veiled4allah

For the sixth year running, a tribute to some of the most important parts of Dr. King's legacy, which are usually overlooked.

Here are some highlights of a speech given by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., on April 4, 1967. The speech is far too long for me to post here (even the excerpts that I've selected are quite long), but you can read it in its entirety here. I think Dr. King's words speak very eloquently to our situation today.

"A time comes when silence is betrayal." That time has come for us in relation to Vietnam.

The truth of these words is beyond doubt but the mission to which they call us is a most difficult one. Even when pressed by the demands of inner truth, men do not easily assume the task of opposing their government's policy, especially in time of war. Nor does the human spirit move without great difficulty against all the apathy of conformist thought within one's own bosom and in the surrounding world. Moreover when the issues at hand seem as perplexed as they often do in the case of this dreadful conflict we are always on the verge of being mesmerized by uncertainty; but we must move on.

Some of us who have already begun to break the silence of the night have found that the calling to speak is often a vocation of agony, but we must speak. We must speak with all the humility that is appropriate to our limited vision, but we must speak. And we must rejoice as well, for surely this is the first time in our nation's history that a significant number of its religious leaders have chosen to move beyond the prophesying of smooth patriotism to the high grounds of a firm dissent based upon the mandates of conscience and the reading of history. Perhaps a new spirit is rising among us. If it is, let us trace its movement well and pray that our own inner being may be sensitive to its guidance, for we are deeply in need of a new way beyond the darkness that seems so close around us...

...All the while the people read our leaflets and received regular promises of peace and democracy -- and land reform. Now they languish under our bombs and consider us -- not their fellow Vietnamese --the real enemy. They move sadly and apathetically as we herd them off the land of their fathers into concentration camps where minimal social needs are rarely met. They know they must move or be destroyed by our bombs. So they go -- primarily women and children and the aged.

They watch as we poison their water, as we kill a million acres of their crops. They must weep as the bulldozers roar through their areas preparing to destroy the precious trees. They wander into the hospitals, with at least twenty casualties from American firepower for one "Vietcong"-inflicted injury. So far we may have killed a million of them -- mostly children. They wander into the towns and see thousands of the children, homeless, without clothes, running in packs on the streets like animals. They see the children, degraded by our soldiers as they beg for food. They see the children selling their sisters to our soldiers, soliciting for their mothers.

What do the peasants think as we ally ourselves with the landlords and as we refuse to put any action into our many words concerning land reform? What do they think as we test our latest weapons on them, just as the Germans tested out new medicine and new tortures in the concentration camps of Europe? Where are the roots of the independent Vietnam we claim to be building? Is it among these voiceless ones?...

...What must they think of us in America when they realize that we permitted the repression and cruelty of Diem which helped to bring them into being as a resistance group in the south? What do they think of our condoning the violence which led to their own taking up of arms? How can they believe in our integrity when now we speak of "aggression from the north" as if there were nothing more essential to the war? How can they trust us when now we charge them with violence after the murderous reign of Diem and charge them with violence while we pour every new weapon of death into their land? Surely we must understand their feelings even if we do not condone their actions. Surely we must see that the men we supported pressed them to their violence. Surely we must see that our own computerized plans of destruction simply dwarf their greatest acts...

...Somehow this madness must cease. We must stop now. I speak as a child of God and brother to the suffering poor of Vietnam. I speak for those whose land is being laid waste, whose homes are being destroyed, whose culture is being subverted. I speak for the poor of America who are paying the double price of smashed hopes at home and death and corruption in Vietnam. I speak as a citizen of the world, for the world as it stands aghast at the path we have taken. I speak as an American to the leaders of my own nation. The great initiative in this war is ours. The initiative to stop it must be ours...

...If we continue, there will be no doubt in my mind and in the mind of the world that we have no honorable intentions in Vietnam. It will become clear that our minimal expectation is to occupy it as an American colony and men will not refrain from thinking that our maximum hope is to goad China into a war so that we may bomb her nuclear installations. If we do not stop our war against the people of Vietnam immediately the world will be left with no other alternative than to see this as some horribly clumsy and deadly game we have decided to play.

The world now demands a maturity of America that we may not be able to achieve. It demands that we admit that we have been wrong from the beginning of our adventure in Vietnam, that we have been detrimental to the life of the Vietnamese people. The situation is one in which we must be ready to turn sharply from our present ways...

...Increasingly, by choice or by accident, this is the role our nation has taken -- the role of those who make peaceful revolution impossible by refusing to give up the privileges and the pleasures that come from the immense profits of overseas investment.

I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin the shift from a "thing-oriented" society to a "person-oriented" society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.

A true revolution of values will soon cause us to question the fairness and justice of many of our past and present policies. n the one hand we are called to play the good Samaritan on life's roadside; but that will be only an initial act. One day we must come to see that the whole Jericho road must be transformed so that men and women will not be constantly beaten and robbed as they make their journey on life's highway. True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it is not haphazard and superficial. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring. A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth. With righteous indignation, it will look across the seas and see individual capitalists of the West investing huge sums of money in Asia, Africa and South America, only to take the profits out with no concern for the social betterment of the countries, and say: "This is not just." It will look at our alliance with the landed gentry of Latin America and say: "This is not just." The Western arrogance of feeling that it has everything to teach others and nothing to learn from them is not just. A true revolution of values will lay hands on the world order and say of war: "This way of settling differences is not just." This business of burning human beings with napalm, of filling our nation's homes with orphans and widows, of injecting poisonous drugs of hate into veins of people normally humane, of sending men home from dark and bloody battlefields physically handicapped and psychologically deranged, cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice and love. A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.

