By Laura Fawaz, Contributing Reporter

Dearborn, MI–In preparation for their upcoming Fundraising Dinner, My Orphans sent one of their volunteers to Iraq and Lebanon to produce his next short film.

My Orphans is a non-profit project of I.M.A.M. (Imam Mahdi Association of Marjaeya, the liaison office of the Grand Scholar Sayed Ali Al-Sistani), headquartered in Dearborn, MI since 2010. This orphan organization was established to serve the needs of orphans in war-torn and poverty-stricken nations. They are currently supporting orphans in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Lebanon. Mahmoud Hammoud, a film director, producer, and My Orphans volunteer, is visiting these orphanages to illustrate the daily struggles in the lives of orphans, showing how donations have impacted and improved their lives.

My Orphans has hosted three annual fundraising dinners in Dearborn, and several other fundraising events across the nation. Hammoud volunteers as the organization’s Media Manager, and has been producing media works for My Orphans at a budget of almost nothing. His work for My Orphans includes two documentaries, one short film, and one commercial. His latest film for the organization, Reflections, has contributed to the best year in donations that the organization has seen. It also has achieved generating even more public awareness of the dire situation, and the high level of need and attention to orphan care. Hammoud’s ability to compassionately illustrate a painful story of devastation, coupled with his eye for seizing the moment in filming, has stunned viewers all over the world.

As The Muslim Observer reported from their 2013 fundraising dinner, after this film, there was not a dry-eye in the house, from the men and women alike. Crowds at these fundraising dinners were left in utter silence. When asked what his goals were through his media works, Hammoud response, “After visiting orphans overseas, I realized the only knowledge and experience most people have with orphans, is limited to pictures and stories. I aim to bring the vision of orphan care to people through media. As much as we speak about the suffering of orphans and show people pictures, nothing speaks closer to peoples’ minds and hearts like actual footage (aside from actually being there).”

After seeing the Reflections documentary, most people do not believe that this is real, unexaggerated footage. “In filming, exaggeration is a technique used to magnify a story. I have to do the opposite here. Because the suffering of these orphans is so great, when I film, I cannot immediately present the magnitude of the situation, because it may discourage people. Rather, I must present it lightly so that I gradually deliver an immense and horribly sad condition to people,” Hammoud responded.

My Orphan’s 4^th Annual Fundraising Dinner will be on Friday, May 2^nd at the Islamic Center of America in Dearborn, MI. The Muslim Observer will be covering it once again. Hammoud is getting new footage to create another film for this dinner. Here, he plans to dive into the experiences of the lives of each individual orphan, while highlighting the improvements and accomplishments resulting from generous donors. As with any other non-profit organization, My Orphans is running on a tight budget. Though they have another financial concern, to make sure that as much of each and every dollar donated goes towards the orphans in need. So how was Hammoud able to produce the first three films at a budget of almost nothing? He described how he noticed that since this filming was for the sake of orphans, some situations became easier and certain doors seemed to open. Also, due to the lack of a budget for this project, he was forced to handle tasks that could have been performed by an additional crew and resources, such as interviewing, lighting, and editing.

Volunteerism itself is always a rewarding, learning experience. But volunteering to help better the lives of orphans is a whole other type feeling. The My Orphans volunteers describe it as bitter sweet because even though they have the rewarding feeling, they know that there is so much more that needs to be done, and how fortunate they truly are. From Hammoud’s experiences, he is able to take that a step farther. “When an orphan looks through the camera, I become embarrassed to look through the lens. I have to make sure I deliver their story with such integrity and respect. I have developed an awareness and compassion towards them, which I realized we need them more than they need us.”

When asked what he wanted people to know when reading this interview, Hammoud simply responded with, “The phrase that My Orphans uses at the end of our media productions: ‘We are not asking you to stop enjoying what you have…We are asking you to enjoy what you have by sharing with others in need.’”

To view the My Orphans films done by Hammoud, check out their website and YouTube page at www.myorphans.us or www.youtube.com/myorphans. They are also always looking for volunteers in producing films and raising awareness of orphan care. If you are interested in supporting and volunteering, please contact INFO@MYORPHANS.US.

16-19

By Fatima Siwaju

As a Muslim woman living in Trinidad and Tobago, I’m used to standing out. At school, I was amongst a handful of students who wore the hijab (headcovering) and yet, I never felt insecure about my appearance. I took dance classes, played the steel pan, participated in debates, and played cricket, all in the hijab. I was comfortable in my own skin.

The opposite was true of my experience at the University of Cambridge. I was thrilled to attend one of the world’s most prestigious institutions, but I constantly felt like a square peg in a round hole. I was a minority on so many levels. Not only was I one of two Black students in my matriculating class at Emmanuel College, I was the only one with a lilting Caribbean accent and a hijab wrapped around my head. I took refuge in the student Islamic society, rarely venturing out of my circle of Muslims friends.

