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I just love reading this post, it is not mine. I got it from my friend’s website. I wish this woman will be in realm of Islam, Allahumma ameen, as she understands lots of thing from Islam..

To My Muslim Sisters

Between the Israeli assault on Lebanon and the Zionist “war on terror,” the Muslim world is now center stage in every American home. I see the carnage, death and destruction that have befallen Lebanon, but I also see something else: I see you. I can’t help but notice that almost every woman I see is carrying a baby or has children around her. I see that though they are dressed modestly, their beauty still shines through. But it’s not just outer beauty that I notice. I also notice that I feel something strange inside me: I feel envy. I feel terrible for the horrible experiences and war crimes that the Lebanese people have suffered, being targeted by our common enemy. But I can’t help but admire your strength, your beauty, your modesty, and most of all, your happiness. Yes, it’s strange, but it occurred to me that even under constant bombardment, you still seemed happier than we are, because you were still living the natural lives of women. The way women have always lived since the beginning of time. It used to be that way in the West until the 1960s, when we were bombarded by the same enemy. Only we were not bombarded with actual munitions, but with subtle trickery and moral corruption.

They bombarded us Americans from Hollywood, instead of from fighter jets or with our own American-made tanks. They would like to bomb you in this way too, after they’ve finished bombing the infrastructure of your countries. I do not want this to happen to you. You will feel degraded, just like we do. You can avoid this kind of bombing if you will kindly listen to those of us who have already suffered serious casualties from their evil influence. Because everything you see coming out of Hollywood is a pack of lies, a distortion of reality, smoke and mirrors. They present casual sex as harmless recreation because they aim to destroy the moral fabric of the societies into which they beam their poisonous programming. I beg you not to drink their poison. There is no antidote for it once you have consumed it. You may recover partially, but you will never be the same. Better to avoid the poison altogether than to try to heal from the damage it causes.
They will try to tempt you with their titillating movies and music videos, falsely portraying us American women as happy and satisfied, proud of dressing like prostitutes, and content without families. Most of us are not happy, trust me. Millions of us are on anti-depressant medication, hate our jobs, and cry at night over the men who told us they loved us, then greedily used us and walked away. They would like to destroy your families and convince you to have fewer children. They do this by presenting marriage as a form of slavery, motherhood as a curse, and being modest and pure as old-fashioned. They want you to cheapen yourself and lose your faith. They are like the Serpent tempting Eve with the apple. Don’t bite.

I see you as precious gems, pure gold, or the “pearl of great value” spoken of in the Bible (Matthew 13: 45). All women are pearls of great value, but some of us have been deceived into doubting the value of our purity. Jesus said: “Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you” (Matthew 7: 6). Our pearls are priceless, but they convince us that they’re cheap. But trust me; there is no substitute for being able to look in the mirror and seeing purity, innocence and self-respect staring back at you. The fashions coming out of the Western sewer are designed to make you believe that your most valuable asset is your sexuality. But your beautiful dresses and veils are actually sexier than any Western fashion, because they cloak you in mystery and show self-respect and confidence. A woman’s sexuality should be guarded from unworthy eyes, since it should be your gift to the man who loves and respects you enough to marry you. And since your men are still manly warriors, they deserve no less than your best. Our men don’t even want purity anymore. They don’t recognize the pearl of great value, opting for the flashy rhinestone instead. Only to leave her too.

Your most valuable assets are your inner beauty, your innocence, and everything that makes you who you are. But I notice that some Muslim women push the limit and try to be as Western as possible, even while wearing a veil (with some of their hair showing). Why imitate women who already regret, or will soon regret, their lost virtue? There is no compensation for that loss. You are flawless diamonds. Don’t let them trick you into becoming rhinestones. Because everything you see in the fashion magazines and on Western television is a lie. It is Satan’s trap. It is fool’s gold.

I’ll let you in on a little secret, just in case you’re curious: pre-marital sex is not even that great. We gave our bodies to the men we were in love with, believing that that was the way to make them love us and want to marry us. Just as we had seen on television growing up. But without the security of marriage and the sure knowledge that he will always stay with us, it’s not even enjoyable! That’s the irony. It was just a waste. It leaves you in tears. Speaking as one woman to another, I believe that you understand that already. Because only a woman can truly understand what’s in another woman’s heart. We really are all alike. Our race, religion or nationalities do not matter. A woman’s heart is the same everywhere. We love. That’s what we do best. We nurture our families and give comfort and strength to the men we love. But we American women have been fooled into believing that we are happiest having careers, our own homes in which to live alone, and freedom to give our love away to whomever we choose. That is not freedom. And that is not love. Only in the safe haven of marriage can a woman’s body and heart be safe to love. Don’t settle for anything less. It’s not worth it. You won’t even like it and you’ll like yourself even less afterwards. Then he’ll leave you.

