Assalamu alaikum
Yesterday our president spoke.
What was so significant about President Obama's speech last night was that he did not utter a word about 9/11.
It was about jobs, jobs, and jobs. He mentioned "job" 45 times. The president wants "Made in America" to sell everywhere and challenged Americans with references to China and products of other countries.
Well, if we want to compete with China we need to know China does not bomb its
customers. While we Americans cannot walk the streets of the world freely, China is welcomed everywhere. If we would like the world to be our customers, we need to treat customers with respect. This is what a mom and pop store does and this is what common sense commerce is all about.
Let's make America a welcoming nation again.
But I simply cannot pass on the discussion about 9/11.
On that day my colleagues hurried me into a room with a television set. I watched, struggling to understand if what I was seeing was reality or some sort of a film. Soon I saw the second plane striking the tower. With mixed feelings of disbelief and concern for the people in the World Trade Center, my mind started racing and my heart started sinking. God, I hope the attackers are not Muslims.
I had to prepare for the worst. I ran back to my office and started writing a statement of condemnation and have not stopped doing that since then.
9/11 was not just an American tragedy. It was an international catastrophe. The world joined together to mourn the loss of humanity live on TV. America was not alone that day.
More than 90 countries lost their citizens in the attacks on the World Trade Center where 2,606 people perished, including Muslims. That catastrophe was international in the sense that it unleashed the vengeful forces of seemingly unending cycle of war-terrorism-Islamophobia which has killed at least a million people and created 10 million new refugees in the last ten years.
The loss of freedom and liberty was international as well. As America disregarded habeas corpus, a whole kidnapping regime was established throughout the world where people could be picked up and thrown in some hole without any due process or just killed off. When America started torture rendering, the Qaddafis, Musharrafs, and Assads of the world joined in the evil task happily. Freedom lost big at home with secret evidence, guilt by association, and through the USA PATRIOT Act. The rest of the world followed suit, passing their own terrorism laws disregarding human rights and civil liberties.
Terrorism and the war on terrorism both violate the rule of law. Civilians became fair game as torture and extra-judicial killing became standard, acceptable practices.
It is about time that we recommit ourselves to the rule of law.
And let's start with Muslims. Muslims always had a clear rule of Sharia that non-combatants cannot be harmed. Osama bin Laden tried to change that with his theology of anger. Let Islamic scholars reaffirm that golden rule with a massive education campaign. Let it give birth to a Muslim spring which reestablishes the rule of law. Statistically, all polls point out that Muslims are more peaceful then their neighbors. But we must turn that opinion into a living reality.
America has lost the due process of law.
Let's rebuild it.
If America follows its higher ideals and becomes a welcoming nation again, we can do business. The American brand is way bigger than any brand. We just have to stop bombing our customers.
And let's please liberate ourselves from the fear industry. The President's speech was hardly over when the airwaves started talking about "credible" but "unconfirmed" threat to America. Give me a break. If it was "unconfirmed", why would some wise guy decide to drown the President's speech in it. A recent Rand Corporation report rightfully states that "The volume of domestic terrorist activity was much greater in the 1970s than it is today." The Rand Corporation is a Defense Department-funded think-tank.
While we must remain vigilant, we must focus our energy on rebuilding the American dream at home with jobs, jobs & more jobs.
Peace,
Abdul Malik Mujahid
Yesterday our president spoke.
What was so significant about President Obama's speech last night was that he did not utter a word about 9/11.
It was about jobs, jobs, and jobs. He mentioned "job" 45 times. The president wants "Made in America" to sell everywhere and challenged Americans with references to China and products of other countries.
Well, if we want to compete with China we need to know China does not bomb its
customers. While we Americans cannot walk the streets of the world freely, China is welcomed everywhere. If we would like the world to be our customers, we need to treat customers with respect. This is what a mom and pop store does and this is what common sense commerce is all about.
Let's make America a welcoming nation again.
But I simply cannot pass on the discussion about 9/11.
On that day my colleagues hurried me into a room with a television set. I watched, struggling to understand if what I was seeing was reality or some sort of a film. Soon I saw the second plane striking the tower. With mixed feelings of disbelief and concern for the people in the World Trade Center, my mind started racing and my heart started sinking. God, I hope the attackers are not Muslims.
I had to prepare for the worst. I ran back to my office and started writing a statement of condemnation and have not stopped doing that since then.
9/11 was not just an American tragedy. It was an international catastrophe. The world joined together to mourn the loss of humanity live on TV. America was not alone that day.
