Eid at the Department of State

On September 7th, I was invited to attend the Department of State’s annual Eid ul Fitr reception. For those of you who do not know, Eid ul Fitr is the Islamic holiday marking the close of Ramadan, the ninth Islamic month in which religious Muslims fast physically and spiritually from food and other pleasures from dawn until dusk.

I was invited because I am a member of a group of young Muslim leaders known as Generation Change, a State Department-backed endeavor to connect young Muslim leaders dedicated to making a lasting difference in our world by civic engagement and political efficacy.

Some of my colleagues in Generation Change include world-famous publishers like Javed Ali and Moniza Khokhar, who are up and coming Muslim-media magnates. Other Generation Change members include poet Ainee Fatima and women’s rights activist and blogger Fatemeh Fakhraie.

Ali Baluch and I right outside the Benjamin Franklin Room at the State Department

I’m on the younger side of members of Generation Change. My contribution has been my extensive experience in politics and interfaith initiatives.  I also have a knack for connecting with young people and keeping them involved in projects far beyond their fad expiration date ( for those of you who don’t know: a fad is a popular trend that dies out quickly).

Some of the people honored at this year’s  Eid reception were Ephraim Salam and my fellow Pathan, Kulsoom Abdullah. Kusloom is a weight-lifter. She represents Pakistan at international competitions, and is a hijab-observant Muslim young woman. I credit her strength to her Pathan roots–we’re born strong!

I feel honored to continue to build a national profile as both an interfaith and political leader. More so because this Eid reception marks the ten-year mark since 9/11 and the attacks that thrust Muslims in America into the spotlight because of terrorism. I am also honored because when I started by interfaith work at UMBC, many immigrant Muslims I encountered were skeptical and hostile to building relationships with other religions. To be honored for doing just that by the State Department really echoes how unique and wholly American a challenge it was for me to take on such an undertaking.

Ten years on, to see us honor our youth for striving to achieve their dreams is a humbling sight, and reminds me of why I chose to a public life as my eventual career path.

Goodbye, Middle East.

In 2001, shortly after the 9/11 attacks, I challenged myself to understand what drove a cadre of relatively young Arab men to kill themselves and thousands of others, while using Islam as their justification.

My grandfather, who had been visiting the summer before the attacks, instructed me in his thundering voice, “Fortify your mind with books, evidence, and the rules of debate.”

“Fail to do this, and you fail to be a man,” he continued. He died earlier this year.

My journey into understanding the world’s most attention-grabbing conflict began when I walked into the Media Center at my high school, and happened upon Thomas Friedman’s From Beirut to Jerusalem.

In fact, whatever eloquence I have as a writer is due to Friedman’s account when he was the Bureau Chief in the Mideast for the New York Times.

Friedman’s engaging tone, and frankness gave me wild hopes that maybe I too could become a bridge builder between society’s deep fault lines.

In the months after 9/11, at the height of xenophobia against immigrant Muslims, I came up with a plan: I would do what Tom did, but in the opposite direction.

I was going to study Judaism, familiarize myself with Israel and the challenges that it faces as a state surrounded by more or less hostile states.

I would then do a crash course in Arab society and cultures, and then go save the world using my people’s skills and newfound core competencies in Jewish and Arab societies.

But after investing over a decade into understanding the Mideast conflict, and greatly expanding my core competency in several Middle Eastern cultures, I am throwing in the towel, with some regret.

With Osama bin Laden now dead, and our country now past the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, I want to stop fixating on a conflict that I have every reason to believe is fed by the attention we pay to it.

During dinners with my parents I want to be able to carry on a “normal” conversation with them without rushing to the “Middle East” Page on the BBC’s website to recount the trials and tribulations of the people in the Middle East.

I want the normalcy of life that Osama and Al Qaeda robbed of all Americans, but in particular of me, and the millions of other Muslims who live and die here.

But, before I do walk away, there are some people I’d like to acknowledge.

Thank you.

I have made a great many friends in Israel since I began my ambitious project many years ago.

Three in particular that I would like to thank are Alan Meyerson, Rabbi Amos Levi, and one of my friends from college, Nikki.

In fact, I think out of all these people, Nikki probably taught me the most about Jewish morals and ethics, as well as the person who invested the most personal time, out of her very busy life, to teach me about Judaism.

On the Arab side, I would be lost without the guidance and patience shown by my friend Dr. Abdulwahab Alkebsi, and his daughter, Zainab.

