Thought this quote fit in rather well with Lajawab’s other thread in this Forum. i know i’ve done a thousand and one threads on Muslims in the ‘west’, well - here’s another one :o i never did one on Muslims in Arkansas. You know how you go to your mosque and you look at all the cars parked there? And you see all the people gathered around the mosque, the kids running around, the women in small circles, talking, everyone sort of relaxed? i love that feeling. Even if you don’t know anyone there, it’s kind of nice to feel that you ‘belong’ in a way with that group… simply because you all put your forehead to the ground with the intention of submitting, and pray to the same God.
Well, anyways, here’s an interesting read on one group of Muslims in Arkansas. There may be some discrepancies in the article, but let’s not pick on the nitty gritty. PLEASE. In the interests of saving bandwith, i’m not posting the entire article; way too long. Just posting my selective excerpt.
Islam in Arkansas, David Koon, 19 December 2003
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Dr. Shagufta Siddiqui is a doctor at the VA hospital in Little Rock. She has a hearty chuckle over her sole experience with the FBI. Moving into a house in Little Rock just days before Sept. 11, 2001, she was surprised when agents paid her and her neighbors a visit a few days after she and her family got settled in. “9/11 happened and some people reported us, that some suspicious looking people moved into a house in the middle of the night,” she laughed. “After that, I teased my husband, that it must be him.”
Still, she sees the suspicion. She’s been searched at the airport enough times since 9/11 that now, the moment she reaches the checkpoint to get on the airplane, she automatically takes off her shoes and coat and puts them on the scanner. Her reaction is only interesting in how calm it is. “If they are checking out people on the airplanes, well, somebody might get offended. But they have to follow the procedures that will protect people at large.” Siddiqui called the Muslim community at large a “silent majority.” It’s a group whose voices - especially in the mainstream media - are often drowned out by radicals overseas. “Ninety-seven percent of (Muslims) are everyday people,” she said. “They just think that the fanatics represent us, and that the fanatics are everywhere.” Since Sept. 11, Siddiqui said that she has felt “blessed” by the outpouring of love and support from her Christian friends and patients. She laughs again about a patient of hers at the VA, who took standing up for her to extremes. “He said, ‘Doc, because of you, I almost got arrested.’” The patient had been involved in an argument with a man who said that all Muslims were killers and needed to be gotten rid of. “He stood up and said, ‘I think you’re wrong. My doctor is Muslim and she’s the best doctor in the world.’” The exchange led to blows. Though Siddiqui said she discouraged the patient from any more physical altercations on her behalf, the story still made her understand that she had changed things. “It touched me that there were some people who would feel so strongly about it because of their interaction with me,” she said. “That I’m not a monster. That I’m a normal person with regular dreams and aspirations.”