We, The Muslim Americans

Fuzair

`stinking shia`

and you smell of roses, sweetiepie?

Muslim Americans is a much better terminology than American Muslims. The last part of identity usually defines the latest and more important aspect of identity, having the sort of veto powers over all else in certain areas. Author has chosen the better of the two terms.

Children are the only practical way to biological immortality whereas immortality in acquired skills can be achieved through recognition. Since 99+ percent of the people live average life with little recognition beyond a select group of family and friends, children are the only mode available for immortality in this world. For this very reason all parents wish their children successful in life. However, many parents start following a contradictory path from the day one, a child is born. Such is the case with a large number of Muslim Americans, Hindu Americans and south Asian Americans as well. Whether some of these people will choose to go back to their motherlands in time or not, their progeny will invariably stay in America and slowly diluting their Muslim or south Asian identities. Almost everybody agrees to this but selects a coarse path for their children than a smooth one. Why?

When children are given names like Syed Mustansir Jarrar Siddiqui or Gannapati Venkatraman Subramanian, the stage is set to identify the child more clearly as a minority as if his/ her color of skin is not enough. I do not have to argue here for the advantages of belonging to majority and disadvantages of belonging to any minority. Is this the best use of parent power to increase the probability of discrimination or ridicule for your own biological immortality? Why do they want their children to suffer hardships compared to kids next door? While the next door children are taking piano lessons, playing soccer, eating at McDonalds, the intensification of minority status beyond color is instilled through head covers, fasting, no-meat or no-pork based dietary laws, no-this-and-no-that etc. Parents are using the freedom of religion and freedom to choose in order to abuse the normal growing up of children in a particular environment. Is this mere selfishness or stupidity included also? Parents should spare no effort to make life easy and smooth for their children, not leaving them with a baggage that is a constant source of backwardness and irrationality. They should try to blur the boundaries of majority-minority as much as possible and not sharpening them with erecting a steel wall surrounding their children separating them in the most identifiable ways from the rest. It is very stupid of some to think that their children will help increase the percentage of Muslims to a level where they can find a Quaid-e-Azam in the future and secede from USA or that Muslims will be accepted as equal but a distinct minority with every right to detest the values system and morality of the majority.

If the disliking or detesting pork-eating, skirts-wearing, hair-flying, dancing and imbibing alcohol majority are the hallmarks of an identity as a powerless minority, then the 15 year old understood it better than his mother, the author. Do not turn him into a more clearly defined minority than he already is.

Muslims has to accept the face value of other societies and their ethno-religious background as equally valid and then do a lot of introspection. Blame their shortcomings and predicaments on themselves. Try to get rid of or modify whatever component of their belief system is impediment to getting out of quagmire. Without a doubt in my mind, they have to shun all forms of organized Islam and Islamic organizations. Above all, get over the hangover of Islamic dogma in any form having the veto power over their thinking and others lifestyles. Islam is not above survival instinct. It is not above life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. If it fails on these counts than it is a failure. If the Islamic experiment fails in Pakistan, it is the failure of Islam and not Pakistan. Pakistan acted as a laboratory and not the experiment - Islam was the experiment.

Talking about Pakistani military being the strongest among Muslim countries or Pakistani being the natural center of Islamic world is meaningless because a small piece of real estate in a pristine setting is better than being the center of graveyard and having the best grave diggers.

Sameerjb,

``It is very stupid of some to think that their children will help increase the percentage of Muslims to a level where they can find a Quaid-e-Azam in the future and secede from USA or that Muslims will be accepted as equal but a distinct minority with every right to detest the values system and morality of the majority.``

If there was a Quaid e Azam, and he truly was a Quaid e Azam, for the American Muslims, I doubt that he would want to secede from the USA but would instead work really hard to blur the minority majority distinctions. And from what I know of American Muslims, they will NEVER find a Quaid e Azam.. unlike other places in the world, the Muslims are migrants to the US by their own will, and much more than any other place the scope of Multicultural Unity is a tangible reality in the US. So a true Quaid e Azam for the American Muslims would like our Quaid e Azam, make every effort to get Muslims involved in Secular Politics of the US.. get them registered as Voters as Democrats and Republicans, and ask them to be `Americans first second and last`, just like our Quaid e Azam had told Raja of Mahmudabad, one should be an `Indian first second and last`.

