Satirist, humorist, blogger and dear friend, Avitable, wrote an interesting post about an e-mail he was forwarded from his grandfather entitled “Can A Muslim Be A Good American?”
Ummyeah. What?!
I’ve never received one of these e-mails for obvious reasons, so it took me by surprise. Then, I thought to myself, well, it is Adam, so it’s probably some fringe fluke thing. Until I looked down in the comment section and almost every comment had some iteration of, “Oh, yeah, I hate it when I get those.”
Of course, a Muslim can be a good American. Because Islam is a religion, not a nationality. I think Adam did a fine job of dismissing that idiotic rhetoric, so I’m not going to do it here.
I want to know this.
When Dr. George Tiller was shot in May of last year, in church, by a pro-life maniac, how many Christians were asked if they thought their religion was compatible with being a law abiding American citizen?
Did anyone question why some Christian pro-lifers remained silent about this shooting? Did everyone assume that their silence was complicity? I didn’t. You know why? Because that is stupid and ridiculous. Every Christian is not pro-life. Every pro-lifer is not a doctor-killer.
And yet. People want to know if I can be a good American and a Muslim at the same time because a few guys who are not even within a distant proximity of my parent’s country of origin happen to be Muslim, too.
This Christian man, who shot and murdered another man in church, does not represent the whole of Christiandom, even though he utilized dogma that had been propagated by the more conservative members of his religion to justify murder.
I didn’t assume for a moment that Christianity made him do it. Because that would be ignorant.
I don’t owe anyone any explanations.
I will give them to you, if you ask, because you are my friends and you may want to know more. But I do not owe any apologies or explanations for being an American or for being a Muslim. I do appreciate the many statements made by American Muslim groups, and for those who question whether these statements have been made, I ask you to turn off your stupid Fox News Talking Point Bullsh*t TV and read some real news. Remember reading?
But we don’t owe you an explanation, understand?
We offer you explanations because we are committed to the idea that our nation is one of tolerance, social progress and dialogue. We operate within those traditions because we are Americans. Good ones.
Just like you.
Finally, I wonder if the people who forward these types of e-mails along realize how mired in ignorance and utterly hateful their actions are.
Do you want to know why I think we’ve been losing the war against terror? Because “we” have no idea what we’re fighting.
“We” want to believe that we’re fighting a religion.. a faith… a holy book that creates fervent suicide bombers with promises of a seventh heaven and forty virgins.
“We” don’t stop and think about political expediency or commercial media interests and how that affects the information that we are fed. “We” don’t have time time for books, the kind written by actual academic experts whose lives’ pursuits rest upon studying this situation.
You know, the experts that can actually speak and read Persian or Arabic. No, instead “we” want to read books by a balding fat guy has been whose only experience with Islam was the Pakistani doctor who wrote him one too many prescriptions for Vicodin.
“We” don’t want to waste time with actually reading about the very real and often secular political situations in countries such as Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Afghanistan or Palestine.
“We” don’t bother ourselves with terms such as sovereignty, refugee, border dispute, resources, or artificially constructed nationalisms. Because, you know, it’s just easier for “us” to believe that people are blowing themselves up because God told them to do it.
No, “we” are too busy … because “we” are being good Americans and forwarding along nonsensical e-mails.
P.S. Adam, No offense to Papa. I know he’s a great guy. 
Posted by Faiqa on January 14, 2010 9:58 pm • Terrorists, Slurpie Slingers, and Promiscuous Party Girls • 32 comments
32 Comments »
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SciFi Dad Said,
January 14, 2010 @ 11:45 pm
You don’t owe me an answer, but I will still ask: how can you live without bacon?
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Faiqa Reply:
January 14th, 2010 at 11:49 pm
@SciFi Dad, HAHAHAHAHA! It’s a spartan existence, my friend. (I do eat turkey bacon… I know, not the same).
This one time, on the way to Louisiana, we stopped at a diner and had some eggs. They were delicious. I mean… DELICIOUS. Like NOTHING I had ever tasted.
So, I asked the lady, “Hey, how do you guys make your eggs?”
And she said, “Oh, we fry them in bacon grease and lard.”
Yep. Like nothing I had ever tasted. Until then.
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Poppy Said,
January 14, 2010 @ 11:59 pm
I don’t relate to this.
I don’t know how else to say it.
I’m no better or worse than people to the left or right of me, I’m just me.
I have no right judging if someone else who chooses to be or is born into being an American can be good at it.