Sin never pays. It always cheats you. Even though I have reclaimed my honor, there’s still no substitute for having never been dishonored in the first place. We Western women have been brainwashed into thinking that you Muslim women are oppressed. But truly, we are the ones who are oppressed; slaves to fashions that degrade us, obsessed with our weight, begging for love from men who do not want to grow up. Deep down inside, we know that we have been cheated. We secretly admire and envy you, although some of us will not admit it. Please do not look down on us or think that we like things the way they are. It’s not our fault. Most of us did not have fathers to protect us when we were young because our families have been destroyed. You know who is behind this plot. Don’t be fooled, my sisters. Don’t let them get you too. Stay innocent and pure. We Christian women need to see what life is really supposed to be like for women. We need you to set the example for us, because we are lost. Hold onto your purity. Remember: you can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube. So guard your “toothpaste” carefully!

I hope you receive this advice in the spirit in which it is intended: the spirit of friendship, respect, and admiration. From your Christian sister – with love.

?© 2006+ Joanna Francis
http://joannafrancis.wordpress.com

“Our nation is moving toward two societies, one

Black, one White-separate and unequal. What

White Americans have never fully understood –

but what the Negro can never forget- is that White

Society is deeply implicated in the ghetto.

White institutions created it, White institutions

maintain it, and white society condones it. White

racism is essentially responsible for the explosive

mixture which has been accumulating in our cities

since the end of World War II”

(National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorder,1968)¹

After reading this book, it is important for me to tell you that I don’t like definition of race itself. What I mean is to put human into race category. It is fine to put animals into their own domains, followed by kingdoms as they have many species and subspecies. Does human have that? Am I from subspecies? Or Is Malay people a subspecies from Melanesian group? Scientifically, we can put animals into subspecies categories as they mate with their own subspecies. As human, are race considered as subspecies? Malays vs. Arabs, Jews vs. Aryan and Black vs. White? Human mate with human and all human are Homo sapiens. There are no subspecies of Homo sapiens. I am not alone in this notion as many scientists (especially biologist) support me that it is wrong to consider/perceive human in category of race as we are all Homo sapiens. Race taxonomic should be avoided as we have the same anatomical features and the things that differ are the color and the size of the features (i.e. tall; color of eyes, hair and skin). Their functionalities never changed. The definition of race is usually defined based on culture, geography, religious, anatomical and etc. So, what makes others more equal than us? I know some people claim they are more equal than us by calling us alien in letters. I perceive them as those who don’t sit for Multicultural Education when they were in universities. This book is about self exploration of our own self even though it talks about Black kids. I manage to make my own reflection and self examination. This book is a reality definition of race, the writer experiences.

I would like to explain further on philosophy of mating differences between human and animals. This is important to put here, as I believe, it will eradicate the superiority feelings that we have upon others. As I explain before, we were born from our parents. That is due to a process that is called sex. We are from sperms and ovaries. Naturally, parents will love their offspring because they are from the seeds of love. Realizing we are all from the same process, I wonder what makes some of us think that they are superior to others. Regardless of race; human’s blood, flesh and even male sperms have the same colors. I wonder rather than we view on our color skins differences, why don’t we view on what is inside our brain and how does our skull looks like? Still, why skin color is the major issue?

I have so many feelings after finishing this book. Before I explain my feelings, I have three related stories. I have kept this for so long and I don’t want to keep silence about it anymore as it will haunt me again and again. It is important for me to tell because the feeling of resentment and angry go together, and luckily, the best way to let them go is by breaking the silence. Thanks to Tatum for convincing me to let go the despair deep down in me. Thank you for making it required reading response to me as it is very valuable. You may share this story to your students, as I believe everybody have a sphere of influence. I will propagate my sphere of influence that racism must be stopped on whatever cost as it is dehumanizing. Your sphere of influence will be your students and others around you. My sphere of influence will be my students, trained teachers and Malaysian government officers when I go back. I believe we are all educators. We will be the social change agents that will commit themselves to create crème de la cream. I will create crème de la crème future teachers. I don’t want my product to be as exactly as Malcolm X teacher, a true culprit character in the book. I don’t want to be associated/related with him/her as I against racism at all cost.

