Thanksgiving Thoughts
By Mohammad Yacoob
Hawthorne, CA
On this auspicious occasion, I would like express my profound thanks to God Almighty for all his blessings. We Americans are observing Thanksgiving during this month on 24 November. I would also like to express my profound thank to millions and millions of my fellow Americans for their tolerance, understanding and support to the Muslim community in the United States.
Even before the 9/11 aerial suicide attacks there was a great deal of ignorance about Muslims and Islam in the US. The situation became worse after the attacks on the twin towers and saw the passage of the infamous Patriot Act. This provided a cover to the extremists who came out of the closet. They have taken the ignorance to even higher levels by becoming disinformation and misinformation experts on Islam and Muslims.
There are more colleges in the United States than any other country in world; likewise, there are more schools in the United States than any other country in the world and there are more libraries in the United States than any other country in world, and yet there is more ignorance about Islam and Muslims in the United States than any other country in the world. Fabricated information by extremists about Muslims is not going to stop me or other Muslims from speaking about Islam and the patriotism of Muslims in America. One of the excuses being forwarded by these misinformation experts is that Islam is going to take over America. Any time you try to explain Islam they accuse you of trying to convert Americans to Islam.
We have been saying all along that ‘there is no compulsion’ in Islam. We have to speak softly and use a strategy to explain Islam without becoming emotional. Two-and-half months after the 9/11 aerial attacks I wrote to the Los Angeles Times and in a way said:
I am an American of Islamic Persuasion.
The article is give below:
articles.latimes.com/2001/nov/22/opinion/le-sau22_2.1
Voluntary Islamic Thanksgiving Prayer
November 22, 2001
I came to the United States in 1962. My father, an army contractor who had worked with the British army in India, told me to go to Oxford or Cambridge, but I decided to come to California. This is because of the speech made by Vice President Richard Nixon in 1957 in Bangalore in south India. During the speech he mentioned that Bangalore reminded him of California. I decided to come to California.
In the last 20 years, I have started celebrating Thanksgiving in a very unique way -- an additional way. To thank God , I perform two units of voluntary Islamic prayer, either on the Thanksgiving Day or on Friday, in the morning, afternoon or evening. Since this is not a compulsory or mandatory Islamic prayer, I choose the day and the timing. This year, I have decided to perform four units of Thanksgiving prayer, to thank God more for the good life my family is enjoying in these United States. I will pray to God to bless America, humanity and our spaceship, the Earth. May God give us the strength to fight terrorism, intolerance and hate crimes.
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