America, the richest and most powerful nation in the world, can well lead the way in this revolution of values. There is nothing, except a tragic death wish, to prevent us from reordering our priorities, so that the pursuit of peace will take precedence over the pursuit of war. There is nothing to keep us from molding a recalcitrant status quo with bruised hands until we have fashioned it into a brotherhood.

Returning briefly from the dead...

As long-time readers of this blog know, I supported Kucinich in 2004 and have been supporting him this year as well, though not as actively (in part because I was unemployed last time around, but now my work schedule keeps me busy). This has always been because I agree with his positions and I want them to be part of the debate, so as to encourage other Democrats to move in that direction.

I'm realistic enough to know that he's not going to win, in part because too many people who otherwise agree with him don't bother to support him at all thinking he can't win (thus it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy). So even while supporting Kucinich, I continue to look at the leading candidates to decide which, if any, of them I think would be the best nominee for the Democrats.

In 2004, I wasn't very inspired by any of the candidates. And while this year's race is better in many ways, I was still holding back. I've liked a lot of what I've seen about Obama - and to be completely honest, every time the Republicans try to make a smear out of claiming he's Muslim, that makes me support him more. But I've also had reservations about his positions on some issues and that held me back.

However, after watching his win in Iowa and the sense of hope it's given so many people, I've decided to support him over Clinton and Edwards as far as he can go. I want to see our country be bold enough to choose him over the Clinton machine, to look forward instead of back.

Because of the way the caucus system works, I still plan to caucus for Kucinich here in Washinton on February 9, to help him stay in the race and hopefully get a few delegates so he can participate at the convention and represent his issues. But if/when he's not viable (based on my experience from 2004, this will be at the district rather than precinct level because I'll probably be one of only a handful of people from my precinct) then I'll switch to Obama and I'll definitely be rooting for Obama in New Hampshire and other races.

And hopefully, if Obama gets the nomination he will choose a great running mate to make the Democrats really solid on the all the issues!

Update 1/24/08: Since Kucinich has withdrawn from the race, I will support Obama from here on out and caucus for him on February 9.

Eid mubarak! Taqabbala Allahu minna wa minkum. (Happy Eid! May Allah accept from us and from you).

Ramadan has begun with the fasting starting tomorrow morning at dawn.

Ramadan mubarak! May our fasting and prayers and other worship this month be pleasing to Allah. May He make it easy for us and strengthen us by it.

Bumped up from last year and will be as long as the words still need to be spoken

The following is a speech given by Frederick Douglass (pictured at left) on July 4, 1841. It's a reminder that what makes America great is the ideals of liberty and justice that we stand for, and that we must always work to make sure that America lives up to our ideals. There are times when America has not done so. Slavery will forever remain a dark blot on our record. When we see America doing wrong, we need to speak up as Douglass did to set it right.

I post this as a reminder that sometimes the most patriotic act, the one that shows the most love, is to criticize. No, America is not doing anything today that approaches slavery for its injustice, but there are things happening in this country, laws being made, actions being taken, that take us away from our ideals. I have spoken up against these laws and actions and will continue to do so because I want us to turn back from this path before we have gone very far down it.

Without further ado, here's Frederick Douglass:

Fellow citizens, pardon me, allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak here today? What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence? Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? And am I, therefore, called upon to bring our humble offering to the national altar, and to confess the benefits and express devout gratitude for the blessings resulting from your independence to us?

Would to God, both for your sakes and ours, that an affirmative answer could be truthfully returned to these questions! Then would my task be light, and my burden easy and delightful. For who is there so cold that a nation's sympathy could not warm him? Who so obdurate and dead to the claims of gratitude that would not thankfully acknowledge such priceless benefits? Who so stolid and selfish that would not give his voice to swell the hallelujahs of a nation's jubilee, when the chains of servitude had been torn from his limbs? I am not that man. In a case like that the dumb might eloquently speak and the lame man leap as an hart.

But such is not the state of the case. I say it with a sad sense of the disparity between us. I am not included within the pale of this glorious anniversary! Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. The blessings in which you, this day, rejoice are not enjoyed in common. The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity, and independence bequeathed by your fathers is shared by you, not by me. The sunlight that brought light and healing to you has brought stripes and death to me. This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn.

To drag a man in fetters into the grand illuminated temple of liberty, and call upon him to join you in joyous anthems, were inhuman mockery and sacrilegious irony. Do you mean, citizens, to mock me by asking me to speak today? If so, there is a parallel to your conduct. And let me warn that it is dangerous to copy the example of nation whose crimes, towering up to heaven, were thrown down by the breath of the Almighty, burying that nation in irrevocable ruin! I can today take up the plaintive lament of a peeled and woe-smitten people.

"By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down. Yea! We wept when we remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. For there, they that carried us away captive, required of us a song; and they who wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. How can we sing the Lord's song in a strange land? If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth."