I feel sad when the teacher of Malcolm X told him that the only work suitable for him is to be a carpenter instead of lawyer. The moment the teacher said that, it was a doomsday for him. He reacted negatively, playing truancy and later on involving with gangs. If I were in his position, I’d tend to react the same way as he did. It was a rebellious age and stage. Further more, at that age with the situation that is so unfair and prejudice towards Black, he did not realize that he had enough role models. How could he have it? His worldviews had been suppressed in a systemic racism. I believe as he excelled in his class, the teacher might be his role model. Then, it turned out to be his teacher is the one that broke all his dreams. Malcolm X couldn’t think in a correct way as kid’s world view was very limited. Was there a fair and neutral social worker to guide him? Did the school provide career workshop for “every student” as what we have in KSU nowadays? I don’t think so. He tried to prove that the teacher was wrong in negative ways. He challenged the teacher. Indeed Malcolm X‘s teacher tarnished the image of producer of crème de la crème.

It is very important to have role model. It is a need as it will create a success path on how you are going to achieve by following the role model. It is not just to Black American, it is for everybody. It will create targets to achieve. It is a positive reinforcement within, a strong motivation. How about black youth? Are they lack of role model? They have many role models. The problem is not so many White realize about this. Due to this, they tend to make stereotyping towards blacks. They associate Black negatively. Stereotyping is dangerous to be committed to any groups of people. It is based on distorted points of views. It is a shallow judgment. It is a lethal weapon as it kills hopes we put on problematic teenagers. It is a vicious cycle of racism too. If we still continue putting stereotyping towards particular groups, racism will be alive and fertile. That happens because it will convey from mouth to mouth. When someone in the group that always becoming victims of stereotyping want to apply for a job, he wont be accepted as an employee because the employer has bad/stereotyping world view on that particular race,. I can say this because it happens in my country, in fact in my hometown (from Kelantan), where we don’t like to mingle with others from different states because of our dialect is different. In reality, it is not.

I used to stay in apartment owned by Mc Cullough Development. It is in Osage Street, very near to Manhattan City Park. I chose to stay there because the rent is quite good, the house is half furnished and importantly, it is close to KSU and playground. It will be very helpful for my wife as it is a walking distance to university and good to my son because I can bring him to spend his time there (city park). Most of the renters are undergraduate students, they have parties every weekend. I don’t bother about it as I am a Muslim, and I don’t associate myself with that. It is fine as long as my family is not in trouble. One Sunday morning, I got a notice put it on my door from custodial cleaner not to make mess by letting the cigarette buts or garbage such as beer bottles (parties left over) below the stairs. In fact it was a second notice I received from them. The first one was two weeks prior to this notice. The thing that really pissed me off was I was the only one that received the notice. I went up to see my neighbor’s door, checking if they receive the same notice as me. It turned out; none of our neighbors have the notice on their doors! I was pretty sure we were the only one that received it because they usually wake up late the next day after the late partying. Why must I take the blame for the “crime” I did not do? Never in my life have I smoked or drink or going to a pub as it is not permissible in my religion. Why Jane did not bother to check about it first? Or does she associate me with dirtiness and garbage?

Another incidence was when a policeman came over to my house because he claimed he received a call from our house landline. He said there was a problem in my house. What was the problem then? Am I the problem because I, the Muslim doesn’t drink and have party on weekend? The best thing about it was we don’t even have a landline. We only use hand phones. That makes me wonder up until today. He asked for my identification. I gave him my Visa and my I-94 form. After that, he just left. He left us clueless. Who made a call at the first place? My ex naughty student from Malaysia telling the policeman here that there was a terrorist residing in Apt.4? I believe it would be more dramatic and suspense if the caller told the policeman, the best buddy of Bin Laden was there, preparing another attack to American soil. The third incidence was in the library, I went to complain because they sent me email to ask me to pay USD 5 for late fees of not returning a book. As I remembered, I sent it on time, the same day by putting it inside the drop book box. She asked me when I returned it, and then commenting due to a rainy day. That was okay for me until she uttered, “You are forgiven”. I was perplexed, it happened so fast. Did I do something wrong that I should be forgiven? I don’t think she will say that to me if I’m blonde, tall, speak native English or have greenish eyes. I believe that happened because I don’t look White.

