By Shelina Begum
Asma Hasan - loyal American and Muslim
AMERICAN author Asma Gull Hasan is hoping to rock stereotypes about Islam through her latest book ‘Why I Am A Muslim’.
The self-styled Muslim feminist cowgirl felt Americans were misinformed about the true nature of her faith.
A regular on Fox News, where she gives her own views on being a Muslim woman in America, Asma was approached by publishers Harper Collins to write a book on the religion.
Boston, Massachusetts
This event is not open to the public, but, if you are interested in attending, please e-mail Miss Hasan at asma@asmahasan.com.
San Francisco Chronicle Magazine, Back Page
Don’t buy a PC. I’ll help you when you have problems.” My friend Andy was talking me out of my purchase. A devoted Mac user most of my life, I was frustrated that every time I had a problem with my Mac, no one I knew could help me because they were all PC users. Andy’s bravado made me realize that I shouldn’t let others’ shortcomings dictate my choice. Plus, since he was offering his unconditional IT support, I figured I couldn’t lose. So I bought a new Mac to replace my old one.
I had just visited a Constitutional Law class at a school I was considering attending, New York University School of Law. The professor and his teaching assistants discussed an elaborate plan to distribute class materials on disk (the year was 1997, a time before downloading off the Internet became easy).
“Who here will need Mac?” the professor asked. About a quarter of the class raised their hands, almost in unison. Surprised, he chuckled audibly.
“Fight the power!” one young man said, raising a playful, defiant fist. Everyone laughed. In the real world, a similar Mac request would be mocked, even met with indignation or stunned anger. Macs are seen as toys, not serious computers for serious people.
The choice to use a Mac or to be Muslim in today’s world is not easily understood. In a world where the vast majority of computers are PC, where Islam is perceived as the enemy, why would someone choose to be a Mac user or a Muslim? Bias against both is rampant. Those who we rely on to educate us — the media — are themselves neither Muslim nor Mac users. Outright untruths are widely subscribed to. Muslims and Mac users are described as cult members, when, clearly, we are not. Both Islam and Macintosh are legitimate movements, with no spooky stuff in either of them. Obviously, the more than a billion people who follow Islam and the more than twenty-five million who use Macs cannot all be crazy.
At restaurants, when I place my order, I have to provide a blanket disclaimer: “Could you make sure my meal doesn’t have any pork products like bacon, sausage, bacon bits, lard, pepperoni, pancetta, or pork?”
“Oh, OK,” the waiter will say. Is he annoyed, I ask myself? Are they wondering if I am Muslim? Should I say I’m allergic to calm him? I go through the same dilemma when looking at computer products. Should I tell the salesperson I need a Mac-compatible mouse? Will he laugh at me?
Why do we do it? Why belong to a movement that is a source of comedy or scorn for many? Islam and Mac both started revolutions. Mac is a computer designed to be easy to use. Islam is a religion designed to be easy to use. Before Islam, the Arabs of Mecca prayed to one of more than 300 gods, whichever was assigned to their tribe. The gods of weak tribes were weak gods, while the gods of the strong tribes were seen as powerful and effective. Islam arrived with an innovation: we each pray directly to the same, single God, without the assistance of a saint, priest or other minister. The Koran says that God, being all powerful, hears the prayers of each of us equally.
The Mac operating system was created from scratch with the goal of being simple. When you turn a Mac on, the desktop is not an artificial environment created to navigate through DOS but is, in fact, the actual environment. Muslims are encouraged by the Koran to look at the world with curiosity and wonder, not to be afraid of scientific discovery. God’s creations are “signs” to us of his design, which God wants us to explore and theorize about. The Koran liberates us to ask, “Why?” This accessibility to God is a major attraction for many Muslim converts. Being Muslim, and also being a Mac user, is empowering because both put me in control.
As much as I enjoy being a Muslim, I certainly don’t expect everyone I know to become Muslim and start using a Mac. As every Mac user knows, suggesting a Mac product to a PC-using friend may end the friendship. I’d feel more comfortable encouraging a Christian friend to learn more about Islam. At least, out of sensitivity, my friend would not malign my religion. Paradoxically, it’s always open season on Macs. However, I accept that Macs, like Islam, are not for everybody. As much as I can’t imagine being something else, some people cannot imagine being what I am.
One day I did have a problem with my Mac. Two hundred pages of my writing — my first book — could be lost forever. I rapidly e-mailed the one person who had promised to help me. When Andy’s rescue e-mail finally came, my hopes were deflated. “I don’t know anything about that,” he wrote.
“What?” I said to myself. “But he promised!” I furiously wrote back an angry e-mail. I never sent it, though. I realized, regardless of what Andy had said, I now had this problem with my Mac. I could either fix it or not, but, ultimately, it was my computer, not Andy’s.
Faith is like computing. Whatever religion you are, you do it for yourself. I couldn’t count on Andy or anyone else to administer my faith or my computer. Repeated throughout the Koran is that God is the final judge of us all. My faith is a matter between God and me. This direct relationship with God is the revolution and, in a way, the burden of Islam: you and God are in it together. Maybe being Muslim has predisposed me to being a Mac user because I know that, when I write, it is between me and my Mac.
Asma Gull Hasan wrote her new book, “Why I Am A Muslim: An American Odyssey,” on a Mac. It is being published this month by Thorsons/Element, a division of HarperCollins.