In the US, such a Man and his constitutional methods would succeed... I have no doubt about it, in elevating the conditions of Muslims and helping them come to terms with the Majority so much so that `Muslims will cease to be Muslims, not in the religious sense but in a political sense, and they shall become citizens` of the United States of America.

``If the Islamic experiment fails in Pakistan, it is the failure of Islam and not Pakistan. Pakistan acted as a laboratory and not the experiment - Islam was the experiment. Talking about Pakistani military being the strongest among Muslim countries or Pakistani being the natural center of Islamic world is meaningless because a small piece of real estate in a pristine setting is better than being the center of graveyard and having the best grave diggers.``

WELL SAID .. BRAVO SAMEER!

1) Zia`s `Islamic Experiment` has failed.

2) Pakistan has realized that.

3) Islamism and not Pakistan has failed!

thank you for your comments. one minor point: i realize that zia`s name does not belong in this list; actually, i omitted it from the final draft, but i guess i sent chowk an earlier version by mistake (i hate such oversights!).

i`m not much of a practicer as far as my religion, but do consider it central to my identity, just as i do being pakistani. yes, i want my children to feel as american as the next kid, but at the same time, i want them to develop a happy awareness of their ethnicity. in no way does this consciousness have to conflict with their pride or joy in being american. and i`m only trying, with no absolute guarantees of total success.

true, i`m under no obligation to act as an apologist for terrorist acts committed by men who happen to share my religious background; however, i felt a need to say something when we were all being lumped together.

my son is doing much better, thank you (for those who asked). my daughter is younger, less brooding, and less aware in general. we had just moved to a different state (kids in new schools) and then this happened. you can imagine what it felt like to an angst-prone adolescent with no friends yet, and a very arab sounding name (not osama, thank god!). in any case, he has made quite a few friends since, and seems to be getting along well (except the sulky side of him, which has nothing to do with anything anyway).

--AS

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sameerjb ..

..... dang! - you are good .....i tried to say pretty much the same thing in my post about ``hum log``, ``yeh log`` and the new niggers .....but you say it so much better ......



... you said, ``Without a doubt in my mind, they have to shun all forms of organized Islam and Islamic organizations`` .... that got me thinking .... can you talk to my daughter who in a few years will be going to college and might fall into that nest of vipers called the msa .... i have spent a small fortune on sending her to private schools and have paid for everything for piano lessons to european trips .... unfortunately, i succumbed to pressure from mrs hamidm and made the mistake of sending her to sunday school and paying someone seventy bucks and hour to teach her to read a book in arabic ...... i am afraid she might have been exposed to the deadly virus ..... i know many young kids who are running around with head scarves and dropping out of school to take up the palestinian cause ..... their parents are pulling out their and saying, `` where did i go wrong``......

.... i am scared ! ...... gotta run - there is a fund raising dinner at the masjid for the gujus and imam siraj wahaj is the featured speaker ...... i wish my kids had a concetr to go to or something ..... this is terrible ...... we are doomed .... the biryani might be good - but is it worth it?

re: sameer

{{It is very stupid of some to think that their children will help increase the percentage of Muslims to a level where they can find a Quaid-e-Azam in the future and secede from USA or that Muslims will be accepted as equal but a distinct minority with every right to detest the values system and morality of the majority.}}

right on!

indians have a different problem...they all seem convinced that their position as the wealthiest minority is somehow a result of doing the stupid things you mention...giving the kid retarded names, forcing him to take hindi writing classes instead of soccer, dragging him to india each summer while his friends go to summer camp, and threatening to stop college tuition should he decide to study anything but science or engineering...it assures only one-dimensional success and not necessarily a pleasant path to it...of course then you have the other extremes...like one Ravi who decided his name was `too exotic` for corporate america and went about tying to officially change it to Robert...