Fellow citizens, above your national, tumultuous joy, I hear the mournful wail of millions! Whose chains, heavy and grievous yesterday, are, today, rendered more intolerable by the jubilee shouts that reach them. If I do forget, if I do not faithfully remember those bleeding children of sorry this day, "may my right hand cleave to the roof of my mouth"! To forget them, to pass lightly over their wrongs, and to chime in with the popular theme would be treason most scandalous and shocking, and would make me a reproach before God and the world. My subject, then, fellow citizens, is American slavery.

I shall see this day and its popular characteristics from the slave's point of view. Standing there identified with the American bondman, making his wrongs mine. I do not hesitate to declare with all my soul that the character and conduct of this nation never looked blacker to me than on this Fourth of July! Whether we turn to the declarations of the past or to the professions of the present, the conduct of the nation seems equally hideous and revolting.

America is false to the past, false to the present, and solemnly binds herself to be false to the future. Standing with God and the crushed and bleeding slave on this occasion, I will, in the name of humanity which is outraged, in the name of liberty which is fettered, in the name of the Constitution and the Bible which are disregarded and trampled upon, dare to call in question and to denounce, with all the emphasis I can command, everything that serves to perpetuate slavery – the great sin and shame of America!

"I will not equivocate, I will not excuse"; I will use the severest language I can command; and yet not one word shall escape me that any man, whose judgment is not blinded by prejudice, shall not confess to be right and just ... For the present, it is enough to affirm the equal manhood of the Negro race. Is it not as astonishing that, while we are plowing, planting, and reaping, using all kinds of mechanical tools, erecting houses, constructing bridges, building ships, working in metals of brass, iron, copper, and secretaries, having among us lawyers doctors, ministers, poets, authors, editors, orators, and teachers; and that, while we are engaged in all manner of enterprises common to other men, digging gold in California, capturing the whale in the Pacific, feeding sheep and cattle on the hillside, living, moving, acting, thinking, planning, living in families as husbands, wives, and children, and above all, confessing and worshiping the Christian's God, and looking hopefully for life and immortality beyond the grave, we are called upon to prove that we are men!...

What, am I to argue that it is wrong to make men brutes, to rob them of their liberty, to work them without wages, to keep them ignorant of their relations to their fellow men, to beat them with sticks, to flay their flesh with the lash, to load their limbs with irons, to hunt them with dogs, to sell them at auction, to sunder their families, to knock out their teeth, to burn their flesh, to starve them into obedience and submission to their masters? Must I argue that a system thus marked with blood, and stained with pollution, is wrong? No! I will not. I have better employment for my time and strength than such arguments would imply....

What, to the American slave, is your Fourth of July? I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciation of tyrants, brass-fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are, to Him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy – a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation of savages. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of the United States at this very hour.

Go where you may, search where you will, roam through all the monarchies and despotisms – of the Old World, travel through South America, search out every abuse, and when you have found the last, lay your facts by the side of the everyday practices of this nation, and you will say with me that, for revolting barbarity and shameless hypocrisy, America reigns without a rival.

It's getting to the point where I post only once or twice a year, but the blog isn't completely dead, and it is now 5 years old! Hard to believe, but the first posts were on May 24, 2002. Where did the time go?

If anybody is still reading this, thanks for sticking with me. I can't promise more frequent posts in the future, as my job keeps me busy and after working with blogs all day, I often don't feel like updating my own. Mostly I don't get any further than bookmarking stuff on del.icio.us so you might want to subscribe to that if you're looking for something to read!

Life is going well. This is going to be a busy summer for my family. My dad is retiring at the end of May, my sister is getting her Ph.D. in mid-June, and my grandmother will (inshallah!) be turning 100 at the start of August. I'll be going down to California for the second event and to Minnesota for the third.

Thanks again to everybody who still checks in, I hope you're doing well and getting what you want out of life. Peace and blessings to all

I just finished reading In the Footsteps of the Prophet: Lessons from the Life of Muhammad by Tariq Ramadan. This is an excellent book that tells the story of the Prophet's (sAas) life, with a focus on the moral and spiritual lessons to be learned from episodes within it.

I highly recommend it both to Muslims, to deepen your understanding of the model that the Prophet (sAas) is for all of us, and to non-Muslims to learn more about Islam. There are many misconceptions spread about the life and teachings of the Prophet (sAas) and this book is an excellent rebuttal to those misconceptions. It also conveys the beauty of Islam and why Muslims find spiritual sustenance through this religion. Mashallah.

Awhile ago, I posted about an apparent terrorist plot in Britain that wasn't getting any news coverage, apparently because the suspects are white right-wing extremists. When we last heard anything about this story, the suspects were scheduled to go on trial in February.

So now it's February and the trial has begun, with one of the suspects pleading guilty. And now it's getting a lot of coverage in the mainstream media. These headlines give an idea why:

Ex-BNP man 'wanted to shoot PM'

Former BNP candidate wanted to shoot prime minister, court hears

Former BNP candidate 'said he would shoot Tony Blair'

Other coverage:

Ex-BNP candidate admits stockpiling weapons

BNP candidate who feared civil war 'had hoarded explosives'

Ex-BNP candidate 'had cache of explosive chemicals'

Some bloggers commenting on this story include BlairWatch, Rachel from North London, and Iain Dale.

