Statistical data reflecting some of the findings regarding the cultural footprints of Americans

 

Statistical Data Regarding Muslims in America

 

 The following information is from "Muslim Americans: A National Portrait" published by Gallup in 2009.

 

 

LA Times, June 05, 2009
Reporting from Cairo and Washington - President Obama, calling for "a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world," said in a long-promised and widely watched address from Cairo today that the "cycle of suspicion and discord must end."..."We meet at a time of tension between the United States and Muslims around the world -- tension rooted in historical forces that go beyond any current policy debate," Obama said in the address that was ripe with religious references, drawing from Islam, Judaism and Christianity, which all trace their roots in the Mideast.
 
"I have come here to seek a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world, one based upon mutual interest and mutual respect," he said. "America and Islam are not exclusive, and need not be in competition." "This cycle of suspicion and discord must end," he said.
 
That fear and mistrust stem from the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, carried out by "violent extremists," Obama said. "Whatever we think of the past, we must not be prisoners to it," the president told a theater audience that frequently applauded his repeated appeals for mutual understanding..."I consider it part of my responsibility as president of the United States to fight against negative stereotypes of Islam wherever they appear," said the president, who recalled hearing prayer calls of "azaan" at dawn and dusk while living in Indonesia as a boy.
 
At the same time, he said the same principle must apply in reverse. "Just as Muslims do not fit a crude stereotype, America is not the crude stereotype of a self-interested empire."...But Obama also appealed explicitly to the self interest of his listeners, arguing that the mutual benefits of collaboration on a range of issues including Middle East peace, human rights, democratic reforms and the containment of nuclear arms.
 
The diverse crowd received Obama warmly, responding with its first outburst of boisterous applause when the president offered the Arabic greeting of peace...The audience was made up largely of university students, in keeping with Obama's impulse to play to young, educated people -- and with his belief that if he can win many of them over he has a unique opportunity to turn the page with his larger Muslim audience.
 
Obama's words about supporting the education and choices of women drew especially loud applause from women in the audience, some of them wearing western dress, some in light head scarves and some with their hair completely covered.
 
To this crowd, Obama offered an alternative to radicalized Islam, calling for a collective search for common ground while displaying respect as no American politician has done before such a broad audience..."The fact that he talks about tolerance, and cited verses from the Koran and the Bible, makes me feel he is aware how people think," said Michael Fayek, 27, a recent graduate of Cairo's Ain Shams University, after watching the speech. "I admired very much the suggestion that Jews, Christians and Muslims should live together in peace."
 
"Change cannot happen overnight," Obama said. "No single speech can eradicate years of mistrust, nor can I answer in the time that I have all the complex questions that brought us to this point." The president drew applause when he said: "As the Holy Koran tells us, 'Be conscious of God and speak always the truth.' "

 

Muslim Americans Encouraged
Reuters, July 12, 2009
Eight years after Middle East militants carried out the September 11 attacks, Muslim Americans are raising their profile, encouraged by the election of Barack Obama, a U.S. president proud of his Kenyan father's Muslim heritage.
 
The president, who is a Christian, used his middle name, Hussein, at his inauguration. He called for new dialogue with Islamic nations and named a special envoy for the Middle East on his second full day in office.
 
Like other immigrant groups in a country of immigrants, Muslims were drawn to the United States seeking opportunity and relief from poverty in their home countries. Arabs went to industrial centers, south Asian Muslims to the West Coast. Some arrived to study in universities; some arrived as slaves. A 2007 Pew Research Center study says 21 percent of Muslim Americans arrived from abroad during the 1990s.
 
The September 11 attacks put a magnifying glass on what until then had been a largely invisible Muslim American community, prompting many to organize. The Patriot Act limited civil liberties. Many felt they were being profiled. The Council of American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim civil liberties and advocacy group, said more than 60,000 people were subject to new government actions such as interrogations, detentions, raids and the closure of charities.
 
...The greater scrutiny prompted Muslims to engage more with one another and politically, said U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison of Minnesota, the first Muslim member of Congress. "The Muslim community has learned the lesson that if you want things to change for you in America, you have to be involved in the process," he said. "Political engagement of the Muslim community is higher than I have ever seen it."
 
In the last two years, two Muslims have been elected to Congress, five have won seats in state legislatures and many more have been elected on more local levels, Ellison said. The Islamic Society of North America Convention took place in Washington over the July 4 weekend and had a large number of sessions with a political focus. Some 35,000 people attended.
 