They opened their home and family to me, and showed me the very human side of a perspective many of us in America have not gotten to know. Thank you for everything

For whatever reason, my friend Talia Ne’eman, also has a role to play. Her sharp wit, and constant presence really inspires me to believe that peace is a tenable goal in the near future. Talia, by the way, is fluent in Palestinian Arabic and Israeli Hebrew.

Interfaith.

I do love my interfaith experiences, and the multiculturalism I have experienced through experiential-osmosis. Those life-changing experiences have helped shape me as a person and form my values and interests.

But this is a chapter I am ready to close in my life.

So good-bye to the Middle East. I hope to visit you in person one day, and when I do, to not read any headlines before I go.

9/11, American Islam, and Generation Change

This Ramadan, Muslim Americans reflected for 30 days leading up to September 11th on themselves, their country, and their faith.

Today, across America, we mark the ninth anniversary of the attacks carried out by enemies of Islam and enemies of America, or more simply put: enemies of Good. But while many millions of Americans will mark the day with a somber moment, or a short prayer, many more millions of Muslim Americans will mark this tragedy of tragedies by doing good works and community service. I myself will be giving blood to the Red Cross, after spending the morning volunteering for causes I believe in.

We have a lot of obstacles to face as a community. Many of us face identity crises, or questions of faith and morality. Others face xenophobia from fellow Muslims, or outcasting for being a Republican or Democrat. Still many more face religious intolerance and ignorance from our fellow citizens to whom we have not yet reached out.

But we are learning and responding to the changes and questions in our country today. While much is left to be desired, I am proud of where my community is today, and the ways we have come from the turmoil and confusion that immediately followed 9/11. Muslim America is the one of the youngest American faithful communities, but it is also one of the most proud and most dedicated minority community to be found anywhere in the world. All of us rejoice in the very special gift of being Americans, and many of us have dedicated our lives to public service, and through that service, to our country. We are school teachers, poets, professors, developers, marketers, lawyers, but most important of all: we are Americans.

And while I spend my day remembering and reflecting on the terrible events of nine years ago, I will be proud and ever so thankful to be born and raised an American. I will pray for those who died on 9/11, for those who are dying still to this day in its aftermath, and for those who might yet be spared the anguish we all felt when we learned that Terror had come to our homes and into our cities. Most of all, I will pray that my country–our country, be kept safe and that our children grow up in a world cured of Hate, blessed with peace. I won’t be the only one. As Muslims mark the second day of Eid ul Fitr, all of us will pray for a better future, and a stronger, happier America.

Generation Change

Last Tuesday, I was one of 70 Muslim American youth leaders invited to the State Department as part of a new generation of Muslim thinkers: Generation Change. (Twitter tag: #GenChange). We came together on the heels of the Park51 and the Koran burning scandal in Florida, with days to go before the ninth anniversary of 9/11.

All of us spoke of the pressures at home from inside and outside our community. Our parents wanting us to be remain culturally attached to their ethnic homeland, our friends wanting us to hit the clubs with them, and ourselves wanting to find the perfect balance of culture, religion and identity.

We talked at length about our frustrations with the greater world, about how no matter what we did it wasn’t enough to make people understand: Muslims do not support terror, Terrorists support terror. We struggled to explain to relations abroad, living in the Old Muslim World, that America loves all peoples, all creeds, and all religions. That we are a tolerant bunch, with a few crazies here and there. That we’re Muslims just like them.

But we really aren’t the same. we’re Muslim Americans-a group of people who are uniquely poised to communicate across the global divide. We’re more tolerant, more wealthy, and more educated than many of our old world counterparts. We’re also more willing to admit the wrongs and mistakes our religious community has done, and more willing to resolve them.

And so, all of us Generation Changers agreed to launch initiatives of varying purpose and commitment to begin the process of changing our community, and of helping all Muslims, American and otherwise, become productive members of our global society.

In the months and weeks ahead, you’ll hear more about Generation Change, and about the amazing personalities behind it. Some of us are diplomats, others are fashion designers, others are philanthropists and playwrights. Some of us, like me, are political consultants and public relations specialists. All of us have one purpose: to better America, to better Muslims, and to better our world. Tikkun Olam.

