A Justice Site
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California State University, Dominguez Hills
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Created: February 17, 2002
Latest Update: February 17, 2002
jeannecurran@habermas.org
takata@uwp.edu
Consensus Nowhere
Copyright: Jeanne Curran, Susan R. Takata, Nadia Ahmad and Individaul Authors, February 2002.
"Fair use" encouraged.Date: Sun, 17 Feb 2002 16:19:13 -0500
Subject: Re: Request for clarificationI think the issue for me is that I can't find a single Muslim leader or imam to stand up against the war and against the oppression in not just Palestine, but also in Puerto Rico. I find only an imam here and there that speaks out against police brutality, but it is only a select few. So there is the tension of authority. That is, my leaders won't give me any legitimacy because I don't have an established position in the community. It is also somewhat intimidating for an Arabcentric religious elite to accept non-Middle Eastern women as their equals and perhaps even their superiors because we are the one that have the courage when they drop the ball. They cannot handle women speaking up in their place. When they cower and hide because of fear of death threats, we make ourselves walking targets because of the way we CHOOSE to dress. We not only get the death threats, but also the threats that the clan is coming after us.
At the same time, those religious elite have to grant us a certain level of legitimacy because we are non-Arabs that still know the language of the Quran fluently along with other European, Classical, and South Asian languages. And in terms of education, we sometimes surpass them in the religious as well as secular realm.
I personally didn't give the FBI a chance to knock on my door, because I went and knocked on Orlando FBI Field Office door myself. I called them before the FBI agents had an opportunity to call me. I told them I don't want to be stopped at the airport by their agents and questioned unnecesarily. And I demanded that they do more to prevent hate crimes. And they better not victimize the victim.
I don't think a single man in my local community even knows where the FBI office is in town. Let alone has the audacity to meet with them.
I think one article that will truly put the internal politics into perspective is Friday's Wall Street Journal. On the front page, there is an article about a Muslim male leader aka leading SELL OUT.
He was the reason I wrote that letter to the WSJ.
And the greatest battles we face are internal among ourselves and within ourselves.
Thank you for taking the time to explore this issue, which I think is quite important on a personal and national level.
na
Subj: ACTION: LIFT YOUR PENS!
Date: 2/16/2002 11:35:18 AM Eastern Standard Time
From: snews@sipj911.com
To: abn11@aol.com
Sent from the Internet (Details)Students for International Peace and Justice
16th of February 2002 11:33:33 AMLIFT YOUR PENS!
LIFT YOUR PENS TO WRITE LETTERS to the editors:Feb. 15, 2002
Dear Editors of the Wall Street Journal,
I have liberated myself from the patriarchal, neocolonial hegemonic social constructs of the world because I am not only critical of Middle Eastern governments, but of my own. I, too, was born and raised in the U S of A. It is NOT un-American to be critical of America and its foreign policy. I will shatter the shackles of slavery, the shackles of racial profiling, like the men and women before me.
Charge me with my crimes! Arrest me, the Honorable Attorney General Ashcroft, because I don't dress like Britney Spears and dye my hair blond like Madonna!
Meanwhile, some may have been sipping champagne and herbal tea all cozy in a posh New York City midtown hotel a few weeks back. Yet I was forced to become a woman warrior outside in the below freezing cold in front of the Waldorf on February 2, 2002 at the World Economic Forum demonstration. I led myself into battle against an army of 4,000 police officers because God gave me the voice and the courage like He bestowed upon the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.
If I meet King George II in the White Palace, I won't casually chat with him, but I will stand on his desk in the Oval Office and demand that the Ruling American King lift the sanctions on Iraq, create free Palestinian, Chechen, and Kashmiri states, stop the daily bombings in Muslim lands, and better let my people go.
One more thing, Islam doesn't just mean submission, but PEACE as well. NO PEACE without JUSTICE. Sir Ashcroft, the Court Jester of Racial Profilers, is a making a joke of justice, a mockery of civil liberties. The public is starting to figure that out because we are all not racists. The US Justice Department can't pull a fast one over us all.
And we won't stand for INJUSTICE anymore than our Founding Fathers did for British Intolerance. King George II called for "an endless war against terrorism."
We, as the People's Movement of the New Millennium, are ready to give him precisely "an endless war against terrorism" because he is trying to usurp our civil rights and steal our liberty like those slavetraders who brought Africans to the New World to our shores in shackles. Those shackles are not unlike the ones Afghani prisoners were brought to our shores at our military base in Guantanamo with bags over their hands and faces.
Well, I stand up like those 18th Century American Revolutionaries to FIGHT A WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE BECAUSE NO TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION!
