I can't avoid Islamophobia. But it doesn't define me – my Americanness does
|
Version 0 of 1. I was once very much like the clock-building Ahmed Mohamed in Irving, Texas, a precocious, studious child who tried to impress my teachers and fellow students. At John Neumann Catholic School in rural Pueblo, Colorado, the first moment that my kindergarten teacher left our classroom unattended, I took the floor to explain to my fellow kindergartners that Jesus was not actually the Son of God – that the Catholics were confused – but that he was a beloved prophet of God’s and his teachings should be followed anyway. Related: Ahmed Mohamed: it's a clock with a built-in racism detector #IStandWithAhmed | @firstdogonmoon The teacher returned to find my classmates staring at me, enraptured, while I waxed philosophical on the differences between the Muslim and Christian Jesus. I was immediately sent to the office, where Sister Edith-Marie gave me a stern lecture about keeping my beliefs to myself. In the car ride home, I defended myself and refused to admit any misdeeds to my horrified mother. In my young mind, I felt that I was telling the truth, and it was the teacher who was misleading everyone. Perhaps today I would have been suspended, or carted off to juvenile detention to be questioned to determine if I were but a miniature-Isis Jane, recruited as an innocent girl by a scary Muslim man, or a recruiter of others. The difference between the consequences I faced and those Ahmed did was that I was born in the 1970s, when Islam was less a subject of scorn than of ignorance; Ahmed is, at 14 years old, a member of the 9/11 generation. Born around the same time as the tragic attacks, he is a product of our troubled time. That troubled time is epitomized, perhaps, by a gentleman from White Plains who, on Thursday, said to presidential candidate Donald Trump at a rally in New Hampshire (incidentally, home to three mosques) that the biggest problem today, in his opinion, is “Muslims”. Muslims, though, are not the problem. Actually, without Muslims like Ahmed, who innovated and developed clock technology, that rally probably wouldn’t have even started on time. If young Ahmed is seen as a potential terrorist, in the land of the free, and his school and the police have still failed to apologize, are Muslims really the source of our problems, or it is how some people knee-jerk react to us, in hypocritical defiance of our American spirit of inclusiveness? I certainly see the attitude of the White Plains man often. When my brother, for instance, was running for office as a Republican a few years ago, my sister’s children, both under the age of 10, volunteered to talk to voters at my brother’s booth at the state convention. The bright-eyed, civic-minded niece and nephew of the Republican candidate were subjected to the hatefulness of some zealous attendees, including one who said directly to them that Muslims are the enemy and evil. Nothing in Islam has ever made me want to be violent – but another few rants like those directed at the children in my family, and I can’t say that I wouldn’t end up handcuffed, just like Ahmed, but for something far less intelligent. As often as we’ve heard those bigoted sentiments in the last 15 years, I still don’t even know how to respond. Should I be mean in kind? Should I try to be sassy? Stay quiet and ignore it? Even Donald Trump, who is known for being rude to his most mild of critics and never afraid of tough questions, laughed and lamented in exasperation that this controversial question, of all questions, that he was being asked just had to be the first question he received – and then couldn’t nearly find the words to stand up in defense of our religious freedoms. But because of those freedoms Trump is avowedly running to defend for all Americans (that he otherwise truculently speaks for), many of us here in the United States will pray together in celebration of the Muslim holiday of Eid-al-Adha this coming week, while Muslims from all over the world make their once-in-a-lifetime pilgrimages to Mecca. Even as a fairly liberal Muslim, I still enjoy the beauty and camaraderie of attending Eid prayers, and I am always amazed at the spirit, the warmth and the sheer volume and diversity of attendees at the prayers, despite the Islamophobia we American Muslims have faced since 9/11. The number of attendees in just Denver, where I live, has grown tremendously despite what has been a time of great antagonism towards American Muslims. We Muslims come in all sizes, colors, shapes, and ages – and, we are an optimistic and resourceful people. I have always said that Muslims do their best when under pressure; like Ahmed, we often smile, stand our ground, and become even more determined to follow our path in this modern world. While Muslims in America are too often vilified– heck, even Trump won’t defend us (although my congressman will, even to the point of posing with a clock!) – we, like Ahmed, will bounce back. Ahmed is obviously a special kid, but he is not unusual; inside every American Muslim, there is an Ahmed, who faces strife with character, faith and an aplomb that is actually quite American in spirit. It is said in the Qur’an that God only tests those whom He knows can pass. We Muslims may – temporarily – get our feelings hurt by the hatred to which we are subjected to by our fellow citizens, but we will always keep trying to pass that test. |