My semester abroad forced me out of the Muslim comfort zone I had carefully cultivated at Cambridge. I was on a European voluntary programme in a village in southern France, with neither a mosque nor Muslim in sight. I must admit I had my reservations about coming to France. The hijab had been banned in public schools a few years prior and I had an irrational fear of my hijab being ripped off of my head.

Thankfully, my fears were abated by the hospitality of the villagers and the openness of my fellow volunteers. Myhijab was not a source of tension, as I had imagined, but an avenue for stimulating dialogue with the other volunteers. Deprived of television and internet, conversation was our greatest diversion. We soon developed a special bond that overcame religious and cultural boundaries.
I was having a great time in France, but I felt something was missing. Although I still performed the daily prayers and occasionally read the Qur’an, I missed the sense of community that came with the Friday congregational prayers. I yearned for that sublime feeling of unity when the call to prayer is being recited and Muslims are hurrying into the hall, their faces still damp from the water used in ablution. I realised that my spiritual battery was running low, and was in desperate need of charging.

One Saturday, I accompanied the other volunteers to a village a few miles away from our camp. Our task was to assist the village committee in setting up for a music festival, and the evening promised to be much fun. At around four in the afternoon, I heard the bells ring from the small church on the hill overlooking the festival venue. I looked up to see some elderly women trudging up the hill for the afternoon mass.

Without even a second thought, I dropped the bundle of string lights I was about to disentangle and followed the ladies up the hill to the church. It was as if my soul was compelling me to go, to revive it with the remembrance of God. As I neared the entrance, however, my resolve faltered. What would these people think of a Muslim in their church? Would they feel threatened by my presence?
The smile on the priest’s face as I walked through the door calmed my nerves. I will never forget the words of his sermon that afternoon. In elegantly coiffed French, he spoke of freedom and choice. He stated that God had made us free—the choice was essentially ours to reject or accept Him. The concept was simple enough, but it touched me deeply. It reminded me of one of my favorite verses in the Qur’an:

“There is no compulsion in religion; truly the right way has become clearly distinct from error; therefore, whoever disbelieves in the Shaytan [Satan] and believes in Allah he indeed has laid hold on the firmest handle, which shall not break off, and Allah is Hearing, Knowing.” (Qur’an, 2:256)

The priest may never know how his words inspired a young Muslim woman who sat in his church that afternoon. It dawned on me how incredibly blessed I was. Born and raised a Muslim, Islam had been chosen for me. Yet there I was, thousands of miles away from the watchful eye of my parents, free to make whatever choice I wanted. As I left the church that afternoon, I never felt more liberated in my entire life. I chose Islam.

Suhaibwebb.com

16-18

By Chris Hedges

At least nine people were killed and at least 35 others were wounded in shootings across Chicago on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. On Thursday police announced that a man had been arrestedon charges of firing on a number of motorists recently, wounding three of them, on Kansas City-area highways. On April 13 three people, including a child, were murdered at two Jewish-affiliated facilities in Overland Park, Kan., leading to the arrest of a white supremacist. On April 12, armed militias in Nevadagot the federal government to retreat, allowing rancher Cliven Bundy to continue to graze his cattle on public land. All this happened over a span of only nine days in the life of a country where more than 250 people are shot every day. In America, violence and the threat of lethal force are the ways we communicate. Violence—the preferred form of control by the state—is an expression of our hatred, self-loathing and lust for vengeance. And this bloodletting will increasingly mark a nation in terminal decline.

Violence, as H. Rap Brown said, is “as American as cherry pie.” It has a long and coveted place in U.S. history. Vigilante groups including slave patrols, gunslingers, Pinkerton and Baldwin-Felts detectives, gangs of strikebreakers, gun thugs, company militias, the White Citizens’ Council, the Knights of the White Camellia, and the Ku Klux Klan, which boasted more than 3 million members between 1915 and 1944 and took over the governance of some states, formed and shaped America. Heavily armed mercenary paramilitaries, armed militias such as the Oath Keepers and the anti-immigration extremist group Ranch Rescue, along with omnipotent and militarized police forces, are parts of a seamless continuation of America’s gun culture and tradition of vigilantism. And roaming the landscape along with these vigilante groups are lone gunmen who kill for money or power or at the command of their personal demons.

Vigilante groups in America do not trade violence for violence. They murder anyone who defies the structures of capitalism, even if the victims are unarmed. The vigilantes, often working with the approval and sometimes with the collusion of state law enforcement agencies, are rarely held accountable. They are capitalism’s shock troops, its ideological vanguard, used to break populist movements. Imagine that, if instead of right-wing militias, so-called “ecoterrorists”—who have never been found responsible for taking a single American life—had showed up armed in Nevada. How would the authorities have responded if those carrying guns had been from Earth First? Take a guess. Across U.S. history, hundreds of unarmed labor union members have been shot to death by vigilante groups working on behalf of coal, steel or mining concerns, and thousands more have been wounded. The United States has had the bloodiest labor wars in the industrialized world. Murderous rampages by vigilante groups, almost always in the pay of companies or oligarchs, have been unleashed on union members and agitators although no American labor union ever publicly called for an armed uprising. African-Americans, too, have endured a vigilante reign of terror, one that lasted for generations after the Civil War.

