"Who here is petrified of Muslims," a Pakistani American Muslim man calmly asked the 90 or so assembled law students of UC Davis King Hall Law School for a special lunch time meeting entitled: "Minority Reports: Representing the Un-represented." (For lovers of irony: King Hall, named after revered civil rights leader Martin Luther King, counts 1% of all its 2004 incoming student body as African Americans). Given the stifling restraints of self-imposed politically correct nooses people choose to wear, I was not surprised when none of the enlightened raised their hands in response to my question.

"You all are excellent liars. You will make excellent lawyers," I replied.

"If I wasn't a Muslim American, and I was your Average Joe America, I would be terrified, petrified, freaked out of my mind about these fun-do-mentalist, terror-rist, extreme-ist, anti-Semitic, Women-hating, tali-boning, bearded, hairy, smelly, leering, oil guzzling, turban wearing, magic carpet flying, Sand niggers."

And those words, spoken swiftly, coolly, and calmly, connected like a brutal uppercut smashing (or at least partially revealing) their carefully constructed masks of racial "enlightenment."

These words did not sprout forth from the rage filled, Bile spewing gut of a knee jerking, reactionary loon - a standard description routinely used by "media experts" to publicly pillory any person guilty of "exporting" an unpopular sentiment. Rather, the rhetoric accurately portrayed the image I, as an American, would sincerely hold of 1.2 billion members of the human race in the year 2005 if television media, academic history books, Hollywood movies, and governmental rhetoric were my crash course tutorials on all things "Moslem" and "A-rab."

Let's do a summary, shall we? According to the FBI, CIA, and the 9-11 Commission report, 19 hijackers happened to have Middle Eastern backgrounds, 15 of them hailing from our oil-in-ally Saudi Arabia. In retaliation, we have liberated Afghanistan and Iraq, two "Moslim" countries, from evildoers, with Iran, Syria, and an assortment of other hostile, Muslim neighbors on the way. However, our commitment to the Wahabbi-based Saudi regime, mostly responsible for the dissemination of Muhammad Ibn al Wahhab's puritanical and re-visionary interpretation of Islam, remains firm and intact. Even though the administration eventually conceded Iraq had no tangible connection to the Twin Tower attacks, USA Today reported nearly 70% of Americans believed otherwise. I guess a Saudi is an Iraqi is an Arab is a Muslim... is a terrorist. Oh well, sucks for me - and 1.2 billion other people.

Furthermore, to bolster not only national security but also foreign relations with our Middle Eastern "neighbor", we hold detainees as "unlawful combatants" to bypass international laws and customs in Guantanamo Bay, which has been called the "Gulag of our times... in violation of international laws," according to Amnesty International. The administration and its henchmen scoff. The "liberal" media, including Newsweek, is so liberal that it prematurely and embarrassingly retracts its May 9th story at the commands of its superiors, in which it described the desecration of the Quran by interrogators who wanted to rattle detainees by placing the Holy Book in the toilet. (The Administration later conceded there were several valid reports of Quran desecration.) This was another "Spring time" musical for the haters. "Protests in the Islamic world," exclaimed the headlines! "Look at those barbarians: so violent, so angry!" complained the pundits. "Why do they react so violently? It's just a book! Jeez, do they take it that seriously?" asked the genuinely baffled reporters. A simple dialogue with any practicing Muslim with even the most elementary rhetorical skills would have revealed, that yes, Muslims do take desecration of their Holy Book seriously. However, I guess allowing an intelligent Muslim voice to emerge amongst the high-pitched, paranoid shrills and shriekings of non-Muslim "experts" would have been truly radical and "undemocratic."

And will the Real Muhammad please stand up?