Stuka #52: ``If someone has to be corrupt in India, why can`t it be the generals. At least the progeny of the generals know how to live well, and will spend well.``

Well said.

At least Generals have risked their lives once or twice for their respective countries. Unlike the Customs officer, Deputy Commissioner, Defence Ministers, etc. :)

SameerJB #55: ``Talking about Pakistani military being the strongest among Muslim countries or Pakistani being the natural center of Islamic world is meaningless because a small piece of real estate in a pristine setting is better than being the center of graveyard and having the best grave diggers.``

I don`t agree with this. Being an educated and progressive Islamic country has potentially great benefits. If the Islamic world was a graveyard, then the US Secretaries of States would not be making multiple trips to kiss the cheeks of the various Saudi kings. And the US would not be fighting wars over the Gulf. Nor would they be so interested in the oil fields of Central Asia. After all, I assume you do agree that the leaders of the pristine US aren`t stupid. Do you really think they are fighting over graveyards?

There is also a market of 1.2 billion in the Islamic world, with a lot of petro-dollars to spend. What is wrong with Pakistan trying to tap into this market, on the basis of a common religion? If Walmart can hire Desis in their ads to promote its stores that are opening up in desi areas in North America, what is wrong with Pakistan trying to use what it has in common with other countries? It makes perfect business sense.

Then again, maybe Pakistan is backwards because we follow Islam. But I heard a similar argument from another person who stated that Pakistan is backwards because we don`t follow Islam.

Why is the US currently assisting Pakistan? It is trying its best to avoid the Clash of Civilisations scenario. And this clash is to take place between the West and the Islamic world, if you believe Hunington. It is desparately looking for an Islamic country which can develop, and I assume is hoping, Pakistan could be that country. Israel is also very interested in establishing relations with Pakistan.

The highest rate of growth the Pakistani economy ever reached was when Pakistanis migrated to Middle Eastern Muslim countries. If Pakistan can develop a wide-scaled IT university network, banking system, armament industry etc. I think Pakistan would gain preferable access to the vast natural and financial resources of the rich Islamic countries. These countries themselves do not have the manpower to handle these issues.

Of course, if one assumes, like an anti-Mullah, that Islam is the cause of all the problems in Pakistan, then what I am stating does not hold water. But, in my opinion, anti-Mullahs are as extremist as Mullahs, and completely lose sight of rationality in any argument in which any reference to religion is made.

Right on, Sameer!

I was lucky enough to have been raised in a Muslim Pakistani community that did interrogate certain assumptions, values and beliefs and how they were reconcilable in the US. Its my experience that my second generation is strongly identified in being both Pakistani (or South Asian, ylh, get over it) and American. We tend to be much more critical about what Muslim beliefs we feel are rewarding and some of us have made different choices entirely. I agree with the opinion that the author`s child probably has a much more complex and nuanced understanding of what`s going on than do parents who really (by nature) have an agenda and have made their choices already. This is life. I`m sure that young people in Pakistan face the same questions, albeit to a lesser degree...

May God save Pakistan from our Mullahs and anti-Mullahs. Both are obsessed with religion. And both hate each other with a passion. One considers Islam to be the solution for everything, and the other considers Islam to be the problem for everything. One thinks that anyone with a Maulana prefixed to his names is the sacred leader, the other thinks that anyone with MIT suffixed to his name is the answer to all our problems. Both groups follow hollow titles, without looking at content or logic.

I hope someday these two groups will realize that Islam is neither a solution nor a problem. It is just a religion, which is out there. Follow it, or don`t follow it. But why be obsessed with it.