All of these incidents were committed by White. I believe if I talk or file complains about this to them, they will have thousands of excuses to invalidate it as what David did to Victor in The Color of Fear movie. I don’t care about it anymore. I don’t want to leave the feeling unattended as it is dangerous to my being as a whole. That’s why I put it here. You know, I wish I can turn the clock back to give damn good answer as what Victor did. I believe by doing that, I am helping the White actually, by breaking their fear of their own shadows. What I mean by shadow here is the “now” that was built upon the bones of others. That was history, but we must bring the history to learn how not to live based upon the bad of the past.

Can I say the problem happens due to imposing world view to others? I notice that this happen because they tend to be dominant. They believe their culture is dominant. The nature of dominant is they will impose it upon others. For example, as a matter of fact, beauty is defined from their perspectives through the powerful media. They control the media as they control the world economy. For example, if you notice, in many advertisements related to women, most of the women are portrayed as having green eyes, sharp nose, big chest, blonde, slim and thin. This is what I view as exploitation towards women. What a real oppressor, not just the people of color becomes victims, now they address the targets to the whole mass by imposing it through media. What concern me is what about teenage girls that do not have to be the above features. Are they then considered ugly? Perhaps, media and advertisement should focus on what is inside, should be explained and giving examples that what matter most is heart. Thus, I believe Miss Universe should be abolished at all as it is more to sexual progressive exploitation towards women.

They also want to be heard and this is detrimental to any other culture that is reverse to them. They will see it as not important. They will see it as alien.

I learnt from this book that it is wrong to invalidate people feelings. I always do this. This shows I am selfish. My world view is important but this belief is absurd and wrong. I don’t want to be oppressors as this will make them feel hopeless as it shows that we don’t understand them. Sometimes, they don’t want us to understand them, but it is important to listen to their voices within. It shows as well by not listening is the act of ignorant and insensitive of others. I am going to be a teacher, my multiracial students will turn to someone else in order to be heard, someone that can understand their perspective. I don’t want that to happen because my students are my priority. I am thinking about what will happen if they not just turn to someone else but rather completely shut down as what Malcolm X did. As teacher, I need to give them hopes.

We must go against the racism by putting emphasis on certain things. First and foremost, it is important to talk about it, because it will help to break the silence. It is to raise the consciousness so that there will be and can be lead to effective action and social change. Don’t worry about it as it will always have followers for it. Lots of us have fears and we need to fight it. Self exploration of knowing the reasons we have fear is important as it will help us to combat the fear itself. It is important to realize as well that our first fear is ourselves. If we are not prepared to face our own fear, that we are not willing to let go our own racist belief and ego, it will be nowhere. You can put thousands reasons for it but as I realized, keep quiet means we become the silent supporter of racism as it wont stop by that.

It is important as well to celebrate those who stay on our course. We need to make abolitionists name famous so that people will realize that they are not alone. Putting their names high is important as it will be the role model for today generation. There might be strong confrontation on the opposite camp as they will try to submerge our efforts. This should be confronted by letting others know what the stages that they have been through when they were in the battle of racism. As Jones said it will be an antidote and freshen up the feelings of isolation and loneliness face by white people or any other people that is on our course fighting racism.

It is important to challenge not just white but anybody that stays upon the racism road. It is important to tell them how oppress the system is and challenge them not to be on the side of oppressors. Explaining the deep understanding of racism and appreciate the identity struggle of people of color is a way moving forward against the racism. For the torch bearer, they must not be left alone, as they need continuous support to face the sarcasm of daily racist jokes. Those who are against the racism are our ally, so it is very important to keep our networking stronger. We must appreciate the effort they put into breaking the wall of racist socialization.

They feel normal because they see black as a slave even though it ends hundred years ago. It does not exist anymore but if you realize, they can’t run away from the thought of feeling superior over others. They successfully do that by belittling other culture. This happens through color blind perspective that is embedded within them. They deny it as they never unfold their racial identity. It is not needed because they feel they don’t have problem with racism. It was not important to them. They rarely ask or discuss about it as it will be painful to them to admit. Again, what is important is their feeling. What is important is their belief that everybody is the same as them. I bet most of them do not belief racism is a system.

As I try to imagine and think why they think that they are not racist, as they believe it is done by their previous generations. They believe it stops there. But when you have that kind of thought it is wrong because past created you. And you brought together the history. You convey it in form of jokes, either you realize it or not, in your words and you think it is okay, but in fact it is not! Just because your perception think it is true it does not mean it is true and good for others. The best thing is that they never realized that it exists within our daily life as the system itself.