But who needs Muslim voices when you have liberal and conservative pundits. Erudite and compassionate visionaries, such as Ann "We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity" Coulter, or academic Bill "I wouldn't read the book (the Qur'an). And I'll tell you why I wouldn't have read "Mein Kampf" either," O'Reilly, who subtly equate the religious text of 1.2 billion people with the racist, supremacist ideology of one Adolf Hitler. In the lucrative world of Islam-bashing, it's comforting to know that even conservatives and liberals can set aside their differences to participate in this "Springtime for Haters" musical. For example, "pay for play part time liberals", such as Christopher Hitchens and Alan Dershowitz are heavily involved in this gig. Dershowitz, promoted as a renowned legal scholar and civil libertarian, wrote the pro "non lethal torture" book "Why Terrorism Works: Understanding the Threat, Responding to the Challenge." Specifically, in a 2003 CNN interview with Wolf Blitzer, Mr. Dershowitz describes a civilized method of non-lethal torture, such as placing a "sterilized needle underneath the nail," which he concedes would "violate the Geneva Accords, but you know, countries all over the world violate the Geneva Accords. They do it secretly and hypothetically, the way the French did it in Algeria... I think we would want to do it with accountability and openly and not adopt the way of the hypocrite." At least we're openly torturing people now, instead of burying the reports behind the walls of Abu Ghraib; surely, this is a sign of progress. Furthermore, in his essay, "The Rules of War Enable Terror," Mr. Dershowitz declares "Democracies must be legally empowered to attack terrorists who hide among civilians." Does this include people of white skin color, such as Timothy McVeigh and members of the Militant Militia? Would Mr. Dershowitz allow this method on, say, Israelis caught spying on the US? Or is this special VIP treatment reserved solely for Muslim and "brown skinned" Americans suspected as terrorists? Even though I'm honored by the lavish attention, I'll respectfully decline this humble offer.

And will the Real Muhammad please stand up?

Perhaps we must seek the wisdom of Christopher Hitchens, who vociferously supports Bush's "War on Terror" thereby significantly ensuring a steady stream of Dead Presidents in his bank account and increased exposure and public visibility on television news programs. He laments the use of the word, "Islamaphobia," which I'm assuming refers to the irrational fear, ignorance and hatred of Islam and Muslims, which he argues is a "cheap propaganda tool" used by "soft defenders of Islam." Shhh, let's not tell Mr. Hitchens that last year marked the highest number of harassment, violence, and discriminatory acts against American Muslims ever recorded by Council on American Islamic Relations, with a near 70% increase in hate crimes over 2002, representing a three fold increase since 2000. Or, how about the story of Mr. Gagandeep Bindra, an Indian Sikh, who was called "Osama" and seriously injured by three teenagers found guilty of ethnic intimidation in 2004? And what do we say to an honorary Sikh priest, Rajinder Singh, who was attacked for wearing a turban in New York? I guess you don't even have to be a Muslim to get beat down like Muslim nowadays. I wonder what Mr. Bindra and Mr. Singh would say to the Hitchens of the world regarding the "cheap propaganda tool" of "Islamaphobia" which lead to their assault? I guess we'll never know because those voices are never heard.

And will the Real Muhammad please stand up?