Asma Gull Hasan, 29, considers herself an All American Girl. Her hobbies include collecting Barbie dolls, skiing and snowboarding. But she is also a serious-minded Muslim who continues to be in her faith because of the guidance and ecstasy she receives from it.
Two years ago she published “American Muslims: The New Generation.” Now she has a new book “Why I am a Muslim,” published by Thorson Element, a division of Harper Collins in England and America.
She wrote her first book as she was graduating from the New York University School of Law, where she was a staff editor on “The Review of Law and Social Change.” The book came out as she accepted an offer with the world’s largest law firm, Clifford Chance Rogers & Wells, to work in international corporate law.
Senior Editor Arthur J Pais spoke to her recently.
How did you get to be known as the Colorado Muslim Feminist Cowgirl?
When I was submitting a proposal for my first book, I wanted to write a catchy cover letter. I described myself as the Colorado Muslim Feminist Cowgirl. Eight years later people still talk about that description.
I wanted to tell the world that I am a Muslim and I am a feminist. I wanted to show that Islam and women’s right are not non-inclusive.
I grew up in a small city in Colorado. I went to Wellesley College, well known for feminist activities, before I joined New York University.
I ride horses and I am not scared of the outdoors. To me being a cowgirl meant someone who was spirited, independent, bold and at the same time someone who cared deeply about people.
So I called myself a Muslim feminist cowgirl and the term got attached to my name. Some traditional Muslims did not like me calling myself a Muslim feminist.
Why?
They thought Islam had enough provisions for women’s rights. By explicitly declaring myself a Muslim feminist, they thought, I was telling people that the two terms — Muslim and feminist –were not compatible.
How would you describe “Why I am a Muslim”?
It is part memoir, part guide and represents the side of Islam that is left out of daily newspapers and television.
And that would be
A vision of Islam that is ethnically diverse, tolerant of others, and supportive of women’s rights. The book is about my personal journey, of growing up in America, going to the best of schools, studying law, and being modern and Muslim.
Would you tell us about the readers you have in mind for your new book?
It is meant for mainstream readers everywhere, in America, in England, in France or any country. It is for people who want to know more about Islam. I also have Muslim readers in mind.
What kind of Muslims do you have in mind?
Those who know little about the faith they were born into. Also those who ought to know that religion is much more than a list of dos and don’ts.
What is your ideal concept of religion?
Every religion should feed one’s soul and spirit in the first place.
Your book also extols Sufism. What does Sufism mean to you?
Sufism focuses on inner divinity that is in all of us. When Sufis sing and chant, it is electrifying. Sufis believe that one should keep an open heart to welcome the divinity.
How have you experienced Sufism in your life?
Let me give an example. I was thinking of writing a hard-hitting book following 9/11. I wanted to shout how wrong Islam’s detractors were.
Suddenly I heard from a publisher that they wanted a book called “Why I am a Muslim.” They wanted a young female to write it. The book came to me, unlike the first time around when I had to look around hard and found a small publisher.
I decided to write the book in seven chapters. Seven because the number has religious and mythical connotations. Sufism also provides me with easy-to-remember life lessons.
What kind of life lessons?
For example, if one is open to God, we will know that bad things happen so that good things can happen, too. Sufis will tell you to remain calm amidst disappointments and setbacks. As I was worrying about my second book in response to 9/11, I got the offer to write Why I am a Muslim. Instead of a hard-hitting book, now I have a book that is more spiritual. Surely the world needed this book more.
What is the story we hear about you upsetting Catholic nuns?
(Laughs) I only know what I heard from my mother. I was about five or six when I heard a teacher tell the class that Jesus was the son of God and he was God himself. I had been taught otherwise at home, that Jesus was a revered holy man, a prophet. When the teacher stepped out of the class, I told my classmates that she wasn’t telling the truth.
I kind of felt like it was a little secret I had to myself. She heard about what I had said, and I was reported to the stern nun who was the school principal.
My mother was promptly summoned to school and I was asked to go home. I could return the next day but that day I had to be punished. My mother scolded me but she knew I was a mere child.
You have also talked and written about halal dating. What is it?
Young American Muslims have come up with creative solutions to dating –they fall into roughly three categories.
The first group is Strict Muslims who date halal (in an Islamically permissible style). The second group I call Eid Muslims, because many are not strict in practice and attend mosques only on holidays. While technically they date haram (unlawfully in Islam), without chaperones, they keep physical intimacy to a minimum and parental involvement at a maximum. The third group dates Sex and the City-style (definitely haram), openly and freely leading a non-Islamic lifestyle, having premarital sex sometimes in a series of monogamous relationships.
Halal dating is a practice gaining much popularity in the American Muslim community among Strict Muslims and Eid Muslims.
Why is that?
Halal dating is the first cousin of arranged marriage, with young people finding their mates –within the guidelines of Islam — instead of their parents arranging marriages. Because the Koran advocates equality between the sexes, it does not permit premarital sex.
Young Muslims who engage in halal dating seek a commitment first and are vigilant about staying true to their religion.
You have also spoken against certain traditions that have become part of South Asian Muslim communities. Could you tell us more about it?
Take the practice of six happily married women accosting the bride to meet the bridegroom. This is not mentioned in the Koran. Yet so much is made of this tradition even in America. At such ceremonies, when we ask for volunteers every woman wants to be part of the group because no one wants to be seen as unhappily married. No one wants to let others know she is having a rough or loveless marriage.
When did you first think of this arrangement?
When my sister married four years ago. I was in law school, and I wanted everything to be done with due diligence (laughs). I did my own search and I found six women who were genuinely happy in marriage.