I feel grossed when someone says affirmative action is not needed nowadays. Most of them say it is unfair because they might loose their jobs to minorities. First of all, it is just “might loose” rather than surely loose. They say it like that on the first place, so I believe they have to check back their level of confidence. Secondly, how many percents are they going to loose then? Based on the percentage of Undergraduate Enrollment Fall 2000 at University of Michigan, White is 65.8%, compared to African American 8.4 % and Hispanic 4.7%. What about Native American? ONLY 0.6%.² Among them will say that institutionalized discrimination against African Americans no longer exist so any policy in their favor should not exist, but I would like to put it in this way if we view that the oppression has been gone through for about 300 years, I guess allowing more minorities to be granted affirmative action is nothing. It is peanut. It is used to remedy past discrimination. However, I do believe, affirmative action should be look closely case by case but not by abolishing it in general because it will strengthen the racism that is within the society already.

White believes discrimination has been eradicated. What about the three incidences that happened to me? From a study done by Turner, Fix and Struyk (1991), whites were three times as likely both to advance further in the hiring process and to receive job offers as were Hispanic applicants. From the same research, it is told that 15 % of the white applicants received job offers and only 5 % black applicants did.³

In my point of views too, affirmative action is a peanut compared to repercussions or asking for forgiveness as it involves their pride. Will it be possible seeing White asking for forgiveness? They won’t, as they are very individualistic and dominant. Am I against repercussions and forgiveness? I did not say this is wrong too as I agree with what Germany did by paying billions of dollars to Jews for the crime they committed. Is racism a crime? Yes, it is! Does it make those who purported racism criminals? Yes! If my two questions easily answered yes by you, then I guess what makes it SO DIFFICULT to ask for forgiveness and repercussions? If you refuse to do both, first and foremost, White must admit and put in into ACTIONS that the first thing that needs to be done is to change the stupidity for those who support racism, and at the same time tell and convince them(among racism supporters) that it is a system embedded in our daily life.

A country is not a house; it is not an individual property. I can paint my house to be blue but I can’t impose my country which I shared together to be blue because they have their own preferences as well. I am thankful to God, as He created this world colorful. We appreciate all colors. Why when it comes to skins color, we don’t take heed as the way it is? From this book, I learn not to homogenize everything because it is wrong. We must appreciate the differences as we appreciate the varieties of other living things (animals, plants) surrounding us. Why can’t we do the same thing when it comes to human skins?

I take Tatum advices to prepare my sons to have a positive psychological adjustment by providing intact relationship between families members regardless color skins they have, kids need to be attended integrated schools to avoid color blind perspectives. When it comes to buy a house, it is advisable to be in multiracial neighborhood as it will create more interactions and understandings. Most importantly, I must be willing to talk to my son openly about issues related to identity development as I had no one when I was teenager. I must stop the cycle of racism. This will help him to be able to reflect positively. I think it is important as I don’t want his worldview to be created by nonsense media or advertisements or people that is based upon inequalities. I will be careful as well when I make comments on others physical features as I don’t want it to become objectifying. These steps I believe will teach our eyes NOT to be out powered by prejudice.

References:

1. Norman R. Yetman, “Black Monday:” Brown v. Board of Education and the Significance of Race in American Life. Transaction Publishers Rutgers University,2006.

1. The CQ Researcher: Issues in Race,Ethnicity and Gender( Affirmative Action).pg 13.(Pie chart titled Etnicity at the University of Michigan) CQ Press, 2002.

1. Turner, Margery Fix, and Raymond J. Struyk. Opportunities Denied: Opportunites Dismissed: Discrimination in Hiring. Washington, DC: The Urban Institute 1991.

Name:Rahsia

ID: rahsia

Subject: EDCI 755 (Multicultural Issues in Teaching)

What is An American? Defined American?

I have to define what is an American for my multicultural studies. In order to get a brief idea what is an American, I have to interview any one (selected) around me (regardless of his/her nationalities) and tell his/her opinions. I grab Melissa and her husband, Michael. Both mention the same thing “people having freedom, independent, being able to make their own choices, and have an entrepreneurial spirit, people can make their life better”. I am perplexed by this answer, because of so many reasons.

After our Friday congregational prayer, I managed to ask my American Muslim friend, his name is Omar, Irish descendant living in Chapman. He gave me definition from legal point of view, “being born and naturalized in United States”. However, his additional view somehow perplexed me again because usually people in United States will prefer to ask who is not American rather than who is an American, accusing others of not being patriotic enough. For example, Republican will accuse the Democrat of not being patriotic.