The detractors will now predictably chime, "but look, we do allow Muslims to speak. We love Irshad Manji, see? Ha! Fie on you, you cantankerous rabble rouser!" Irshad Manji, like most info-tainment prostitutes, turns her tricks by playing the "pathology" game: where the token minority, aka "the good minority," is hired to absolve certain individuals, institutions, and accepted norms, which directly contribute to discriminatory practices and racism, by blaming the collective minority as responsible for its own inferiority. Irshad Manji, a self proclaimed lesbian feminist South Asian Muslim refusenik, (if you can say that 5 times in a row you get a cookie and a national book tour), wrote the scholastically inept, "The Trouble with Islam," offering her unsought wisdom on how to "reform" Islam. Considering she lacks even the most remedial credentials to be certified an "Islamic scholar," and that her book and politics have been shunned by the vast majority of the Muslim ummah (community), it is utterly not surprising that she, nonetheless, received the "Valor" award from the Simon Weisenthal Center, the "chutzpah" award from Oprah Winfrey, and feminist of the "21st century" award from "Ms. Magazine," for her brave, enlightened, and "liberal" approach to Islam. Her major reform, you ask? "The major reform for which I am calling," say Manji, is "all about questioning the divinity of the Koran. This is still the great unspoken taboo within Islam." This is perhaps a "taboo" because all Muslim scholars, both Sunni and Shiite, hold that believing the Quran as the uncreated word of Allah as revealed unto Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is a crucial aspect of one's iman (Faith and beliefs). With paid henchmen such as Manji, the real Islam-haters simply sit back, light a cigar, and relax their feet as their Siphai army wages their "crusade" for them. Or, they can always rely on an "expert" on Islam, such as Pat Robertson of the 700 club, who says, with a straight face no less, that Muslims worship "a moon god." If Muslims are truly the "Phantom Menace" then all these characters must surely represent the "Attack of the Clones."

And will the Real Muhammad please stand up?

And so we roll on. With nearly 5-8 million Muslim Americans, you would think surely one reasonable voice, representative of at least most Moderate Muslims, would emerge? You would think... incorrectly. So what if Islam is the fastest growing religion in America, with the most rapid converts being African Americans and women? So what if over 75% of the Muslim community is not Arab, with the most populated Muslim country being Indonesia (note: not Arab), followed by Pakistan (note: not Arab)? Who needs their academic scholars, historians, or religious scholars when we have Bernard Lewis, the de facto "scholar" on all things Islam, Arab, and Middle East, who happens to be a white, Jewish European born in London and preserved by Princeton? Then, there's the The Arab Mind, the bible for the neocons on Arabic/Islamic behavior, written by Raphael Patai, another non-Muslim, European scholar who stereotypically generalizes that Arabs value "honor" above all things, and specifically feel "shame" through sexual humiliation. "At the institution where I teach military officers," retired U.S. Army Col. Norvell De Atkine writes in the book's foreword, "The Arab Mind forms the basis of my cultural instruction." With cultural instructions such as these, the successful interrogatory humiliation of prisoners at Abu Ghraib should come as no surprise.

And will the Real Muhammad please stand up?

So, we return to our modest meeting at UC Davis, where I rattled off some of these references and data to an audience that incredulously looked at me with skepticism for daring to mock their "understanding" of Muslims in America. However, the light bulbs began to click and the untrusting glances turned to nodding agreement when I brought it full circle in light of American history. In America, Muslims haven't always been the only "outsiders," the only obscurant anomalies magically appearing amongst the civilized masses, or the only fossil relics of a primitive backwards-Neanderthal mentality. I remind them of the 110,000 Japanese immigrants and Japanese-Americans rounded up, profiled, and interned during WWII. I remind them of a time when racial tensions resulting in Congress passing the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, barring Chinese immigration for 10 years; then extended by the Geary Act for another ten years in 1892, and by the Extension Act of 1904. If I could revisit this speech, I'd tell the Asian American audience members to be careful and vigilante, because they're next. Check out the cover of the July Atlantic Monthly featuring a stern, black and white photo of a militant Chinese solider with the heading, "How we would fight China" by Robert D. Kaplan. The great challenge of the twenty-first century, according to Kaplan, will be figuring how to shape - rather than fall prey to - "China's inevitable economic and military rise." But never fear, or rather keep fearing, because it's not just those wily Asians or those oil guzzling turban heads or those crack addled black folk - there's more! Let's not forget 1798, where the Federalist dominated Congress passed The Naturalization Act, a law aimed at curtailing the citizenship and immigration of the Irish and French who were sympathetic to Republican politics. Last I checked, people of Irish descent are now considered "white," so the darkies weren't the only ones who suffered discrimination. I guess the history of racism in America is truly multicultural.

