Becoming “Great Americans”: A New Year Call for 2018
By AzherQuader
Chicago, IL
Over the past so many years, if not for a lifetime, we have all tried to become ‘Good Muslims’. To many of us that has meant the usual encouragements from the mimbar: attend to salath, observe the fast, go for Hajj, pay the zakat, memorize the Qur’an, come to the masjid - the oft-repeated criteria for being ‘Good Muslims’. Millions of us in America, and millions more around the globe, have diligently followed this prescription from the doctors of our faith, who we trust and revere.
On regular Fridays we flock to the masjids of our choice, rain or shine, snow or sleet in ever increasing numbers. Every Ramadan we fast with greater fervor, no matter how long the days or how short the nights. Every year for Hajj our numbers keep swelling, with more ramps for tawaaf, more hotels to stay, more traffic to confront, more crowds to observe as far as the eyes can see. The mullah is well pleased with this show of our religiosity. To him of course we are the true exemplars of faith, the faith he preaches.
On the flip side of these impressive scenes of our community’s religiosity, are the sobering realities of growing Islamophobia among regular Americans. 83 percent of our neighbors (a whopping 269 million Americans) do not have a positive opinion of Islam and Muslims (www.soundvision.com). After 911 a PEW survey showed 59 percent of Americans had a favorable opinion of Muslims. Today, that figure has dwindled down to a disturbing low of 17 percent.
More troubling is the loss of lives to sectarian violence among Muslims killing fellow Muslims, in Muslim lands. The daily news coming out of Syria, Iraq and Pakistan and the recent massacre of Christians in Egypt, all in the name of religious theology, are not just troubling, they are shocking to us all.
Innocent American lives too are lost periodically to Muslim violence, here at home, and we rightfully distance ourselves from such acts of violence and their perpetrators, whenever they happen. How much of the fear and the rhetoric of hate against us, comes from these occurrences, however, remains uncertain and unknown.
What should be known however, is that whatever we have been doing thus far, is clearly not helping us with our neighbors. A change of course may well be needed. Many thoughtful heads have suggested additional choices to pursue. From greater interfaith dialogues, to more Open Mosque Days. From media campaigns to dawah campaigns. From turkey drives to blood drives. From disaster reliefs to community iftars. We have tried them all and more. They obviously work in their limited ways. More however may be the need of the times we live in.
For far too long we have lived the hyphenated American dream. A generation of the gutsy pioneering Muslims who made America their new home, journeyed a very long way to come here, but with passions for the people they left behind, one may now conclude, they really never left home. As they are slowly departing the scene, a new generation of Muslims is coming of age, born and bred in the only country they have known to be their home, more committed intheir loyalties, and passionately seeking their own identities between being Muslims and being Americans.
They certainly don’t carry the baggage their forebears bore. They are elated by the freedoms they enjoy. Perhaps even drunk a bit of the elixir of ‘American exceptionalism’ and invincibility too. These are challenging times though for them as well, as they navigate between the inviting shores of assimilation and the rugged banks of integration.
What then should be the course for our future? Is it enough for us to be ‘Good Muslims’, isolating ourselves in our sacred spaces and our private schools, separating ourselves from the influences of a society we dub to be socially undesirable? Or should we become fully involved in the life of the country we live in, identifying the challenges it faces, seeking solutions for them and become better Americans? Should we engage with our neighbors, excel in the services we can provide and reach beyond our narrow circles of comfort, to touch the lives of those who may not know us, or may even hate us? We must, I humbly offer, make the case for becoming ‘Great Americans’. That should be our manifest destiny, just as much it is for us to be ‘Good Muslims’.
So what does it take to be ‘Great Americans’?
For starters, ‘Great Americans’ know their history. They are aware of who they are, where they come from and what cultural heritage they possess. They also know the history of the land they live in, from what is taught to them at school or media and what they learn at home, and realize the difference. They reflect and learn from the lessons of their past, so they can adopt better ways for the future. They are aware of the serious ongoing debates of their times. They are neither a rubber stamp for the policies of the right nor for the policies on the left, but embrace what in their fair judgment, produces the best outcomes, for the society they live in and is in conformity with the demands for justice and compassion.
‘Great Americans’ don’t blindly confirm to the social norms they see around them. They question the practices of a liberated society, that delights in the joys of sexual freedoms. They question the wisdom of a judicial system that redefines marriage, permits abortion, permits the free flow of corporate money to influence a political system already corrupted by lobbying dollars. They are civically engaged in a host of social causes, without a desire to build image, or popularize their faith, but to make a difference in the lives of the people they serve. They rally in the streets and fight in the courts, not just for the issues that matter to them, but also for the ones that matter to others.
‘Great Americans’ are willing to do battle for their country, to protect it against enemies both domestic and foreign. Great Americans will stand with courage and conviction to say no when asked to fight unjust wars that take innocent lives, plunder the wealth of nations and create neither peace abroad nor security at home.
‘Great Americans’ care for their health and for the health of their families and neighbors, recognizing that good health does not happen without a system which assures universal access, affordable cost and good quality for all. ‘Great Americans’ value education as the cornerstone for building strong and stable societies and advocate for institutions where learning is affordable, if not free.
Finally ‘Great Americans’ are imbued with a conscience that constantly reminds them that they live in a interdependent world, where our individual rights and freedoms are always to be tempered by our shared responsibilities.
America’s greatness is measured by the quality of its people, their values, not by the abundance of its natural resources or the power of its arms. Without ‘Great Americans’, we pursue an idle pipe dream of ‘making America Great Again’.
For Muslim Americans, under threat of being regularly blamed and repeatedly banned, being ‘Good Muslims’ is simply not enough anymore. The stakes are much higher, the temperature much hotter. Let 2018 be the year we become ‘Great Americans’ as well.
May He who inspires us to be ‘Good Muslims’, guide us to become ‘Great Americans’. (The writer is President, Community Builders Council, Chicago)
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