Islam in america
This week on morning edition they have been talking to various muslims in america to get some points of view. I got to thinking as I seem to do about this group of people. In my short life I have come into contact with Islam in america in many forms. I have lived in a house with a number of Turks, lived in a house owned by a Persian, with some other muslims in it, and I now live in an apartment building in a part of town that has many muslims as there is a mosque around the corner.
These group are all muslims but cut a wide cross section of Islam.
The turks: The turks were an interesting bunch. They were secular for the most part but still identified themselves as muslim. They drank, heavily I might add, and had big parties, with lots of music and such. They didnt eat pork or at least some of them didnt. Other than that they were just pretty typical americans. One was gay and has a boyfriend, one was into soccer and sports in general, drank lots of beer and chased women, and one was a hard worker who was going to school and only wanted to make a good life for himself. I really enjoyed living with them and I learned a lot about turkey and even some turkish words. PLus, they have good food. I also learned about their prejudices. For example they could never allow that the kurd were just another group who wanted freedom. To them the word Kurd struck a nerve, and their only comment was about how evil they were and how they killed their people. They also wernt too fond of the greeks but at least they could talk about it ina civil way.
The people around me now: I know some of them, not all of them but some of them. The ones I know I meet playing basketball, walking around etc. Most of them seem to identify themselves as americans, but with lots of languages. None of them have anything bad to say about anyone really. I detect no prejudices, they dont look like they are trying to kill stuff or hurt things. They are all just normal guys with normal american lives and a house of worship in walking distance. Some of them smell kinda funny though. could be what they eat and since I dont know what they are eating I cant tell you how it is.
The people who lived in the house owned by the persian:
The owner was a nice guy, a civil engineer by trade,landlord for money you dig? He told me all about Iran, before the sha, durring and just before the revolution. He was a pretty secular guy, muslim in the way most americans are christian, church on easter and christmas and around your grandmother. He didnt live in the house. I lived in the basement. On the top floor lived a moracan girl named Samira. Samira was beautiful, very classy and respectful. She didnt wear a head scarf at all, she wore regular clothes for the most part, never a burka or anything. She was going to school to become a jewler, something she always wanted. She was good at it too, and worked in a silver jewlery store. She had some habits that were odd to me, like she would not drive, and that may have been because of money issues being a student an all. She wouldnt date, I asked her if she has had a boyfriend ever, and she said no. She said there would be time for that later once she was secure in her place. But that once she is married, the man would work, she would stay home and do what ever he said. She told me about morroco. She said that in her country they held jews in very high regard, something I had heard about. The king was a very freindly and open ruler, not a dictator at all and the country in general was pretty secular.
There was one other person in the house, well two really. I think her name was Amina. She was an american, born in carolina i think. She was not living with a man, but had some chicldren. I met her sons when she moved in. They were regular african american dudes, nothing of note. She was noteworthy though. She wore a burka, a head scarf and odd shoes. She had a daughter who was living with her. The kid was 8 or nine at the time. I went upstairs to help her hook up her tv once to a vcr. She dind thave cable and didnt want to get it, so she just wnated to have a way for the kid to watch movies. She didnt have any movies at first either so I loned her a few that I thought would be ok for a kid, like ET and chicken run. She cooked some awful food, all the time and it stunk up the house. Samira and I had a hard itme with it. After complaining to the landlord about it and checking the vent system he evntually told us that she had a greed to not cook those things. There was always something weird about her. Sometimes I would go up to visit with samira and she would tell me how amina had the kid there and wasnt paying rent for her. That she only showed the kid videos from the Islamic Relief that told of how the muslims of the world were persecuted by evil forces like Israel and the US. The videos were made here I might add. IN english. Anyway, one night I was having a little party so I went up to get Samira to see if I could get her to come down and have a little fun. When I got up the stairs I looked for her in the kitchen. I didnt find her but I did find a paper witha drawing of the American flag. Samira came down stairs and I picked up the picture and looked at it front and center. It was a picture of the flag witha circle around it, and a line through it like a no smoking sign. It also had in kids handwriting the words "I hate america" on it. I showed it to samira and sked if she knew anything about it. "no" she said but that she had seen the kid coloring before. She said that the little girl would come home from school and be made to read the Koran, not do her regular school work or go outside and play. Well I wasnt happy at this point. I waited for the mom to come home, witht he little girl, and I was going ot have a chat with her. I went upstairs and confronted her on the image. "what is this" I asked her. She said that her daughter had drawn it. I asked the daughter, what she meant by drawing this thing. She said she didnt know. I said do you hate america? She said she didnt. I asked her if she hated me, or her friends at school, or the people she saw at the store. No she didnt hate them she said. I said but that is america, we are all america, she was america. She finally explained that she had drawn it to represent what the Iraqis were saying or feeling, because noone was speaking for them. At the time, the war had jsut started so I am not sure what they were thinking. But in anycase she mostly jsut didnt know why she drew it except that her mom had told her it was ok. That pretty much sealed the deal. I know that at 8 years old it is pretty hard ot have your own opinions on world matters, especially since she was kept isolated from the news or any other information, save those videos her mom gave her to watch. I asked the mother "what the hell is this" holding the picture. I explained that the kid got the idea from her and why would she say such an evil thing. She said that in her religion violence and attacks are allowed in defense. I told her that I had not attacked her so how could she be defensively attacking me. We reached an impass over the whole deal and I owrry for that kid.
