of the US any safer as experts of civil rights law have pointed out that focusing only on Middle-Eastern people would do more harm than good. By focusing on ethnic groups, the enemy will be missed out because the terrorists may decide to use a non-Arab person to carry out the attack (Kim, 2004). Ethnic profiling against the Iranians who lived in America in 1979 can be used as an example of first cases of anti-Arab discrimination in the United States. Following this case, the profiling against people of the Middle-East descent has continued with each terrorist attack that takes place (Mahdavi, 2006).
Its believed that the anti-Arab and anti-Muslim attitudes did not just arise after the terrorism attacks in the United States. Instead the Arabs and Muslims have been perceived as the other people even prior to the attacks. Even though the Orientalist tropes about Arabs and Muslims were present in the US before the Second World War, they are known to have been more common in Europe because it had a longer history of interaction with the East. Therefore the fear, nativism and suspicion of the Arabs and Muslims to be the terrorists during the attacks was accompanied and reinforced by the government attempts to implement and enforce policies of racial and ethnic profiling. The social status of the Arab is known to have changed by the mid-century following the history of Arab immigration and racial formation in the United States. In the early part of the 20th century, Arab immigrants were largely comprised of Christians from the current day Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, Palestine and Egypt and they were generally viewed as marginal whites which gave them a sense of belonging to the American society (Taspinar, 2005). Arab-American political organizations and associations were formed from 1915 to 1951.They rejected the division of Syria into Lebanon, Palestine, Syria and Jordan by Britain and France which was the partition of Palestine and United states Support for the creation of Israel but integration into the American society was not easy for the Muslims making Hollywood to consistently perceive the Arabs and Muslims as villains. This led to social and political exclusion as their official classification because the whites were surpassed by racial notion of them being basically different as pertains to culture. Racism against the Arab-Americans most likely arose due to the tensions between the United States government and the Arab world and to make it worse discrimination and racism against them markedly increased after the September 11, 2001 attacks (Taspinar, 2005).
Among the many issues being currently discussed by the United States Muslim community is the bad image that the American media is displaying against Islamic religion. The media is continually airing programs that are tarnishing the image of Muslims and this is becoming a cause of great concern among the Muslim communities living in the United States. For example the television program Jihad in America and Crimson Jihad shown in the popular movie True Lies-the uses of the word Jihad are used in the wrong manner or to give the wrong meaning hence this is an illustration of portraying of a wrong image. As a result, the American Muslim Council published a pamphlet for the media giving the meaning of the word Jihad as exertion of effort and not holy war. An effort of making appeals to the media for accuracy and fairness regarding issues that relate to the Muslim community is continually being emphasized although it has been noted with great concern that newspapers headlines are often printed with words Islam and Muslim appearing next to other bad words like Fanatic,fundamentalist,militant,terrorist and violence(Aswad,2007). This is bad because Muslims are being marginalized and every vice in the United States is being associated with them despite the fact that there could be other wrong characters that are of American origin. In addition, other events like the Iranian revolution of 1979, the war time history of Sadam Hussein and the bombing of the world Trade Center are continually having enormous press coverage in the US media as a way of emphasizing Islamic fundamentalism. In response, the question being put forward by American Muslims is why a few individuals whose terrorist actions violate the principles of the Islamic religion should be used to determine the public image of the whole Muslim community
Portrayals of such kind are considered so demeaning and very dangerous and the Muslims of the United States experience the consequences in a very crude and myriad form. They may experience discrimination in housing in that they cannot access houses to stay because landlords have a negative attitude towards Muslims and may not want any kind of association with them. When it comes to employment, Muslims may not get jobs to do due to marginalization and moreover, they can experience harassment and attacks from strangers (Aswad, 2007).
The American Muslim community has chosen not to keep silent about the issue of the media and it has decided to fight for their rights in one way or another. The community has mobilized to fight against the dangerous stereotypes together with their damaging effects .To do so, a number of organizations have been established to educate the media and the general public about Islam along with encouraging Muslims to speak out against discrimination in their local communities. Muslims are being taught on how to write letters to the editors of local newspapers and how to organize meetings with the media and other public officials in response to the crisis. Moreover, the Islamic circle of North America has set up a toll-free number to be used by the Muslims to report any kind of bias and hate incidents that may happen to them.
Radical Islam
Until the year 2001, the fear of Islamic religion was not a major problem in western countries. It was after the September 11 events that this fear increased its effects in the United States and around all the non-Islamic countries because the planners of the terrorism that occurred in 911 were Muslims. These terrorists were radicals and they identified themselves as fighters for Islam or Jihad against the Western countries. Their purpose is to establish an ideal Islamic state by using religion (Islamic law) for political purposes and their main targets are western countries.However, a big number of Muslims would like to establish an Islamic State and the incorporation of Islamic law into the state legal system. Its questionable why Islamist radicals engage in high cost and risky activities that poses to them a lot of danger like arrest, repression and even death to them. This question may be answered by probably arguing that Islamic groups offer spiritual incentives and strategies for fulfilling divine duties and maximizing the prospect of salvation on judgment day (Silvestri, 2007).On the other hand, some radical Islamists are usually compelled by economic issuesmatters or even personal psychological needs which may not be linked with religion (need to carry out revenge against their oppressors, need for self empowerment, or prestige). Most radical groups offer a non-tangible incentive to attract participants where they convince people that participation will give them a benefit of salvation of getting salvation on the judgement day and entrance to paradise thereafter. This notion really gets into the minds of people and they tend to think that by joining radical Islam, they will create a shorter and better way of covering up their sins. An Example of radical Islamists is the Al-Qaeda group which is an international terrorist network that is considered the top terrorist threat to the United States. This group was founded by Osama Bin Laden in the late 1980s to stop Muslim countries from getting influenced from the West and to replace their governments with fundamentalist Islamic regimes. Al-Qaeda is believed to have grown out of the services office-a clearing house for the international Muslim which was opposed to the 1979 Soviet invasion of the Afghanistan This radical group has many underground cells in some 100 countries including the United States. Al-Qaeda has attacked many civilian and military targets and the most distinct is the September 11 attacks in the United States. Their major techniques of attacks include suicide attacks and simultaneous bombings of their targets (Wiktorowicz, 2006).