Here are some links about Generation Change

Generation Change Event Gathers Future Muslim-American Leaders

New Generation of Muslim Youth Praised at State Department Iftar

Secretary Clinton’s Iftar Remarks

In memory of the lives of all Americans, please donate blood to the American Red Cross: http://www.redcross.org/en/

Seamus’ thoughts on the Manhattan Mosque

Seamus Campbell heads up the Fordham University College Democrats.
That means his opinion will be the opinion of liberal lawmakers in America 20 years from now.
Read below:
http://fordhamdems.blogspot.com/2010/07/ground-zero-mosque.html
Here’s an excerpt:

“My issue with the mosque is that it is an issue. Gound Zero is in New York. New York was hit. New York should choose how to deal with it. Yes, Pennsylvania and Washington, DC were hit and both tourists and commuters from the Greater New York area were killed. I do sympathize, but just like any national tragedy, it may affect people that weren’t there, but that impact is different from those that were.”

I like Seamus’ post because it is to the point, and offers lots of anecdotal and factual information pertaining to the Manhattan Mosque crisis.
Good job, buddy.

How to handle the WTC Mosque: Public Relations 201

By now, all of us are familiar with the mosque two blocks from ground zero, and the conniption it has caused for Muslim and non-Muslim alike across the country. Republicans and Harry Reid are abandoning the constitution in favor of neo-McCarthyism and (in Reid’s case) a boost in the polls. Mosque planners Daisy Khan and Imam Abdul Rauf have come under fire behind the scenes as woefully unprepared to deal with the mounting criticism of the Islamic community center they wish to build. To make matters worse, Eid-ul-Fitr, the Islamic celebration marking the end of Ramadan, might begin on September 11^th, 2010. None of this is boding well for a religious community still reeling from several planned and executed terror attacks on American soil from within our ranks. Muslims in America are under siege, and some would argue rightfully so.

Although all minority communities have had trial-by-fire experiences on the way to mainstreaming (and Muslims have had it easy in comparison to Japanese, Italian, and Irish Americans just to name a few), Muslim immigrants come to America with negative views of the country instilled mainly by the pro-Arab media in their nations-of-origin. Add to that the fact that Black Muslims, the largest and largely indigenous group of Muslims in America, feel duly ostracized by Christian Black culture, and by remnants of Jim Crow and socio-economic inequity in modern day America, and we end up with Muslims in America feeling more and more like the American Dream isn’t meant for them—and that’s exactly what Lashkar-e-Taiba and Al-Qaeda want us to think.

While I do not think besieging Muslims will get America anywhere, I do believe Muslims are responsible for our current spate of public relations nightmares. Fortunately for Team Muslim-USA, my generation of Muslims (Generation Y: the millennials) are a brackish bunch of hip coolsters who moonlight as public relations gurus (thank you Facebook and PhotoShop). Plus, let’s not forget: Miss USA is [albeit, a very liberal] Muslim, too. Our smarts (and charismatic good looks) can conquer the Mosque’s PR crisis in a jiff. That’s why below I have compiled a list of ideas I think that can begin to de-fuse the “WTC Mosque” crisis.

Halal Public Relations 201

It’s all in the name: brand and re-brand the Mosque

“It’s the Manhattan Mosque, stupid.”

This one seems simple enough, except it isn’t. A lot of the outrage about the mosque has to do with the Muslim community’s failure to control the debate surrounding the controversy of building a mosque at ground zero, and that has a lot to do with the fact that our opponents have been able to label “Park51” as the mosque at ground zero. The Muslim community’s multiple PR and political institutions have failed to pro-actively develop a suitable, politically correct label for the mosque. I propose the “Manhattan Mosque”, because that’s exactly what it is: a mosque in Manhattan. The truth is, of course, that this is a mosque inside of a cultural center, but the statement is still accurate (the mosque inside the center is still in Manhattan), and besides, it would take 20 minutes to re-frame the debate around a community center, 5 minutes more than our 15 minutes of fame allow for.

 

Keep it simple: focus on the mosque, otherwise you’ll lose focus from the audience. Further, the current sanctioned title of “Park51″ is just too sterile, though for the chief organizers of the mosque I think it’s a good working title, but not for the rest of us who are working independently to ensure Cordoba House’s construction.

 

Twitter note: Up till now we’ve seen several different #hashtags floating around on Twitter when referring to the Manhattan Mosque. Some popular ones are: #Park51, #WTCMosque, #NYCMosque, #CordobaHouse, as well as many others not suitable for re-print here. Step 1 in retaking the debate on the Manhattan Mosque is to promulgate via Twitter the #hashtag: #ManhattanMosque. We would first identify “grasstops” social media leaders in our community, and through existing political and PR channels, ask that they tweet 5 times a day (symbolic of the 5 times Muslims are obligated to worship) a status on Twitter pertaining to the #ManhattanMosque, using that exact same #hashtag.

 

Re-name the building for an American Shaheed.

