M.
A. Muqtedar KHAN:
"If
those very things disappear, such as religious tolerance
and freedom of speech and so on, America will not be worth
living for or living in."
Dr.
Muqtedar Khan is Assistant Professor of Political
Science at Adrian College in Michigan. He is on the
board of the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy,
Center for Balanced Development and the Association
of Muslim Social Scientists.
He earned his Ph.D. in International Relations, Political
Philosophy, and Islamic Political Thought, from Georgetown
University in May 2000. Dr. KHAN is author of the
book, The American Muslims: Bridging Faith and
Freedom. |
An
Interview by
Yonca Poyraz DOGAN*
Selected Quotes from the below interveiw:
"Now Muslims are trying to start a struggle for civil
rights. They are trying to focus on winning the hearts
and minds of Americans. They are trying to build bridges
through interfaith dialogue and investing in America itself."
"American-Muslims
thought that they could change American foreign policy
and they had other dreams also. Some people actually dreamt
of converting all America into Islam and making America
an Islamic state. After 9/11, those dreams have been shattered.
Now Muslims have become more realistic and they realized
that we are not as powerful as we thought we were."
"Now,
it would be a mistake for American Muslims to focus on
foreign policy issues. I think they should focus on defending
the American Muslim community, fighting for civil rights
in America, investing in America because America itself
is changing."
-
In your recent article in The New York Times, you point out the importance of 9/11 for Muslims in America.
How important is it?
-
September 11. is an important date for American Muslims
because things have changed incredibly. Before September
11, America was quite open and hospitable to Islam. Islam
was growing rapidly. It was the fastest growing religion
in America. It was the fastest growing religion in the
West. We had converts from all religions, faiths and ethnicities.
We built about two-thousand mosques in the last 30 years,
400 schools and so on. If you notice the mind frame of
American Muslims before 9/11, they were completely assured
of their political rights in this country. They had a
lot of faith in this government and in this constitution
whether they were conscious of it or not. But what they
were insecure about was their Islamic identity so they
invested everything that they had in protecting their
Islamic identity of their community and their children.
So all their money, all the resources were spent on building
mosques, schools besides the money spent for fighting
or struggling for causes overseas, such as Palestine and
Kashmir.
-
What
else has changed with 9/11?
-
9/11 happens and the U.S. Patriot Act was passed and there
are extensive civil rights violations against Muslims
in this country and it set a new mind frame where Muslims
are worried and insecure about the future of Islam in
America itself. So before 9/11, if you take the word "American-Muslims,"
Muslims were confident about the "American"
in it and insecure about "Muslim" and
invested in that. With 9/11, Muslims have become insecure
about the American itself. They think the Patriot Act
might even rid American Muslims of their citizenship.
Now Muslims are trying to start a struggle for civil rights.
They are trying to focus on wining the hearts and minds
of Americans. They are trying to build bridges through
interfaith dialogue and investing in America itself. Recently,
a Pakistani couple gave 2.5 million dollars to Stanford
University. And you see Muslims participating in establishing
soup kitchens, raising funds for local charity. Suddenly
you find American-Muslims investing in the "American"
part of "American-Muslims" and this is a significant
change.
-
If they had done this prior to 9/11, could things be different
for American-Muslim community now?
-
Sure. On September 11, it became very clear that America
was not going to treat American-Muslims as their allies.
They were treating American-Muslims as suspects. George
Bush came out and made a very nice statement about Islam,
and said Islam is religion of peace, it's not a threat.
But they have treated American-Muslims as suspects. All
6 million of us because we were seen as aligned with forces
which are aligned against America. In principle, we have
the same causes that Al Qaida have if you look at the
list of what is said about Palestine. I think, American-Muslims
had focused so much on foreign issues that they had not
invested in other aspects (American-Muslims are not aware
of) or any of the domestic issues. Suddenly they found
out that they really did not have friends, really good
friends in America. There are enemies for sure. The Christian
coalition, which is whipping up anti-Muslim sentiments
widely and as a result of that there is more anti-Muslim
sentiment in America now than there was last year.
-
You wrote, "September 11 may have shattered some
dreams but forced them to reconnect with reality..."
-
The American-Muslims were very confident about the strength
of their community. They thought that they were responsible
for the election of George Bush. American-Muslim community
had become a force and all of a sudden we are talking
about a fact that we could even transform American foreign
policy and change it. And of course the biggest focus
was on U.S. foreign policy toward Israel. American-Muslims
thought that they could change American foreign policy
and they had other dreams also. Some people actually dreamt
of converting all America into Islam and making America
an Islamic state. After 9/11, those dreams have been shattered.
Now Muslims have become more realistic and they realized
that we are not as powerful as we thought we were. They
suddenly realized how vulnerable they were to the new
legislation which have passed. Muslims haven't yet challenged
in the courts all these new legislations. Now we are doing
that but the lead is ACLU, the American Civil Liberties
Union. So Muslims on their own are not even able to fight
for themselves.