There is also a Wikipedia page devoted to the story.

Eid Mubarak! Eid al-Adha is today (Saturday) or tomorrow, depending on the community.

May you have a blessed and joyous Eid and may your prayers and deeds be pleasing to Allah SWT.

CAIR:

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today condemned a conference in Iran that seeks to deny the Holocaust, the systematic destruction of the Jewish community in Europe by the Nazis during World War II.

In a statement, CAIR said:

"No legitimate cause or agenda can ever be advanced by denying or belittling the immense human suffering caused by the murder of millions of Jews and other minority groups by the Nazi regime and its allies during World War II. Cynical attempts to use Holocaust denial as a political tool in the Middle East conflict will only serve to deepen the level of mistrust and hostility already present in that troubled region."

CAIR also expressed concern that individuals who have promoted racist views, like former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, were invited to speak at the conference. "Islam, through the example of the Prophet Muhammad, has always rejected racism in any form," said CAIR's statement.

In his final sermon, the Prophet stated: "All mankind is from Adam and Eve. An Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab, nor does a non-Arab have any superiority over an Arab. Also, a white (person) has no superiority over a black (person), nor does a black have any superiority over a white - except by piety and good action." SEE: http://www.cair.com/Muhammad/

The Washington-based council has in the past condemned an Iranian contest soliciting political cartoons mocking the Holocaust and supported calls for an apology from an Arab-American newspaper that published excerpts from an anti-Semitic tract.

In its past statement supporting an apology from the newspaper, CAIR said "we must challenge those who would fan the flames of anti-Semitism." CAIR's statement condemning the Iranian cartoon contest called the Holocaust "one of the lowest moments in human history."

Later: Ibrahim Raney for the Muslim American Society:

History will recall the tragedy of the genocide that slaughtered some six million European Jews between the rise of Adolph Hitler and the Nazi Party in 1933 and the culmination of the Second World War in Europe in May, 1945.

The evidence of this crime, and the horrible magnitude of this killing, is irrefutable. From sources as varied as Nazi war records, film documentation, and most importantly, the testimony of survivors and witnesses, we know that the mass murder of European Jews was, indeed, the single greatest crime of genocide in the twentieth century.

Yet the world now witnesses yet another wave of historical revisionism and Holocaust denial, this time emerging not from European Anti-Semites, but from none other than the President of Iran. Indeed, this head of state has taken the unprecedented act of hosting an international conference of anti-Semites, Holocaust deniers, and even white racists like former Klan leader David Duke, to gather in Tehran to deny the magnitude, if not the very existence, of this barbaric act.

As a Muslim of African decent in the United States, whose ancestors were victimized by the enormous crime of slavery, I object. And I believe that all Muslims, like other human beings who value compassion and truth, must vigorously object to this gathering as well.

Like many in the global Muslim community, I regard the occupation of Palestinian land and the policies of the State of Israel as issues of extreme importance. I am certainly among those who believe that the occupation of Palestinian territory and the denial of full human rights to Palestinians, and even to Arab people regarded as Israeli citizens, is deplorable.

But I find it to be morally unconscionable to attempt to build political arguments and political movements on a platform of racial hatred and the denial of the suffering of the human beings who were victimized by the viciousness of Hitler's genocidal rampage through Europe.

President Ahmedinejad should recognize that the issue of the Palestinian people must not, and cannot, be transmogrified into the ugly and spiritually bankrupt context of racial hatred. The cause of freedom must never drink from the well of hatred and racism.

And indeed, as the Holy Qur'an compels Muslims to demand justice for the oppressed, we are also called to witness against ourselves when we are in error.

And in this case, the President of Iran most certainly is.

It's those other women that wear the veil - Time magazine has an interesting look at young women becoming nuns.

My mom, who is Catholic, has said more than once that she sometimes thinks of me as having become a nun, just in a different religion.

Don't forget to VOTE tomorrow. I'll be doing my part to help the Democrats take Congress and I hope my readers will be too.

Eid mubarak! Taqabbala Allahu minna wa minkum. (Happy Eid! May Allah accept from us and from you).

Also in Britain, we learn about a raid that found the largest haul of chemical explosives ever found at a residence in the country, a rocket launcher, and "some kind of master plan" to use these weapons.

Why haven't you heard about it? Apparently, because the suspects are right-wing extremists associated with the British National Party, rather than being Muslims.

I first read about this in Socialist Worker: A terror raid that doesn't make the headlines - despite chemical explosives and a rocket launcher. Later I saw it again in The Bomb Factory You Won't Hear About, by bat020 at Lenin's Tomb, which found a grand total of two stories from purely local newspapers, Nelson News: Pendle Today - Chemicals Find: Two In Court and Burnley Citizen: Ex-BNP man faces explosives charge.

A couple of other bloggers picked up the story from Lenin's Tomb, including Large bomb apparently found, not many informed, by jamie at Blood and Treasure and Chemicals, rocket launcher, master plan, man charged, by Thabet at under|progress.

A search on Google News turned up two reprints of the Burnley Citizen report in other local newspapers in the area (1, 2) and an independent report in another local newspaper, Northwest Evening Mail: Rocket Launcher Found at Dentist's House. Also, some commentary from a Muslim news site, Mathaba News: Terror raid, rocket launchers, chemical explosives but no headlines.