Muslim Americans gave their lives on 9/11, and in every war since then to protect our country, its people, and its values and constitution. One of the reasons many Americans are so vehemently opposed to the Manhattan Mosque is the idea that we as a community oppose America and all it stands for. That is simply not true, and we need to demonstrate that again and again, until either Arab-inspired Terrorism fizzles out, or the notion of Muslims being monstrous killing machines does. This isn’t just smart politics, it’s a religious obligation. Muslims are required to actively repair and protect our religion’s image, and to maintain friendly relations with all creeds—even those we disagree with (it’s called Surah
Kafiruun).

 

Since the beginning of hostilities in Iraq and Afghanistan, Muslim American soldiers have died defending our flag. While no shaheed is more important than another, it would be a highly symbolic gesture if the organizers of the Manhattan Mosque were to name the building the Cordoba House will come to occupy after one of our fallen heroes. This is different from renaming the cultural center. Instead, the center would be referred to as “The Cordoba House at the Captain Humayun Khan Building”. Before some readers suggest this as juvenile, note that many Jewish cultural and religious centers and synagogues do exactly that. That being naming buildings after either wealthy benefactors, or individuals with noted dedication to public service. Take for example: “Hillel: the Jewish community on campus at the Smokler Center, at the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Building” present at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. Considering the Jewish community is the exemplary model of what a religious minority should behave like organizationally, I strongly recommend following suit.

 

Emotional side-project: Another idea the Manhattan Mosque organizers might want to is to name each floor of the 13/15 (depending which news article you read) story center after various American or Muslim American noteworthy figures, as well as to have a memorial to 9/11 victims on the first floor. The first suggestion should be on the coat-tails of the renaming of the building for a fallen Muslim American service member, and included in the same press release as to show multiple symbolic concessions illustrating Muslim sensitivity to 9/11, as well as our dedication to America. The second idea needs to happen regardless, at this point. If we fail to show that Muslims too, mourn 9/11, then the Manhattan Mosque’s detractors will have already won.

 

Social Media or “How to fight a PR war from sea to shining sea”

 

Let’s face it, at best there are 6 million of us Muslims in America. At worse, more like 2 million. That’s a drop in the bucket considering we’re over 300 million strong in terms of all Americans. We don’t have the manpower to just “push back” an assault on our religion. But we do have the internet. And the internet has Facebook. Harnessing the power of interns public relations handlers for the Manhattan Mosque should develop a social media strategy (or hire me to do it), and a social media guidebook illustrating how everyday supporters of the Manhattan Mosque can help neutralize its detractors and their arguments through their existing social media platforms. Here are a few thoughts on strategy and tactics:

 

“I’m a Muslim too.” How YouTube can change the world

There are over a 10 dozen various YouTube campaigns out there right now about Islam. Some call for our arrest, and placing in camps until Jesus Christ returns, others urge us to “holy war” (aside: can war ever be holy?). Still, others (my favorite kind) are educational about what it really means to be a Muslim, and work to dispel the myths about Islam and help foster good will between all faiths. This is probably the best tool on earth for cash-strapped public relations campaigns (read: us).

 

It takes 8 videos (because there are 8 points on a stylized “Islamic star”) featuring 8 different people, 5 girls, 3 boys. 2 grandparents, 2 couples, 1 college bachelor, and 1 High School student.

 

In each of the videos, each individual talks for no more than 1:30, with each video being shot in multiple camera angles, alternating after about 20 seconds each. The speaker in each video talks about an Islamic value and overtly connect it to an American value (e.g. freedom of speech, religious freedom, racial equality, common defense, etc.). The last scene of each video should end with “I support the Manhattan Mosque because…” (e.g. “I can teach my children to be patriots and a US Army ranger like me there”, or “building it will show just how much the terrorists are wrong: we are a free society, and no one can take that from us”).

 

Pushing these videos “virally” would be done through Twitter Tweets (accompanied by #hashtag: #ManhattanMosque), Facebook posts, and private and public e-mail list-serves. With a little luck and some free publicity through video spots on TV News, the videos would easily get a million hits—and that’s just domestic.

 

 

Twitter Madness: How 140 characters mean everything.

First, a moment of shameless self-promotion: my Twitter handle is @PatrioticMuslim.

Journalists love Twitter. Bloggers love Twitter. My friend Sharanya (@SharanyaRavi) who tweets every little detail about her life loves Twitter. And so, all Muslim Americans should love Twitter, too. Here’s why:

It’s easy to use, and arguably has the potential to reach niche audiences other social media cannot

Those niche audiences include: politicians, public officials, political party leaders, leading bloggers (or as I like to think of them: “neo-editorialists”), and most importantly, journalists.

