Viewpoint
By Dr. Mujahid Ghazi
Chicago , IL
A couple of weeks ago, at the CIOGC 17 th Annual Dinner, I heard Salam Al-Marayati speaking about the achievements Muslim Americans are making in America and how they are contributing positively to the national fiber of this great nation. He also spoke about the ignorance of certain factions of society and the media who play the religion card in all those incidents which involve Muslim individuals and he argued that while other incidents in Orlando or Virginia Tech are not viewed in the same light.
Just after two days I received two emails. The first email came through the Shura list of CIOGC and contained an attachment of a picture of a flyer distributed in the parking lot of Schaumburg Library by the local Chapter of Act!foramerica.org. It was an announcement of a meeting and I quote:
“ Islamic Radicalism: Discussion Meeting Saturday Nov. 14 th 2009 St. Charles Public Library 1 South 6 th Avenue, St. Charles IL. Huntley Room 1 to 3 pm” unquote. My curiosity took me to that website. Act! For America have hundreds of chapters inside and outside America. It was founded by Brigitte Gabriel, a 45-year old Lebanese American journalist. She migrated to the United States in 1989 and since then has been actively involved in spreading her islamophobic views and ideas through her books and speeches and grassroots organization like ACT! For America. Her books are titled Because They Hate: A Survivor of Islamic Terror Warns America, and They Must Be Stopped: Why We Must Defeat Radical Islam and How We Can Do It. She is a regular guest analyst on Fox News Channel, CNN, MSNBC and various radio stations daily across America.
Journalist Pierre Tristam writes, "I have no problem vilifying Islamists, the fanatical, murderous and minoritarian but noisy strain of alleged Muslims ... Gabriel makes no distinction: In her view, 'every practicing Muslim is a radical Muslim.' That statement not only discredits her as an alleged journalist or analyst. It puts her in league with garden-variety bigots and backwoods survivalists." `112
The New York Times Magazine in a 2008 interview with Ms. Gabriel described Gabriel as a "radical Islamophobe". She has been criticized for making blanket statements about Muslims.
When I went through the current activities of this hateful Islamophobic organization, I found CAIR on the top of the list of its targets. There is a campaign asking people to write to their representatives to initiate investigation against CAIR.
Then I received another email from the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR) which was a press release in response to a letter from Illinois GOP asking ICIRR to cut ties with CAIR. I quote: “Today, the Illinois Republican Party put out a statement in which it calls on the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR) to cut ties with the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) Chicago Chapter for CAIR’s “reported ties with Hamas terrorist supporters”. Unquote.
ICCIRR condemned this statement acknowledging the great work of human rights advocacy by CAIR. It is alarming that at this stage when we came a long way in creating bridges between interfaith groups and divergent communities to create a national fiber which is inclusive of everyone without race, religion or social bias, comes a fresh attack by the conservative alliance influenced by the Christian and Jewish right to malign Muslims and to undermine their contribution to this land of freedom and diversity. We as Muslims should be aware of these extreme elements and keep our cool and tolerance intact. We must communicate and address these issues and present a positive image of Islam to all who are being influenced by these Islamophobic extremists.
Questions are being raised by many conscientious writers and activists as to the authenticity of the incident at Fort Hood. There are conspiracy theories of involvement of more than one person and a mutiny in the ranks of the army against the deployment of the armed forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. We as Muslim Americans should not make assumptions and react to these incidents without being properly equipped with reason and logic. We have to stand up for our rights and support organizations like CAIR. May Allah guide us and fail all those Islomophobics who are trying to destroy us and malign Islam and Muslims. Aameen.
