An American Lion

In light of the previous post, reflecting how the Reverend Franklin Graham sees Islam as it is practiced in the Middle East, it’s important to note that Islam, as it is practiced in this country, does conform to U.S. law and does, in most cases, assimilate into American culture. The freedom to practice religion is an integral part of American life. I do note where certain tenets of Islam come into conflict with American law—no, you cannot beat your wife or daughter in this country—but I have to point out that we have also had legal and moral struggles with certain tenets of Mormonism and Scientology and a host of other religions. This is where you have to cowboy up, and balance everything as best you can. You may not like Islam, but it is anti-American to tell someone they can’t practice their religion. You may wonder what your neighbors are up to, but you can’t invade their privacy. You may disagree with what your government is doing, but you can’t organize an effort to overthrow it.

The vast majority of people who practice Islam are law-abiding Americans. We should welcome anyone who wants to come to this country and live in freedom and contribute to our society. Xenophobia has no place at the American table. But we’re faced with the difficult question of what to do when practitioners of Islam become radicalized. In the news, recently, is the story of five young men who went to Pakistan to try to join al Qaeda. What was it about this country that caused them to do that? The answer is, nothing. There’s nothing about this country that would cause them to do that. There’s something appealing about radicalized Wahhabism, and jihad, and all of that other nonsense that caused them to try to join an international terrorist movement. What do you do when this happens?

Simple. You treat them like everyone else who radicalizes themselves in the name of religion or faith. Throw the politically correct to the wind. If we apply a little common sense and tolerance to the issue, we can fight radicalized practitioners of Islam like we fight radical Mormons or radical whoevers. We can apply the rule of law and try to be fair when we deal with people who want to cross the line and break our laws. Anyone who cannot embrace what America has to offer, and who chooses to try to bring down this country, forget it. I don’t think we can stand for that. I think we need to defend ourselves. And, I think, we need to have a frank and honest discussion about what to do in cases like this:

According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the five men do not fit the typical profile of other Americans arrested on terrorist-related charges. These men came from middle-class homes and were educated and assimilated – unlike suspects such as David Coleman Headley, who was arraigned in Chicago this week for conspiracy in the 2008 Mumbai attacks and in a plot to attack a Danish newspaper. The five are also unlike a number of Somali men who left Minnesota over the past two years and are believed to have joined a terror group in Somalia.

One man in the latest case, Ramy Zamzam, attended the dental program at Howard University in Washington.

“This might be most clear wake-up call for the American Muslim community,” says Ihsan Bagby, professor of Islamic studies at the University of Kentucky in Lexington. “These were the kids who should have been clear about what Islam says, but somehow they got a radical message. I’m not sure they got it from their parents or the mosque they attended – so where did they get it from? That’s the question the American Muslim community wants an answer to.”

He adds, “This may be a real slap in the face…. They thought they were immune to this type of thing.”

The five men, ages 19 to 25, traveled to Pakistan in November from their homes in the northern Virginia and Washington, D.C., area, according to federal investigators. Their travels did not initially create commotion, but their parents discovered a video featuring the men expressing extremist sympathies, and they alerted the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR. According to CAIR, its officials then alerted the FBI, which worked with Pakistani authorities.

The case is already being treated differently from the cases in Chicago and Minnesota – not just because of the men’s more affluent background, but also because of the proactive measures taken by the Muslim community that led to their capture.

Ever since the 9/11 attacks, Muslims have often felt a need to defend their religion against perceptions that it was somehow fostering terrorist behavior or that certain mosques or organizations were linked to international terrorist organizations. “Muslims had no other choice: They had to go out and talk about their own faith; they had to condemn violence,” says Malika Zeghal, who specializes in religion and Islamic studies at the University of Chicago.

Making matters more complicated, relationships between law enforcement and Muslim organizations have worsened in recent years. Relations between the FBI and CAIR, one of the largest Muslim US civil rights organizations, have been particularly strained for about a year.

The discussion we have to have is how to stop radicalized practitioners of Islam from attacking this country. We cannot stop every attack, nor can we stop someone who is willing to give their live for their cause, however misguided. We have to try, but we can’t have absolute security. 

Muslims don’t need to defend their religion. As it is practiced in this country, they’re fine. What they need to do is nothing. They’re not to blame for the radicals in their midst. That’s like blaming the Baptist church because someone shot an abortion doctor.

If you can apply equal parts tolerance, common sense, and the rule of law to cases like this, I don’t see how you can go wrong. I really don’t. There’s an opportunity for all areas of the political spectrum to realize their prejudices, and that has no place in the debate over how to defend this country. If you’re right with the law, you’re on the path to getting right with America. If the central organizing principle of your life is to hate people who are different, you’re well on your way to abandoning everything that America has to offer, and I don’t care who you are or how white your skin is.