...Opinion polls and anecdotal evidence suggest economic opportunities and a commitment to democratic inclusion may encourage greater civic engagement among Muslims in the United States than those in other countries...It is this inclusion and participation in society that Muslim Americans say they are starting to embrace as a means of improving their lot.
 
"Until Muslims demand their seat at the political table, they are going to continue to be defined by extremists abroad and political 'nut jobs' at home," [said Zeba Khan the daughter of South Asian Muslim immigrants].
 
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Muslims Press for School Holidays
Wall Street Journal, Sept 15, 2009
Muslims groups here are pressing city officials to close public schools on two of the faith's holiest days, just as schools do for major Jewish and Christian holidays. But the groups have yet to persuade the man in charge of New York City schools, Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
 
Muslim groups have asked the city to cancel classes on Eid Ul-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan, and Eid Ul-Adha, which marks the end of the annual pilgrimage to Mecca.
 
New York is one of many public-school systems now struggling with appropriate ways to recognize religious holidays for a diverse population. An estimated 100,000 Muslim children are enrolled in New York City schools, about 10% of the enrollment.
 
..."This city is supposedly the most diverse city in the world. The city's laws and rules have to reflect that," said Councilman Robert Jackson, a Muslim from the borough of Manhattan. "I am hoping that pressure from the Muslim community will help Mayor Bloomberg decide, in the best interest of himself politically, to incorporate these two holidays."
 
The mayor often says children need to be in school more, not less, and that establishing more holidays would encourage every religious group to demand that their holy days be recognized. Children are required to attend school for at least 180 days a year in New York.
 
Other states have found a workable approach. Dearborn, Mich., where nearly half of the 18,000 students are Muslim, is believed to be the first city to close school on Muslim holy days, a spokesman said. Several cities in New Jersey now close school on the holy days.
 
After Muslims asked for school closings in Hillsborough County, Fla., the school board in 2007 approved a secular calendar that doesn't commemorate any religious holidays for the 189,000 students. Schools remain open on Good Friday, a Christian holiday, even though many students are absent, said Linda Cobbe, a spokeswoman. "There are so many religions we don't want to single out one or two," she said.
 
Not every Muslim believes that creating official school holidays would serve Muslims well. "The second the schools get into the business of officially recognizing holidays, it gets into establishing religion," a potential constitutional problem, said Hussein Rashid, an Islamic scholar at Hofstra University. How would the city establish criteria for granting Muslims days off, but not Hindus or other groups, he asked.
 
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Saudi Arabia Inaugurates First Coed University
Washington Post, Sept 23, 2009
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) - Saudi Arabia inaugurated on Wednesday its first-ever fully integrated coed university, and its ruler declared the institution will be a "beacon of tolerance" in a world attacked by extremists.

The multibillion dollar King Abdullah Science and Technology University, or KAUST, boasts state-of-the-art labs, the world's 14th fastest supercomputer and one of the biggest endowments worldwide. It breaks many of the conservative country's social taboos by allowing, for the first time, men and women to take classes together.

Saudi officials have envisaged the postgraduate institution as a key part of the kingdom's plans to transform itself into a global scientific hub - its latest efforts to diversify its oil-reliant economy.

Saudi royals and dignitaries attended the inauguration ceremony outside the coastal city of Jeddah, where the university is located.

"Humanity has been the target of vicious attacks from extremists, who speak the language of hatred," King Abdullah said at the inauguration. "Undoubtedly, scientific centers that embrace all peoples are the first line of defense against extremists. And today this university will become a house of wisdom ... a beacon of tolerance."

So far 817 students representing 61 different countries are currently enrolled, with 314 beginning classes this month while the rest are scheduled to start in the beginning of 2010...Of that total, 15 percent are Saudi, say university officials. The university's financial backing will allow all the students to receive full scholarships covering their tuition plus a stipend.

Officials say KAUST's embrace of scientific freedom marks Saudi Arabia's determination to not be left behind as technology increasingly drives global development. The hope is that KAUST will succeed in promoting scientific freedom in a country where strict implementation of Islamic teachings has often been blamed for stifling innovation.

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Muslim Youth Wrestle With Post-9-11 Suspicion
Louisville Courier-Journal, Sept 6, 2009
Kareem El-Refai says he'd never heard of Osama bin Laden before the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, when the World Trade Center towers in New York collapsed in a burning heap of rubble.
 