Twitter is fast-paced, just like most working adults of my generation. If someone actively uses Twitter, chances are they have access to a private reserve of people on Twitter who do not [want to or cannot figure out how to] use Facebook. That means less “white noise” reaches these reserve audiences, and each tweet they type or read has less competition in terms of catching their immediate attention. That’s a good way to overnight build a “shadow network” of semi-grassroots activists for any cause.

First, back to re-branding the Manhattan Mosque. This begins with a core network of grasstops Muslims in every state, and the District of Columbia re-tweeting to their followers to use the #hashtag
#ManhattanMosque when talking about CordobaHouse. It’s too late in the game to build a following around any hashtag or “re-brand” without the word “mosque” in it, and that is why re-branding as #CordobaHouse/”Cordoba House” will fail. People have busy lives, and “mosque” is now tied in both in traditional and social media to the issue.

Once re-branding via Twitter has begun, the next step is to disseminate the social media guidebook as a .pdf, .svg and .png document/graphic to the general public, using existing Muslim American political institutions’ e-mail lists and social media platforms (e.g. Facebook Pages, Twitter, Blogs, websites), as well as the grasstops network’s followers. Once the guidebook is out there, a general sense of excitement and cohesion will take root in across the Muslim American community, and a grassroots network of Tweets will emerge, proliferating positive spin, blog posts, and press release updates regarding the #ManhattanMosque. This will then trickle down to those who write the news, and then to those who video-anchor the news, slowly helping to shape the debate around the Manhattan Mosque to our suiting.

 

Facebook: the ultimate social-anything tool.

Facebook is the most versatile and simplest multimedia communication platform on the net. To put it simply: it rocks. The options for how Muslim Americans can win the PR war just through Facebook are endless. Therefore, I will only mention a few general items here:

The creation of multiple (or a single authorized) Facebook group/page (either has positives and drawbacks) through which to mobilize supporters of the Manhattan Mosque to action.

The coordination, development and dissemination by talented Muslim graphic designers multiple attractive .jpeg format flyers and posters in support of the Manhattan Mosque to be used in lieu of a profile picture for several days or hours every few days or weeks.

The re-posting on Facebook walls of links, status updates, audio and video links, and messages of support for or pertaining to the Manhattan Mosque

The writing of Facebook Notes in favor of the mosque.

The development of Facebook-specific talking points for supporters of the Manhattan Mosque to draw on when writing notes, and creating other user-generated content on Facebook.

 

Ground War: winning the battle next door

While on the national scale, the Manhattan Mosque has made big news, local Muslim activists (those who focus on affair & issues in their immediate area) apparently have not gotten too involved with the larger debate. Here in Maryland, for instance, neither the county Muslim Councils, nor the statewide Muslim council has issued a public statement regarding the controversy surrounding the Manhattan Mosque’s construction. Some might argue local activists are avoiding the foray to protect the social and political capital they have generated for Muslim Americans in their local area since 9/11. Regardless of the case, they need to be engaged and involved by regional and national actors in the Muslim community to help in the public relations effort surrounding the Manhattan Mosque.

 

All-Area sponsored Iftars to talk about the Manhattan Mosque

This has always been an effective way to begin dialogues with non-Muslims. Muslim community leaders from across every metropolitan area should coordinate with their local regional organizations (ISNA/ICNA sub-chapters, local “Muslim Councils”, mosque conferences, etc.) to organize a single iftar at a central location with non-Muslim community group leaders, religious figures, local journalists and editorialists (be clear the invite for media is not just a photo-op, it’s a chance to build relationships) where during the meal three members of the community, each of different cultural backgrounds from the others, each under the age of 30, should speak for 2 minutes in front of the audience about what they love most about being an American—the fact that someone is a Muslim should be obvious in this case (you’re speaking at an iftar), and the focus should be on Muslims as multi-faceted people with deep loyalty and love for their country. Conversations should casually but overtly drift towards why Muslims support the mosque, with Muslim American community leaders fully briefed and talking points gone over in advance.