I wish everyone would remember every minute of their life that this is a planet we’re privileged to get to hang out on while we’re breathing, and disrespecting each other serves no purpose.
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Faiqa Reply:
January 15th, 2010 at 12:17 am
@Poppy, Well, honey, why would you relate? Is an entire group of people telling you that what you believe in your heart to be righteous and good is actually evil and wrong? When I’m on the receiving end of disrespect that seems to be consistent in its frequency and directly aimed at my value system, I have to address it.
And I have no qualms about doing it boldly. When someone, actually a whole entire group of people, openly state that I am not a “good American,” my nature dictates that I evaluate what that term means. The necessary reality is that in defining a good American I may relegate some people to an area outside that definition.
Besides. *They* started it.
Truth be told, 99% of the time, I’m on board with you, my dear. Just not in this case. Because this time, it’s about me.
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Poppy Reply:
January 15th, 2010 at 12:19 am
@Faiqa, I meant I don’t relate to the people spewing the hate. Just to be clear.
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Faiqa Reply:
January 15th, 2010 at 12:21 am
@Poppy, Oh. Oopsy. Love you.
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Poppy Reply:
January 15th, 2010 at 12:23 am
@Faiqa, I rewrote my comment 4 times. It is no surprise to me I forgot to actually articulate my point by version 4.
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martymankins Said,
January 15, 2010 @ 12:19 am
I am of the opinion that these wacked out freaks that speak and do in the name of Christianity don’t really believe what they profess. They do what they do or say what they say because they are looking for some sort of validation, press and/or media attention.
If they really do believe they are acting for a god, then they are more disturbed than some will admit.
I think the guy that shot Dr Tiller really thought he would be doing a good thing, but when someone like him excuses all logic, then you have a person with a warped sense of accomplishment as a human being.
You make a great point about why we are losing. We are all too reactive when it comes to things. When something happens, we ban it. It would be nice to be proactive. Once we learn how to be smart and ahead of the game, we’ll start making progress.
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Faiqa Reply:
January 15th, 2010 at 12:26 am
@martymankins, People who do horrific things in the name of God are crazy. People who do things for media attention and say they did it for God without really meaning it are even crazier. In my opinion.
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Dave2 Said,
January 15, 2010 @ 1:04 am
I think it all comes down to people’s unwillingness to understand their fellow humans. Especially when it comes to religion. It’s such a deeply personal choice that misunderstanding is all too easy. And some people just don’t want to put in the effort to understand because believing the lies is so much easier.
It saddens my heart to see you have to write something like this.
But I’m grateful for it.
Hopefully it does some good. Hopefully people will read it and want to understand. Because if such heinous generalizations are ever fully accepted, it’s only a matter of time before Buddhists aren’t good Americans… Hindus aren’t good Americans… Jews aren’t good Americans…
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Faiqa Reply:
January 15th, 2010 at 11:51 am
@Dave2, Hopefully. It gladdens my heart that people like you are out there.
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B.E. Earl Said,
January 15, 2010 @ 1:53 am
I like to point all talk of division and hatred and brother against brother to the lessons learned in the wonderful musical “Oklahoma”.
“The farmer and the cowman should be friends.
Oh, the farmer and the cowman should be friends.
One man likes to push a plough, the other likes to chase a cow,
But that’s no reason why they cain’t be friends.
Territory folks should stick together,
Territory folks should all be pals.
Cowboys dance with farmer’s daughters,
Farmers dance with the ranchers’ gals.”
See? It’s all about getting along with one another. And it wasn’t gay at all. Er, right?
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Faiqa Reply:
January 15th, 2010 at 11:52 am
@B.E. Earl, Um. It was a little gay, but, hey, ain’t nothin wrong with that.
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Kailyn Said,
January 15, 2010 @ 3:44 am
OK. I’m ready to comment now.
I am neither Christian nor Muslim although the majority of my family falls into one of these two religious groups.
You are so on point about Americans wanting to blame religion for terrorism. If I were to blame a single institution for this, it would be colonialism — and its aftermath
I am tired of people who think that the color of your skin, your religious beliefs, or your sexual orientation somehow make you less American. I am more than aware of the first group. And somehow people are sometimes surprised when I say that I know for a fact that I am at least the fifth generation of my family in this country. (I am too lazy at present to read wills to trace my family back any more.)
Oh and my maternal grandmother, a fervent Christian, would often say that Christianity was about acceptance. She often told me that someone who could not accept someone because of differing beliefs was not really Christian.
