Democrats have always been more friendly to India than republicans have, historically.

That apart, what I can see is that Republicans have always been more hawkish. Consequently, they adopt a more hardline approach towards others than Democrats.

Yes, there may still be ignorance in America about Muslims, but then Muslims will surely have to play a proactive role in dispelling this ignorance. However, I do see that 9/11 notwithstanding, there are many people who want to try to be friendly to the Muslims. That is a very positive sign.

What I find really fascinating about your article is your observation that some Muslims at one time supported the Republican party “because of the party’s emphasis on observing religious faith, the discipline of family values and a conservative lifestyle in the free-wheeling American society.” And I suppose that makes some sense. The problem with the Republican party’s efforts to inject religion and morality into political discourse is twofold: (1) Give the role of policing morality to the government generally does not happen in any kind of democracy when there are so many different religions and ideas present in the society, and (2) the only moral viewpoint it puts forth as acceptable is a very conservative “fundamentalist” for of Christianity.

I sympathize with the rejection many Muslims in America must feel in the political sphere by not being allowed a visible role in campaigning. So much of the Republican voting base is composed of white, evangelical (“fundamentalist”) Christians that any association with Islam (or Judaism or blacks or Asians or even more liberal Christian ideologies) would be met with resistance- I am not surprised there.

But there is a more complex issue the Democratic Party is faced with- even among some Democratic voters, many non-Muslim Americans are still very sensitive to the propaganda we’ve been fed associating the 9/11 attacks with Islam as an entire religion. The vast majority of our voting base in the US does not make terribly educated decisions, after all, and my feeling is that those undecided voters who need to be won might still be turned off by what we as a country have been conditioned to fear so much. While the liberal ideology would benefit religious and ethnic minorites, the party still needs to be elected in order to enact change.

So a part of me understands why the woman wearing a hijab was purposefully not highlighted on camera. However, it does not make it fair, and I wonder how long it will take before we can look past mere demographics in our political discourse. I do see change slowwwwly happening, but unfortunately I fear part of the solution will be for the stodgier generations with a bit more bigotry to fall out of public life.

What we must ensure in the meantime is that our younger generations in America- who have grown up largely surrounded by other races and religions either in daily life or in the media, and who have seen much less social clashing between the groups- will continue to grow older without falling into the prejudices (be they overt or subtle) of their parents and grandparents.

For more and more people to want to learn about the Quran, Muslims also need to conduct themselves in the exemplary fashion instructed in the Quran.

Illiteracy and fundamentalism has to be extirpated root and branch from Muslim society for it to flourish. All educated Muslims have to join their hands together for it to happen.

It has to do with Muslims carrying their religion on their sleeve, and looking down on Non Muslims as Non believers. Unless Muslims give up this habit, they will find it very difficult to gain acceptance.

“The Muslim community is waking up by being alarmed at how the rest of the U.S. feels about Muslims. I recall during early Eid celebrations, the holiday marking the completion of fasting during the month of Ramadan, that it was intended to be a private affair, just for the Muslims. This was the usual practice. When anybody brought an “American” guest, he was looked upon with suspicion such as “what is he doing here?” It was so “Islamic” that even a “white” American Muslim was kept in the background. Often the “Khutbas” were spoken in Arabic or Urdu language with no translation to English. That, as far as the visitor was concerned, was a sure indication that Muslims are a bunch of foreigners.

Nowadays, quite late, we are trying to correct this by having an “open house” during Ramadan in many Islamic Centers, hoping to attract local non-muslims to look favorably upon a Muslim. The effort is perilously accomplished by having a Muslim Scholar dressed in an Imam’s garb, give a speech about Islam and how it is good for all people. This is followed by an Indian or Arab dinner, assuming that most of the guests would like to have an exotic meal. The guests from the local churches and Jewish communities can then say yes, that man from India or Arabia gives a nice speech and the Asian food was good. But Islam is therefore still looked upon as a foreign religion trying to impose itself upon America.

No matter how much a scholar explains about China, it is still China. No matter how much a Buddhist talks about Buddism, it is still a mystical faith of Eastern Asia. If we keep Islam bottled up to be put on display it will continue to be a strange Eastern religion with suspicious motives. The Muslim problems that are confronting our own government and the people in America has been brought on by the Muslims themselves by identifying ourselves as different, as more peace loving despite evidence to the contrary and not being heard when we complain about the injustices we experience due to people not understanding who we really are. It’s a catch 22 situation that we don’t know how to escape from.

Another date, to neutralize 9/11, needs to occur in which Islam comes once more as a religion to strive for.

Mertze Dahlin

The American way of stressing national rather than religious identities seems to be a rather sensible one.

As far as the Muslim cause is concerned, one thing that would enormously help is if Muslims LIVE Islam rather than only LOVE Islam.

1. In US the Muslim population is about 5 million out of the nation’s population of 250 million. Their proportion is ~2-3%; compared to 14% in India.
2. In US the history of Muslims is about 60 years old, with the advent of Black Muslims in late 1940s. In India the history of Muslims is about 800 years old, the first 600 years as the ruling class.
3. In US about 5-10% of Muslims suffer from low level literacy. In India about 50% Muslims suffer from low level literacy.
4. Muslims’ representation in the power structure in US, eg legislatures, executive branch of the govt, judiciary, political establishment, mainstream media, faculties in universities etc is miniscule, perhaps less than 0.01%. In India this figure for Muslims is about 3-4%. Most Muslims in US work in technical and professional jobs or are self-employed.
5. The roots, confidence and contribution of the religious establishment of Muslims in US is very surfacial, with very new and very shallow roots. In India the Muslim religious establishment/institutions have very strong roots, a long history and tradition, lots of excellent confidence, and lots of contribution to the global Muslim presence.
6. In India Islam is an Indian religion and Muslims are indigenous Indians and think of themselves as nothing but Indian. In US Islam is a recently arrived foreign religion and only a minority of American Muslims (the indigenous Black Muslims – about 20% of the Muslim community) consider themselves Americans.
7. In both India and US Muslims do not have the fair share of political infranchisement and true integration in the major political parties.
8. In India Muslims are still suffering from the backlash of the 1947 partition of India and the creation of Pakistan. In US Muslims are suffering from the backlash of the 2001 Al-Qaeda terrorist attacks on US.