Any reference to Islam, brings these two groups roaring into the stadium. The Mullahs arguing that Islam was not mentioned enough, the anti-Mullahs arguing that Islam was mentioned too much. The Mullahs refusing to read the logic behind any reply that doesn`t mention Islam. The anti-Mullah refusing to read the logic in any reply in which Islam is mentioned even once in a positive manner.

Like any extremist, both groups are completely convinced they are 100% correct, and spend most of their time fighting over religion, and with each other. Neither has the capacity to change their point of view, even slightly.

Pakistan will not progress if it implements Shariah, nor will it progress if it completely removes Islam or becomes secular. It will progress if it introduces education, law and order, etc.

Perhaps Pakistan should only trade with Muslim countries, and no one else. Or perhaps Pakistan should not trade at all with Muslim countries, and only trade with non-Muslims. If these two groups had it their way, one of these two solutions would be applied. Wouldn`t a better solution be to learn to exploit the market opportunities out there on the basis of any common bond Pakistan can find with potential customers (this includes a common religion, culture, history, political outlook, etc.)?

Perhaps someday, these two self-appointed gaurdians of Pakistan will learn to argue their points with logic, rather with their obsession (from opposing ends), with Islam.

``````“”there is a fund raising dinner at the masjid for the gujus and imam siraj wahaj is the featured speaker ...... i wish my kids had a concetr to go to or something ..... this is terrible ...... we are doomed .... the biryani might be good - but is it worth it?

unfortunately, i succumbed to pressure from mrs hamidm and made the mistake of sending her to sunday school and paying someone seventy bucks and hour to teach her to read a book in arabic ...... i am afraid she might have been exposed to the deadly virus.(hamidm)””



Hamidm miaN:

All that satirical tirade on Chowk against Islam – and secretly trying to buy a plot or two plus a couple of houris from Imam Siraj Wahaj for for a measly 70 dollars!! -- what an atheist heretic !!!

Now that`s called -- munh pur Ram Ram bagal meiN churee – and THEN – blaming it all, as usual, on Mrs Hamidm, eh.

Don’t worry about your daughter coming in contact with the virus – if she is smart -- that Sunday school should give her lifelong immunity against the Islamic pox virus.

Waheed #42

``in order for this country to move forward does he have their ``permission`` to snatch away all the bleeding Jagirs which these feudals inherited from god himself, break up the flour, candy, milk pack, sugar, cement, steel, banking monopolies, do some
major land reform``

Do this and we will starve. The agriculture/food production industry is the most stable one in all of Pakistan and also the most successful. Land reforms have already been enacted and there are no more vast holdings of land as you imagine. The industries that produce flour, candy, milk pack, sugar, etc., are operating under free enterprise policies, modus operandi for today`s times - nationalizing such industries has already failed parlously. Today Pakistan`s people do not lack for food but if you throw all its major food production systems into turmoil I can assure you we will be another Ethiopia within a year.

Besides, once you ``snatch`` everything away, where does it go? Into the hands of the dispossessed, or the ``Snatchers`` themselves?

A mother`s failure

In the remarks of the son, what is significant is that the son views himself as a muslim, his identity is only that, not as a pakistani.

This problem is uniquely pakistani. I have attended several classicla music, dance and other programs staged by people from india, and in all these instances it is presented as indian programs. The veketa subramania skti mukti prasads of the US and other foreign lands have no conflict with the locals because their primary identity is as indians and not as hindus. This is a significant difference.

Pakistanis from the land of the pure, created by a pork eatinh sherry sipping person has turned out to be an islamic state. having destroyed every aspects of their cultural mooring as remnants of the kafir heritage, even in the US the poor 15 year old has no identity other than that as a muslim. The pathetic pakistanis should create a pakistan, a hero other than the long dead quad e kafir.

At least for a generation islam will be tainted by the 9/11, more of iraquisations will take place at an accelerated pace. If there is any hope for pakistan it can only be by creating a pak identity, the islamic so that the 15 year olds will feel like the pakistanis.

The tragedy is that even the merlot drinking hamidm can only think of sending his daughter to learn arabic and quran as a pakistani simply becuase there is nothing pakistani. It is a land devoid of any history any culture, ask naipaul.