And all the while, vigilantes have been lionized by popular culture, winning mythic status in Hollywood movies that glorify lone avengers.

Vigilante bands have served and continue to serve the interests of state power or, as in the case involving the Nevada rancher, corporations that seek to eradicate public lands. They are used to make sure the dispossessed and marginalized remain dispossessed and marginalized. They revel in a demented hypermasculinity. They champion a racist nationalism that is fused with the iconography, language and rituals of the Christian religion. And they have huge megaphones on the airwaves, funded by the most retrograde forces in American capitalism, to spread their message. They are the bedrock of American fascism. The terror inflicted by street shootings in cities like Chicago conveniently gives these vigilante groups their right to existence.

The raison d’être given by vigilante groups for the need to bear arms is that these weapons protect us from tyranny and keep us safe and secure in our homes. But history does not support this contention. The Communist Party during the rise of fascism in Nazi Germany did not lack for weapons. Throughout the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein in Iraq, citizens had assault weapons in their homes. In Yugoslavia during the war there, AK-47 assault rifles were almost as common in households as stoves. I watched in Iraq and Yugoslavia as heavily armed units encircled houses and those inside walked out with hands in the air, leaving their assault rifles inside. And neither will American families engage in shootouts should members of the U.S. Army or SWAT teams surround their homes. When roughly 10,000 armed miners at Blair Mountain in West Virginia rose up in 1921 for the right to form unions and held gun thugs and company militias at bay, the government called in the Army. The miners were not suicidal. When the Army arrived they disbanded. And faced with the full weight of the U.S. military, almost any armed group would disband, and that includes vigilantes. The militias in Nevada might have gotten the Bureau of Land Management to back down, but they would have scattered like frightened crows if the government had sent in the 101st Airborne.

America’s vigilante violence, rather than a protection from tyranny, is an expression of the fear by white people, especially white men, of the black underclass. This underclass has been enslaved, lynched, imprisoned and impoverished for centuries. The white vigilantes do not acknowledge the reality of this oppression, but at the same time they are deeply worried about retribution directed against whites. Guns, for this reason, are easily available to white people while gun ownership is largely criminalized for blacks. The hatred expressed by vigilante groups for people of color, along with Jews and Muslims, is matched by their hatred for the college-educated elite, who did not decry the steady impoverishment of the working class. People of color, along with those who espouse the liberal social values of the college-educated elites, including gun control, are seen by the vigilantes as contaminants to society that must be removed to restore the nation to health.

Richard Rorty in “Achieving Our Country: Leftist Thought in Twentieth-Century America”writes that when our breakdown begins, “the gains made in the past forty years by black and brown Americans, and by homosexuals, will be wiped out. Jocular contempt for women will come back into fashion. The words ‘nigger’ and ‘kike’ will once again be heard in the workplace. All the sadism which the academic Left tried to make unacceptable to its students will come flooding back. All the resentment which badly educated Americans feel about having their manners dictated to them by college graduates will find an outlet.”

Our inability to formulate a coherent, militant revolutionary ideology, meanwhile, leaves us powerless in the face of mounting violence. We wander around in a daze. We lack the toughness and asceticism of the radicals who went before us—the Wobblies, the anarchists, the socialists and the communists. We preach a mishmash of tolerance and Oprah-like hope and exude a fuzzy faith in the power of the people. And because of this we are run over like frogs blindly hopping up and down on a road.

Our most cherished civil liberties have been taken from us. Our incomes are in free fall while obscene wealth is in the hands of a few oligarchs. We are watched and monitored by the most pervasive security and surveillance system in human history. We are hemmed in by archipelagos of prisons. And the ecosystem on which we depend for life is being destroyed. And, through it all, we are bombarded with propaganda, manipulated and mocked by our elites as we dance in their choreographed political charades.

We must begin to speak in the language of revolution, not accommodation. We must direct the rage that grips huge swaths of the population not against the oppressed but against the structures of corporate power that create oppression. We will have to begin from scratch, for America has no revolutionary intellectual tradition, with the exception of Thomas Paine. We have produced notable anarchists—Randolph Bourne, Alexander Berkman, Emma Goldman and Noam Chomsky. We have an array of great black radicals, including W.E.B. Du Bois, Malcolm X, James Cone and Cornel West, as astute about the evils of empire as white supremacy. We once had some fine socialists, Eugene V. Debs among them. But we lack genuine revolutionists such as Alexander Herzen, Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Vladimir Lenin, Rosa Luxemburg, Antonio Gramsci and Frantz Fanon, and because of this we are losing the class war.

As the historian Richard Hofstadter writes in “American Violence,”his book with Michael Wallace, class conflict and income inequality in the United States, now at near historical levels, have traditionally been “overshadowed by ethnic-religious and racial conflict. Intermittent group warfare has been our substitute for, or alternative to, class war, and class war itself, when it has flared up, has seldom taken place in a clear atmosphere, unclouded by our racial-ethnic antagonisms and by our complex hierarchy of status based upon religious-ethnic-racial qualities.”