I think we all know that if the suspects had been Muslims, this would be a huge news story with much hyperventilating. To see it get so little coverage when the suspects are white right-wing extremists makes the double standard pretty darn blatant.

Hopefully, the British blogs will be able to get more publicity for this story, inshallah.

Update 10/11: Various other blogs have picked up the story including Rachel from North London, qwghlm.co.uk, Wis(s)e Words, Sunny Hundal, and Lenin's Tomb, which wrote to the BBC to find out why they weren't covering it. The London Sunday Times had a single paragraph in a "News in Brief" round-up, but so far that's it as far as any mainstream media coverage goes.

Update 10/23: Little further has happened on this, but Rachel from North London reports that the suspects are in court today and she has been trying to get some media coverage for it (and thanks for the shout-out, Rachel!)

Later, Tom at Blairwatch goes digging to find out what happened. According to the North-West Evening Mail, at least one of the suspects would be appearing in court on Saturday (October 28), although not the court mentioned by the BBC in its earlier reply to Lenin (according to Blairwatch, the court mentioned by the BBC does not appear to exist!). The Lancaster Unite Against Fascism blog also looks for information on what happened and a commenter reports that one of the suspects was let off, although this appears to contradict the report in the NW Evening Mail. In other words, nobody appears to have any idea what is happening!

Update 10/27: I missed this for a few days, but Pickled Politics has the goods, and some news links. Apparently both suspects did appear on October 24 and their trial will be in February 2007. Sunny also discusses reporting restrictions and the media.

There's a huge controversy in Britain over remarks that Jack Straw, the former Foreign Secretary, made about niqab (the face veil).

Straw is an MP whose constituency in Blackburn is about 25-30% Muslim. Straw first said that when women constituents who wear the niqab come to seek help from him, he asks them to uncover their faces. Later, he said that he wished Muslim women would not wear face veils at all. He feels that it makes community relations more difficult because it is a symbol of separation, and also he personally finds it difficult to talk to people when he can't see their faces.

I've talked before (such as this lengthly discussion in comments) about wanting to restrict Muslim women from veiling. In my opinion, this is not better than those who want to force Muslim women to veil. In both cases, it takes away a woman's basic autonomy to choose how she wishes to dress. Additionally, in a free society, we accept that others may make choices that we don't understand or even that we find offensive and in return we expect that others will accept our own choices, even if they don't understand them or find them offensive. This is what freedom of expression and freedom of religion are all about.

I'm particularly concerned with this because of Straw's position as an elected representative. What if a woman is too shy or is unwilling or unable to remove her niqab for some reason? Does this mean that he won't help her? If we are concerned about Muslims not participating enough in society, how does excluding them from the political process (such as having the right to bring their concerns to their MP) help this problem? It doesn't, it makes it worse. As an elected representative, Straw should be available to all his constituents, whatever they may dress like, and if he wants to encourage Muslims to become a fuller part of British society, he should be making it easier, not more difficult, for them to come to him.

It's hard not to think that maybe he was doing this to seek publicity for himself. Only Allah SWT knows what is in his heart, but the end result has been to give even more negative publicity to a community that already feels demonized and under siege. Like Straw's policy on the dress of his female constituents, this is likely to have the exact opposite effect of what he intends - it will only make Muslims withdraw further, and make non-Muslims withdraw from Muslims in return, and worsen community relations. Great job, dude.

Here is some good commentary on the issue. First are some columns by non-Muslim journalists and commentators:

Double Jack's Standards, by Mike Marqusee

Jack Straw's veil comments threaten to inflame racism, by Socialist Worker

What Not to Wear, by Vikram Dodd

It's a New and Dangerous Game, by Ian Bell

Here are some comments from British Muslim bloggers:

Open Season on Muslims, by Indigo Jo

Muslims as Political Footballs, by Thabet

The Polite Guide to Demonizing Muslims, by Julaybib

Blaming the Veil is Wrong, by Rajnaara Akhtar

Incitement to Hatred, by Soumaya Ghannoushi

Some people noted the following news story: Veil Snatched from Muslim Woman. Hopefully this is completely unrelated.

P.S. There is a difference of opinion among Muslims about whether the niqab is obligatory or voluntary (I believe the latter). Even those who consider it to be obligatory allow women to remove their niqabs for the purpose of verifying their identity (1, 2). This includes business dealings, giving testimony, and appearing in court. It's not clear whether this would cover professional dealings with an MP and in any case, Straw didn't mention verifying identity. I've also written about legal issues relating to face veils and about understanding the face veil.

