Friday, June 7, 2013

A Dam to Block the Islamocaust Wave

With all of the controversy surrounding Muslims today, I often find myself asking the question "What's taking the Islamocaust so long to take hold?" At first, I was under the impression that it actually HAS started, but with the access to information at its all-time high due to instant sharing, stories which were "news" ten years ago are no longer newsworthy. However, I don't think things are as morbid as they seem. For instance, at least for now, Muslims in the U.S. still enjoy their freedoms granted to them by God and guaranteed by the Constitution. If a Muslim woman is harassed, she has several organizations that will yell and throw tantrums until she gets her compensation and is allowed to don her Hijab.

This realization led me to the only other conclusion I could possibly think of, and that is that there are still sensible people around. When I do a post like this, I purposely don't mention Muslim efforts; this way we can eliminate all bias. You will recall the story I did on a Rabbi standing up for the New York multi-purpose center which has a prayer area in it. This time, I bring you a similar story, but from a Christian.

"Wait, a Christian?" one of my readers is likely to ask disapprovingly. Well, yes, and I want to stop you there. What you will read next is an Email from a good friend of mine. He is active in his church and is a strong believer in God. As Muslims, we are very quick to judge other faiths despite our religion demanding that we not do so (Quran 2:62.) Still, a lot of us are stuck on this idea that Muslims MUST hate Christians just because we are Muslims. I daresay that some schools go as far as to say that having friends from different faiths is unacceptable.

When I took an Islamic Studies course a while back at university, the majority of people there were Christian or Jewish--not Muslim. The reason a lot of them gave for taking the course is that there was a lot of misinformation going around about Islam and they wanted to find out the truth about the religion. Now let me ask you, O humble "pious" Muslim readers: How many of you would take a Bible studies course simply because you wanted to understand Christianity better? There is still a lot of unfounded hatred in our community for Jewish people as well, but what this has done is allowed us to ignore that Jews and Muslims are, in fact, very similar when it comes to traditions and practices. Ask a Jew about their marriages next time you get the chance, and you'll be thoroughly surprised.

When I met this man at a convention in 2012, he noticed a prayer rug sitting on my bed in my room. He pulled me aside and told me he had found it ("I noticed a prayer rug on your bed. Are you a Muslim?") My first reaction was "O no, I've lost a friend." But his next question caught me completely off guard. "Would you like me to let you know the phases of the day so you can pray on time?" We were in a different state, and adjusting to time differences is difficult, especially for a blind person since you can't see the changes in lighting well enough to determine accurately when it is time for prayers. I was amazed by this reaction to me being Muslim, and this is why I think the Islamocaust hasn't taken hold. Not everyone is brainwashed by the media and active government propaganda against us. He even approached me in such a way so that there was little chance of someone else eavesdropping on our conversation, since he understood that this might have been a sensitive subject and others would not necessarily take kindly to knowing I am Muslim.

Here is his Email. I have reproduced it with his permission.

Subject: from World War Two until now  
From: Bruce Radtke
To: Munawar Bijani

Dear Munawar, You are in my thoughts.  Yesterday at our public library I attended an event that publicized a community reading of a book about the Japanese-American experience during World War II.  It's a novel by Guterson called SNOW FALLING ON CEDARS, set in our area of the nation.  Since you live in Florida, perhaps you have only a little familiarity with what happened to Japanese-Americans on the West Coast.  Soon after Pearl Harbor was attacked in 1941, a Presidential Proclamation uprooted all Japanese-Americans, whether US citizens or not, who lived on the West Coast and required their "internment."  In reality, 120,000 women, children and men were placed in concentration camps until the end of the war.  Men who refused to sign the loyalty oaths were sent to federal prisons, but those who pledged allegiance only to the USA were placed in Japanese-American-only army troops that later were recognized for their bravery.  I'm of German descent, but no German-Americans or Italian-Americans were sent to concentration camps just because of their ethnicity.  It was a blatant example of national racism to place all Japanese-Americans in miserable concentration camps.  The Supreme Court upheld all these actions. 

Yesterday we listened to some panel members who lived through that experience and described its effects, mostly negative.  Several times these panel members from all over our state warned the audience that today we Americans are tempted to discriminate and abuse American residents and citizens who are Muslims, not because of their crimes, but because of their religion and sometimes only their ancestors' origin in the Middle East.  I live in a town with a university, so I was pleased to see the warm welcome these speakers received, but I know that drawing a parallel between how we treated the Japanese-Americans during World War Two and how we treat Muslims today might not be typical in many places in the USA. 

Guantanamo remains open, with some "detainees" or prisoners who have never been tried and should be released.  I recall seeing your anger displayed on Facebook over treatment of Muslims, and I encourage you to speak clearly about the bigotry you perceive.  There are many examples in our world of how silence can lead to disaster repeatedly, while truth-speaking has the potential for possible confrontation but ultimately a potential for healing and achieving belated justice.  I want to stand beside you. Your friend, Bruce

People who think along these lines are perhaps the only reason Muslims still enjoy their freedoms. As long as there are a few people like Bruce who can put faith differences aside and call things for what they are, I'm not worried about our situation. So thank you Bruce for being open-minded and not being afraid to voice your support despite the heavily anti-Islam public opinion. Your message is like a beacon of light among all the negativity and your efforts will go a long way. You've truly defined what it means to be brothers bound by common Abrahamic roots.