If taken both of opinions above, indeed it is very difficult to identify who is an American and who is not. There is not solid parameter to do that. Only we can tell who we are. Determining who the person is needs us to go back of his/her background, looking at what/who’s made him. I can not measure the level of freedom a person has or life is better or being able to naturalize here because those are very relative in nature and it is circumstantial.

I believe as a Malaysian, we have freedom to express our point of views, I am very much independent guy and not afraid of anything as long as I do not do something that is against the law and I believe life is good and better (in Malaysia) compared to other places in this world. It means I have those qualities defined and being mentioned by my American friends. Am I now an American?

I tend to analyze more my American friends’ definitions of being an American. I suspected this idea might be from the Declaration of Independence 1776. I choose this thinking that this was the beginning of United States of America, my friends’ background schemata are developed from their history lessons of this Declaration. Again, the essence of it convinces me that we are in fact basically the same; “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”¹ How does it differ with the Islamic principles of freedom as clearly mentioned by our predecessors when he wanted to liberate Persian²? The situation might be different but the context will always be the same. American vs. British Hegemony and Narrowness of this world vs. Spaciousness of Hereafter. It is about the basic element of human, having freedom based on our own conscience compared to animals.

In conclusion, my American friends defined American based on the essence of human principality so it goes the same to me because we are all the same. As a teacher, it is a must for us to prepare educational equity regardless of who our students are.

Reference:

1. The Unanimous Declaration of Thirteen United States of America, (July 4, 1776)

http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/document/index.htm (Sept 1st 2008)

2. Ali Nadvi A.H, The Responsibilities of Muslims in The West

http://www.albalagh.net/food_for_thought/responsibilities_muslims_west.shtml (Sept 1st 2008)

During the time of the Prophet (sallallahu ‘alayhi wassallam), those who entered Islam were of two types: those who remained in their lands with the general populace practicing the basic tenets of the religion, and those who took it upon themselves to migrate and join the Prophet in his expeditions. There are ahadith that show that the Prophet treated these two groups differently from each other due to their difference in status. For example, Muslim and at-Tirmidhi report that when appointing a leader to a battalion, he would instruct him on how to deal with those of the enemy who became Muslims, saying: “…invite them to migrate from their lands to the land of the Muhajirin, and inform them that if they do so, they will have all the privileges and obligations of the Muhajirin. If they refuse to migrate, tell them that they will have the status of the Bedouins, and will be subjected to the commands of Allah like the rest of the believers…” This distinction was simply of one group deciding to take upon its shoulders certain responsibilities in contrast to the other whose inactivity limited them to a very individualistic, localized, benign practice of Islam. One can in essence say that the Prophet divided the practice of the Muslims at the time into two types: the religion of the Migrants (Din al-Muhajirin, whose adherents took upon their shoulders the responsibilities of aiding and giving victory to Islam), and the religion of the Bedouins (Din al-A’rab, whose adherents did not go beyond the basics).

Although the depiction is of a situation that existed over a thousand years ago, it is an eternal pattern that Muslims will be distributed amongst these levels in every era and in every place. So, one can notice this distinction even amongst the practicing Muslims of the East and West. The Din al-A’rab of the past can be compared to the Islam that is limited to the five pillars, eating zabihah, and keeping the local mosque clean. Considering how difficult it is in the West to come across even these Muslims, imagine what joy comes to the eye and heart to see those who go a step further and reach the level of adhering to Din al-Muhajirin – those whose concern spans the entire Ummah, driving them to get up and become active workers for Islam, to dedicate their every minute to the service of Allah however they can no matter what other responsibilities clutter their busy lives, to have their hearts beat with the rest of the Muslims – all this with their heads raised high and paying no regard to those around them who eat and live like cattle, as it was said:

Such are the free in a world of the enslaved…

Recently, the entire world has been speaking about one such person – a short, thin college student, wife, and mother of three small children. Her name is Aafia Siddiqui.

I want you to be drawn to the story of this woman and also understand why I was drawn to it. I want you to come to know of the concern and dedication that this woman had for Islam as described by those who knew her – a dedication that was manifested by way of actions that were very simple and easy, yet seldom carried out by those who are able.