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Faiqa Reply:
January 15th, 2010 at 11:55 am
@Kailyn, People often forget that nationality is a purely human fabrication, don’t they? And in the case of America it is even more poignantly so. So, when people start using race, color or other decidedly biological factors to define America… well, they just seem a little ridiculous to me.
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RW Said,
January 15, 2010 @ 11:38 am
It’s complex.
Sometimes the same people who will decry the stereotyping of one group mindlessly stereotype another. I have heard the very same people who say we shouldn’t make a Muslim stereotype turn around and stereotype Christians without blinking.
How many times have I heard the otherwise intelligent, world-weary observer say that Christianity was responsible for the viciousness of the Crusades, the narrowness of the Inquisition, abortion clinic bombings, and even the Holocaust? I’ve been painted with that brush even though, as a Quaker, none of those things would come anywhere near my ethic.
It’s historic fact. “No compulsion in religion” seems to have been ignored when a few ambitious rulers spread their influence into the world at the point of a sword in the name of Islam. And I suppose someone can make an argument that Buddhism was a root cause of Pol Pot’s atrocities. For that matter, can we say it was Atheism that caused the deaths of untold millions under Stalin?
I think many atrocities are and were committed in the name of a philosophy or a belief system throught the entire history of the world, but we need to keep human nature in mind. Did all these things happen because of the belief system or did humans co-opt the belief system and turn the use of it to their own ends?
My instinct tells me it’s the latter in all cases.
How did clergymen supposedly under the guidance of the teachings of Jesus Christ beat the pulpit bloody urging war upon the evil Germans in 1914? What happened to the inheritance of the meek or how you are to treat with your enemy? And how is it the most recent incarnation of extremist Muslims forget that the last prophet protected “people of the Book” in his lands while he was alive and personally present on this planet?
The Qu’ran is strictly opposed to the harming of the innocent and ALSO instructs the warrior to negotiate when his enemy requests it, virtually immediately. So how do some mullahs write fatwas that say “no American is innocent”, and therefore use the decentralization of Islam to support to spin the subject on its head? “Jihad” has more meanings than just fighting other people. Jihad also includes the struggle of the will with oneself.
My argument is that humans will use anything to justify their actions. Nevermind Christianity is basically a pacifist worldview, be a “soldier for Christ”. Nevermind that the mercy of Allah is evoked hundreds and hundreds of times throughout the Qu’ran or that the Prophet allowed freedom of religion in his city, go ahead and actually target innocent people for death – it’s ok.
Religion probably came about so that we could explain the stars to ourselves, for all we know. But the fault, dear Faiqa, lies not in our stars, but in ourselves.
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Faiqa Reply:
January 15th, 2010 at 11:56 am
@RW, So beautifully said that I have absolutely nothing to add. Well said. As usual.
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B.E. Earl Reply:
January 16th, 2010 at 1:34 am
@Faiqa, Dontcha love that RW is back?
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Ren Said,
January 15, 2010 @ 12:29 pm
I wanted to comment but I completely forgot my point once I read RW’s comment. Well said.
Religion is sometimes the battle cry used to fan the flames, but fear and greed are almost always the fuel.
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Faiqa Reply:
January 15th, 2010 at 1:12 pm
@Ren, Also true. Fear and greed. Sigh.
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MidLifeMama Said,
January 15, 2010 @ 12:45 pm
Uuuuuuggggh. This is what makes it so hard to have reasonable discussions with some of my friends who are on the super conservative Christian end of the spectrum. Hellooooo, how much blood has been spilled over the centuries in the name of the Christian God? Between examples like killing doctors who perform abortions and the Crusades, you simply cannot narrow the window of religious extremists to those who are Muslim. Or any other non-Christian religion. It makes me CRAZY. It is like they missed the whole new testament. GAH.
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Faiqa Reply:
January 15th, 2010 at 1:13 pm
@MidLifeMama, It’s the same all around, in every faith, ultra-conservatives don’t “discuss,” they pontificate.
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Sybil Law Said,
January 15, 2010 @ 1:05 pm
RW said it all.
I have no right to judge anyone, except for stupid people. The stupid people (or, rather, the ignorant people), I like to antagonize. Because it’s entirely too easy.
Seriously, you know how I feel about that kind of drivel. I thank God I was raised by a woman who taught me that I 1) had no right to judge, 2) should be nice to everyone, and 3) should accept people no matter who they are or how they look. Also, being a Christian is being, “Christ – like”, and since He’s all about acceptance and love, it’s blasphemous to do anything else.