American Muslim mental health needs
Following the September 2001 attacks in the United States, many American Muslims have remained to live in fear and distress and as a result, have developed psychological distress. They represent a population that has been underserved by the mental health community in one way or another. In the United States, these people have been sidelined and are perceived as immigrants or refugees who have come from developing nations. With the Islamic religion being the fastest growing and the second most popular in the United States, the mental health professionals have a challenge of educating others about this diverse group in addition to providing assessment and treatment services because American Muslims have remained underserved for a long period of time yet like all Americans they experienced trauma of the 911.Instead of being given mental health treatment, they were exposed to religious harassment and racial discrimination(Almed,2007).
The American Muslims have not been able to cope with the stresses and demands of new challenges in the United States because of unavailability of information about the values, practices and cultures of Muslims. Therefore, for proper counseling to take place, counselors have to re-examine their sources of information on Islam and their attitudes towards Muslims. In addition, they should seek to understand how the Islamic religion interacts with other people along with collective variables like race, culture, age, class and education. There should be thorough understanding of the Islamic religion despite the fact that most literature about Muslims in the United States is not representative and its also inaccurate. This will help the counselors to know how to deal with the affected people in a way that will not enhance trauma to them. In addition there should be prior understanding of the Muslim culture because Muslim traditions vary depending on the individuals cultural context. It is prudent to note for instance that American Muslims adhere to different values and traditions which are more cultural than religious, for example, those who recently immigrated to the United States most likely arranged their marriages (marriages arranged by parents or elders) while the indigenous Muslims have often known their spouses through family and community activities.
Most Muslims immigrants in America also suffer from many factors that come in as a result of immigration. Some of these factors include changes in physical space (geography, housing and population density), climate, nutrition, medical concerns, policies, laws and civil rights. All these changes have psychological effects on the immigrants either directly or indirectly hence they need to be put in mind while counseling them (Almed, 2007).
Theories and Research on Cross-Cultural Awareness on Muslim and Extremism
Over the years, there have been extensive studies by scholars on Islam as a religion, on the people who practice it and on the views expressed by the general population concerning Muslims. Recent studies have rotated around contemporary issues such as Muslim extremism which has been associated with some of the worst humanitarian attacks such as the 911 attacks as well as other Islamic activism seen to proliferate a number of violent attacks in different parts of the world. In his book radical Islam Rising, Wiktorowicz (2005) evaluates some of the ideologies and reasoning behind Muslim extremism in the West. There are also attempts to expound on the rising cases of western born Arabs involvement in terrorist activities and the way general westerners view people with Arabic descent. More importantly is the analysis of general Muslim views on activities carried by extremist groups such as Al Qaeda, which apparently shows that a great percentage of Muslim are opposed to the violence exercised by the militant groups. In view of the content of this study, a great deal of studies has been done too, especially specific to militant groups such as the Al Qaeda.
Different theories have been advanced on the rise of Islamic activism. Such theories include the contest theory which views Islamic militancy as a contest between the perpetrators in their efforts to prove their commitment to the Islam cause (Schneider Caruso, 2009). Most of the available researches on the groups have been done on case specific issues, that is, as analysis on specific attacks perpetrated by the groups. For instance, the 911 attack was seen as the culmination of militant Muslim hatred to the imperialistic and domination culture, exhibited by the West towards most of the Arab nations. In addition, there have been efforts to analyze the development of such militant groups. For instance, the social movement theory has been developed to explain the rise and development of Al Qaeda through networking of like minded extremists and financial supporters joined together by a common cause rooted in extreme religious orientations (Leheny, 2005).
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is very evident that the Muslim religion and culture has been under attack from time immemorial. It can be traced back to the time when natives of the Middle East countries began immigrating to the Western countries. Its from then that these immigrants began being under looked as foreigners and being referred to as the other people. Based on the fact that most western countries practice Christianity as their religion, assimilating the Muslims into their culture was difficult hence the immigrants had to suffer from ethnic and racial profiling. The September 11, 2001 attack worsened the situation and it gave the United States citizens and government more reasons as to why they discriminated against the Muslims since the planners of the attack were from the Muslim religion. Although it felt right for them to discriminate, it may not have been correct because a few individuals cannot be used to victimize the entire Muslim community and tarnish their public image. As a result, the American Muslims are facing marginalization in the United States and this is really affecting them in their day to day lives. It was also unfair for the United States media to air programs on television and newspapers to display that Muslims are dangerous people and misinterpreting the meanings of various elements of faith of the Islamic religion.
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