We, the peace-loving people, are not only ready to be imprisoned for life, but ready to lay down our lives for our civil liberties because the great twentieth century martyr Malcolm X said, "Take the word, "freedom," out of your vocabulary, if you are not ready to die for it."
BY ANY MEANS NECESSAY!
Nadia Batool Ahmad, President and Founder
Students for International Peace and Justice, Inc.
Website www.sipj911.com
Email nadia@sipj911.comSubj: The Beginning of Constructive Dialogue
Date: 2/16/2002 8:01:33 PM Eastern Standard Time
From: snews@sipj911.com
To: abn11@aol.com
Sent from the Internet (Details)Students for International Peace and Justice
16th of February 2002 07:56:47 PMThe intent of sending the AMANA letter was to create a dialogue as to what direction we, as Muslims, are headed and is our leadership ready for the challenge that lies ahead of them.
Over the past months, many young Muslims have told us that they feel as if they have been "let down" to put it mildly and "hung out to dry" more bluntly by those they once admired and derived courage from in previously hard times. And that is their words not ours.
There are young people working, literally slaving, all over the world trying to create change. And perhaps the voice for change is with the young rather than the established. A youth movement is budding in almost every major city in the world because our generation doesn't want to be a post World War generation.
At the same time, the best leaders are the best followers. The youth know that they stand on the shoulder of great men and women like Rosa Parks, Harriet Tubman, Dr. King, Malcolm X, C. Chavez, Mario Savio, H. Rap Brown, and many more.
So really the question is not about is change going to happen, but WHEN? When are we all going to pick up the torch and pick up the movement from where those before us left off?
Nadia Ahmad
www.sipj911.comAssalamu Alaikum,
Since this letter was sent out to an entire mailing list I believe it is necessary to reply to the sender and the list to which it was sent. I have only one question for AMANA, was this issue dealt with in person with CAIR, privately, before sending it out to the public? I look forward to Br. Sofian Abdelaziz's response to my inquiry.
In the meantime I urge everyone to read AMANA's statement and then read CAIR ACTION ALERT #321 at the end of this email. I personally question the legitimacy of AMANA's stance. At this point I will refrain from rebutting some of the points that AMANA has used in its argument to not support CAIR ACTION ALERT #321. However, it must be noted that not supporting an action alert based on proof and solid argument is one point, but to discredited an entire organization is something else entirely (the greater of the two issues). I find the following accusation by AMANA the most serious,
"Whether we like it or not, many national Islamically-named organizations are using the banner of Islam, but are not coming forth with the example of Islam."
I request that each individual look at CAIR's website and look into the organization personally in order to help ascertain the truthfulness of the accusations against them.
http://www.cair-net.org/Also, please sign up for their email announcements. You will see what they are doing on an almost daily bases.
Let us use Islam as our guide, our mind as our helper and remembrance of Allah as our shield, against shaitan.
I look forward to clarification on the part of AMANA and discussion amongst the participants of SIPJ.
Umm Muadth
P.S. I do not work for CAIR. I am an individual Muslim who is concerned about the circumstances unfolding.
Subj: A LETTER OF INQUIRY TO CAIR
Date: 2/16/2002 12:37:23 AM Eastern Standard Time
From: amana@ourplace.com
To: Islam@unitedstates.com
Sent from the Internet (Details)Assalaamu alaykum,
To: CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad
We have received your action alert # 321.
Thank You!The American Muslim Association of North America, AMANA will not support your Action Alert #321and alhamdulilla we did not support many of your past actions.
You have came to our communities and asked for donations and memberships and we have referred you few cases in the past and you did not stand for your words and you ignored the needy Muslims when they came to ask you for help. You came to our communities to collect and you have send us a letter asking us to look for local legal assistance.
Many reports we have received similar of what we experienced personally with CAIR. Some Muslim leaders are sharing with us the same feelings against you.
Since the 911, the Muslims around the nation have been going through hard time and the only thing you do is asking the Muslims to report whatever any bad incident might happened to them, but the question that you collect information for statistics only.
Many new laws came tough against Muslims and you just collecting information. Many detained Muslims in the prisons now! And you are just watching and collecting information. Please STOP collecting information and start meet your promises.
In your alert you asked the Imams to speak on the Khutbah about voting and for you to collect 100,000 names. What do you want the names for? Are you just collecting information! Allah knows best!
In the alert, CAIR said: ' to make our voices heard on a number of important issues. Voting, at both the local and national level, is the best way to accomplish that goal," Said CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad.
The same words was said last election and what is the result! The vote gave nothing to us but was used against Muslim.
Now!
Due to the consistent level of confusion people seem to have regarding CAIR’s mission; we are hoping to get an official clarification.Can you please clarify the stance on your reference towards getting people to vote; especially where it pertains towards insisting on using such a registration drive to commemorate one of our holiest holidays (Eid)? One of the concerns people have divulged to our office is that this holiday would be more appropriate towards encouraging people to bless their food, sacrifice, share and feed the poor.