There have been a few forays into insurrectionary violence, including the 1786-87 Shays’ Rebellionand the armed uprisingby the Blair Mountain coal miners. But these insurrections have lacked, as Hofstadter wrote, “an ideological and a geographical center.” Insurrectionary violence in America has, he observed, “been too various, diffuse, and spontaneous to be forged into a single, sustained, inveterate hatred shared by entire social classes.” A revolutionary language and consciousness must replace the current murderous nihilism.    

The government is banking on the fact that we are not hard-wired for revolution. The state, for this reason, permits the population to load itself up with weapons, including assault rifles, because it understands that they are almost never turned against centers of power. There are some 310 million firearms in the United States, including 114 million handguns, 110 million rifles and 86 million shotguns. There is no reliable data on the number of military-style assault weapons in private hands, but one estimate is 1.5 million. The United States has the highest rate of gun ownership in the world—an average of 90 per 100 people. We shoot each other or we shoot ourselves. Of the 282 people shot every day in the U.S., according to the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, 32 die in murders and 51 commit suicide.

As we build a revolutionary consciousness, we must never place our faith in violence, even as we understand that violence, especially by vigilantes, criminals and militarized police forces, will be used against us. Our strength is our truth. And this truth terrifies our power elites. Truth, not force, is the real power of revolutionaries. It was an understanding of the truth about the decadence of the czarist regime that led soldiers in the 1917 February Revolutionin Russia to mutiny against their officers, leading to the abdication of Nicholas II. It was similar truths that, having finally penetrated the militaries, doomed Louis XVI, the Shah of Iran and the Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista. Revolutions do not succeed because of violence, although violence is often a component of revolutions. The glorification of violence as the principal agent of change is a lie. Revolutions succeed because of revolutionary thinking. Such consciousness takes years to build. It slowly, invisibly burrows into the organs of power. It leads those on the inside to defect to the revolution. And once that happens, state power crumbles.

Muslims, undocumented workers, homosexuals, liberals, feminists, intellectuals and African-Americans will increasingly suffer the wrath of vigilante violence as the nation becomes more restive. Liberal institutions, their credibility shredded because of their myopic support for neoliberalism, will become irrelevant. Chauvinism, violent retribution, a perverted Christianity and the celebration of a mythic Anglo-Saxon history will sever sections of the population from reality, enticing them into an American fascism. This is what is coming. It cannot be fought with counterviolence. It can be fought only with ideas. We better prepare.

16-18

By Parvez Fatteh, Founder of http://sportingummah.com, sports@muslimobserver.com

Afghanistan has named Australian Peter Anderson as their new Cricket Academy coach. Anderson coached Papua New Guinea for two years before coming to Kabul. “I am excited to be here,” the 52-year-old said in a press release issued by the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB). “I hope I can make a contribution to the quality of cricket here. I will start slowly, watching, listening and learning.”

“We are pleased to be welcoming a person of Peter Anderson’s calibre to head our new Afghanistan Cricket Academy,” said Noor Mohammad Murad, head of the ACB. “He brings to us 35 years of cricketing experience both in Australia and internationally. His experience with Papua New Guinea, a developing cricket country, will fit him well.”

Anderson played 56 first-class matches for Queensland and South Australia as a wicketkeeper, scoring 1399 runs at an average of 17.93. Anderson will head the new academy, which will seek out and train players from youth level through to the full national squad.

Afghanistan’s cricket team has made big strides over the last decade, gaining one-day status in 2009. The team has featured in three World Twenty20 tournaments and qualified for the 2015 one-day World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

The International Cricket Council has given $US1 million funding to each of four World Cup qualifiers – Afghanistan, United Arab Emirates, Ireland and Scotland – and has arranged training camps in Australia and New Zealand later this year. Afghanistan is in Group A along with Australia, New Zealand, Scotland, Bangladesh, England and Sri Lanka. They will also feature in this year’s Asian Games tournament in Incheon, South Korea. The cricket World Cup will take place in Australia and New Zealand in February and March of 2015.

16-18

By Nidah Chatriwala, TMO

Models at the fashion show

Heba Albasha, 22, Syrian American, is a creative soul. She recently showed off her modest clothing designs at the Mesa Community College’s Annual Fashion Show.

Her bachelor’s degree from Arizona State University (ASU) is in chemical engineering; however, her passion for sewing roots back to her days as a  young girl.

During her college days, Albasha decided to submit her thesis on historic wedding dresses which eventually led to blogging.

Currently, Albasha is taking fashion design courses at Mesa Community College (MCC) before pursuing graduate school to advance her education in chemical engineering.

Little did she know, the fashion courses renewed her passion for sewing all over again.

“I am so happy to have spent this year studying fashion design. Showing at MCC’s Annual Fashion Show this year was an exhilarating experience for me,” Albasha enthused. “I showed my first collection ever and participated in my first fashion show as a designer!”