-
How about American Muslim organizations?
-
Foreign money to American Muslim organizations has been
reduced. Organizations themselves are not sure whether
they should take money or not. As a result of that, many
organizations have gone basically bankrupt. American Muslims
themselves are feeling hesitant to donate money because
of the raids on charities. CAIR is the only organization
which seem to be doing reasonably well but CAIR also takes
money from overseas. They recently took 5 million dollars
from a Saudi prince.
-
Critics claim that CAIR is a terrorist organization.
-
There are two reasons: One is that they have been taking
money from Saudi Arabia and number two is that I don't
think they condemned suicide bombings in Palestine. Because
of the lack of condemnation of suicide bombings by Hamas,
many pro-Israeli forces in America see the lack of condemnation
as support for terrorism. So there was an article written
by Steven Emerson several years ago where he called CAIR,
Hamas with a K Street address. But CAIR has its own advantages.
It is a civil rights organization. If it focuses on that,
I think it can serve the community. But if it starts becoming
a proxy for pursuing foreign policy changes as a substitute
to Palestinian activism here in America and it tires to
use the American-Muslim community as an instrument to
advance the interests of other Arab communities overseas,
then it will be seen as a foreign agent, not only by the
American government but also by many Muslims.
-
Your book has striking observations about prospect for
Islam in America.
-
There are 3 chapters which I think would be very interesting.
There is a chapter which talks about prospects for Islam
in America. There is also a chapter which deals with politics
and realities of 9/11. And there is chapter which talks
about Islam and democracy in which I argue that not only
Islam and democracy are compatible but it is a mission
of American Muslims to demonstrate how Islam is compatible
with democracy by living Islamic lives in America. There
are certain things about America which are wonderful in
the sense that it provides freedom for Muslims to be Muslims.
We are able to have think-tanks like IIIT (The International
Institute of Islamic Thought, sister organization of AMSS-American
Muslim Social Scientists) in America, which are not allowed
in other Muslim countries. AMSS is big in America. There
are few Muslim countries, which even have an AMSS. So
American Muslims, because of their relative wealth, their
high literacy level, lots of scholars and intellectuals
and the freedom to do what they want, not only will be
able to produce a viable and vital Muslim community and
a democracy but also revive Islamic thought and give new
impetus and new strength to Islamic intellectual development
for the whole community. I think that American Muslims
have a major role to play.
-
You point out the high education level of the American
Muslims.
MK:
Per capita income of American Muslims is far higher than
average American citizen, estimated around 40-thousand
dollars per person. The educational level of American
Muslims is also very high, more than 70 percent are college
graduates, and that includes both men and women. In that
sense, it's a very elite community. Plus things that happen
in America have a tendency to globalize. I live in Michigan
and through my web site, I find people reading it from
over 80 countries, many of them from Muslim countries.
So things that happen in America can be easily disseminated
in the entire Muslim world. So the American Muslims have
been positioned very well.
-
But their political influence is still low.
-
One of the reasons why the American Muslims' political
influence is limited is because they have focused on the
most difficult challenge, which is combating the influence
of American Jewish community and trying to change American
foreign policy toward Israel. This is probably one of
the most highly invested and most difficult goals. We
have not attempted any other goal in the same level and
I think we are significantly powerful community but not
yet powerful enough to deal with that major challenge.
So it's like saying that we could have jumped 6 feet high,
7 feet high but we try to jump 10 feet high, which we
are not ready for at the moment. Also what's interesting
to notice is that very goal has also been used to mobilize
American Muslim community so it goes both ways. Maybe
that goal was helping to unite American Muslims, I don't
know.
Now,
it would be a mistake for American Muslims to focus on
foreign policy issues. I think they should focus on defending
the American Muslim community, fighting for civil rights
in America, investing in America because America itself
is changing. There were certain things in America that
we liked. That's why we came here. If those very things
disappear, such as religious tolerance and freedom of
speech and so on, America will not be worth living for
or living in. We have to make sure that the things we
liked about America, we defend them .
-
What else can American Muslims do?
-
One of the interesting things that American Muslims can
provide for the rest of the Muslim world is an opportunity
for scholars from different parts of the world to come
here and live in a free society and express their ideas.
So we find many many Muslim scholars in the last 5 years
alone who have come over here. One of the interesting
things that American Muslims can provide is a safe heaven
for Muslim scholars, who do not have freedom in the Muslim
world.
_
. _
*
Yonca Poyraz Dogan works at Voice of America (www.voanews.com) as a broadcaster.
E-mail:
poyrazdogan@yahoo.com
E-mail to Dr. M. A. Muqtedar KHAN: muqtedar@yahoo.com
For
more info about M. A. Muqtedar KHAN
http://www.ijtihad.org/memo.htm
|