Ugh.
People make me so damn mad.
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Faiqa Reply:
January 15th, 2010 at 1:16 pm
@Sybil Law, I think those were three very important lessons, what a smart lady. It’s surprising how many people missed out on these basic concepts.
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Becca Said,
January 16, 2010 @ 9:33 pm
The extreme religious right and Fixed News are the same people I am up against every time I acknowledge that I would like to marry my wife sometime in my life. I know that it is nothing compared to the hatred that you must be subjected to, but please know you are not the only one.
There are times when I know that it is not safe to hold my partner’s hand for fear that either one of us, or our children will be in danger of physical violence at the hands of people who first and foremost consider themselves Christian. So, yes I would be one of those that asked them if they considered themselves Good Americans because of the violence they seek.
Not to get off topic, but I think we have more similarities than others may see.
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Selma Said,
January 17, 2010 @ 11:54 pm
You are such an an eloquent, intelligent writer.
We are living in such a culture of fear these days it is alarming. I like to think that the bulk of people know the far right and certain news networks are just scaremongering, yet ignorance continues to come to the fore. It is a major issue in Australia at the moment.
I agree with MidLifeMama re. religious persecution throughout history. It’s sad that certain groups haven’t learnt from the actions of the past. It’s almost as if they don’t want to.
I know it sounds very Flower Child to say this ‘But why can’t we all love one another?’ It upsets me that we can’t.
Great post, Faiqa.
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Elizabeth Kaylene Said,
January 18, 2010 @ 4:13 pm
I don’t even agree with this whole “war on terrorism” in the first place because, like you said, we don’t even know what we’re fighting. It’s a lot easier to pick a scapegoat than it is to recognize that just because you are Muslim, it doesn’t mean you’re a terrorist or a bad American. (Does anyone recall the removal and encampment of Japanese-Americans during WWII after Pearl Harbor? I guess “we” sure don’t.) Just like not all black people are robbers, not all white people are racist, and not all Jewish people are Ebenezer Scrooge.
It makes me sick, and I don’t understand why our society keeps going around and around this lesson. Today is the perfect day to remember that we shouldn’t judge someone by the color of their skin or their religion; we should judge them “by the content of their character.” Our society needs to learn to look at people as individuals, not as a group of robotic people who all act the same just because they look the same.
Earlier today I posted a status on Facebook asking what people thought Martin Luther King, Jr. would think if he were alive today. I think he would be shocked beyond words. I think he would be disgusted and amazed that everything he worked for was for nothing, because we keep cycling through the same shit. It’s just a different ethnic or religious or sexuality group each time.
I know I’m going in circles here, myself, but it just gets me so riled up. When are “we” ever going to love each other?
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Nanna Said,
January 18, 2010 @ 5:01 pm
Whenever someone talks about being a “good” anything (e.g. “good wife”, “good mother”, “good American”) I cringe. Somehow I know I’m not going t0o measure up to SOMEBODY’S measure.
The sad question is: can you be a “good” American and have a freaking brain in your head?
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Kate Said,
January 18, 2010 @ 6:12 pm
Thanks for writing this, Faiqa. I just posted a link to it on my FB page so others have an opportunity to read it, too.
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Jason Said,
January 18, 2010 @ 11:59 pm
I couldn’t possibly add anything to what has already been said, other than thank you for posting this. You’re absolutely right.
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Lin Said,
January 22, 2010 @ 7:51 pm
I don’t know if you’ll get this comment since it’s quite a few days late. Being American — good or bad — should never be about one’s religious belief (or lack thereof). Sadly, that’s often not the case. As a soldier, my husband has served with atheists, Muslims, Christians… you get the idea. After the shooting at Ft. Hood we were both saddened because we knew that what ONE individual would most likely be used as yet one more reason why Muslims are dangerous. While that’s not the topic of this blog entry, it’s pertinent. The fact is fanatics of ANY sort are dangerous. Being a muslim doesn’t make you a good American. Nor does it make you a bad American. Timothy McVeigh (the Oklahoma City “bomber”) was a Christian. To me, he was not a good American. I guess what I’m saying is, many people like to say the military defines GOOD AMERICAN. If that’s the case, there are quite a few Good American Muslim soldiers.
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Faiqa Reply:
January 22nd, 2010 at 8:39 pm
@Lin, I absolutely agree.
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