Albasha’s collection is inspired by nature and so most of her clothes are styled to highlight floral prints. “I draw a lot of my inspiration from history and flora,” Albasha explained.

At the fashion show, Albasha revealed her style for 2014 Fall and Winter collection sporting floral prints on maroon, black and forest-green hues.

“This collection, and in-sha-Allah future collections, are targeted towards Muslim women who want to be able to find clothing that is beautiful and stylish, but also modest,” Albasha’s shared.

Her goal is spread modest dressing beyond the Muslim community. “The collection is not only for women in hijab, and not even just for Muslim women, but any woman who appreciates modest dress,” Albasha added.

At the fashion show, the audience welcomed her unique collection with great excitement. “I had people wanting to buy the pieces off my models,” Albasha exclaimed. “I definitely look forward to participating and organizing similar events in the future!”

“She did an incredible job and walking the runway in her designs was exhilarating,” said Mahnoor Mukarram.

Beware fashionistas, this upcoming designer is to watch out for.

16-18

Dr. Nakadar:

It was gratifying to see you and the Muslim Observer represented at the Michigan Muslim Community Council and American Jewish Committee event earlier this month in Dearborn, where Muslims and Jews committed to greater mutual understanding and outreach to each other’s community. So we were especially dismayed to see your newspaper publish a commentary last week that made untruthful and outrageous claims that clearly incite Muslim hatred against Jews. Specifically:

“Palestinian students must risk…even death to study in the United States” and “There will come a day when…even students at Hillel will no longer…defend…the random murder of Palestinians [by Israelis].”  – Chris Hedges

You have a responsibility to your readers, your community (and to the Jewish community) to set at least a minimal level of truthfulness and civility in anything you publish.

Sincerely,

Robert Cohen, Executive Director, Jewish Community Relations Council of Metropolitan Detroit

16-18

By Dr. Anis Ansari

Hospice care plays an essential role in the services made available by a hospital to their patients. When the time comes to consider end-of-life care for yourself or a loved one, it is important to have complete and accurate information in order to make a confident, well-educated, decision.

Hospice care is available to individuals who have a life-limiting illness, generally requiring a prognosis of 6 months or less if the illness runs its normal course.   Hospice teams are dedicated to improving the quality of life of those facing end-of-life issues, allowing them to face this time with dignity, compassion, and peace. Their nurses are available 24/7 to take care of all of the patient’s needs. The team includes the Hospice Physician, Nurse Practitioner, Primary Nurse, Certified Nurse Assistant, Social Worker, Chaplain and Volunteers, in addition to a Bereavement team to support the family during the grieving process.

In 2007, there were 1.5 million hospice care patients in US; this number is expected to grow to 27 million by 2050.   Although cancer was once the predominant diagnosis, there are now many others qualifying illnesses, including:  heart disease, COPD, neurological disease, stroke or coma, lung, liver, and kidney disease, and any life-limiting diagnosis.

Beacon of Hope Hospice (BHH) is dedicated solely to hospice care.  For those who find themselves in the difficult position of knowing that their condition will likely result in a life-limiting diagnosis, but not yet prepared or qualified to move into hospice care, Beacon of Hope offers the Connections Program to provide ongoing support until hospice care is needed.

BHH is Medicare Certified, and Hospice care is covered by Medicare, Medicaid, and most insurance companies.  BHH has branches in Iowa, Illinois, Arizona and Nevada. They have long been a provider of quality care in the Quad Cities and the Galesburg areas, and are happy to be able to extend their services into Clinton County and the surrounding areas.   

Beacon of Hope Hospice has named Dr. Anis Ansari as their new Medical Director for this area. He practices at Medical Associates and is well known for his excellent care and article writing skills. He has been practicing medicine for 21 years. He is board certified in Internal Medicine, and was recently named one of the “Leading Physician of the World and Top Nephrologists in Clinton” in 2013.

For more information on Beacon of Hope Hospice or to make a referral, please contact them at (563)391-6933, Toll Free (888) 932-2732, or visit their website at BeaconofHopeHospice.org. We look forward to serving the river cities area.

Anis Ansari, MD, FASN
New Medical Director, BHH

16-18

By Patrick J Buchanan

DANGEROUS GAMES…US Vice President Joe Biden, left, talks with Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk during a meeting in Kiev, on Tuesday, April. 22, 2014. AP photo.

A new world is coming. Secessionism and nationalism are growth stocks today. Centralization and globalization are yesterday.

With Vladimir Putin having bloodlessly annexed Crimea and hinting that his army might cross the border to protect the Russians of East Ukraine, Washington is abuzz with talk of dispatching U.S. troops to Eastern Europe.

But unless we have lost our minds, we are not going to fight Russia over territory no president ever regarded as vital to us.

Indeed, should Putin annex Eastern and Southern Ukraine all the way to Odessa, he would simply be restoring to Russian rule what had belonged to her from Washington’s inaugural in 1789 to George H. W. Bush’s inaugural in 1989.