Update 10/11: Some other good comments on this issue, from non-Muslim journalists and commentators:

Lifting the veil on Enlightenment-British-European-Western values, by Lenin's Tomb

Veiled Threats, from Caron's Musings

The Jackboots of Our Time, by George Galloway, MP

Jack Straw has unleashed a storm of prejudice and intensified division, by Madeleine Bunting (this one is excellent)

Stop Scapegoating Muslims, by Socialist Worker

Sorry, but we can't just pick and choose what to tolerate, by David Edgar

And from British Muslim bloggers:

My life behind the niqab, by Rahmanara Chowdhury

Woolas: Appease the far right, by Indigo Jo

You wanted debate, Jack? You've sure got on, by Abu Eesa

The politics of choice, by Soumaya Ghannoushi

I'm tired of being a political football, by Sunny Hundal

Update 10/18: In the last few days, the debate has moved on from Straw's original remarks to the case of Aishah Azmi, a niqab-wearing teaching assistant. Azmi was suspended from her job because the school said that she refused to take off her niqab in front of the students. Azmi said that she had no problem with taking off her niqab in front of children (and indeed, veiling has never been required around children) but that she kept it on when male teachers were around. A number of politicians, including recently prime minister Tony Blair himself have spoken on the issue, supporting her suspension (in my opinion, they should have stayed out of it and let the employment tribunal decide the case).

Here is some recent non-Muslim commentary about niqab, including the Azmi case, and also about Islamophobia in Britain:

If someone freely chooses to wear a niqab, what skin is it off your nose? by Timothy Garton Ash

What Not to Wear, by Andrew Rilstone

Religious practises are part of peoples' identities, by Yael Simon

I'm Catholic. I'm also sane. But these days people find it hard to accept that religion and rationality can co-exist, by Martin Newland

Speak freely but carefully, by the Editors of the Guardian

They've lost the plot, by Dave Hill

Dismay over debate which creates divisions, by Michael White

If this onslaught was about Jews, I would be looking for my passport, by Jonathan Freedland

Veiling discussions by white people who don't know what they're talking about suck, by R. Mildred

Some recent Muslim commentary:

Garton Ash, Bennett, and Berkoff on niqab, by Indigo Jo

So much for the sisterhood, by Salma Yaqoob

The veil and the limits of English tolerance, by Yahya Birt

A battle of insults, by Anas al-Tikriti

Incitement to violence, by Daud Abdullah

Ramadan has begun for my community with the fasting starting tomorrow morning at dawn. For some communities, it may start on September 24 instead.

Ramadan mubarak! May our fasting and prayers and other worship this month be pleasing to Allah. May He make it easy for us and strengthen us by it.

Via Global Day for Darfur, a prayer (PDF) for Darfur by Shaykh Ibrahim Mogra of the Muslim Council of Britain:

Bismillahi rahmaan iraheem

Verse 104 in Surah Al Imran of the holy Quran says that:

"And let there arise from amongst you, a nation which invites to goodness, enjoins what is right and forbids what is evil. Such are they who are successful." (3:104)

O’ God! Let us here today be the people that invite to goodness, enjoin right, and forbid evil. O’ God! in you is the best consolation against any calamity, in you is substitute for every loss, and replacement for anything sorely missed. O’ God! we trust in You, seek Your aid, and are hopeful of Your mercy. O’ God! All Knowing, All Seeing, All Hearing, we ask you to comfort the hearts and minds of the people of Darfur, to give them patience, strength and solace. To give them hope, faith and light. O’ God! we ask you to alleviate the oppression and end the atrocity. We ask that the killing stops, the bloodshed ends, that women and children are safe and healthy and happy. O’ God! protect the people, and protect their helpers. Give the people of Darfur back their homes, their families, their communities, their humanity, and their hope and
dreams for the future. O’ God! put an end to the violence, the horror, the rape, the starvation, disease and mass slaughter of innocent victims. O’ God! we ask that the international community wakes up in the face of crisis and acts quickly, and that a humanitarian crisis is not permitted. O’ God! we ask that further genocide is prevented and that the world does not stand by and witness another holocaust, another Rwanda, or another Bosnia. O’ God! we ask you to give our leaders wisdom,
and the ability to use their power for good and not evil. O’ God! forgive our selfishness, and enable us to feel Darfur’s pain, and enable us to (believe that we can) make a difference, and stand united and strong in the face of adversity. O’ God! give us greater understanding, greater empathy, and the power to remember. O’ God! purify our hearts and souls, banish racism and pride from our being.

The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "Help your brother, whether he is an oppressor or he is oppressed." People asked, "…It is right to help him if he is oppressed, but how should we help him if he is an oppressor?" The Prophet said, "By preventing him from oppressing others."

The Global Day for Darfur site has many more resources and things you can do for Darfur.

As usual, Juan Cole is a voice of reason:

But let me just signal that what is most troubling of all is that the Pope gets several things about Islam wrong, just as a matter of fact.

He notes that the text he discusses, a polemic against Islam by a Byzantine emperor, cites Qur'an 2:256: "There is no compulsion in religion." Benedict maintains that this is an early verse, when Muhammad was without power.

His allegation is incorrect. Surah 2 is a Medinan surah revealed when Muhammad was already established as the leader of the city of Yathrib (later known as Medina or "the city" of the Prophet). The pope imagines that a young Muhammad in Mecca before 622 (lacking power) permitted freedom of conscience, but later in life ordered that his religion be spread by the sword. But since Surah 2 is in fact from the Medina period when Muhammad was in power, that theory does not hold water.

In fact, the Qur'an at no point urges that religious faith be imposed on anyone by force. This is what it says about the religions:

' [2:62] Those who believe (in the Qur'an), and those who follow the Jewish (scriptures), and the Christians and the Sabians-- any who believe in God and the Last Day, and work righteousness, shall have their reward with their Lord; on them shall be no fear, nor shall they grieve. '

See my comments On the Quran and peace.