Unlike some of these groups, the Muslims, the Morlocks de jour, have yet to find a powerful voice to help educate the American public as to the realities of the Muslim American existence. Currently, I liken our condition to a puppet head placed on a media screen whose tongue is ripped out and whose strings are pulled by a sadistic puppet master joyfully assailing us left and right by both the "left" and "the right." The hard "Right" hates the Muslim because you aren't white or Judeo-Christian and you, representative of the 19 Middle Eastern hijackers, attacked America. The hard "left" hates you because you are part of an organized religion, have certain beliefs contradictory to radical feminist and gay ideologies, and are representative of the 19 Middle Eastern hijackers who attacked America. And you, the Muslim, the terrorist, the extremist, who was once the "Jap," and also "The Kike," and also a "Chink," and even a "Sand Nigger," can never win because you always have to prove your loyalty. Defend the validity of your faith! Defend the validity of your text! Defend the validity of the entire 1400 year history and actions of a brilliant Islamic civilization which gave us the creation of Algebra, the poetry of Hadrat Jalaluddin Rumi, the best selling poet in America, the Canon of Medicine by Avicenna used by Europeans for centuries, the mind of Ibn Khaldun, the founder of the philosophy of history and sociology, and most importantly the legacy of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), whose name in Arabic means "the most praised," and is shared by more people than any other name in the world today.

But in this game of modern day dodge ball, everyone looks for an easy scapegoat to hit and assail. The contributions of Muslims to the human race are rarely if ever mentioned. Instead, we get daily reports and images of an enraged mass of people, like the Orcs from "The Lord of the Rings," frothing at the mouth, inexplicably yearning to destroy America for no other reason save their hatred for all things "democratic" and "western" as outlined by their savage, backwards "customs" and "beliefs." Is it really surprising then to read the results of the Cornell Report, which revealed that 42 percent of "highly religious respondents [and 27 percent of all respondents] believe that Muslim Americans should register their whereabouts with the government at all times? Not surprisingly, 26 percent of these respondents were unfamiliar with the terms Allah and the Koran.

And so I awaken each day to find the Muhammad's gradually erased by the "Mo's," the Nasir's slowly replaced by the "Nas's," the Salims eradicated by the "Sal's," the Murads hiding behind the "Michael's." As I encounter the variety of "closeted DL" Muslims at the shopping malls, department stores, grocery shops, and other arenas of daily life, I am reminded of the Korean American "Tammy's" hiding behind her newly reconstructed eye lids, the African American "Tim's" masquerading under a surgically trimmed nose, the Iranian American "Ayeesha's" hoping to assimilate brilliantly with her fake blue contact lenses. And with a sigh of resignation, with a fist pumped in rage, and both hands brought together in hopeful supplication, I humbly ask:

"And will the Real Muhammad please stand up?"

We are not afraid of muslims.
We find Islam revolting. we prefer and will defend freedom and liberty and destroy Islam as needed.
You do not have the right to rule the world..

2.193. And fight them until there is no more Fitnah (disbelief and worshipping of others along with AllÇh) and (all and every kind of) worship is for AllÇh (Alone). But if they cease, let there be no transgression except against Az-ZÇlim?n (the polytheists, and wrong-doers, etc.)

The real Mohammed.

Please ask the Banu Qurayza
Reflect of this in light of Christ not the fraud in the Quran they are not the same critter.

"The Prophet (Muhammad) said: 'Do not stone the adulteress who is pregnant until she has had her child.' After the birth she was put into a ditch up to her chest and the Prophet commanded them to stone her. Khalid came forward with a stone which he threw at her head, and there spurted blood on the face of Khalid and he cursed her. The gentle Prophet prayed over her and she was buried."
(Hadith No. Muslim 682).
You want to be taken seriously as human beings ?
leave islam .

Too much baggage, taqiyya, subjugation ,eradication our patience has grown thin indeed.

Address the slavery the inequality the jizya the lies the jihad..