This is not an argument for ignoring Russia’s conduct.

But it is an argument for assessing what is vital and what is not, what threatens us and what does not, and what is the real deterrent to any re-establishment of the Soviet Empire.

Before we start sending troops back to Europe, as we did 65 years ago under Harry Truman, let us ask ourselves: Was it really the U.S. Army, which never crossed the Elbe or engaged in battle with the Red Army, that brought down the Soviet Empire and dissolved the Soviet Union?

No. What liberated the nations of Eastern Europe and the USSR was the determined will of these peoples to be free to decide their own destinies and create, or re-create, nations based on their own history, language, culture and ethnic identity?

Nationalism brought down the empire. And Mikhail Gorbachev let these nations go because Russia was weary of maintaining a coercive empire and because Russia, too, wanted to be part of the free world.

While Putin may want the Russians of Ukraine and Belarus back inside a Greater Russia, does anyone think he wants Rumanians, Bulgarians, Poles, Hungarians, Czechs or Slovaks back under Moscow’s rule?

Putin knows that his own popularity, near 80 percent, is due directly to his being seen as a nationalist willing to stand up to the Americans and their claim to be sole architects of the New World Order.
And it is nationalism, not a NATO full of freeloaders, that is America’s great ally in this post-Cold War world.

It was nationalism that liberated the captive nations, broke apart the Soviet Union, split Czechoslovakia in two and divided Yugoslavia into seven countries.

Nationalism drove the Chechens to try to break from Moscow, the Abkhazians and South Ossetians to secede from Georgia, and the Crimeans to say good-bye to Kiev. And as nationalism tore apart the Soviet Empire and USSR, nationalism will prevent their recreation.

Should Putin invade and annex all of Ukraine, not just Crimea and the East where Russians are in a majority, his country would face the same resistance from occupied Western Ukraine Russia faces today in Dagestan, Ingushetia and Chechnya. Putin knows that.

But if Eastern Ukraine in the May election should indicate a will to secede and join Russia, or become a separate autonomous state, why would we automatically oppose that? Are we not ourselves the proud descendants of the secessionists of ’76?

If we can view with diffidence the drive by Scotland to secede from England, Catalonia to secede from Spain, Venice to secede from Italy, and Flanders to secede from Belgium, why would the secession of the Donbass from Ukraine be a problem for us, if done democratically?

Nationalism is the natural enemy of empires, and it seems on the rise almost everywhere.

An assertion of Chinese nationalism – Beijing’s claim to islands Japan has occupied for over a century – has caused a resurgence of a Japanese nationalism dormant since World War II. Japan’s nationalist resurgence has caused a rise in anti-Japanese nationalism in Korea.

China’s great adversary today is Asian nationalism.

India resents China’s hold on territories taken in a war half a century ago and China’s growing naval presence in the Indian Ocean.

China’s claims in the South China Sea have revived anti-Chinese nationalism in Vietnam and the Philippines. In Western China, Uighurs have resorted to violence and even terror to break Xinjiang off from China, which they hope to convert into their own East Turkestan.

Kurdish nationalism, an ally of America in Desert Storm, is today a threat to the unity of Turkey, Syria, Iraq and Iran.

Elections for the European Parliament in May are almost certain to see gains for the Ukip in England, Marine Le Pen’s National Front in France, Geert Wilders Party for Freedom in the Netherlands, and other nationalist parties that have lately arisen across Europe.

These parties in a way echo Putin. Where he wants Ukraine to stay out of the EU, they want their countries to get out of the EU.

Secessionism and nationalism are growth stocks today. Centralization and globalization are yesterday.

A new world is coming. And while perhaps unwelcome news for the transnational elites championing such causes as climate change and battling global economic inequality, it is hard to see any great threat in all this to the true interests of the American people.

16-18

By Aslam Abdullah, TMO Editor-in-Chief

The Muslim Public Affairs Council, a national Muslim organization, recently came up with a solution of the problem of violent extremism or extremism among Muslims. Its executive summary reads that “Imams and community leaders have the ability to address theological, social, and familial issues much more effectively than law enforcement,” and Muslim efforts should be “intended to proactively prevent acts of violent extremism from being born inside our community institutions.” It concludes that if all efforts fail to contain extremists only as last resort, should eviction from a community occur, charging communities with working “toward safely removing that individual from the congregation and contacting law enforcement.” 

It is a document that has good intentions and genuine concerns as well as good suggestions. But, it leaves many questions unanswered as part of the analysis is seemingly weak or naïve at times. However, as a preliminary step towards the ultimate goal of developing a genuine understanding of extremism in Islam it should be appreciated. As far as the suggestions to combat extremism are concerned, they are simply suggestions and many more can be offered by the community members if involved in discussion.

The document makes several assumptions that need to be substantiated and suggest several solutions that deserve to be critically examined. Some of the underlying assumptions are:

1.     The American Muslim community has substantial number of extremists.
2.     Many of these stealth extremist may become violent.
3.     Imams and community leaders are more effective in dealing with violent extremists than the law enforcement agencies.
4.     Muslim imams should police their own communities and engage those who are extremists in order to help them change their perspectives.
5.     If they fail to contain the extremists, they should then excommunicate such members and inform the police.

