July 4, 2007

Some of you may know that a group of  us in Morris County are working on land purchase to build an Islamic center in Rockaway, NJ . Two articles in the local papers have drawn some nasty online comments (samples below my blog) While I generally do not comment on readers' responses, I did write twice on the paper's discussion forum in general reply to bigoted and most likely ignorant commentary. To read the article please click here, What follows is my quick and unedited contribution to the "debate" whether Muslims should have a place of worship:

(Update) Our blog below was featured as a main  op-ed in the daily Record on July 13, 2007)

Center in Rockaway,  Wed Jul 04, 2007 12:49 pm,  Aref Assaf
Whether many hate mongers on this forum like or not, Muslims are here and they are praying and congregating. They are also your friends, teachers, hospital doctors, and quite possibly, your neighbors. What is being asked is not whether they can do all these things because they like you are Americans citizens and their rights and obligations are enshrined in the Bill of Rights and our Constitution. What is being asked of the Rockaway Borough is rather an adjustment and relief on some parking matter.

Complains about traffic are legitimate but our team of experts are ready to testify and explain how the issue can be mitigated. As fort the issue of loss of tax ratable voiced by some residents, while this will occur when you build the non-profit center, the fact remains that such a factor cannot be used to deny the petition- unless you are ready for a major discrimination lawsuit. In fact, we would argue that increased commercial activity and increased interest by fellow Muslims to buy homes or set up businesses in the area will more than offset any tax losses.
It is convenient to lump a large and very diverse group into one single category. But it is neither useful nor smart to do so. America's history is replete with sad episodes where ethnic and religious groups were rejected, disenfranchised, and maltreated. The redeeming and endearing quality about our country is its ability to readjust its moral compass. Undoubtedly Muslims all over are undergoing tremendous political and cultural upheavals and we in the West have a lot to do with their plight. We have wanted stability (continued flow of oil) at the expense of modernization and development. The result was sheer dictatorial regimes friendly to us but abusive to their citizens. For long, it was easy to control the minds and feelings of young Muslims. But with advent of the Internet and satellite television, what they could and should have is no longer hidden from them.

Remember that Muslim thugs have killed more Muslim civilians than Christians and Jews combined. How can we describe this a religious war when both victims and victimizers worship the same God- unless of course, you bring in the Christian history of the Crusaders and the Inquisition and Northern Ireland? Just read the daily papers about the savagery that is Iraq.
What we need to learn is that terrorism is a deadly means to realizing political ends. We in the West call it just war and when others attempt, it we call it terrorism. Terrorism however disguised is both immoral and rejected by all three monotheistic religions.
In the end, despite all the ignorance displayed by some on this forum, the center will be approved because the applicants are American taxpaying citizens many of whom live in the Borough. What they are asking for is both reasonable and legal. The Borough has exemplified its tolerance for religious diversity and special needs when many years ago agreed to close a sizeable portion of Main Street to traffic so that parishioners at a local church can be accommodated. This gesture speaks volumes about the goodness of our local government and while our request is minuscule compared to regular closings of a main thoroughfare, we were described as unfit and undeserving of rights guaranteed to us even if bigots wish it isn't so.
On the issue of interviewing Muslims to prove their patriotism, I first reject the notion that Muslims are less Americans than say Timothy McVeigh and the Catholics with whom he associated. Since 2001, and in rash response to the disaster of 911, (BTW,  over 100 Muslims civilians were also killed in that horrific disaster), immigration law have increasingly been used to target our community. In 2002, the government instituted the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS), which required non-citizen males from mostly Muslim and Arab countries that were designated as threats to national security to formally register with the government. Strikingly but not unexpectedly not one of the 93,000 men “specially registered” was charged with a terrorism-related offense.

What more can be said? You cannot blame American Muslims for actions or events that take place thousands of miles away just as you should not blame Christians or Jews!

Update: This commentary was picked by the daily Record as a main op-ed piece on July 13, 2007.

Here some of the  'clean" online comments:

• Well, I hope it doesn't go through. These people hate Americans as much as we hate them. I don't trust them and can you blame us??

• admit it... my first reaction to the possibility of the Islamic Center was (and still is) fear. Although, I was telling my son and his friend that not all muslims are terrorists and that we all came from another country at some time in the past and faced persecution, etc., in my heart it frightens me and I hope the center does not go through. While I don't believe that this particular group of people are terrorists, I am fearful of the the extremists they might attract. It happens all the time. Rockaway Borough is a small town. I think it is a matter of homeland security... not a traffic problem. Sorry...

• Christians and Jews do not behave like these people do. We do not teach our children to explode themselves and others. There is nothing peaceful about them.They act worse then animals.I do not have to accept their crap either.
   
• I was born at St. Clare's in Denville, went to school in Parsippany, and am very proud to say I am an American Muslim. 
  I do not teach my children to blow themselves up. I do not teach my children hate of any other human. I like others who plan to worship in our new mosque in Rockaway practice PEACE, the true religion of Islam.
  
  Many of you mention terrorist acts done by Muslims, have you forgotten the terrorist acts performed by Christians and Jews? Oklahoma City, the Olympic bombing, abortion clinic bombings, the attack on USS Liberty, etc.
  
  We have the same right as any of you to practice our religion. We do not ask anything from you, but to let us live in peace and worship as we wish.
• You can't blame Americans for the rage and anger towards Muslims. Not one bit.
  
  We know that everyone -including the average peaceful Muslim - is repulsed by the behavior of the radical Islamists. And, let's face it...the Islamsists are the 21st century champions of unspeakable atrocities in the name of religion with no signs of getting soft any time soon.
  
  The thing that makes Americans so upset is not that there are practicing Muslims around. A new Mosque is not necessarily threatening. Americans are generally tolerant people.
  
  The thing that enrages Americans when it comes to the Islamist terrorists and their atrocities is the near perfect silence from the overall Muslim community when it comes to these horrible acts. Another thing is that the radical Islamists hate us more than they love their children and people with such a perverted mindset are not to be reasoned with.
  
  If the muslims are so offended by the radicals in their own religion and the horrible acts they perpetrate in so many parts of the world, then how come more do not speak out against it? Why don't their leaders unite in some grand, meaningful way to fight these lunatics and speak out? The peaceful muslims should be leading the effort to stop the radicals. They are nowhere near the fight.
  
  What more has to happen before this occurs? Are they that fearful?
  
  Until that time, the silence of Muslims and their ability to hide the radicals within their own ranks will make Americans suspicious and rightfully so. Too bad but that's how it is.
• It's about saving our way of life and ourselves , muslims are out to destroy the Christian world, see what's going on in England, political correctness is allowing them to infiltrate terrorist among good people.
• NO TO ISLAM, GO BUILD A TEMPLE IN IRAQ !!! NO PERMIT REQUIERED!!
  A mosque in Rockaway? Sun Jul 08, 2007 6:19 pm
  Given the high numbers of "cults" in the area who bow down to an instrument of torture (the cross), it might be a breath of fresh air. Besides, wasn't a huge Christian church approved not too far away last year? One comment to the DR - a mosque would likely be used on a daily basis; Muslims tend to be 7-day-a-week religionists rather than on Sunday only.
• let's not allow this cult-sect of self destruction among ourselves, say no to islam and muslims!!!!
• A mosque in Rockaway? Sun Jul 08, 2007 7:55 am
  Bet your bottom dollar if it were a Christian church trying to locate there instead of some cult that bows down to a rock, the DR wouldn't be so eager to support them.