Our community has supported CAIR’s effort to vote Republican in order to attempt to repeal the ‘Secret Evidence Act.’ This effort has actually given the Bush campaign its full benefit (as they received the votes; and won). However, the results for the very same Muslims who voted have proven to have become worse. The alarming statistics reflects the rate of detention for Muslims has been increased 10,000% (that would be approx. 900 people). This astonishing number comes after a time period of only 18 months since your efforts.
If we, as a Muslim community, are to be further involved in the political system, wouldn’t this one statistic indicate that Muslims should use a completely different method or leadership?
Whether we like it or not, many national Islamically-named organizations are using the banner of Islam, but are not coming forth with the example of Islam. We wait for you to give us the Islamic example of your strategies and intentions, and help break these facts, rumors and innuendos that we hear about groups like yours.
We are seeking more substance to the claims these organizations are making. Unfortunately, other examples, of which I am personally aware of, consist of your regional dinners and fundraising tactics at least give the impression that you are fighting for the cause of Muslims in this country whose rights were infringed upon. However, when cases come to your attention, they are quickly diverted elsewhere, and many times go without any attention, whether it be at the local level or at the national level.
So far it is a general understanding that we should not utilize the ways of the non-Muslims; but on Allah’s (SWT) guidance in building our future. We aim to serve the non-Muslims, along with the Muslims; but as true believers, we have a divine methodology already prescribed. Your programs so far seem to mimic that of secular models we are hoping to someday change for the positive.
We anxiously await a public response to our letter to you addressing some of the concerns. If we do not hear from you within one week’s time; we are to assume that these concerns are deemed frivolous and not valid. Insha-Allah, this is not the case.
May Allah (swt) give us our just reward and have mercy on our souls.
Br. Sofian Abdelaziz
The Shura Committee
AMANACAIR WROTE…
CAIR ACTION ALERT #321CAIR LAUNCHES EID UL-ADHA VOTER REGISTRATION DRIVE TARGET: 100,000 Registered Muslim Voters
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 2/13/2002) - CAIR is calling on communities nationwide to register Muslim voters on Eid ul-Adha. We have established a link on our web site (http://www.cair- net.org/atp/voting.asp) through which registered voters may add their names to a Muslim voter database, unregistered potential voters may access registration materials and Eid ul-Adha festival organizers may obtain information about setting up a voter registration drive. Our initial target is registering 100,000 voters.
To facilitate the registration effort, CAIR will also distribute an updated "American Muslim Voter Registration Guide," containing an explanation of why Muslims should participate in the political process, instructions on how to conduct a voter registration drive, a copy of the National Mail Voter Registration Form: www.fec.gov/votregis/vr.htm), a candidate survey, and a voter registration log sheet.
(In two CAIR surveys of American Muslims, more than 95 percent of the respondents favored political participation.)
"Recent events and new government policies have served to spur already growing political participation by American Muslims. We have an obligation, because of the Islamic duty of 'enjoining good and prohibiting evil,' to make our voices heard on a number of important issues. Voting, at both the local and national level, is the best way to accomplish that goal,"
Said CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad.CAIR is asking khatibs nationwide to encourage voting in their khutbas on Eid ul-Adha. Eid festival organizers should also set up voter registration tables in bazaars.
"Read the Qur'an before judging Islam"
The AMANA Voicehttp://www.myplace.com/ - find what you want @MyPlace.com!
jeanne's original request to Nadia Ahmad:
Hi, Nadia. This is jeanne curran, at California State University, Dominguez Hills (CSUDH). I run a teaching website at CSUDH, where I teach Sociology courses on peace and social justice. I have been following the work of Students for International Peace and Justice and am impressed by the work you are doing.
I received the snews post on CAIR and AMANA and your letter, which was included. But I seem to have missed some of the correspondence which led to this while I was writing materials for an seminar we are planning on the topic of peace and social justice and the present war on terrorism. I wonder if you would be kind enough to explain the present controversy to me. It would help me to teach the internal conflicts that distract us from the larger goals in our peace efforts.
The format of our seminar, which will include prestigious California judges, permits us to present material in its original format. I put this material on the Internet, available to all. No pass words, no charges. I would like to use your explanation as such a resource. My students think they're the only ones with internal distractions. They need to see that this dilemma is universal, and that we need to keep our eye on the main goals.
I ask this because my interpretation of what I'm reading could not be nearly as knowledgeable as yours.
Thank you in advance for entertaining my request.
peace, jeanne "If you're not ready to die for it, put the word "freedom" out of your vocabulary." Malcolm X