Extremism

Extremism is an elusive political term and in general sense considered to be far outside the mainstream attitudes of a community or a society. Or it is also defined as a set of ideas that violate the common moral standards.

In the context of Islam, extremism is used as a set of ideas that is based on extremely conservative view of Islam that may not necessarily promote violence or the use of extreme violent tactics for achieving perceived religious objectives. But these are arbitrary abstract definitions and can be applied to define any group extremist. For instance, in the view of many Zionist organizations in this country, MPAC or Council of American Muslim Relations (CAIR) are two extremist organizations.

If this set of definitions is applied to define Muslim communities, then probably every Muslim group can categorize others as extremist or violent extremist. So, before we really talk about it, we need to develop an objective and realistic definition of extremism. Currently, our existing definitions of extremism are subjective and politically motivated. We have no consensus. FBI has a different set of definitions, CIA has different. The Republicans and Democrats have contradictory definitions and the Islamophobes have their own of set of ideas. So the first thing that should be our priority is to define extremism from our sociological, theological perspective.

The responsibility of defining extremism within the Muslim community rests with Muslim intellectuals and religious scholars. We never had the debate to understand it and define it in our social and political context. Hence each is relying on a subjective definition and that does not serve any purpose. In Islamic literature, one can easily find examples where every Muslim sect and group has been defined as extremist by fellow Muslim groups. Moreover, in the absence of an objective definition, we rely on a definition that serves the purpose of some special interest groups.

Lack of Data

Even if we use a subjective definition of extremism, there is no data to prove that the American Muslim community has extremism widely prevalent in its ranks. There is no survey and no study that suggests that. On the contrary several studies conducted by Muslims and others have suggested that the bulk of the Muslim community rarely visits Islamic institutions established to serve them One such study suggests that only 20 percent Muslims attend the Friday congregational prayers. Las Vegas seems to have a Muslim population of 15,000 to 18,000. The total number of people who offer Friday prayers in five of the city’s masjid regularly is about 1,300 including women, That is less than 10 per cent of the population. A similar pattern is visible in Arizona, Utah and California as well as other states. So before one talks about the problem one should study its dimensions and scope.

The Imam and community leaders

Of over 3,000 masajd in the US, some 80 percent have imams who are trained in foreign countries with little understanding of English, the constitution of the US, the history of Muslims in America and the social and political realities of the country. They may be well versed in Islamic jurisprudence but have no idea of the legal system of this country. In fact, their knowledge of Islam mainly comes from their sectarian upbringing. A Shia mosque has a Shia scholar coming from established Shia communities in different parts of the world and a Sunni mosque has a Sunni Imam representing a particular school of thought. Each is strict in his own traditions and often unwilling to accommodate the differences of opinion. How could such Imam who have no clue of existing conditions of their own larger communities play an effective role in combating extremism? In fact, many of them may easily be described extremists by the subjective definitions, arbitrarily used by many. The curriculum prepared by some institutions to train Imam lack any reference to the times and social matrix of the society we all are living.

Most community leaders are non-representatives of their communities. They are not elected and in many cases elected through manipulations. They may represent a particular ideological perspective without revealing that. Obviously, they do not carry lot of weight within their own communities. For instance, many Muslim community leaders still owe their allegiance to either the Jamat Islami, Pakistan, Bangladesh or India or Ikhwanul Muslimeen of Egypt or Hiz Tahrir of Jordan, or Tablighi Jamat or other similar Islamic groups

Policing the Community

In a free society, each is entitled to freedom of ideas and expression. The US allows even extremists the freedom to flourish. Amish people are considered extreme by many modernists, yet they have full rights to live the way they want to live as long as they owe oath of allegiance to the constitution and maintain law and order.  No one can police the thought process of the other. It is dangerous and amounts to vigilante. If we allow this within our community, why do we, then, object to others when they do the same to us.

Having extremist ideas is not a crime in this country. Acting on ideas that defy the constitution of the country is. KKK still exists and several groups owing allegiance to Hitler are also active in this country. Several hate groups are active without being prosecuted.

As a citizen or a community, it is within our legal right to seek restrictive orders for an individual we do not like to be part of our congregation.  But to hand him over to the police for his non-violent ideas would be against the spirit of freedom of ideas that our religion and this country promote. I should not call the FBI if I find that a member of my community believes that women should not be allowed in the masjid for some extreme reasons. Or I should not invite the police to arrest a man because he is reading a verse of the Quran that is translated by many that “Jews and Christians should be taken as friends,” I can give him my perspective on the verse but cannot force him to change his perspective. Even if he insists on a nonviolent fringe definition, that is not cause to report him to FBI and the Police. Who would guarantee that the Imams or leaders who themselves are representing a particular sect or faction would always have a fair play.

Some Proposals

Following are some of the concrete proposals that might help us handle the problem of extremism effectively.