To make children well informed and respectful of their parent’s background or identity is quite different than trying to create clones of themselves. Moreover, intentionally or unintentionally, the religious component of identity is allowed to run amok with the help of masjid, Sunday schools and other Islamic organizations because of the belief in its universality and correctness. This identity intensifies exclusiveness and then majority excludes those who are bent upon remaining outside the norms. The root cause of problem is the religious belief in universality, a deen and the only truth. Otherwise it is as easy to identify with gajar ka halwa as with covering hair. Why not identify with few of the 10,000 other things than with highly risky identity with the real possibility of rejection or ejection by the mainstream society? I am convinced that Anne Shamim and hamidm will prevail instilling the importance of survival as good human beings through rational thinking and through succeeding in this world according to the parameters of worldly success. Hamidm: make sure she gets into Cornell. Cornell will take care of the rest. Cornell academic atmosphere does not allow too much of useless activism of religious groups.

Here is a small discussion I had with a fellow worker at lunch. He happens to be born again Christian. I guess, such discussion should take place between parents and children, just to inspire or motivate independent and rational thinking. He started argument by suggesting that we can not live free of sinning - therefore we need salvation. I casually interjected and asked if it is better to commit fewer sins and he jumped right away. Of course less stealing, less pornography, less violence in the movies and less lying is better. He suggested that going to church, following Bible, making strict censoring of TV programming and movies etc would decrease sinning in the world. I presented the following four situations where sinning will be less. 1) Those who sleep 16 hours or more have less time to commit sin. Is sleeping better than being awake with potential to sinning? 2) Children dying young have not committed any sins because they can not think at adult sinning level. Is dying as a child is better than dying after spending a life of sinning? 3) Retarded by birth can not commit sins because their brains are shot and they can not control their mind. Is born retarded better than born normal? 4) Living a secluded life or stranded at a desolate place decreases the chances of sinning due to fewer chances of sinning. Is it better lifestyle?

The point is that living awake, normal and rational has no substitutes except stupid ones. The living and surviving successfully is above all else as somebody said it in Punjabi, “Jag jewndiaN dey mailey”.

Romair: The analogy of grave and gravediggers is not so much off the mark, as you tend to think. No matter what current monotheistic religions believe, Jerusalem or Mecca never achieved the status of cosmopolitan or thriving cities. The land between Egyptian Empires on one side and Persian or Mesopotamian Empires on the other were literally considered land of the dead, surrounding Dead Sea. No major ruler ever adventured into this land because nothing was there to go after. From Alexander the Great to Genghis Khan, nobody bothered to enter the graveyard. Finally it was the graveyard of rejected ideas that sprouted new monotheism.

Re: Pakistani exploiting Oil rich Arab countries. Have you ever wondered why poor Indonesians or Turks or North Africans (with the benefit of same language) do not try to milk the oil rich countries? Indonesians go nowhere, Turks go to Germany and north Africans go to France. Indonesia can easily lay claim to the largest Islamic country and most powerful Islamic Navy and benefit from it. Raja Saheb, it is simply a matter of calculations of pros and cons. Turks can easily make a billion or more dollars working in Saudi Arabia or Gulf States but will cost them by losing economic ties to Europe and Israel. Indonesian can earn a billion dollars easily over there but then have to spend much more on defense for being the center of Islam next door to China and Australia. It is only Pakistani military geniuses and mullahs who see nothing wrong with making a billion dollars in foreign exchange using Islam and then spending 5 billion dollars defending the center of Islam from India and ultimately China (China will not tolerate Pakistan becoming too Islamic and center of Islamic world). God save Pakistan from ever becoming the center of Islamic world or bragging about having the most powerful Islamic military. Such nonsense will invite more pressure from India and more military spending for Pakistan as a result. I wonder if increased military spending is actually what you are aiming at?