More than 90 countries lost their citizens in the attacks on the World Trade Center where 2,606 people perished, including Muslims. That catastrophe was international in the sense that it unleashed the vengeful forces of seemingly unending cycle of war-terrorism-Islamophobia which has killed at least a million people and created 10 million new refugees in the last ten years.
The loss of freedom and liberty was international as well. As America disregarded habeas corpus, a whole kidnapping regime was established throughout the world where people could be picked up and thrown in some hole without any due process or just killed off. When America started torture rendering, the Qaddafis, Musharrafs, and Assads of the world joined in the evil task happily. Freedom lost big at home with secret evidence, guilt by association, and through the USA PATRIOT Act. The rest of the world followed suit, passing their own terrorism laws disregarding human rights and civil liberties.
Terrorism and the war on terrorism both violate the rule of law. Civilians became fair game as torture and extra-judicial killing became standard, acceptable practices.
It is about time that we recommit ourselves to the rule of law.
And let's start with Muslims. Muslims always had a clear rule of Sharia that non-combatants cannot be harmed. Osama bin Laden tried to change that with his theology of anger. Let Islamic scholars reaffirm that golden rule with a massive education campaign. Let it give birth to a Muslim spring which reestablishes the rule of law. Statistically, all polls point out that Muslims are more peaceful then their neighbors. But we must turn that opinion into a living reality.
America has lost the due process of law.
Let's rebuild it.
If America follows its higher ideals and becomes a welcoming nation again, we can do business. The American brand is way bigger than any brand. We just have to stop bombing our customers.
And let's please liberate ourselves from the fear industry. The President's speech was hardly over when the airwaves started talking about "credible" but "unconfirmed" threat to America. Give me a break. If it was "unconfirmed", why would some wise guy decide to drown the President's speech in it. A recent Rand Corporation report rightfully states that "The volume of domestic terrorist activity was much greater in the 1970s than it is today." The Rand Corporation is a Defense Department-funded think-tank.
While we must remain vigilant, we must focus our energy on rebuilding the American dream at home with jobs, jobs & more jobs.
Peace,
Abdul Malik Mujahid
*** The legacy of Osama bin Laden
For over 1400 years, Muslims observed a critical rule when engaging in war with any enemy: non-combatants, particularly women, children, and the elderly could not be harmed. Thanks to Osama bin Laden's theology of hatred, this has changed, resulting in the acceptance and practice of suicide bombings and other practices that directly contradict this rule clearly outlined by God and His Messenger. Why did this happen, how, and what must our scholars, in particular, do to now stop this scourge?*** Muslims more peaceful than their neighbors!
Muslims have been attacked for purportedly supporting the killing of civilians in wartime. But survey after survey shows the opposite: that Muslims, compared to other groups, particularly Christians and Jews in the United States, oppose this in far larger numbers. This article offers a look at the numbers**** How to talk to your children about 9/11-8 tips
Talking to children about the attacks is not doubt painful and tricky. How can we convey the Islamic stance on terrorism, our opposition to the attacks, while presenting the reality that men who claimed to be acting in the name of our faith did this? Here are some tips that can help**** The impact of Islamophobia on children
Children often face the worst fallout of disasters like 9/11. For Muslim kids, in particular, not only is witnessing or discussing this tragedy painful, but the fact that it was committed by Muslims claiming to act in the name of their faith puts them in a difficult, double bind. This article discusses the magnitude of the effects of 9/11 on the children of our community, not just among the generation that witnessed the attacks, but also those who may not have even been born when they occurred.*** Islamophobia Statistics USA
This article offers a rare glimpse at the concrete, quantifiable effects of 9/11 on the Muslim community in America, and the Islamophobia unleashed by the attacks. It discusses not only the actual economic fallout on the Muslim community in the United States, but the psychological one as well.*** Let's liberate ourselves from fear
Fear has been the underlying emotion of how we, as a nation, have conducted ourselves since the 9/11 attacks. It has resulted in not only a loss of our traditional openness and freedom, but is also affecting our economy. China, our main competitor on the international market, is beating us out. Although American democracy is held up as an ideal worldwide, America's post-9/11 policies have closed it off to the world, resulting in closing our doors to business and investment that have hurt our economy.Volunteer and Support Sharia 101 Project
Fill out a volunteer form for Sharia 101 ProjectWhy Sharia 101 Project is Critical for Muslim Americans
….my brother, the MOST IMPORTANT reality behind this legislation is that the overwhelming majority of Americans (non-Muslim) do not have the slightest idea about the actual character and content of Sharia ….Read More here
— A Christian interfaith leader writing to a Muslim leader about Tennessee's Sharia bill
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