And he has more to say as well, which is well worth your attention.

Elsewhere, CAIR calls for dialogue:

The proper response to the Pope's inaccurate and divisive remarks is for Muslims and Catholics worldwide to increase dialogue and outreach efforts aimed at building better relations between Christianity and Islam. This unfortunate episode also offers an opportunity for Christians to learn more about Islam, the Prophet Muhammad and the Islamic concept of jihad.

The CAIR statement also provides a good deal of information about Islam's actual teachings. Again, this is well worth your attention.

That whoever kills a single soul for other than a soul killed or for corruption in the earth, it is as though he had killed all of humanity together, and whoever saves the life of a single soul, it is as though he had saved the life of all of humanity together - Quran Surah al-Ma'ida ayah 32

May Allah embrace in His infinite mercy and loving forgiveness the innocents who died and may He bring swift and final justice upon those who committed such an atrocity. May we bring some good out of a terrible evil by being inspired once again to work together for justice and peace, and may we reach out with love to others instead of withdrawing in fear or lashing out in anger. Let the memory of our loss open our hearts to mourn as well the loss of innocent lives elsewhere in the world, wherever it may be happening. Let us not see only our own pain. May Allah forgive us our shortcomings and sins and help and guide us towards a better future. Ameen.

Foreign Affairs makes a heretical (but apparently correct (also here)) suggestion: there are no real Islamist terrorist cells in America.

Intelligence estimates in 2002 held that there were as many as 5,000 al Qaeda terrorists and supporters in the United States. However, a secret FBI report in 2005 wistfully noted that although the bureau had managed to arrest a few bad guys here and there after more than three years of intense and well-funded hunting, it had been unable to identify a single true al Qaeda sleeper cell anywhere in the country. Thousands of people in the United States have had their overseas communications monitored under a controversial warrantless surveillance program. Of these, fewer than ten U.S. citizens or residents per year have aroused enough suspicion to impel the agencies spying on them to seek warrants authorizing surveillance of their domestic communications as well; none of this activity, it appears, has led to an indictment on any charge whatever. In addition to massive eavesdropping and detention programs, every year some 30,000 "national security letters" are issued without judicial review, forcing businesses and other institutions to disclose confidential information about their customers without telling anyone they have done so. That process has generated thousands of leads that, when pursued, have led nowhere. Some 80,000 Arab and Muslim immigrants have been subjected to fingerprinting and registration, another 8,000 have been called in for interviews with the FBI, and over 5,000 foreign nationals have been imprisoned in initiatives designed to prevent terrorism. This activity, notes the Georgetown University law professor David Cole, has not resulted in a single conviction for a terrorist crime. In fact, only a small number of people picked up on terrorism charges -- always to great official fanfare -- have been convicted at all, and almost all of these convictions have been for other infractions, particularly immigration violations. Some of those convicted have clearly been mental cases or simply flaunting jihadist bravado -- rattling on about taking down the Brooklyn Bridge with a blowtorch, blowing up the Sears Tower if only they could get to Chicago, beheading the prime minister of Canada, or flooding lower Manhattan by somehow doing something terrible to one of those tunnels.

Forget Snakes on a Plane, how about Islamophobia on a plane?

First some British passengers "mutinied" because two apparently Muslim men were on the flight.

Then a Canadian doctor was removed from a flight because a drunk passenger thought his Muslim prayers were suspicious.

Now a British pilot was removed from a flight apparently for being Muslim.

Where will this end? Muslim-only lines at the airport?

Sara Robinson at Orcinus has some good commentary on this:

There's only one word for this. It's vigilantism, pure and simple. It's no different than any other kind of lynch mob. And it is beneath the dignity of a civilized society...

...But there's far more at stake here than meets the eye. If these vigilante mobs are allowed to get their way on airplanes, what's to stop them from taking their show on the road? Are we going to see subway mobs assaulting brown people on train platforms to "prevent" subway bombings? Are restarauters going to find themselves under pressure from upset diners not to hire -- or seat -- certain "frightening" classes of people? Will neighborhood groups press realtors to stop selling local homes to specific ethnic groups, for fear property values will drop? Or will they, perhaps, subject "undesirable" neighbors to harassment campaigns until they're forced to move on?

This all sounds far-fetched -- until you realize that we're hardly forty years past an era when most of this was standard operating procedure in much of America. Vigilante justice, racial segregation in public accommodations, real estate redlining, and sundown towns are part of a past that we've worked hard to leave behind. It will be a disgrace to all of us if we allow a few irrational bullies on airplanes put us on the road to bringing it all back.

This is something that we should not allow to continue. It is beneath us.

Update: As if that isn't enough, there's more:

All 12 passengers arrested after a US airliner returned to Amsterdam will be released, Dutch prosecutors say. Northwest Airlines flight 42, bound for Mumbai (Bombay) in India, changed course over Germany and flew back to Schiphol airport on Wednesday. The 12 men, said to be of Asian appearance, reportedly aroused suspicion by fiddling with mobile phones and plastic bags.

God forbid that a passenger should ever fiddle with their mobile phone.

Security expert Bruce Schneier explains why this is exactly what the terrorists want. Let's not do their job for them, mm'kay?