Those who knew Aafia recall that she was a very small, quiet, polite, and shy woman who was barely noticeable in a gathering. However, they add that when necessary, she would say what needed to be said. She was once giving a speech at a fundraiser for Bosnian orphans at a local mosque in which she began lambasting the men in the audience for not stepping up to do what she was doing. She would plead: “Where are the men? Why do I have to be the one standing up here and doing this work?” And she was right, as she was a mother, a wife, and a student in a community full of brothers with nothing to show when it came to Islamic work.

When she was a student at MIT, she began organizing drives to deliver copies of the Qur’an and other Islamic literature to the Muslims in the local prisons. She would have them delivered in boxes to a local mosque, and she would then show up at the mosque and carry the heavy boxes by herself all the way down the three flights of very steep stairs. Subhan Allah, look at the Qadar of Allah: this woman who would spend so much time and effort to help Muslim prisoners is now herself a prisoner (I ask Allah to free her)!

Her dedication to Islam was also very evident on campus. A 2004 article from Boston Magazine mentions that “…she wrote three guides for members who wanted to teach others about Islam. On the group’s website, Siddiqui explained how to run a daw’ah table, an informational booth used at school events to educate people about, and persuade them to convert to, Islam.” The article continues to mention that in the guides, she wrote: “Imagine our humble, but sincere daw’ah effort turning into a major daw’ah movement in this country! Just imagine it! And us, reaping the reward of everyone who accepts Islam through this movement, through years to come. Think and plan big. May Allah give this strength and sincerity to us so that our humble effort continue, and expands until America becomes a Muslim land.”

Allahu Akbar…look at this himmah (concern)…look at these lofty aspirations and goals! As men, we should be ashamed to have to learn such lessons from a sister.

She would drive out of her way every week to teach the local Muslim children on Sundays. I was told by a sister that she would also drive out of her way every week to visit a small group of reverts to teach them the basics of Islam. One of the sisters who attended her circles described Aafia as “not going out of her way to be noticed by anybody, or to be anyone’s friend. She just came out here to teach us about Allah, and English wasn’t even her first language!”

Another sister who would attend her circles describes: “She shared with us that we should never make excuses for who we are. She said: “Americans have no respect for people who are weak. Americans will respect us if we stand up and we are strong.””

Allahu Akbar…O Allah, free this woman!

But Aafia’s biggest passion was helping the oppressed Muslims around the globe. When war in Bosnia broke out, she did not sit back and watch with one knee over the other. Rather, she immediately sought out whatever means were within her grasp to make a difference. She didn’t sit in a dreamy bubble thinking all day about how she wished that she could go over to Bosnia and help with relief efforts. She got up and did what she could: she would speak to people to raise awareness, she would ask for donations, she would send e-mails, she would give slideshow presentations – the point I’m trying to make here is that Aafia showed that there is always something we can do to help our brothers and sisters, the least of which is a spoken word to raise awareness to those who are unaware. Sitting back and doing nothing is never an option. She once gave a speech at a local mosque to raise funds for Bosnian orphans, and when the audience was just sitting there watching her, she asked: “How many people in this room own more than one pair of boots?” When half the room raised their hands, she said: “So, donate them to these Bosnians who are about to face a brutal winter!” She was so effective in her plea that even the imam took off his boots and donated them!

There is much more to say about how passionate this sister was for Islam. However, the above gives you an idea of what she was like, and should hopefully serve as an inspiration for brothers before sisters to become active in serving Islam through whatever means are available. Remember that she was doing all of this while being a mother and a PhD student, and most of us do much less despite having much more free time.

So, having this image of Aafia in my mind, I was taken aback at what I saw when she was brought into court for what should have been her bail hearing. The door on the front left side of the courtroom was slowly opened to reveal a frail, limp, exhausted woman who could barely hold her own head up straight in a pale blue wheelchair. She was dressed in a Guantanamo-style orange prison uniform, and her frail head was wrapped in a white hijab that was pulled down to cover her bone-thin arms (the prison uniform is short sleeved). Her lawyers quickly sat around her, and the hearing began.

The head prosecutor, assistant US attorney Christopher LaVigne, walked in with a group of three or four FBI agents, one of whom was a female who looked Pakistani (may Allah’s curse be upon them). The defense began by announcing that the bail hearing was to be postponed because of Aafia’s medical condition. Essentially, Aafia’s lawyers reasoned that there was no point of her being out on bail if she was near death. So, they demanded that she be allowed a doctor’s visit before anything else. LaVigne got up and objected, saying that Aafia was a risk to the security of the United States. The judge didn’t seem to buy that, and the prosecutor continued arguing that “this is a woman who attempted to blast her way out of captivity.” As soon as this was said, I looked over and noticed Aafia shaking her head in desperation and sadness, as if she felt that the whole world was against her. By the way, Aafia was so small and weak that I could barely see her from behind the wheelchair. All I could see was her head slumped over to the left and wrapped in the hijab, and her right arm sticking out.