He and his brother, Mostafa, sons of Egyptian immigrants who came to America and built an engineering company from scratch, were teenagers growing up among non-Muslim friends in prosperous eastern Jefferson County. They pronounce "Louisville" like the native-born citizens they are and attended good schools as they pursued degrees in medicine.

But after 9/11, Kareem's 10th-grade friends at duPont Manual High School began calling for wiping out Middle Eastern countries. Mostafa was stopped by airport screeners five times in one day. Their mother feared Muslims would be exiled from the United States. The brothers say things have calmed since then, but they still face challenges unlike those that previous generations of Muslims encountered.

Eight years after the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, Muslims coming of age in the era following 9/11 era are struggling to find their place in a nation they say still views them with suspicion and fear.

Young Muslims such as Mostafa still find America a place of religious freedom and economic opportunity, according to interviews with more than two dozen Louisville-area Muslims in their teens and 20s. They ranged from those attending elite schools in pursuit of medical and other careers to refugees from war zones working on assembly lines.

Even without the specter of 9/11, Muslim youth have had to negotiate their roles as religious minorities, where work and school schedules often conflict with prayer times and holy days. Many are from immigrant families and are having to decide whether to accept Old World traditions in which American-style dating is forbidden and marriages are often arranged.

All of those interviewed said Americans' knowledge of, and attitudes toward, Islam have improved in the past eight years. Some tell stories of non-Muslim neighbors bringing them flowers, fruit baskets and words of encouragement.

Dania Shaban recalled that shortly after 9/11, she was waiting at a stoplight with her mother - who was wearing her traditional Islamic head scarf - when another driver rolled down his window "and started cussing us out."

Shaban, 19, a University of Louisville sophomore who came to America from her native Jordan at age 7, said the family was quickly reassured by another woman who approached the car and apologized "for people who still act this way."
 
National polls show that most young Muslims seek to integrate into American society, embrace the American work ethic and are far less alienated from their societies than Muslims in Western Europe, where tensions are high over Muslim immigration and extremism.

At the same time, significant numbers of young American Muslims report higher levels of stress and tensions with society than the general public, raising concerns that their disaffection could breed unrest. Reports of sporadic cases of extremist recruitment have fueled fears of home-grown terrorism.

...Muslim elders say the task of integrating younger Muslims into American society is urgent to prevent them from becoming susceptible to extremism. Americans "either take them on our side or isolate them," said Bashar Masri, 51, president of the Louisville Islamic Center on River Road.

...Khalid Kahloon, an attorney and Pakistani-born Muslim, has worked to build communication between law enforcement and Islamic communities. He said Muslims are likely to report any extremist elements.

Muslims "know that if there was another act like 9/11, it will take decades to regain their footing in this country where they have worked so hard to become productive and respected members of the community," he said. "Having gone through 9/11 once, they know very well the risks of overlooking or ignoring jihadist-type elements in their ranks."

The experiences of young Muslims are especially important because Islam is one of America's most youthful religions. Twenty-nine percent of the United States' estimated 1.4million Muslim adults are younger than 30, a higher proportion than any faith category except those with no religion, according to the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.

Muslim adults are more likely than any major religious group except Mormons and Hindus to have children at home.
 
...Kiarash Jahed, 27, a University of Louisville medical student, sees young people leading a transition in Islamic communities - from a mindset of being "Muslims in America" - with their minds still in the Old World - to "Muslims of America."

"Muslims have gone from a period of just trying to survive in society to establishing themselves in society, but eventually they have to transition into being relevant to society," he said...Young Muslims are "salivating to hear ... how this religion is relevant to their current life here in America," said the Iranian-born, American-raised Jahed.

Young Muslims acknowledged that their deep disagreements over American foreign policy - such as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and U.S. support for Israel in its conflict with Palestinians - will involve some difficult public debates.

But compared with ancestral homelands where dissent is repressed, "that's a sign of a healthy society," said Mamdouh Khayat, 23, a University of Louisville medical student...And Mostafa El-Refai said that, while he finds himself defending Islam to his American friends, he also finds himself defending Americans when he visits his parents' homeland, telling what it's like to have American classmates and soccer teammates.

"When I'm in Egypt and people tell me America's doing this and America's doing that, I get emotional and I feel like, 'You don't understand. You haven't lived in America.' "

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