Thought this was VERY interesting…moreso the beginning of the article, regarding Muslims donating to the political campaigns of certain prominent American politicians.
It is part of a special Report this paper is undertaking regarding Muslims in Hernando County. i’ve looked at the report. There are audio and visual contributions (an audio file to an Adhan, i haven’t heard that yet), but some other very interesting articles, not just this one. And written from a balanced (IMO) perspective. :k: Finally.
Please take five minutes and drop a line of thanks to the journalist who worked on this important report for the paper… it will take just five minutes, but your e-mail would be appreciated i’m sure.
From the article: Times researchers Caryn Baird and Kitty Bennett contributed to this project. Robert King can be reached at 352 848-1432. Send e-mail to [email protected].
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**Muslims find strength in faith, frustration in politics**, St. Petersburg TimeOnline, 18 May 2004, Robert King
The men in the Hernando County mosque had just finished wishing peace to the Muslim brothers next to them after the Friday prayer when Ayman Joud stood to speak.
Joud, a doctor of internal medicine, wanted to issue an invitation to a political fundraiser the next day at the home of urologist Nazir Hamoui.
The candidate has been “very fair” in her views, Joud said, and everyone who comes should bring his checkbook. The blatantly political announcement caused not a one of the 46 men in the mosque to bat an eye. And more than a dozen raised their hands to say they would attend.
The candidate Cynthia McKinney of Georgia is someone the men in the mosque will probably never get a chance to vote for. The congressional seat she seeks - and held until two years ago - serves a district 400 miles away in suburban Atlanta.
As the men began to exit the mosque, Joud handed them a flier about McKinney. It praised her willingness to speak for the rights of Arab-Americans and American Muslims, and her willingness to speak against “the dehumanization of Palestinians and Iraqis.”
Unmentioned on the flier was the stance McKinney is best known for: her declaration two years ago that the Bush administration knew the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, were coming but took no action so his friends could reap profits from a war.
McKinney’s comments - made just six months after the attacks - created a storm of controversy. Even a prominent fellow Democrat called her “loony.” And McKinney lost the congressional seat she had held for a decade.
But recent questions about what the Bush administration knew prior to 9/11 and why it went into Iraq have struck a chord with many local Muslims, who see McKinney as a woman unafraid to speak the truth. And two years after her defeat, they are lining up to support her political revival.
In fact, McKinney’s perspective is tame compared to some of the everyday political viewpoints expressed by members of Hernando County’s Muslim community.
Mohammad Shuayb, a dentist born in Syria but raised in Hernando County, says Bush wasn’t misspeaking shortly after Sept. 11 when he called the war on terror a “crusade.”
“It is an open-ended war on Islam,” Shuayb said.
Mahmoud Nimer, a cardiologist born in a Palestinian refugee camp, said Bush’s decision last month to end any semblance of America’s neutrality in the Middle East peace process is part of some greater plan to prepare Israel for the apocalypse.
“He is preparing the Middle East for the return of Jesus,” Nimer said.
Those are just examples of the strong sense of alienation that local Muslims feel when it comes to the present course of American foreign policy.
For a community of immigrants who explain their original vision of America in Ellis Island terms - a beacon of liberty, a land of opportunity - these are difficult days.
Until recently, America had been as good as advertised. Muslims found prosperity and freedom of movement unimaginable in the countries they left.
Then came 9/11 and the war on terrorism.
“We knew this was going to bring terrible consequences for Muslims in general,” said Ghiath Mahmaljy, a spiritual leader in the Muslim community who left the repression of Syria 25 years ago.
When laws such as the Patriot Act flew through Congress, Muslims began to worry that its powers of surveillance would be disproportionately used to invade the privacy of Arab-Americans.
As their unease grew, certain Muslim charities - including two that received $1.3-million from Muslims in Hernando County - were shut down and investigated for links to terrorism.
For many Muslims, “random” checks at the airport have never been random.
Rest of article accessible via link.