I got a better understanding of why she was so sad and desperate when her lawyer began listing details of her condition:

* She now has brain damage from her time in US custody
* One of her kidneys was removed while in US custody
* She is unable to digest her food since part of her intestines was removed during surgery while in US custody
* She has layers and layers of sewed up skin from the surgery for the gunshot wound
* She has a large surgical scar from her chest area all the way down to her torso

With all of this, she had not been visited by a single doctor the entire time of her incarceration in the US despite being in constant incredible abdominal pain following her sloppy surgery in Afghanistan – pain for which she was being given nothing more than Ibuprofen! Ibuprofen is purchased over the counter to treat headaches!

With all of this, the prosecutor had the audacity and shamelessness to try to prevent her from being seen by a doctor due to her being a “security risk.” When he was pressed by the judge as to why Aafia was sitting all this time in a NYC prison without basic medical care, the government attorney stuttered, said that it was “a complicated situation,” and capped it with the expected cheap shot that “it was her decision as she refused to by seen by a male doctor.” As soon as the prosecutor said that last bit, I saw Aafia’s thin arm shoot up and shake back and forth to the judge (as if to say ‘No! He’s lying!’). I felt so sorry for her, as she was obviously quite frustrated at the lies being spilled out before her very eyes. Her lawyer then put her hand on her arm and began stroking it to comfort her and calm her down.

When the hearing was over, one scholarly statement stuck in my mind, and it is where Ibn al-Qayyim said that a person rises in his closeness to Allah until: “…there remains only one obstacle from which the enemy calls him from, and this is an obstacle that he must face. If anyone were to be saved from this obstacle, it would have been the Messengers and Prophets of Allah, and the noblest of His Creation. This is the obstacle of Satan unleashing his troops upon the believer with various types of harm: by way of the hand, the tongue, and the heart. This occurs in accordance with the degree of goodness that exists within the believer. So, the higher he is in degree, the more the enemy unleashes his troops and helps them against him, and overwhelms him with his followers and allies in various ways. There is no way around this obstacle, because the firmer he is in calling to Allah and fulfilling His commands, the more the enemy becomes intent upon deceiving him with foolish people. So, he has essentially put on his body armor in this obstacle, and has taken it upon himself to confront the enemy for Allah’s Sake and in His Name, and his worship in doing so is the worship of the best of worshippers.”

And this was absolutely clear that day when looking at the scene in the court. Despite Aafia’s apparent physical weakness and frailty, there was a certain ‘izzah (honor) and strength that I felt emanating from her the entire time. Everything from the way she forcefully shook her hand at the judge when the prosecutor would lie, to how she was keen to wear her hijab on top of her prison garments despite horrible circumstances that would make hijab the last thing on most people’s minds, to the number of FBI agents, US Marshals, reporters, officials, etc. who were all stuffed in this small room to observe this frail, weak, short, quiet, female “security risk” – everything pointed to the conclusion that the only thing all of these people were afraid of was the strength of this sister’s iman.

This is the situation of our dear sister, a Muslim woman in captivity…

What can I say…?

I will not close by mentioning the obligation of helping to free Muslim prisoners. I will not mention how al-Mu’tasim razed an entire city to the ground to rescue a single Muslim woman. I will not go back to the days of Salah ad-Din or ‘Umar bin ‘Abd al-’Aziz, who rescued Muslim prisoners in the tens of thousands. I cannot be greedy enough to mention these things at this point because what is even sadder than what is happening to Aafia Siddiqui is how few the Muslims were who even bothered to show up to her hearing in a city of around half a million Muslims (not counting the surrounding areas), and that not a single Muslim organization in the United States has taken up the sister’s cause or even spoken a word in her defense, and as Ibn al-Qayyim said: “If ghayrah (protective jealousy) leaves a person’s heart, his faith will follow it.”

Unfortunately, in a time where most of us are following Din al-A’rab, it seems that the best person to teach us a lesson in how to help Aafia Siddiqui would have been Aafia herself.

Wallahul Musta’aan

Source:

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