1.     Define what extremism is. Such a definition should be sociologically and theologically founded on strong grounds distinguishing violence as a means.
2.     Have a national survey of extremism within the Muslim community based on the agreed upon definition.
3.     Have a survey of masajd and their imams and their ideas on issues identified as extremism.
4.     Effectively engage in dialogue with law enforcement agencies on efforts to prevent incidents of violence.
5.     Commission books and position papers on issues that have often been used by groups to promote extremism.
6.     Help develop democratic culture in Islamic institutions.
7.     Let women and youth occupy 75 percent of the board positions in masajid and Islamic institutions.
8.     Involve people in decision making process of Islamic institutions so that more and more people can understand the social and political environment they live in.
9.     Provide civic education to people so that they can understand their civic responsibilities and rights.
10. Organize a conference of Imams and community leaders to discuss the issue and strategies to combat violence.

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By Anna Challet

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Salmon Hossein, an Afghan-American Muslim working on a joint law and public policy degree at UC Berkeley and Harvard, says that his own family hates that he has a beard. The outward sign of his Muslim faith, he says, makes his family worry about his future.

“They say, ‘How are you going to get a job? How are you going to be successful?’” He knows that they’re just looking out for him, he says. But he intends to keep his beard; it provides him with a connection to his spiritual journey.

Hossein, who spoke on a recent panel of young Bay Area Muslims in San Jose organized by New America Media in partnership with the One Nation Bay Area Project, is among a generation of young Muslims who grew up in the shadow of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and the rise of Islamophobia in America. Some have personal experience with hurtful speech and ignorant comments about their faith. Yet many still choose to show their faith through practices like prayer and fasting, wearing a hijab (head covering), or growing a beard.

For these young people, finding the personal meaning in these practices is part of the path toward finding their own identity within the faith.

“Your practice is what identifies you as a Muslim,” says Rasheeda Plenty, an African-American student of Islamic theology at Zaytuna College in Berkeley, the first liberal arts Muslim college in the United States. “Do this, don’t do this, fast, or hijab – you’re in this Muslim community. Everyone’s doing that, everyone expects you to do that. But [growing up], there wasn’t a conversation of the why … How is this connecting me to my Creator? What is this doing for my heart?”

About a quarter million Muslims live in the Bay Area, and close to half are under the age of 35, according to the first-ever study of the Bay Area Muslim community. The study was co-authored by Dr. Farid Senzai, a political science professor at Santa Clara University, and Dr. Hatem Bazian, an ethnic studies professor at UC Berkeley and co-founder of Zaytuna College.
Hossein, who grew up in Alameda County and Southern California, was in eighth grade at the time of the Sept. 11 attacks. It was his second day at a new school in Los Angeles.
He remembers that in his homeroom, his teacher asked him if he was from Afghanistan, and followed with the question, “Do you know anything about what’s going on?”
Some of his classmates went on to refer to him as “Afghanistan” throughout his time in school.

He recalls going to his family dentist a few years ago when he first grew his beard; someone in the office whom he’d known since he was a child laughed when she saw him and said, “Oh my God, you look just like the terrorists.” She said it “almost lovingly,” and Hossein says it was hard to be mad at her.

It wasn’t the only time he got that reaction. A law student classmate of his recently said, “You’re starting to look like the Taliban.”

But Hossein says these attitudes have only made him more determined to keep his beard, a physical connection to his faith and his very identity.

Sadia Saifuddin, a student at UC Berkeley, is Pakistani American and grew up in Fremont and Stockton, Calif. She is the first Muslim student to serve on the UC Board of Regents.

Like Hossein, Saifuddin remembers facing scrutiny at school at the time of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. She recalls that she chose to start wearing a hijab – a “public and external symbol of [her] faith” – just a few months before Sept. 11, 2001. After the attacks, she says, she faced a “barrage of questions” at school, though she was only in the fourth grade.

Those questions have persisted into her adulthood. But despite much of the criticism she hears about wearing a hijab, including the assumption that women who wear it must be “oppressed,” she says that wearing it has been liberating for her – and that being able to choose whether or not she wears it is what’s important.

“I get to talk to people and the first thing I worry about isn’t how good my hair looks or whether I gain a couple of inches, because a lot of that is covered up and it’s really more about what I have to say,” she says. And for many women, she says, it’s a way of feeling closer to God.

These practices can also connect some young Muslims to their larger communities in very personal ways.

RoSeanna Shavers, who is African-American and grew up in the Nation of Islam, says that when she was very young, she told her mother that she wanted to be white. “Next thing you know, I was in Muslim school,” says Shavers.

She says that going to an Islamic school helped with what she called her “color sickness,” and gave her something to hold onto, connecting her with her African-American identity. While she is now non-practicing, she says, “[Islam] is in me.”

The One Nation Bay Area Project – a collaboration between the Marin Community Foundation, The San Francisco Foundation, the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, and Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy – works to strengthen relationships between Muslim and non-Muslim communities. Visit their website to learn more about the project.

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