Would you have six women leading you to your would-be husband?
I am not sure I will marry in the South Asian community.
Imagine you marry a South Asian. What happens?
If my naani insists, I will go through it. It will be for her sake. But I will find out if the women are truly happy with their spouses.
And will they be Muslim women?
They don’t have to be. Remember that the tradition is not part of Islam, to begin with.
What is the next book?
I am thinking of a couple of books. One could be a book about how religion has often united people and led to much good.
The second one could be a novel based on some experiences of my father and his parents when they migrated from India to Pakistan and then to America. It will have a lot of fascinating and life-affirming stories.
Could you tell us about one or two stories you cherish the most?
My father was about eight when he was living in a refugee camp in Pakistan. Everything was scarce: food, medicine, clothes. Every time supplies reached the camp, one person got the provisions first. My father wondered who he was. Even at age eight, my father told himself that he would want to be like that man. He soon discovered that the lucky man was a doctor.
My father decided he too would become a doctor. He achieved his goal.
Manhattan, NY
This event is not open to the public, but, if you are interested in attending, please e-mail Miss Hasan at asma@asmahasan.com.
Maharaja Restaurant
230 East 44th Street
between 2nd & 3rd Avenues
Reception at 6:30 PM
Talk and Q&A 7 - 8:30 PM
With Mahmood Mamdani, author of “Good Muslim, Bad Muslim: America, the Cold War, and the Roots of Terror”
$5 for SAJA members & students
$7 for non-members
(includes admissions, appetizers and cash bar)
Out of all the cultures in the world… true Islamic values, as embodied in the Qur’an and the life of the Prophet Muhammad, most closely resemble American values.” So asserts Hasan, who has devoted much of her adult life (she is not yet 30) to combating anti-Muslim prejudice.
As in her first book, American Muslims, she passionately argues against stereotypes and in favor of an Islam that sounds a lot like Reform Judaism or liberal Christianity. This is the Islam she knew growing up in Pueblo, Colo., an American girl who looked Chicana and attended a Catholic school. Hasan’s version of Islam would have appealed to America’s founders with its advocacy of human equality, religious tolerance, property rights and self-improvement. It harmonizes just as well with 21st-century America’s spiritual inclinations: it is nonjudgmental, inclusive, open-minded, diverse, experiential, emotional and even feminist. “The Prophet Muhammad is personally responsible for the greatest advancement of women’s rights in a single time period,” she writes, noting that no Islamic justification exists for abuses such as female genital mutilation or stoning adulteresses; these stem from ancient patriarchal traditions that pre-date Islam. Not all American Muslims welcome Hasan’s interpretation of their faith or appreciate her enthusiasm for America (she recounts several experiences with such antagonists and suggests that they move to an Islamic country). Unfazed, she counters: “I’ll make my own tradition: one that embodies my own American Muslim ethnic culture.” This is do-it-yourself American religion at its most appealing. (Mar.)
Asma Gull Hasan, 29, is the author of “Why I Am a Muslim” (HarperCollins Thorsons/Element 2004) and “American Muslims: The New Generation” (Continuum 2000). She calls herself a “Muslim Feminist Cowgirl,” reflecting her upbringing in Colorado. She has been a columnist for The Denver Post and The Pakistan Link newspapers, and her op-eds have been published in The New York Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, Beliefnet.com, and The Dallas Morning News among others. She is a frequent guest on the Fox News Channel, particularly “Hannity & Colmes,” “From the Heartland” with John Kasich, and “The O’Reilly Factor.” Hasan has also been featured on: Fresh Air with Terry Gross, Morning Edition and Weekend Edition on National Public Radio, CNN, CNN International, C-SPAN, and Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher on ABC. She has been profiled in USA Today and interviewed in The New York Times. In September 2002, Hasan appeared in the History Channel documentary Inside Islam. Asma also contributes essays to collections including “Taking Back Islam,” “I Like Being an American,” and “It’s a Free Country,” and is an editor of the monthly online publication “The American Muslim” and a regular contributor to alt.muslim. Visit her website at asmahasan.com.
By Rashid Mughal
A born-in-the-USA Pakistani girl, Asma Gull Hasan, talks about her faith and how it’s in tune with American values.
Asma Gull Hasan is a sparkling young ambassador of her faith. Her simplicity is disarming and her sentiments tug at the reader’s heart-strings. Using an odyssey of personal anecdotes, she brings home the essence of Islam and its bond with Christianity and Judaism to Americans, Europeans and others who may or may not be Muslim.
Many Americans, she says, believe stereotypes such as “All Muslims are terrorists.” Others believe Muslims silently approved of 9/11 and are against the War on Terror, that Muslims pray to a different God than Christians and Jews, and that Islam oppresses women.
In distinguishing fact from myth, Asma Hasan, a lawyer and practising Muslim, maintains the core values of American society are strikingly similar to the message of the Koran, which makes her proud to be one of seven million Americans who are part of the billion-strong community of Muslims around the world.
Part memoir, part guide, Why I Am A Muslim, published by HarperCollins Thorsons/Element ($32.95) in Canada, presents Islam as it is seldom seen on the evening news. Asma Hasan refutes the terrorist image of Muslims perpetuated by Osama bin Laden, Al Jazeera and other fear-mongers; instead, she puts a fresh face on Islam in hopes that non-Muslims will see it as a religion of peace and know that Muslims are peace-loving people.