 

Letters to editor, editorials, and guest columnist opportunities

Water moves from areas of greater concentration to areas of less concentration. The human mind to a great degree follows the same rule. As the decline in local readership begins to thin-out and shutter a lot of local newspapers, the focus and emphasis local leaders and politicians put on these same news journals increases. This is because the only people still writing and reading them are habitual voters, and other local community leaders (of the non-political variety), who command the respect of local voters. Furthermore, local papers are desperate for well-written letters to editor and op-eds. This provides a unique opportunity in the Manhattan Mosque PR war. On the encouragement of local councils, and following talking and writing points disseminated by national groups regarding how to address the Manhattan Mosque’s controversy when speaking to others, Muslims should independently write to their local papers every week in support of the mosque’s construction and how it benefits America. This constant stream of attention will help shore up public and media support for the mosque, and help challenge its detractors on multiple fronts, thereby weakening their control over the debate, by eroding support from a grassroots level on-up.

    

    Talking Points, Talking Points, Talking Points: How to uniformly train the troops, and route the detractors

If they’re out there, then I haven’t seen them. We need talking points, and a lot of them. Social media guidebooks aside, we need colorful flyers, Photoshop images, handouts, pamphlets, training workshops and seminars, bulleted talking points and even an ad-hoc speaker’s bureau to effectively advocate change in public sentiment in favor of our cause. This doesn’t too much time to do, it just takes dedication from a collective of Muslim American volunteers across the country for 2-3 hours a day for two weeks to pull off. YouTube returns as your friend, when Muslim Americans become citizen journalists, posting amateur videos of them organizing iftars, talking to the pulic, and posting personal messages of support for the Manhattan Mosque—all routinely inspired by talking points published both locally and nationally (and disseminated over the net through sites like issuu and scribd) by Muslim American advocacy groups.

 

Let’s wrap it up

 

By the end of this post, you have read the term “Manhattan Mosque” 25 times, including this one. You have read the #hashtag
#ManhattanMosque six times. This was no accident. According to several reputable studies, it now takes up to 14 impressions for an advertisement to become ingrained in your memory. Similar to all of us now memorizing the phrase “Manhattan Mosque”, repeating a message and theme again and again is the best way for it to get others to remember it as well. This was no accident, by the way. I was purposefully trying to brand the term Manhattan Mosque into your mind. Evil Muslim mind control? Not really, just smart market placement.

 

Re-energizing the base

Much talk has been made of the legitimacy and American-ness of the proposal and decision to build an Islamic community center a mere 2 blocks from where Arab Terrorists committed acts of genocide on our fellow Americans. In this section, I make an impassioned case for the justness, and the necessity for the construction of what will come to be by God’s grace, the most important Islamic building in North America.

Under the American constitution, a document seldom abrogated by man, and divinely protected for posterity, the freedom to worship as an American so chooses is an inalienable right. Captain Humayun Khan, Corporal Kareem Khan, Sergeant Omar Albrak, and many others died to uphold our constitution, and therefore to protect the freedom to worship freely in a free land.

While our country’s detractors in Iran and Pakistan have made it illegal for non-Muslims to hold their highest offices, our President’s father was a Muslim. Moreover, a former chief of general staff argued compassionately that Muslims are Americans, and are just as worthy as holding higher office as anyone else. Today, two members of Congress are practicing Muslims. Since 9/11, Muslim American has struggled to fight the demons of our past, and today we embark on the most emotionally-charged journey yet: to prove that we too, are Americans.

Building the Manhattan Mosque symbolizes more than just our intention as Americans to mainstream and be accepted as part of our greater society. It represents the passionate dedication we as Americans have to the upholding of the law and the protection of our freedoms, no matter how unpopular the acting of doing so might be. Building Cordoba House, if and when done right, symbolizes the defeat of all Terrors by declaring: Americans cannot and will not be bullied into giving up our principles and beliefs. We will not be divided and ruled by passions intended to take away our sense good and humanity. We are a free and ultimately just society, built on the rule of law, not the rule of mob. We are all Americans.

In the coming months and weeks, America will re-live the pain and horrors associated with 9/11, and Muslims in America will re-live the endless feelings of sorrow and regret for not doing more to prevent it. But together, as Americans, we will build a mosque, insha’Allah (by God’s will), two blocks from ground zero. And by doing so, we will forever change the world: by showing that we as men (and women) can live up to our principles and do the right thing, no matter how much it might sting to do so. Because that is the essence of being an American.

Pax Americana, always and Ramadan Mubarik.

 

These are some general thoughts on steps the Manhattan Mosque’s (27^th time) organizers, national Muslim American groups, and the Muslim American community at-large might take to at least begin to win the PR war in favor of the mosque.

Please: re-tweet, re-post, and re-share this article with as many of your friends and colleagues as you see fit.

-Hamza Khan