The anti-Muslim tirade of Representative Michele Bachmann of Minnesota shows how pernicious Islamophobia is in the United States. But it also suggests that the hate-mongers are fighting a losing battle against history. Bachmann, Representatives Trent Franks (R-Ariz.), Louie Gohmert (R-Texas), Thomas Rooney (R-Fla.) and Lynn Westmoreland (R-Ga.) asked government agencies to investigate the Muslim Brotherhood's influence on them. Bachmann targeted, in particular, State Department official Huma Abedin, who was born in Michigan. Bachmann said Abedin's family had Muslim Brotherhood links. Even if this were true, would that make Abedin a threat to the US? Her parents got their doctorates from Michigan and were — her father died decades ago — respected scholars, as is her brother. Senator John McCain defended Abedin and drew praise from the Toronto Globe and Mail: “United States senators carry the courtesy title, ‘honorable,' though too few of them probably really merit it. The US Congress often reflects the partisan rancor and, indeed, discourtesy that characterizes US politics. “In a letter to the deputy inspector-general of the State Department, Rep. Bachmann and the other lawmakers suggested that Huma Abedin, a Muslim married to former Democratic Rep. Anthony Weiner, was linked to the Muslim Brotherhood and (there was) a conspiracy to gain access to ‘top Obama administration officials' and demanded a probe. “It is, on the face of it, an absurd innuendo, yet it is the sort of filth that's sometimes peddled in Washington and can take on a life of its own. Such campaigns can destroy careers. “Sen. McCain did the honorable thing. He took to the floor of the Senate, in the midst of an extremely polarized presidential election year and defended Ms. Abedin.” This is not an isolated incident. Many American politicians, academics and the media portray Muslims as violent and a threat to the US. This intensified after 9/11. Former assistant defence secretary Frank Gaffney, now president of the American Center for Security Policy, has suggested that the US is facing a “warfare aimed at destroying our constitutional form of democratic government” and that one day “we will all be living in an America ruled by Shariah.” Never mind that Muslims — less than two percent of the U.S. population — have neither the capacity nor the desire to impose Shariah on anyone. US Representative Joe Walsh has alleged that followers of radical Islam in the US are “trying to kill Americans every week.” His talk was posted on YouTube. Other politicians including Peter King, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, have made similar baseless statements. Two years ago, Texas Congressman Louie Gohmert warned that Muslims were having babies to overwhelm and destroy “our way of life.” Dr. Jack Shaheen, professor emeritus at the Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, has studied the US media's treatment of Muslims and Arabs. He states that out of a thousand Hollywood films since 1896, only 12 portray Muslims positively while 900 depict them as “brute murderers, sleazy rapists, religious fanatics, oil-rich dimwits and abusers of women, billionaires, bombers and belly dancers and bundles in black (women in niqabs).” After 9/11, US politicians and media asserted that the terrorist attacks took place not because US policies are inflicting suffering, occupation and deaths in some Muslim countries but because terrorists hate America's democracy. Such Islam-bashing has resulted in Muslims getting threats and sometimes attacked. The US Justice Department has investigated over 800 such incidents in the last eleven years. In a 2011 Pew Forum survey, 43 per cent of Muslims said they had experienced discrimination in the past year. Muslims are not the only minority, however, to have faced harassment. Though American Indians were the original inhabitants of North America Hollywood, politicians dubbed them as savages while seizing their lands, property and women and killing the men. Blacks, brought in as slaves, fared no better. The Ku Klux Klan which was created in 1865 to maintain white supremacy, burned, lynched and killed thousands of blacks. Jews, Catholics, Chinese, Japanese and others also faced discrimination or persecution, arguably more so than the Muslims. But now a black is president of the United States. Though a Christian he has Muslim ancestry. Jews occupy places of influence though they number only about 6.5 million in a country of 311 million people. Catholics, Chinese, Japanese and other groups are doing well too. So are Muslims generally. They number 2.6 million in the United States. They have begun to participate in political activity and are working in all fields. Iftars are now arranged at the White House and the Pentagon. A book, “Muslim Veterans of American Wars,” names hundreds of American Muslims who served in every war going back to the Revolutionary War. They are also getting support from fellow Americans. Forty-two religious and secular organizations jointly wrote to the lawmakers condemning the allegations that Muslims working for the government are disloyal. Despite the misguided politicians and the media, American Muslims are standing tall — as they should.
— Mohammed Azhar Ali Khan is a retired Canadian journalist, civil servant and refugee judge. He has received the Order of Canada, the Order of Ontario, the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal and the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal.