Born to Pakistani immigrants in Chicago, this 29-year-old all-American feminist cowgirl who grew up in Colorado is out to dispel the darkness of ignorance surrounding the Muslim way of life amid hostile press, media and government propaganda about America’s own holy war on terrorism since 9/11.
Asma Hasan is a Muslim, she says, because “I can’t imagine being anything else.” To her, “Islam is a simple religion” and her book dwells on how Islam gives her a direct relationship with God and how the simple message of the Koran leads to the rich Sufi tradition of finding God within oneself. “Sufism is not a specific sect or branch of Islam but actually cuts through all the various schools and sects,” she says.
Since no one is perfect, Islam allows and expects one to make mistakes, and teaches one to struggle toward perfection through a process called jihad, which is “a challenge from God to improve oneself constantly.” What’s more, she goes on, her religion stands for diversity. Muslims believe in God and the revelation given to Abraham and Moses and Jesus… “we make no difference between one and another of them, and we bow to God (in Islam).”
It is interesting how Asma Hasan calls Islam “a woman’s religion” that is against coercive proselytizing and defends women’s rights, including the right to marry or divorce a man, and how cultural practices sometimes do not reflect the true essence of Islam. Not one to deny her Americanness, she believes that being a Muslim makes her a better American and being American makes her a better Muslim. Her simplicity is disarming, to say the least.
Asma Hasan writes in an easy, breezy style. A graduate of New York University’s School of Law with a deep-rooted love of literature, music and the wisdom of Rumi and Hafiz, her stint as a columnist for The Denver Post and Pakistan Link, with op-eds published in The New York Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, Beliefnet.com, and The Dallas Morning News, among others, has no doubt prepared her to speak her truth softly and succinctly in stark contradistinction to loud-mouthed diatribes such as Irshad Manji’s The Trouble With Islam. The positive tone and exuberant message of Why I Am A Muslim has a winning edge to it. Her pen is mightier than a sword as it cuts through all the theological and political trappings.
You should read it.
Rashid Mughal is a Toronto-based editor and writer.
Halal dating in the U.S.
When I was in middle school, I attended the wedding of a family friend’s son. The event seemed overwhelming, with Pakistani-Americans like my family–dads who were doctors and moms dressed in glittery, gaudy Pakistani dress. The groom was a Pakistani doctor, but his bride was not. She was white and non-Muslim. The fabric of her Pakistani wedding dress was a rich orange color that made her skin seem even whiter and her hair even more red. She complained about how itchy her blouse was. My sister noted later to me that she had it on inside out, so all the embroidery was on the inside, scratching her skin. But problems with her bridal outfit intrigued me less than the fact that she was a white woman marrying a man of Pakistani descent. How did these two meet, I wanted to ask my sister. Did their parents arrange their marriage?
They had probably met at work and dated each other. I couldn’t admit this to my teenage self because I knew that Muslims did not date. We had arranged marriages, just like my mom and dad did.
Except that wasn’t–and isn’t–true of all American Muslims. Our adaptation of Islamic practice continues to evolve, as Muslim youth come up with their own unique approaches to Islam in American life. Dating is one of those issues where many conflicting values intersect. No premarital sex is allowed in Islam. Fine. Therefore, no dating is allowed on the premise that dating inevitably leads to premarital sex. So are we ready to arrange the marriages of all our young people, as is done in some Islamic countries?
Um, well, not really. In Islamic countries, parents have the support of the community in finding spouses for their children. Word of mouth, relatives, and a social schedule and circuit make arranging marriages easier. In the United States, parents are more alone and isolated from these networks.
Further, most Muslims are pushing their daughters to academic and career achievement. For immigrant Muslims, the opportunities for their daughters are hard to resist. For indigenous, mostly African-American, Muslims, the civil rights era gave their children greater access to educational institutions previously closed to them. A trade-off has been made, though–the more educated the daughter, the less comfortable a parent feels arranging her marriage. My parents could have locked me up at home and picked my husband for me. But then how could I have gone to college? In fact, the very same parents who had marriages arranged for them–including African-American converts whose marriages were arranged by their local community, as well as Arab and Asian immigrants from cultures that practice arranged marriages–are now reluctant to do the same for their own children.
So how are young American Muslims supposed to meet and marry each other, especially when Islamic religious or cultural events are often segregated by gender? Young American Muslims have come up with creative solutions to dating–and they fall into roughly three categories. The first group are “Strict Muslims” who date halal (in an Islamically permissible style). The second group I call “Eid Muslims,” because many are not strict in practice and attend mosques only on holidays. While technically they are dating haram (unlawfully in Islam), without chaperones, they’re keeping physical intimacy to a minimum and parental involvement at a maximum. The third group dates “Sex and the City”-style (definitely haram), openly and freely leading a non-Islamic lifestyle, having premarital sex sometimes in a series of monogamous relationships.
This “Sex and the City” group consists mostly of Muslim men who date non-Muslim women. These non-Muslim women sometimes convert to Islam and marry their Muslim boyfriends. But some are unceremoniously dumped when a halal marriage is arranged by the man’s parents. The woman’s family is naturally upset at how she has been treated, resulting in a misconception that Muslim men treat women poorly. Ironically, the “Sex and the City” Muslim man can date freely without risking his standing in the community, while a Muslim woman with the same dating pattern would not only gain a bad reputation but risk losing a good arranged marriage proposal. This double standard and poor treatment of women is not endorsed by Islam but by a general patriarchy that pervades many world cultures, including America.