Noble QurÌan 2:190 Footnote: ÏJihad is holy fighting in AllahÌs Cause with full force of numbers and weaponry. It is given the utmost importance in Islam and is one of its pillars. By Jihad Islam is established, AllahÌs Word is made superior (which means only Allah has the right to be worshiped), and Islam is propagated. By abandoning Jihad Islam is destroyed and Muslims fall into an inferior position; their honor is lost, their lands are stolen, their rule and authority vanish. Jihad is an obligatory duty in Islam on every Muslim. He who tries to escape from this duty, or does not fulfill this duty, dies as a hypocrite.Ó

http://kafirnation.com

This is the ultimate problem with Christianity, speaking of frauds. Christians point to violence in Islamic history, but are blind as a bat when it comes to the violence in the very core of their faith, namely, salvation through murder. Cant get to heaven without it, they say, as did the pagans before them with their trinities, nailed gods and sons of, easter celebrations, sun god prostrations. Then Chrisitans are incapable of fathoming the blood they call their history, the genocides from within and without. If Chrisitians learned an iota of their history, it would cast them in pyschological crises, one after another. So go ahead, Kaosktrl, and find solace in your tracks and your required suspension of mind and judgment, and blind eye to the history of your so called theology, borrwed, invented, shaped, tooled, and fixed for the pagan masses. Learn, why don't you.

>>We are not afraid of muslims.<<

Ofcourse, thats why you invade countries like Iraq, which might I add is far from the picnic you imagined it would be...cant get near those North Koreans either. Oh you're afraid alright. Why else would you hiding behind the internet ?

>>We find Islam revolting. we prefer and will defend freedom and liberty and destroy Islam as needed.<<

I find terrorist vermin like you to be an affront to the human race, so dont pretend to be anything else vermin. Your record speaks for itself. As for "destroying Islam"...keep dreaming loser....far better men than internet trolls have tried and they are lying in historys graveyard of terrorists, which is exactly where you're headed. Might I suggest you take your craven rear end to Iraq to indulge your homicidal fantasies ?

>>You want to be taken seriously as human beings ?
leave islam<<

Chances are you'll become a Muslim before any Muslim would consider leaving the one true religion. You also seem fond of refering to yourself as a kafir. Suits me, pal. Bottom line is, you couldnt respond to this excellent article so you brought out the usual assortment of judeo-christofascist half-assed arguments. Islam is here to stay, and you cant do a damn thing about it.

So Webmaster, will you do us the honor of banning this lame zioNAZI troll ? By the way...I loved this article....why else would the terrorists be so upset ?

I noticed that "kafirnation" is trying to outdo the losers at lgf aka late german fascists. Check out the Quran desecration page......I wonder if any of their members are involved in leaving burnt Qurans outside a Virginia masjid....reminds of those filthy beasts in sheets burning crosses on black people's property.
I think this hate site needs to be reported.

Oh I addressed the article .
To your relief Now you dont have to.
you now can be distracted with your usual rants, diversions and denial.
Typical .Looks like CAIRs Quran drive is starting to pay off.

FECES-COVERED QURAN LEFT AT TENN. HOUSING COMPLEX
CAIR asks American leaders to address growing anti-Muslim sentiment

(WASHINGTON, D.C., 6/23/05) - The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today called on local and national leaders to address growing anti-Muslim sentiment in our society following an apparently intentional desecration of the Quran in Nashville, Tenn.

CAIR said Islamic leaders in Nashville reported Wednesday that an Arabic-language copy of Islam's revealed text was torn, burned, covered with excrement and left outside an East Nashville housing complex that is home to many Muslim families.

As word of the desecration spread through the Islamic community, dozens of Muslims reportedly gathered at the site of the desecration to express their outrage.

Metropolitan Nashville Police Department Lt. Steve Hewitt told CAIR Wednesday night: "Clearly we have to be open-minded to the possibility it is a hate crime." He said it was still too early in the investigation to make a final determination as to motive and that he has informed the local office of the FBI about the case.

