Over the Rainbow
By N.A.Bhatti
Jeffersonville,
Indiana: On a bright sunny morning late last month,
a PIA plane roared off the Islamabad runway with
four of a family: two octogenarian fathers and their
middle-aged children, bound for the United States.
It was my fourth visit to the Land of Opportunity,
although to be frank, I have no further craving
for worldly opportunity, neither had the Admiral.
We had been invited by the Doctor and his wife to
join them in a marriage ceremony as well as to see
for ourselves the new America of 2006, the America
of their second home. We could then form our own
independent opinions about US-Muslim relations in
the post-9/11 era and help other compatriots to
modify their own if need be. So, off we went over
the rainbow, hoping to find not the pot of gold
at its end but something that would bring us the
peace of mind sorely needed at this delicate juncture
of human history.
After flying about ten thousand miles and crossing
ten time zones to the picturesque mid-western town
of Jeffersonville in the state of Indiana, we piled
up a royal jet lag and our rainbow lost some of
its brightness. However, four or five days of complete
rest and watching dozens of TV channels, brought
back its glamorous brightness and we were up and
about visiting friends, shopping malls and museums,
and gathering the local Muslim community's gup.
Our host for the next two or three months is my
nephew 'Doc'. He related to us an interesting account
about Dr. Riffat Hassan of the University of Louisville,
Kentucky. She is already a known personality in
Pakistan as she has led a number of delegations
to Pakistan, India and Bangladesh. These were exchange
visit programs between scholars from the US and
South Asian Muslim countries, centering on the subject
'Islamic Life in the US'. The entire program had
been very successful and the US State Department
had funded it as it considered it as a model for
future programs. The rainbow brightened.
The idea underlying this program is that there are
many unfounded misconceptions that Muslims on the
one hand and Christians and Jews on the other, harbor
against each other. The way to remove such misgivings
is to let each group interact informally with their
counterparts and let them experience how they live,
practice their faith and raise their families. The
group will find many common values and aspirations.
Given sufficient experience, the misunderstandings
and prejudices will be removed and there will be
more trust and forgiveness. This exchange of religious
scholars from the USA and Asia has had a very positive
impact on the communities that were involved in
this exchange. Our rainbow gets brighter than ever.
Following the success of this program, the US State
Department is understood to be issuing another grant
entitled 'Religion and Society: a dialogue'. It
was brought to my notice that the Muslim community
of Kentucky and Indiana is now more involved in
their local civic life than before. This has brought
about greater understanding of Islam and Americans
have become more aware that not all Muslims are
necessarily bad. Similarly Muslims have realized
that not all Americans are necessarily bad. There
is more goodness than evil all over the world. Evil
and goodness are not the prerogatives of one religion
or race. Good Muslims and Christians feel each other's
pain and sorrow. The rainbow shone brighter than
ever before.
My optimism, however, received a rude shock when
I came across the US edition of the October 2005
issue of Reader's Digest. Pages 182 to 198 carry
the main feature: "Who Financed 9/11?"
by Roland Murallo.
The full-page introduction epitomizes the following
15 pages.
"Listen to the taped conversation between Tom
and Beverly Burnett and attorney Ronald Motley,
and the pain you hear is as fresh and cutting as
the day it began: September 11, 2001.
The Burnett's son, Tom Jr., died in the crash of
Flight 93 after he and other passengers fought the
hijackers for control of the jetliner. Tom and Beverly
contacted attorney Motley not because they want
monetary compensation for Tom's murder but they
are after something bigger. In the depths of his
misery, Tom Sr. had the idea of using the American
legal system to expose those banks, businesses,
charities and individuals who funded the 9/11 attacks
and other terrorist activities worldwide. By drying
up the terrorists' cash flow, the Burnetts hope
ultimately to spare other families the grief they
live with every day."
Fair enough, Roland Murallo! Such sympathy does
not, however, give a license to journalists to launch
oblique attacks on religions other than their own.
"Like all Muslims, members of the Wahhabi sect
of Islam, prevalent in Saudi Arabia, are urged to
perform Zakat, a kind of tithing. Osama bin Laden's
Wahhabi notion of Zakat, a perversion of this tenet,
encourages donations not to hungry children in the
slums of Riyadh, but to organizations bent on killing
'infidels,' all infidels -- non-Wahhabi Muslims
as well as Americans and other Westerners."
This is calculated to create misgivings among Muslim
readers about the sincerity of those pioneers like
Dr. Riffat Hassan of the University of Louisville,
Kentucky. She and other Muslims are doing their
best to reconcile the existing yawning chasm between
Christianity and Islam. The US government is supporting
and financing such efforts. I am still optimistic
that in spite of these irritations and setbacks,
we should continue to fly over the rainbow. (Courtesy
The News)
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