Upon getting serious with a woman they’re dating, though, some of these “Sex and the City” men suddenly reassert their strict Wahhabi upbringing. They insist that their girlfriends, with whom they once openly had sex, will now have to wear a cover and stay at home, and that their dating relationship was haram. A friend of mine who had such an experience broke off the engagement with the Muslim man but retained her commitment to Islam. She said many of her friends were surprised that she didn’t return to the party-girl lifestyle once her Muslim fianc
In response to my last piece in The Pueblo Chieftain, I received an anonymous e-mail to my Web site. The writer wrote, “Your story, ‘They don’t hate Americans, just the policies,’ isn’t correct. Why would they burn us alive, then hang us on a bridge; why would they cut us to pieces, why would they kill us in cold blood? The Americans there serving in the Armed Forces did not make the policies, they’re just there serving, yet they get punished by the Muslims just for being an American. That’s hatred. I disagree with you.”
The writer here has committed an understandable and typical mistake. We should not mistake the actions of a few Muslims for the feelings of all Muslims. President Bush himself has made the same point in decrying the abuse of Iraqi prisoners. Don’t judge all of America as being disrespectful and abusive toward Muslims because of the actions of a misguided few.
Certainly, a vocal minority of all Muslims worldwide holds hatred for America. But what population in the world today does not? American policies are hated everywhere, unfortunately. Just ask the French! Furthermore, when American involvement is perceived as invasion, some members of that vocal minority will engage in what they feel is self-defense. Whether that is right or wrong, it is a natural risk we take in our noble efforts to help the people of Iraq. News reports say that Iraqis are horrified by the killing and mutilation of Americans abroad, as most Muslims probably are. It goes against all standards of decency in Islam and is counter to rules prescribed in Islam for combat. Polls of Iraqis show that a majority actually welcomes the U.S. presence. Are we, as Americans, going to abandon the poor and hungry people of Iraq who desperately need us because a vicious few have engaged in the most abhorrent of shock tactics?
In order to win the war on terror, it’s important that we not lose sight of the goal. Our goal is not to eradicate Islam. If you truly believe that is the goal, then prepare yourself to lose the war on terror. More than a billion of the world’s inhabitants are Muslim, about one-sixth of the world’s population. This number means that one in six people in the world is Muslim. Just for comparison’s sake, the population of the United States is about 300 million. Based on the numbers alone then, we Americans are quite outmatched. Add in that Muslims are spread all over the globe, in every corner of the Earth, and with all kinds of ethnicities and languages, and we face even worse odds.
The Muslim world is not all the same. The strategies to attack one Muslim population cannot necessarily be applied to another on the other side of the world.
Other countries and empires have done their best, devoting far more resources than the U.S. has, to decimate the Muslim population, and at times when it was smaller. They all have failed, and sometimes the failure sent off shockwaves that prompted the beginning of the end for that nation. Some of you may remember that the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979. The Russians, by their own admission, assumed the invasion would be swift and simple. How hard could it be to defeat a ragtag band of scraggly, dusty Third Worlders and establish a communist satellite? They soon found out it was impossible.
The resources the Soviet Union dedicated to the perpetual war with Afghanistan put a second burden on the empire, already engaged in a costly arms race with the United States. Buckling under the pressure, President Mikhail Gorbachev ordered Russia’s withdrawal from Afghanistan in 1988. The turbaned, tattered warriors - some descendants of the fierce Genghis Khan - had devastated the Western front of the Soviet Union. One of the world’s most powerful superpowers was brought down by a fierce, tribal civilization.
This story is only one of many where Muslims have prevailed over insurmountable odds. CIA documents now available show that the United States supplied weapons and aid to these Afghan fighters, assuming fully that the Russians would slaughter them. The United States’ goal was simply to distract the Soviet Union’s attention to gain an upper hand in the Cold War. While the United States did achieve this goal, even the CIA was surprised that the Afghans won. We had sent these tribal warriors to their deaths, with our U.S. guns. No one was more surprised than we were when they actually lived and won!
To convert the war on terror into a war on Islam would be a mistake. We simply cannot go to war with more than 1 billion of the world’s population. We will lose. President Bush, Secretaries Rumsfeld and Powell know this fact and, for that reason, state that that War on Terror is not a war on Islam. Although these sound bites appear simply to be politically correct rhetoric, truthfully they are the administration’s prudent recognition that a war against Islam is impossible to win. The famous Islamic scholar, and former Catholic nun, Karen Armstrong has noted in her writing that whenever Muslims have been pressured by external forces, they have prevailed triumphant.
But do not worry. I am not saying that we will lose the war on terror. What we are fighting is the use of terrorism to scare people, to create instability, to turn the world into a “Wild West” gone mad. As President Bush said in his address on the evening of 9/11 no citizen of the world should have to face the fear that Americans did that horrible day, that the United States will make the world safe from those who seek power through fear and cruelty. To fight terrorism is a goal of Islam. The Prophet Muhammad himself fought the terrorists of his day -the pagan tribes of Mecca, whose society was governed by blood vendettas and revenge. Muhammad ushered in an era of peace in Arabia, an era that is now being threatened by psychotic tyrants disguising their lunacy as Islam.
I, as a Muslim, fully support the war on terror. To make the world safe is a noble goal. As an American, I am proud that my country has taken on the challenge and has the vision of a peaceful tomorrow. The United States is the only country brave enough to do it. We must not let the enemies of peace derail us with their small-minded evils. Our goal is greater than they can fathom.