The reason I bring this up, is that the muslims I have met except her, weather they are foreing or american born have neve rindicated that they hated this country. All of them are born muslims, that is to say they didnt convert. This lady, who had converted later in life, ate only the food given her by the charity organization and was frequently expired. There has been specualtion that extremeists like to go after recent converts as they are easily confused and corrupted. This pretty much proves that.
These group are all muslims but cut a wide cross section of Islam.
The turks: The turks were an interesting bunch. They were secular for the most part but still identified themselves as muslim. They drank, heavily I might add, and had big parties, with lots of music and such. They didnt eat pork or at least some of them didnt. Other than that they were just pretty typical americans. One was gay and has a boyfriend, one was into soccer and sports in general, drank lots of beer and chased women, and one was a hard worker who was going to school and only wanted to make a good life for himself. I really enjoyed living with them and I learned a lot about turkey and even some turkish words. PLus, they have good food. I also learned about their prejudices. For example they could never allow that the kurd were just another group who wanted freedom. To them the word Kurd struck a nerve, and their only comment was about how evil they were and how they killed their people. They also wernt too fond of the greeks but at least they could talk about it ina civil way.
The people around me now: I know some of them, not all of them but some of them. The ones I know I meet playing basketball, walking around etc. Most of them seem to identify themselves as americans, but with lots of languages. None of them have anything bad to say about anyone really. I detect no prejudices, they dont look like they are trying to kill stuff or hurt things. They are all just normal guys with normal american lives and a house of worship in walking distance. Some of them smell kinda funny though. could be what they eat and since I dont know what they are eating I cant tell you how it is.
The people who lived in the house owned by the persian:
The owner was a nice guy, a civil engineer by trade,landlord for money you dig? He told me all about Iran, before the sha, durring and just before the revolution. He was a pretty secular guy, muslim in the way most americans are christian, church on easter and christmas and around your grandmother. He didnt live in the house. I lived in the basement. On the top floor lived a moracan girl named Samira. Samira was beautiful, very classy and respectful. She didnt wear a head scarf at all, she wore regular clothes for the most part, never a burka or anything. She was going to school to become a jewler, something she always wanted. She was good at it too, and worked in a silver jewlery store. She had some habits that were odd to me, like she would not drive, and that may have been because of money issues being a student an all. She wouldnt date, I asked her if she has had a boyfriend ever, and she said no. She said there would be time for that later once she was secure in her place. But that once she is married, the man would work, she would stay home and do what ever he said. She told me about morroco. She said that in her country they held jews in very high regard, something I had heard about. The king was a very freindly and open ruler, not a dictator at all and the country in general was pretty secular.
There was one other person in the house, well two really. I think her name was Amina. She was an american, born in carolina i think. She was not living with a man, but had some chicldren. I met her sons when she moved in. They were regular african american dudes, nothing of note. She was noteworthy though. She wore a burka, a head scarf and odd shoes. She had a daughter who was living with her. The kid was 8 or nine at the time. I went upstairs to help her hook up her tv once to a vcr. She dind thave cable and didnt want to get it, so she just wnated to have a way for the kid to watch movies. She didnt have any movies at first either so I loned her a few that I thought would be ok for a kid, like ET and chicken run. She cooked some awful food, all the time and it stunk up the house. Samira and I had a hard itme with it. After complaining to the landlord about it and checking the vent system he evntually told us that she had a greed to not cook those things. There was always something weird about her. Sometimes I would go up to visit with samira and she would tell me how amina had the kid there and wasnt paying rent for her. That she only showed the kid videos from the Islamic Relief that told of how the muslims of the world were persecuted by evil forces like Israel and the US. The videos were made here I might add. IN english. Anyway, one night I was having a little party so I went up to get Samira to see if I could get her to come down and have a little fun. When I got up the stairs I looked for her in the kitchen. I didnt find her but I did find a paper witha drawing of the American flag. Samira came down stairs and I picked up the picture and looked at it front and center. It was a picture of the flag witha circle around it, and a line through it like a no smoking sign. It also had in kids handwriting the words "I hate america" on it. I showed it to samira and sked if she knew anything about it. "no" she said but that she had seen the kid coloring before. She said that the little girl would come home from school and be made to read the Koran, not do her regular school work or go outside and play. Well I wasnt happy at this point. I waited for the mom to come home, witht he little girl, and I was going ot have a chat with her. I went upstairs and confronted her on the image. "what is this" I asked her. She said that her daughter had drawn it. I asked the daughter, what she meant by drawing this thing. She said she didnt know. I said do you hate america? She said she didnt. I asked her if she hated me, or her friends at school, or the people she saw at the store. No she didnt hate them she said. I said but that is america, we are all america, she was america. She finally explained that she had drawn it to represent what the Iraqis were saying or feeling, because noone was speaking for them. At the time, the war had jsut started so I am not sure what they were thinking. But in anycase she mostly jsut didnt know why she drew it except that her mom had told her it was ok. That pretty much sealed the deal. I know that at 8 years old it is pretty hard ot have your own opinions on world matters, especially since she was kept isolated from the news or any other information, save those videos her mom gave her to watch. I asked the mother "what the hell is this" holding the picture. I explained that the kid got the idea from her and why would she say such an evil thing. She said that in her religion violence and attacks are allowed in defense. I told her that I had not attacked her so how could she be defensively attacking me. We reached an impass over the whole deal and I owrry for that kid.
The reason I bring this up, is that the muslims I have met except her, weather they are foreing or american born have neve rindicated that they hated this country. All of them are born muslims, that is to say they didnt convert. This lady, who had converted later in life, ate only the food given her by the charity organization and was frequently expired. There has been specualtion that extremeists like to go after recent converts as they are easily confused and corrupted. This pretty much proves that.