Please Do Not Call Me!
Being an American Muslim when tragedy strikes.

Aref Assaf PhD

November 6, 2009
See a shorter version on  Arabisto.com
Read Op-ed  and comments in the Daily Record- 1/15/2009
Read columns and some rather harsh comments on NJ.com
Here is the piece with comments from Dr. Wayne Baker of OurValues.org

I woke up last Friday morning, the day after an army doctor killed and wounded over forty people in Texas, to seven urgent messages on my voice mails.  All were from  news organizations anxious to quote the Muslim community's reaction to the recent heinous killings of Army Dr. Nidal Malik Hasan. They all wanted my reasons for what drove a 39-year-old Muslim to go on a killing spree. "Isn’t he a native born," someone pointed out, “did not he take an army oath to obey his command and serve his country” “he's an educated man, he's a doctor." What triggered him to do it?

It took but a few moments to figure their reasoning for calling me. For I have been called before to reflect on acts of terror committed by fellow Muslims here and around the word. Truthfully, I was expected to again disassociate myself from the killings and secondly to explain what Islam is. I guess I fit their criteria of a person who has these qualities: I am a Muslim American of Palestinian descent. Consequently, I know what each one out of the 1.5 billion Muslims is thinking or doing at any given moment.

"Hey, Dr. Assaf, pardon the annoyance so early in the morning. Another one of your people killed innocent Americans. This will be a big story again as you have come to expect. As a leader in your community, as a practicing Muslim, can you share your response to the recent carnage? I was wondering if you're feeling less of a Muslim when you learn about crimes committed by a fellow Muslim. Can we send our television crew to record your response?”

I almost wanted pull whatever grey hair is left on my head; I wanted to scream so loud that a deaf man could hear me. Why is my opinion so important or even newsworthy? How many times do I need to so publicly and unconditionally condemn violence and terrorism against innocent civilians? How many times do I need to state that more Muslims have been the victims of terrorism than members of other faiths. How forcefully do I need to say that my religion does not condone violence, by reminding myself and my reporters of the Quranic verse that says: “If you kill one innocent life, God will punish you as if you have killed all of humanity; if you saved one life, the Lord will reward you as if you have saved all of humanity.”

Why do I have to atone or account for the despicable acts of fellow Muslims with whom I have no contacts or relations? Why conversely, am I  not rewarded or at least acknowledged for the thousand and one acts of kindness performed by fellow Muslims everyday? I am not a lesser Muslim because of the acts of a few extremists who may profess my faith. Does it make a person less of Christian because Timothy McVeigh and Adolf Hitler were Christians? Does it make a person less of a Jew because Dr. Baruch Goldstein- an educated man, a doctor, a practicing Jew- who massacred thirty Moslems in a mosque- was a Jew?

I'm utterly hurt and profoundly burdened by implications and the frequency of these questions from media outlets whenever some lunatic Muslim decides to commit a random act of violence. Or in this case when a soldier psychiatrist goes berserk. Why is a criminal's faith is an issue when the perpetrator is a Muslim? Why do we  seem to imply complicity when we discover the criminal was a devout adherent of his faith? Almost prophetically, no one ever brought up the ethnicity or the faith of Jason Rodriguez who on Friday went into his former work offices in Orlando Florida and started shooting and killing people there. Absent, but worth noting, no Christian organizations issued any condemnations.

It is a fact terrorism by Muslims indeed has much to do with political aspirations than with religion.  A recent Zogby poll attempts to explain the role of religion in Arab lives and a careful analysis may further explain the near disconcert between being a good Muslim and one who is indifferent if not supportive of suicide bombings.

Similarly, I am disillusioned by many in my community, claiming to be appointed experts on Islam who need to explain it so frequently as a religion of peace- as if other religions are instruments of war and violence. How often have we reminded ourselves and the world that OUR faith is that of peace? Are we implying that other faiths are not advocates of peace as well? When are we, American Muslims, truly ready to declare that followers of Islam as with Christianity and Judaism have, can and will so desecrate their faith's commandment, so misinterpret them that they will kill in the name of their faith? Won't this admission lead to less killing, less distrust and more understudying?

Doubtless, the charges that Muslims have not so strongly disassociated themselves from these acts are not entirely fair. Data showed a credible evidence of wide and far-reaching opposition by the great majority of Muslims. The West has either deliberately failed to hear the message or and quite possibly the message was not well communicated. Yet it remains unacceptable that Muslims rest their souls until there emerges a new and all-encompassing movement, which teaches and enforces the sanctity of life and does not glorify and legitimize suicide bombings or the any method used to inflict harm and bring death to innocent people.

It appears this GI was a psycho himself who was deeply troubled by the dichotomy of serving his country in a war he could not justify. He was not ready to die for his flag. The motivation for this confusion could have come from a discontented conscience, a misreading of his faith, compassion fatigue, or some other factors. Thousands of soldiers encounter this dilemma and they opt to leave the Army. But only a few so violently express their anger and disorientation by causing havoc upon others.

It is a cowardly act deserving immeasurable condemnation but also much of medical care and remedial procedures. Hassan is a coward because he could have chosen to face his superiors and asked to be discharged albeit dishonorably, from the Army. I despise all the Hasans of the world because their actions give excuses to reporters to harass me, to insult my faith, to question my loyalty and doubt my patriotism.

I despise all the Hasans of the world who by their despicable actions have given excuse to question the loyalty of Arabs Americans who honorably serve in in the US Military. His singular cowardice desecrates the memory of those who fought and died for their country's flag.

I recall while talking to an editor of a large NJ paper, I wondered if my name was on their reporters’ hot list of people to call only whenever Muslim kill or bomb something around the world. I pleadingly, asked if he would ever consider calling me to comment on such trivial issues as my views on school choice, on my ever rising property taxes, on traffic hurdles. He almost innocently admitted that he has been so conditioned to think of me only as an Arab and a Muslim, not as a concerned and a taxpaying citizen who also worries about the environment, white collar crime, and political corruption. I have thus been stripped of my physical existence and reduced to something “other”, foregin, and un-American. Just as in post 911 America, I was not allowed to mourn the death of fellow Americans some of whom were Arab and Muslim.

All of us, bereaved citizens of this great land are forever left with the tormenting task of trying to explain or justifying actions of a soldier who refuses to be deployed to a war he so detests.

Equally, we should demand answers from our many intelligence agencies which are supposed to protect our nation from criminals and terrorists. The catastrophic lesson we should have learned on Sept. 11 was that, to protect our citizens from terrorists, we must erase the barriers standing between federal agencies and proven investigative methods. The Fort Hood attack was a tragic reminder that such walls still persist. We should demand of our Congress to demonstrate its political courage to break them down. Failing this, there will be more  serious breaches of our  nation's security and undoubtdly more tragic casualties. Before the next Ft. Hood occurs, we urge our representatives to close gaps in the background check system and reform the Tiahrt amendments requiring stricter background checks on gun purchase. We all know now that Major Hasan was on the FBI's radar for his contact with suspect entities.

Undoubtedly, nothing could ever justify or excuse in any way Hassan's alleged actions. But it ought to broaden the horizon of those in the media who seem infatuated with the need to pin the blame for this perverse tragedy solely on a man's religion and last name, rather than considering the variables of a sad case encompassing some combination of mental state, divided loyalty or conscientious objection.

We should honestly worry about what makes any citizen hate his country so intensely that he is ready to waste his life to express his anger? Till then, please do not call me. For, like you, I have not the answer.