Asma Gull Hasan, a Pueblo native, is the author of the new book, “Why I Am A Muslim: An American Odyssey” (Thorsons/Element 2004). Her Web site is www.asmahasan.com.
Through the personal experience of a young, bright American Muslim woman, we can identify the smiling face of Islam. The author extended a rich, generous zone of comfort, welcoming her generation and generations to come to a better understanding and better future.
Dr. Maher Hathout, Senior Advisor of the Muslim Public Affairs Council and spokesperson of the Islamic Center of Southern California
Sure, abuse happened here and there, but it’s not like what they’re doing to us,” the radio host said at the outset of our 10-minute interview. I was on the road for my book on Islam, and already, the backlash had begun. After a few days of hearing Bush Administration officials repeat the mantra, “Don’t judge us all by the misguided actions of a few,” the horrific beheading of Nicholas Berg apparently put everything into a new (and dangerous) perspective.
On The Dennis Miller Show on CNBC, where I appeared after my radio interview, a fellow guest, a member of the Bush administration, said that badness has gradations. While the abuse of Iraqi prisoners was bad, it certainly was not nearly as bad as the beheading, said Wade Horn of the Health and Human Services department. The guiding theme: We Americans can now feel better about the prison pictures because we are not as bad as “they” (meaning, Muslims).
What does the prison scandal, indeed, the entire war in Iraq, mean for American Muslims like me, who must represent our faith to our fellow Americans while representing America to our fellow Muslims? Since the war’s start last year, we have had a hard sell on both sides. Many of us have friends and family in the countries that we or our parents emigrated from. The Iraqi prisoner photos put us in an impossible position.
In London about a week before the radio interview, I appeared on an ethnic television show with two Pakistani political party officials. They were stunned that I supported the United States’ entry into Iraq and our continuing presence. I argued sincerely that the United States needed to rid the Iraqi people of Saddam Hussein, who was monumentally cruel and abusive. Even absent weapons of mass destruction, I said, the Iraqi people needed us to help them.
“How are you helping them now?” they both responded, pointing to the photos. “Doing exactly what Saddam used to do!” Diametrically opposed on other policy issues, this was the only point on which these politicians agreed.
These politicians and I, along with all Western Muslims, have been fed a steady diet of “Muslims silently approved September 11.” Even today, nearly three years after the tragic 9/11 attacks, I am still asked why Muslims did not condemn September 11. The truth is that Muslims immediately condemned (and still continue to condemn) the horrific attacks of that day. Poor media coverage of these condemnations-which came in the form of peace marches, letters, and press releases-gave anti-Islamic commentators an opening to slam Islam.
Now we have the Iraqi prison photos. And it would only be fair for me to ask where the outrage is among Americans. Although outrage has been expressed, it is no greater to me than Muslim outrage at 9/11. Yet that level of outrage - at all levels of the American Muslim community - was not sufficient for the critics. Based on the standard Muslims are held to, I’d like to ask: where are the protest marches, the continuous and unconditional statements, the howling disapproval of outright American abuses and humiliations?
But I won’t ask where the outrage is, won’t expect it to be constant, and won’t comment on the “deafening silence” of Americans. Naturally, I assume that any decent person would disapprove, that a default silence is not implied approval. Frankly, what aspect of tying up naked Iraqis is there to approve of? Yet many Americans do not extend to Muslims that same assumption of outrage they now believe Muslims will assume that they feel.
I never felt that the Muslims involved in September 11 represented all of Islam. Al Qaeda is a self-appointed fringe group, not a national military. But the American soldiers goofily smiling over a pyramid of naked Iraqi detainees are members of a regular army. They wear our flag, right along with standard-issue fatigues, helmets, and boots. As a Muslim, I can certainly understand that the actions of these individuals do not represent American values. As an American, though, I refuse to accept the excuse, “at least we did not kill them.”
America has stood for all that is good in the world, for freedom and for justice. In some places, America does still stand for these noble goals.
When my aspiring filmmaker brother visited Pakistan last summer, he wanted to film the old walled city of Lahore, the inner-city ghetto of that third-world country. Our family members warned him that even locals do not visit that part of the city. But he went anyway, wanting to capture the real face of Islam today-not the ski-masked terrorists presumably of Al Qaeda but the poor, hungry, and undereducated children of Pakistan’s slums.
When the children asked if he was American, he modestly told them yes. Excitedly, they jumped up and down, wanting to touch this young Pakistani-American with the camera. “Take my picture,” they chortled in Urdu, exuberant with excitement. To them, he represented the freedom and wealth of America-that a boy as brown as they could wear blue jeans and have an expensive video camera. Like the Pied Piper, he walked through the streets of the old city of Lahore, a trail of peasant children following him. They didn’t hate him. When my brother recounted for me the events of that day, I felt proud to be an American-happy that these children, who lived, ate, and slept in the same alleyways in which they were born, reveled in the sight of an American, had been given hope by his presence.
A different, unfamiliar feeling came over me on the plane home to San Francisco a few weeks ago. I had saved up articles about the prison abuse from the British papers for the ride. As I read the descriptions of the photographs, I felt a stillness, a numbness, a hushed solemnity. Usually when I read the newspaper, I reflect as I read, connecting the news to other things I have learned. But this time, I just wanted to finish the articles quickly, not think about them, as if I could ignore what they contained. It was a new feeling for me, and it was not pride. It was shame.
Asma Gull Hasan is the author of the new book, Why I Am a Muslim: An American Odyssey (Thorsons/Element, 2004). You can visit her website at www.asmahasan.com.
