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American Muslim Soldiers Serve Under Suspicion
In the wake of last week's "fragging" attack on US servicemen in the Gulf, Muslims serving in the US armed forces do so under watchful eyes.
By Shahed Amanullah, March 28, 2003
Since the days of Desert Storm, the US military has made great strides in helping Muslim servicemen and women feel integrated. There are an estimated 7,000 to 12,000 Muslims in the armed forces, with 14 Muslim chaplains serving their spiritual needs. "The military really has taken the lead in being sensitive to Muslims and accommodating Muslim lifestyle," said Ihsan Bagby, an Islamic studies professor at the University of Kentucky. But last week's " fragging" attack by a US Muslim soldier has raised suspicions of American Muslim soldiers and has made their job tougher. "I don't like the fact that you can find people [aboard] that hate you," said 22-year-old Airman Bashar Alnajjar. "I'm doing the best I can to prove myself as an honorable man." After his Muslim identity became known to his colleagues, he found his car tires slashed and a brick thrown through his window. Mohammed Reda Shakhte, one of the few Muslims among 5,500 sailors on the USS Theodore Roosevelt, has been called "raghead", "camel jockey" and even "sand nigger" by his fellow soldiers. "It is not easy to be Muslim and Arab here," said Shakhte. For the most part, Muslim soldiers have had a positive experience in the military and are doing what they can to preserve it. "The Marine Corps has been a great adventure thus far," says Sgt. Brian Davidson, a practicing Muslim with an African-American mother and a Moroccan father. "It has been all that I expected it would be," "When I go into the field, I have a copy of the Qur'an and next to it a copy of the U.S. Constitution," said Army captain James Yee, a Patriot missile operator. "It's hard for me because I'm feeling both sides of the fence," says Musawi Al-Fassi, a sailor who recently shipped out of Connecticut for service in the Gulf. "But I love my job."
Shahed Amanullah is editor-in-chief of altmuslim.com.
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To Be Black, Muslim, and Military
Should Muslims fight in this war? A young antiwar Muslim confronts her inner turmoil.
By Precious Rasheeda Muhammad
- Posted by masood on March 28, 2003 at 11:09 PM
Daniel Pipes builds his case of bigotry and hate against American Muslims
Murder in the 101st Airborne
By Daniel Pipes
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0303/pipes.html- Posted by masood on March 30, 2003 at 03:20 PM
Only non-Muslims can apply for US base job: Advertisement
"The advertisement calls for applications from "non-Muslims only" for sundry jobs at the US base in northern Kuwait.
The US base "urgently requires" lift operators, store keepers, clerks, typists, security guards and drivers. The advertisement insists that the applicants, besides being non-Muslims, should speak English and be below 35."
http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_222087,0008.htm- Posted by masood on March 30, 2003 at 08:32 PM
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altmuslim this week - august 23, 2010 - This week, is there a connection between the heated rhetoric over Park51 and increased hate crimes against Muslims? Also, parallel struggles against anti-Muslim protests in Bradford, England and the innovation (and integration) on display in the 30 Mosques, 30 States and 30 Nights, 30 Grants projects. 
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How Miss USA will push the secret Muslim agenda - A leaked memo confirms a nefarious plot to infiltrate America using the one weapon we can't resist: Total hotness. (May 17, 2010)
South Park: The controversy continues - In a special for Salon.com, our Associate Editor Wajahat Ali offers his take on the controversy over South Park. If you think South Park's Muslim brouhaha was messy, you should see what's going on in the neighboring town of East Park. (April 28, 2010)
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altmuslim review 033 - We're baaaaack! We speak about the ongoing controversy over Park51 and what means for the future of lower Manhattan. Also, a discussion with Farhad Chowdhury of the M100 Foundation, which seeks to change the way Muslims pay zakat (August 13, 2010)
altmuslim review 032 - Muslim writers everywhere! We speak about the new wave of Western Muslim literature and interview two authors with recently released books. Our own Irfan Yusuf talks about his memoir, Once Were Radicals and Reza Aslan tells us more about his second book, How to Win a Cosmic War (June 11, 2009)
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Recent and upcoming talks and offsite articles by altmuslim contributors
It's the occupation, stupid, Wajahat Ali, Salon.com, June 4, 2010
Sex and the City 2's stunning Muslim clichés, Wajahat Ali, Salon.com, May 28, 2010
Draw Muhammad Day: Collectively Punishing Muslim Americans, Shahed Amanullah, Huffington Post, May 25, 2010
Shahed will be a guest on the BBC World Service's World, Have Your Say discussing the proposed French ban on niqab (and fines for husbands who compel their wives to wear them) on May 18, 2010.