Later: I should have included this one earlier. Iraqi blogger Raed Jarrar was made to cover up his T-shirt with Arabic writing on it (see some pictures with the T-shirt here). It appears that some people may not realize that Arabic is a language spoken by some 200 or 250 million people, of all religions and of none. It isn't some kind of "terrorist language" for God's sake.

Meanwhile, what do you want to bet that this flight was diverted because of a Muslim name? This is getting out of control here.

More reports of passengers refusing to fly with Muslims. Then they should leave the flight, not have people arrested and removed for having the "wrong" religion.

Aside: This is no better:

Some fellow passengers are questioning why an Orthodox Jewish man was removed from an Air Canada Jazz flight in Montreal last week for praying.

The man was a passenger on a Sept. 1 flight from Montreal to New York City when the incident happened.

The airplane was heading toward the runway at the Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport when eyewitnesses said the Orthodox man began to pray.

"He was clearly a Hasidic Jew," said Yves Faguy, a passenger seated nearby. "He had some sort of cover over his head. He was reading from a book.

"He wasn't exactly praying out loud but he was lurching back and forth," Faguy added.

The action didn't seem to bother anyone, Faguy said, but a flight attendant approached the man and told him his praying was making other passengers nervous.

"The attendant actually recognized out loud that he wasn't a Muslim and that she was sorry for the situation but they had to ask him to leave," Faguy said.

I love the part where they "recognized out loud that he wasn't a Muslim". Would that have made it better?

Update: Thankfully, this has been quieter for awhile, but here we have a Spanish professor and a Jewish architect, whose apparent crime was simply to be brown-skinned. This racist hysteria can stop now, thank you.

A few points to ponder

First:

CAIR (video):

American Muslims have consistently condemned all acts of terrorism, whether carried out by individuals, groups or states. We repudiate anyone or any group that plans or carries out a terrorist act. We welcome early actions by law enforcement authorities against credible threats to the safety of the traveling public. The American Muslim community has always been dedicated to the protection of our national security. It is also important that our fellow Americans understand that Muslims are law-abiding citizens who should not be targeted or singled out because of their faith or national origin.

Hesham Hassaballa:

All Praise and Thanks is due to the Lord God Almighty that these alleged terrorists were caught. In a raid conducted yesterday, British authorities arrested 24 suspects who allegedly planned on boarding planes bound to the United States and explode them in mid-air. I am extremely happy this attack was thwarted. All Praise is due to God...

...If what is alleged against them is true, all I can say is "God is enough for me, and He is the best of those who handle affairs." These agents of Satan thought they could commit mass murder in a twisted effort to "defend Islam." Yet, the Hand of the Lord is longer and more powerful. If what is alleged against them is true, these partisans of Satan thought they were performing "jihad." They were doing nothing of the sort. They were planning to commit murder, and I am thankful to the Precious Lord that they were caught.

There are, however, some important points regarding this story that must be pointed out. This whole investigation started with an anonymous tip, and that tip came from a concerned member of the Muslim community in Britain. Would you look at that! A Muslim, helping to fight terror! In fact, we Muslims have been fighting the good fight for a long time.

Second:

Al-Muhajabah:

Some of the visions of Muslim extremists like Bin Laden are, if not technically fascist, fundamentally totalitarian...

...The term "Islamofascism" is thrown around quite freely in some quarters. There is such a thing, just as there are extremist interpretations of Judaism, Christianity, and Hinduism that call for the fight against anything "other". What's wrong with the term "Islamofascist" is when some people apply it to any Muslim who seeks to an integration of Islam and politics, even if that Muslim condemns Bin Laden and Zawahiri. Such a distortion inhibits debate.

There are certain policies and certain beliefs that are fascist and rightly deserve to be called so, policies and beliefs that dehumamize those who are of a different religion or ethnic group and that promote violence against the other religion or ethnic group.

But Islam is not itself a fascist ideology. In fact, Islam condemns all such hatred and violence.

Third:

Gallup: Many Americans Harbor Strong Bias Against U.S. Muslims

A new Gallup poll finds that many Americans -- what it calls "substantial minorities" -- harbor "negative feelings or prejudices against people of the Muslim faith" in this country. Nearly one in four Americans, 22%, say they would not like to have a Muslim as a neighbor.

While Americans tend to disagree with the notion that Muslims living in the United States are sympathetic to al-Qaeda, a significant 34% believe they do back al-Qaeda. And fewer than half -- 49% -- believe U.S. Muslims are loyal to the United States.

Almost four in ten, 39%, advocate that Muslims here should carry special I.D.

SusanG at Daily Kos pulls all these strands together:

What happens when you yoke an entire religion to the word, "fascist?"...

...While there undeniably are pro-violent, extremist Muslims - as there are Christians and Jews and atheists - using language that encourages 40 percent of Americans to consider an entire religion's adherents as requiring special ID's seems a tad ... well, let's avoid a Godwin's law violation, shall we?...

...Got that, Mr. Bush? While the terror cells were comprised of Islamic extremists, other Muslims were the ones who saved the world from a terrorist strike that could have been the worst since 9/11.

P.S. Doesn't requiring a certain class of citizens to have "special IDs" sound like the real fascism around here?