The answer is Asma (asi-mah) Hasan, a self-described American-Muslim feminist cow-girl, who through exercising the everyday freedoms our growing up in this country allows discovered ijtihad (independent thought) along the way, and in her life study, never took looking back seriously enough to miss a forward beat - generating inspiration to and from, well for one, that infectious Sufi source, the future Sufis themselves, and the Qur’anically described garden that with nurturing and care might become a bunch of flowers, even if they came from the Safeway market up on Portrero Hill. Potted plants? and people just hangin’ out, and being 1950s USA cool. Is this an Islam and Muslims we’ve ever heard of?
Although the usually Muslim-bashing nominals love her non-threatening demeanor, that doesn’t take away from the fact that Asma Hasan (herself) is operating independent of the psychosis-driven imitators that dominate all media; records, books, newspapers, and including much of the Internet culture.
Asma is a kind of self-help-book writer who can say do-as-I-say because what she is saying is so universally true and free enough of polemics the reader can “hear” what she’s really saying. While you read what she says enough space is left between the notes set alongside her bass lines, as a way of saying it, to “hear” what your own heart tells you. Now, there is a trustworthy voice! Who can be more trusted than one who has chosen goodness?
This is a book review of “Why I am a Muslim: An American Odyssey,” and Asma sums up the why in 7 reasons; each her lifetime experience as one, and as perfect as the way it is. One again.
Islam’s beginnings. God’s will is God’s will can’t be improved on. Born Muslim and understanding the commonality of Sufi saints, and little old ladies doing Rosary after (the Catholic) Mass, having chosen, as the 12-steppers in Alcoholics Anonymous might explain, conscious contact (with the Ever-Present) - closer than the jugular, it is written. “Islam as a woman’s religion” caused me to laugh out loud, but she’s right. God is Merciful and Mercy-giving. Muslims have been everywhere since longer than America existed. For whatever reason, God knows, the concerns of Muslims, are the concerns of the world - like at no other time in history, and all at once.
The first Bill of Rights, with liberty and justice for all - unbeknownst to many, al-Qur’an is the original blueprint that includes a freedom of religion and a freedom from religion clause; the protection of religious minorities. “There [should be] no compulsion in religion.” [Qur'an 2:256*]
One of the great values of WIAAM is that it is written by a best-and-brightest youngster with absolute respect for our traditions, who is up on our contemporary American and world culture(s) - from Malcolm X (El-Haj Malik El-Shabazz), to Cat Stevens (Yusef Islam) and Outkast, and is free from judgment. I mean, what would you think of a Muslim with purple hair singing sacred Sufi poems to a hard rock beat, or a Muslim skateboarder with baggy pants and a red t-shirt? I mean, a girl Muslim skateboarder with baggy pants and a red t-shirt? Then what would you think if you learned she was a Cham (Vietnamese or Cambodian) Muslim? They’ve been practicing Islam for generations. What is the lesson here? Besides diversity, Muslims don’t necessarily stop being Muslims after taking up skateboarding…
File this one under Not Even the Taj Mahal is Perfect: The only religious scholar shop-talk technical flaw I found in WIAAM was a reference to “St. John”, of “Matthew, Mark, Luke and John” fame, who Asma related as the mainstay of the “Sabians” (referred to in al-Qur’an as among “People of the Book” - along with Christians and Jews). Many believe that John [His name shall be Yahy
Why do Muslims like being Muslims? This is a question that many non-Muslims don’t stop to ask, but Hasan, an attorney and the child of immigrant parents, goes right to the heart of it with a self-effacing humor not often found in anyone’s discussions of religion.
This is Hasan’s second book, and it confirms her growth as one of the most articulate, candid and downright friendly voices among young Muslims in America today. She writes conversationally, much as if you’d posed a casual question to her over lunch. She speaks of her own pride in her name (which to her chagrin was regularly mispronounced in grade school, to embarrassing effect); of how forgiveness and personal growth have been integral to her faith; of the differences among cultural and religious practices; of what it feels like to be all of female, Muslim and American; and of how being a Muslim makes her a better American.
With reverence blended with feminist verve, Asma Hasan offers a forthright and remarkably readable explication of the nation’s fastest growing religion: Islam. . . . This much-needed book will be appreciated especially by young people, their parents, teachers, and religious leaders.
Derrick Bell, author of Faces at the Bottom of the Well
For those interested in understanding the fastest growing religion in America, American Muslims is a must-read. Hasan provides a human portrait of a rising religious faith.
Hank Brown, President of the University of Northern Colorado and former US Senator
A refreshing book showing Islam through the eyes of a bright Muslim woman in America. Asma is sincere in expressing her own vision with eloquence, integrity, and passion for her beliefs.
Dr. Maher Hathout, Spokesperson for the Islamic Center of Southern California, Senior Advisor to the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC)
This event is not open to the public. If you are interested in attending, please e-mail asma@asmahasan.com.
LSE, Houghton Street, WC2A
1 - 2 PM
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1283359092011286649
“Asma, how bad do they hate us over there? Is it ever fixable or do they just hate us … “
Far be it from me to judge Karen Armstrong, but I am going to give her memoir, The Spiral Staircase, a rave review anyway! This memoir of Armstrong’s life after leaving seven years as a nun in a convent behind is an amazing book that will resonate with anyone who has felt disappointment or grief. It’s amazing that someone who is the world’s greatest living Islamic scholar suffered so many setbacks.