"It would be difficult to come up with a scenario in which this incident was not bias-motivated," said CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad. "Our nation's leaders need to address what seems to be a growing level of intolerance and anti-Muslim sentiment in American society." Awad asked people of conscience in Tennessee and throughout the nation to repudiate anti-Muslim bigotry by obtaining and reading a Quran.

CAIR made that same request earlier this month when burned copies of the Quran were found outside a Virginia mosque. Local police and the FBI are treating that incident as a possible hate crime.


Respect the Quran?
The book calls for the subjegation and eradication of non muslims and people are finding out every day.And they know what to do with it.
You cannot be a good person and a good muslim, So sad you have wasted yourself on the pedophile .

>>You cannot be a good person and a good muslim, So sad you have wasted yourself on the pedophile .<<

Really ? Obviously you dont know many Muslims old boy. I think if you got of your diet of judeochristo-fascist diet of hate filled excrement you might learn a thing or too. Consider moving out of your parents basement and getting a real life. I'm not surprised that you support terrorism against Muslims...hell we still have Klansman running around and it takes decades for them to get prosecuted.
As for Pedophilles I think your priests and some of your war criminal troops with their torture porn fit the bill pretty well.
And no, you didnt read the article nor respond in a remotely intelligent manner. Grow up and get an education you pathetic piece of ZioNAZI trash.

Hey chump ,In not some rube or a kid.
I was in IslamÌs corner after 9/11. I believed it had been hijacked and twisted like I kept hearing on TV and in the papers .
But you know what I want specifics I wanted the details and know body gave them,
so I decided to learn.
After a full year, IÌm retired and now do Islam full time. I discovered Islam wasnÌt hijacked, jack. I'm still pissed about being lied to and played.
laugh all you want but you clowns fucked with the good people this time and they are waking upand they are pissed .Your finished.

Learn about islam and stop drinking the koolAid
Stuff you dont know

>>After a full year, IÌm retired and now do Islam full time.<<

Retired from what may I ask ? Kindergarden ? Kid you really need to get out more often. Where did you research Islam ? Some moth riden Baptist Church or Mein Kampf...


>>I'm still pissed about being lied to and played.<<

Ok, so you must be mighty upset with the President I take it ? Sounds to me like you're still being played like a broken instrument. Maybe a trip overseas may help broaden your narrow horizons. Just remember to be polite and pretend to be a Canadian. Just out of curiousity have you travelled anywhere north of the Lousiana swamp ?

>>laugh all you want but you clowns fucked with the good people this time and they are waking upand they are pissed .Your finished.<<

Oh please junior. Get your head out of your ass, if you were remotely pissed you would demand answers as to why your government arms and trains terrorists in the first place...heck only a moron would continue to invoke 911 after being dragged into a war based on lies. But I guess its easy to blame others when trailer park rejects cant stand to look in the mirror.
I can assure you chester ol' boy the only one "finished" here is you. Apparently some Klansmen now hide behind the internet instead of sheets. Just for your reference Jim Bob the last crew of lunatics who declared crusades got their collective behinds handed to them....so grow up. ANd I would be careful about making terrorist threats against people online....not a very good way of having a civilized discusion.

>>Learn about islam and stop drinking the koolAid<<

But I do know about Islam, why dont you educate yourself ? Perhaps if you moved from Jack Daniels to Koolaid whatevers left of your diseased mind may learn something yet. When the alcohol wears off read the article.

Why dont you vist the link I left,
it has the refferances everyone who knows Islam uses

That was a train wreck of a discussion thread. When you all want to be civil, feel free to post again.

Average Joe America doesn't exist, any more than Average Muhammad Muslim does. The writer was patronizing, rude, and arrogant to the students at UC Davis, and I see the same qualities in this article. Add "self-congratulatory," as well.

