Wednesday, September 06, 2006 E-Mail this article to a friend Printer Friendly Version
Ultra-conservative Islam in US increasing in appeal
By Khalid Hasan
WASHINGTON: If there are six million Muslims in the United States, then roughly just under half a million of them follow an ultra-conservative, exclusionist Salafist interpretation of Islam, according to one estimate.
The Washington Post, in a three-part series that ended on Tuesday, has taken a close look at the Muslim community concentrated in the greater Washington area and come up with some disturbing findings.
One ultra-conservative centre is Darus Salaam in the city’s College Park suburb where the imam, Safi Khan, a Saudi-trained Pakistani immigrant, urges Muslims to retain their identity by becoming an island unto themselves. The report says, “The US-raised son of Pakistani immigrants, Khan invokes the certainty of hellfire for those who flout God’s commandments, and he preaches that attaining a moral Islamic life in contemporary America requires shunning many commonplace things. “For example, if you go home and watch TV every day… that’s not going to help you get close to God,” he says in one lecture. “If you go out to the game … or if you go to the movies often, if you love to go to parties, if you love music — all these things are not going to bring you closer to Allah.” Also forbidden by Islam, Khan teaches, are “love letters, or chatting in the chat room without the presence of a guardian, … or writing e-mails that you know you have no business writing.””
The Post investigation concludes that Safi Khan’s dream reflects the strict Salafi approach that teaches that Muslims in the US need close-knit communities to cope with Western pressures. According to the Post report, “Ultimately, if American Muslims continue to feel embattled, Salafism itself could become more attractive. When moderate Muslim groups that promote integration feel they are under scrutiny or discredited by the government, said Najam Haider, an adjunct professor of Islamic studies at Georgetown University. “Muslims turn societally inward, and that turning inward gives Salafism more influence because Salafis aren’t saying we need to integrate.”’ What they offer, Haider added, is an alternative. “Muslim identity that is separate from America, grounded in Islamic history, a very demarcated community of Muslims. Those are very separate from American values in a lot of ways.”
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default...-9-2006_pg7_30
Ultra-conservative Islam in US increasing in appeal
By Khalid Hasan
WASHINGTON: If there are six million Muslims in the United States, then roughly just under half a million of them follow an ultra-conservative, exclusionist Salafist interpretation of Islam, according to one estimate.
The Washington Post, in a three-part series that ended on Tuesday, has taken a close look at the Muslim community concentrated in the greater Washington area and come up with some disturbing findings.
One ultra-conservative centre is Darus Salaam in the city’s College Park suburb where the imam, Safi Khan, a Saudi-trained Pakistani immigrant, urges Muslims to retain their identity by becoming an island unto themselves. The report says, “The US-raised son of Pakistani immigrants, Khan invokes the certainty of hellfire for those who flout God’s commandments, and he preaches that attaining a moral Islamic life in contemporary America requires shunning many commonplace things. “For example, if you go home and watch TV every day… that’s not going to help you get close to God,” he says in one lecture. “If you go out to the game … or if you go to the movies often, if you love to go to parties, if you love music — all these things are not going to bring you closer to Allah.” Also forbidden by Islam, Khan teaches, are “love letters, or chatting in the chat room without the presence of a guardian, … or writing e-mails that you know you have no business writing.””
The Post investigation concludes that Safi Khan’s dream reflects the strict Salafi approach that teaches that Muslims in the US need close-knit communities to cope with Western pressures. According to the Post report, “Ultimately, if American Muslims continue to feel embattled, Salafism itself could become more attractive. When moderate Muslim groups that promote integration feel they are under scrutiny or discredited by the government, said Najam Haider, an adjunct professor of Islamic studies at Georgetown University. “Muslims turn societally inward, and that turning inward gives Salafism more influence because Salafis aren’t saying we need to integrate.”’ What they offer, Haider added, is an alternative. “Muslim identity that is separate from America, grounded in Islamic history, a very demarcated community of Muslims. Those are very separate from American values in a lot of ways.”
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default...-9-2006_pg7_30
One wonders if the Americans have overplayed the Moslem terrorist card wherein the Moslems in America and elsewhere are embattled.
One wonders if the Iraq War and its aftermath is alienating the Moslems and making them diehard fanatics or veering them to think in the lines of the ultra fanatical Moslems of the Wahhabi and Deobandi variety.
Where is the flaw in the US approach to Islamic fundmentalism?
Is this hate (or maybe fear) of Islam not a subconscious urge because of the political rhetoric periodically fed by the media and even by the politicians?
Whatever, the outcome does indicate that Islam may put the US on flames.
Even the Shias will join in since Iran is their Mecca (in a manner of speaking, that is)!
The whole thing is very worrisome.
Comment