As a boy, I never hated America,” my father told me a few months after 9/11. “If anything, I wanted to be American. Americans had freedom and were wealthy.”
Both he and my mother, unbeknownst to each other, spent their pre-marriage days in the same American library in Lahore, Pakistan. Growing up, my mother loved the beautiful American books at the library, as well as the air conditioning - a rare delight in Pakistan. Peace Corps volunteers - young men and women - visited Pakistan then, too, with the optimism and energy all American youth have, inspiring young Muslims like my parents all over the world.
In truth, the Muslims of the world do not hate America or Americans. They actually love us! Many of them go through great hardship or economic loss - like my parents did - to become Americans and are among the most patriotic citizens of our country. A recent report by a congressional commission stated that Americans are well liked by Muslims and the American educational system, in particular, is greatly admired. Blue jeans - the quintessential American cultural symbol - are the most sought after item in the Islamic world, with DVDs of American movies a close second.
What is objected to, though, by Muslims is not Americans or American products but the policies implemented by American leaders. The same libraries that exposed my parents to the values of American culture are now closed. After the Cold War, these and other avenues to the Muslim world were terminated in budget cuts. By then, the United States had also reneged on a treaty it had signed with Pakistan during the Cold War. The treaty bound both parties to help each other in times of conflict. Throughout the Cold War, Pakistan held up its end of the bargain, dutifully providing airspace, military bases, even soldiers to help the United States fight the Soviet Union. Years later, when Pakistan asked the United States for help in a war with India, the United States claimed the treaty did not apply by construing the treaty language very narrowly.
Besides Pakistan, many of the world’s countries - including non-Muslim ones - can claim similar abandonment by an American administration or worse. In 1953, the CIA and British intelligence secretly ousted then Iranian Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadeq. Mossadeq was a national hero who was had been democratically elected several times to Iranian Parliament. The people of Iran were naturally outraged, and the unrest led to the Iranian Revolution and the reign of the Ayatollah Khomeini, who felt he was avenging U.S. interference with Iran’s domestic affairs.
What was Mossadeq’s offense that prompted a brutal overthrow by the United States and Britain? Upon his election in 1944, Mossadeq had tried to reclaim Iranian oil for Iran. The British actually had taken the oil rights in 1909 during the era of colonization and enjoyed extremely low oil costs. Mossadeq felt that the colonization period was now over and that the natural resources of Iran belonged to the Iranian people. Time Magazine named Mossadeq its “Man of the Year” in 1951. One would assume that Mossadeq’s policy would have been praised by the United States. Instead, the United States publicly denounced it and secretly overthrew him because of it. Nearly every Muslim in the world knows the story of Mossadeq’s downfall. The lesson is that freedom and self-rule is less important than America’s own interests.
Even today, the cost of gas is an issue in the upcoming presidential elections. In order to have cheap gas, we need to have a friendly regime in the countries that produce oil. If the regime were independent, we would have to pay top dollar for the oil. Although we clamor for promises of cheap gasoline, we will eventually pay the difference - not financially but in further losing the goodwill of the Muslims who live in oil-producing countries. While they would like to able to vote for their leaders, they instead have leaders the United States supports militarily, making it impossible for any movement of the people to rise up and claim their own autonomy. Perhaps it would be cheaper simply to pay full price for the gasoline now in order to gain a long-term sense of security.
Beyond Pakistan and Iran’s history with the United States, the entire Islamic world has suffered immensely from colonization by European powers. The British stole everything from priceless artifacts and jewels to Major Grey’s Chutney from India during colonization. When European forces left the colonies behind, they arbitrarily divided regions into countries, disregarding ethnic and geographic divisions. Some countries are practically doomed to permanent unrest simply because their borders were drawn hastily by diplomats who resided a world away. Many of the colonizers installed a parliamentary form of government before they left. The parliament system confused the locals left behind. Corruption and bribery ensued, frustrating hard working individuals, like my father, who had the means to leave. Others are not as lucky.
Although the United States is not to blame for colonization, it has, as today’s superpower, inherited the mantle of responsibility. The United States is the only country that can give aid to develop democracy and increase literacy. In fact, the United States already does provide a tremendous amount of aid to Islamic countries. As Americans though, we fail to promote the assistance we give. Muslims are left thinking that the United States only gives money to Israel, a false and dangerous perception, further widening the rift between America and the Islamic world.
We, as Americans, must not be dismayed though. America still stands for freedom, and we must never give up or allow our enemies to portray us as uncaring. The Islamic world is counting on us, if not to help them, then simply to inspire them as my parents once were. This past summer, in the heat of the same Lahore my parents grew up in, my brother, Ali, visited a ghetto neighborhood in the innermost part of the old city, filming video for his latest documentary. The third world “inner city” was more like an urban village, with its mud homes and storefronts.
“Are you American?” the children of the old walled city inhabitants asked Ali.
“Yes,” he said. A crush of children emerged from all corners of the neighborhood. They set upon my brother in waves - but not out of rage. They were genuinely elated that he was American. They crowded around him, jumping up and down, trying to touch him, each exhorting him to take their picture. These young boys and girls, like my own father, did not hate the American they met. To them, he was a smiling and walking monument to freedom, his video camera a symbol of wealth they could attain, too, someday. We should all hope that they do.
Asma Gull Hasan, a Pueblo native, is the author of the new book “Why I Am A Muslim: An American Odyssey” (Thorsons/Element 2004). Her Web site is www.asmahasan.com.