I read alt.muslim because I keep thinking I'll learn something. Unfortunately, what I keep learning is that the people at alt.muslim aren't interested in teaching me anything. They're interested in self-righteous complaining about perceived wrongs, feeling superior to their neighbors, and bickering about clothing.

I'll keep reading, because I haven't found anything better yet, but if this is the best a Muslim community can do to foster understanding with its non-Muslim neighbors--to actually solve a few problems and bridge a few chasms--I suspect there won't be any understanding.

Or was that not the idea?

I'm sorry you felt that way, Keith. I've never logged onto this site, nor was I present at the talk, so I'm not so sure what you are upset about.

As far as "understanding" your non-Muslim neighbors, I think this piece actually does highlight a number of important points. One is that Americans need to become more judicious in choosing where they obtain their information about Islam. Instead of allowing these fake experts on Islam to teach Americans about who we are and what we believe, it might be wise to actually consult sources that don't have an agenda to discredit and demonize Muslims. I didn't find that to be rude and patronizing.

I'm also not sure what exactly you mean by bridging a few chasms and solving differences. We all certainly ought to be respectful of one another and feel free to exchange ideas and share in friendship. I don't think, or at least I hope, no Muslim would dispute this general idea. What Americans should understand is that Muslims should not be forced to subordinate the truth and withhold expression of the harm being inflicted on the Muslim-American community, merely because it is unpleasant to hear that so many lies and half-truths are being disseminated through media and governmental channels--institutions Americans have traditionally exalted.

You, yourself, may not be an average Joe American who believes and adopts the views of the propaganda machinery, but I really don't see how you can deny that the ordinary American is being spoon-fed with this nonsense about Moon-gods and all the rest, and perhaps through no fault of their own, are accepting it.

>>The writer was patronizing, rude, and arrogant to the students at UC Davis, and I see the same qualities in this article. Add "self-congratulatory," as well.<<

How is it rude to bring up unpleasant facts ? The writer has done an excellent job in my opinion.

>>I read alt.muslim because I keep thinking I'll learn something. Unfortunately, what I keep learning is that the people at alt.muslim aren't interested in teaching me anything.<<

I'm a regular poster here and this is the first time I've seen you post, how do you expect folks to know about you ? Moreover, why would you rely on a website for information ? Why not go to the local masjid...there are plenty of open house events for non-Muslims such as yourselves.

I'll address just a few things:

1. I'm not upset.

2. Many Muslims are Americans. Drawing a false distinction does no one any good.

3. You like the demeaning term "spoon-feeding," but don't seem to recognize there's plenty of it going on in this very website, where Muslims are spoon-fed a welcome stereotype of "Average Joe America," who is "petrified" of Muslims and brainwashed by his media and government.

4. I don't know anyone who has the time to visit a masjid for information. That's why we look for it on the web.

As for the article itself, what kind of arrogance does it take to not only presume you know what every member of your audience feels, but to call them liars when they don't say what you want to hear? And then to congratulate yourself for it? Read this again:

And those words, spoken swiftly, coolly, and calmly, connected like a brutal uppercut smashing (or at least partially revealing) their carefully constructed masks of racial "enlightenment."

That's self-congratulatory, stupid, and arrogant. It says "See how I destroyed the enemy without breaking a sweat." It says "I know how they feel even if they won't admit it." It says "I'm not the least bit interested in the truth; rather, I want to force my views down someone else's throat, because I feel they've done it to me." It says "Your enlightenment is false. My enlightenment is true."

And the fact that it was published here says "Go, brother!"

To clarify (I'm posting while caring for a baby, so there are a lot of interruptions and distractions), visiting a masjid wouldn't do me any good anyway. I'm not interested in being told what the Koran says, since I've already read it myself. What I'm interested in is current thinking and talking within Muslim communities.

dear keith and others, this is the writer of this piece. i usually don't respond on threads. Also, people will not always agree with the writer, so it's best for us to sit out and see how it plays out. But, I'd like to clarify a few things first.