Even Controversial Views Should Be Protected by Freedom of Speech, Asma Uddin, The Huffington Post, May 7, 2010.
What I understand about Faisal Shahzad, Wajahat Ali, Salon.com, May 6, 2010
No freak out about South Park, Zahed Amanullah, The Guardian, Comment is Free, April 23, 2010.
Shahed will be a guest on the BBC World Service's World, Have Your Say discussing the South Park controversy along with Zarqa Nawaz (Little Mosque on the Prairie) and other guests on April 22, 2010.
Shahed will be a guest on NPR's State of Belief discussing Barack Obama's outreach to the Muslim world, April 17, 2010.
Zahed will be attending a panel discussion entitled " Are Islam and Free Speech Compatible?" in London, England on Friday, March 26, 2010 sponsored by The City Circle. He will be accompanied by Riazat Butt (The Guardian), Hamid Khan (Consultant in Offender and Youth Development), Abu Muntasir (JIMAS), and Dr Usama Hasan.
'Jihad Jane': not the usual suspect, Wajahat Ali, The Guardian, Comment is Free, March 18, 2010.
Al-Awlaki, a new public enemy, Zahed Amanullah, The Guardian, Comment is Free, December 30, 2009.
Islamophonic: Review of the year, Riazat Butt, Zahed Amanullah and David Shariatmadari, Cif Belief (The Guardian), December 18, 2009.
Fort Hood has enough victims already, Wajahat Ali, Comment is Free (The Guardian), November 6, 2009
The pitfalls of filming Muhammad, Shahed Amanullah, The Guardian, Comment is Free, November 4, 2009.
Children of Dust (published by HarperOne, an imprint of HarperCollins), the first book by longtime altmuslim.com contributor Ali Eteraz, is released in the US, Canada, and the UK on October 13, 2009.
Shahed will be attending the m100 Sansoucci Colloquium in Potsdam, Germany, September 14-16, 2009. He will be moderating a panel discussion on the Danish cartoon crisis with Denis MacShane MP, Jasim Al-Azzawi (Al Jazeera English), and Flemming Rose (Jyllands Posten).
Associate Editor Wajahat Ali's play "The Domestic Crusaders" is having its premiere at the Nuyorican Poets Cafe in New York City, NY, September 11, 2009. The play will continue through Sunday, October 11, 2009.
Shahed will be moderating or participating in three panel discussions at the Islamic Society of North America's annual convention, including Muslim Journalists: The View from the Inside, Supporting Social Entrepreneurs and Civic Leaders, and Blogistan: Muslim Americans on the Web in Washington, DC, July 3-6, 2009.
State-sponsored Sufism, Ali Eteraz, Foreign Policy, June 10, 2009.
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Media appearances and analysis featuring altmuslim editors
Helping U.S. reach out to young Muslims worldwide - Soon after Farah Pandith was named last year as the State Department's first special representative to Muslim communities, she sat down with the editor of an independent Muslim website for her first official interview. Altmuslim.com, a forum for opinion and analysis about current issues facing Muslims, was a fitting choice. Pandith has said a strong focus of her work is to reach out to younger Muslims around the world, often those most likely to use the Internet for news and networking. (June 5, 2010)
Censorship is in the ascendant - Zahed Amanullah, associate editor of altmuslim.com, has argued in a national newspaper blog that, since the warning came from an unrepresentative group, the media interest was not justified. As for events of the past – the fatwa on Salman Rushdie, the Danish cartoons, the murder of van Gogh – they were "three incidents over a 20-year period from amongst 1.6 billion people. These things do happen. But we all need a bit of perspective." (April 30, 2010)
Muslims say new security rules unfair, ineffective - ''Muslims are doing their duty. Muslim parents are being attentive. It's the TSA that's not being attentive. It's the TSA that's not doing its duty," said Shahed Amanullah, an editor at the Web site altmuslim.com. "There's nothing more that Muslims can do than turn in their own families." (January 7, 2010)
US Muslims & media… Lost love - "We have a big problem; it’s that other people are shaping the story about us," Shahed Amanullah, editor-in-chief of altmuslim.com, told IslamOnline.net. (December 16, 2009)
Moves to Seize Mosques Spark Outrage - "I'm extremely skeptical that the link between these mosques and this organization is so strong as to merit the seizing of a considerable amount of assets that do a lot of good for the Muslim community," says Shahed Amanullah, a prominent Muslim blogger based in Austin. "The government better be prepared to make a very good case, because this is unprecedented." (November 17, 2009)
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