The speech at king hall was for "minority reports" a first time event at the law school - there were 3 minorities, a chicano american, an african american, and myself as the speakers. The audience was 90 people - one of the most diverse groups for the law school and a huge turnout for law school standards.

If you read the next paragraph after "And those words, spoken swiftly, coolly, and calmly..." I say in the speech as well as the article, "Rather, the rhetoric accurately portrayed the image I, as an American, would sincerely hold of 1.2 billion members of the human race in the year 2005 ...."

The article and speech was meant for all of us: including the Muslims and Arabs in the audience, as well as the ones reading the article. It was a blunt opening line, I agree, but done purposefully to make people confront some harsh realities of our American existence. Average Joe America can be anyone....you, me, etc.

Furthermore, we were overwhelmed with positive feedback from asian, white, muslim, jewish, black and latino members of the student body for helping put together an event which was "real" and "honest." I didn't mention that in the piece. This was not a self congratulatory article. If I wanted to gain "high fives" and "go brothers" I would've written a different article with a different tone. People who write what i wrote in that article don't get published regularly...that's just the unfortunate (or people who hate the article will say "fortunate") truth. I believe I was fair.

Bigotry and intolerance affects us all. I wanted to highlight some of "our" American hypocrisy and allow us to confront it honestly so we could grow together towards something better.

It unfortunately seems that when a "fill in the blank" minority speaks up for themselves and starts bluntly exposing the dirty laundry under the bed, they get denigrated for being too "uppity."

It's time for some of us to get "uppity" - but for the right purpose.

I hope this helps clarify some things.
Thanks to all who posted their honest comments and opinions. I appreciate reading your reactions.

Sincerely,
Wajahat Ali

I don't appreciate being stereotyped any more than you do. Assuming I think you're "uppity" is yet another stereotype. You have quite a repertoire of them.

You apparently can't talk to someone who disagrees with you without telling them what they think and feel.

Which is, again, arrogant, stupid, and self-congratulatory.

I'll try to keep this civilized, dear editors. But Keith, I agree with you on the point that the author of this article is a bit full of himself. It's in the language and the style. However, so what! Why does that stop you and cause you to make sweeping statements yourself about this site and what you can't find here? I mean, what are you looking for anyway? The foilbles of people? You can find that anywhere? It's not clear what you want, which is ok, for who knows? So can you explain what it is you're looking for?

migocup

Salaam aleikum,

one of the few gems of an article on this site which does a pretty good job of articulating the current state of things. However, the author could have developed some of his points to their logical conclusions, such as:

1. Conservative media whores - such as those on Fox News who are literally creating a career out of perpetrating hatred and ignorance of Islam and Muslims. They do a very good job of articulating the fear, hatred, and ignorance that avg. americans feel (which can help explain Fox's beating CNN (the politically correct station) in the ratings game regularly. This then is leveraged with Rupert Murdoch's media empire and is used to sell books, magazines, and draw in more advertising.

2. The poverty of American legal scholarship - as best found by Michelle Malkin who advocates (through coded words) internment of Muslims in prison and concentration camps across America as a way to "defend against terror" as well as the fact that what Dershowitz says is not being actively challenged or even refuted by anyone of prominence in legal circles (with the exception of Chomsky)

3. The intellectual and ideological bankruptcy of the so-called "liberal" and "progressive" Muslims who will beg like lost dogs and say and do anything to get accepted by the same 2 groups above and at the end of the day they are still discarded like a dead rat when they have outlived their usefulness. Reading over any of the articles on MuslimF**kup/Muslimwakeup or even the habitual begger on your own site, Mr Hassabella should serve as proof of this.

The fault does lie equally with the incredible and negligent amount of ignorance of Joe 6pack America as well as the stupid, self-appointed buffoons who claim "leadership" and "scholarship" on behalf of Muslims/Islam.

salaam aleikum,
skh

Gambino, that was beautiful. I too am sick of sycophants.