Future Agenda of American Muslims
By Abdus
Sattar Ghazali
Now that the election
is over, the immediate question cropping up in the
mind of Muslims is how they are going to be treated
during President Bush’s second term?
Ibrahim Hooper, Communication
Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations
(CAIR), says President Bush in his victory speech
said that he will reach out to the whole nation.
“A new term is a new opportunity to reach out to
the whole nation. We have one country, one Constitution,
and one future that binds us.” Hooper said: “We
take his words and hope that he will take this opportunity
to reach out to the Muslim community. We also encourage
Muslims to make a fresh start with the Bush administration.”
However, he believes that building bridges with
the Muslim community will depend on how the Bush
aides will advise him.
Dr. Salam Al-Marayati,
Executive Director of the Muslim Public Affairs
Council (MPAC), believes that during his second
term President Bush’s approach towards the Muslim
community will depend a lot on who he appoints in
his second administration. There is talk about Attorney
General Ashcroft leaving and also National Security
Advisor Condolezza Rice and some of the newcons.
We have to see and watch. If there is a change in
his team then we expect a change in approach to
the Muslim community. He said that the Muslims did
not get the result what they wanted from the election.
“Muslims should do some soul searching particularly
about the Christian right which had a great impact
on this election for the Republicans. According
to the New York Times, nearly one-quarter of the
electorate was made up of white evangelical and
born-again Christians and they voted four to one
for President Bush.
Dr. Al-Marayati agreed
with the suggestion that that many Muslim organizations
are active just during the election season. It is
necessary that they should have a permanent agenda
to motivate and activate the community to participate
in the political process by joining Democratic,
Republican or any other party. “The Muslims should
be involved in political activities at the local
level since all politics is local,” Dr. Al Maryati
added.
Dr. Agha Saeed, President
of the American Muslim Alliance and the American
Muslim Task Force stressed that the American Muslims
were not only penetrated but were able to put civil
rights on the political agenda and the Muslim votes
on the political map of the country.About the future
role of Muslim organizations, he said that the Muslim
vote has provided an immediate opening for Muslims
to build US-wide civil rights coalition.
Rasheed Ahmed, President
of Muslim Civil Rights Center, was of the view that
first of all the Muslims should study the results
of the election and analyze the reasons of the results.
“What are the underlying issues for these results
and how these issues impact the Muslims in America
and the world at large?” should be studied.
Samina Faheem Sundas,
Executive Director of the American Muslim Voice,
argued that the best way to protect our civil rights
is to build bridges with other communities. “The
Muslim organizations need to do grassroots work
and maintain the momentum and enthusiasm in the
community about participation in the national political
process by continuously mobilizing the community
to be active in the local politics,” she remarked.
Khalid Saeed, American
Muslim Voice Director for Northern California, said
instead of having a doom and gloom picture, we should
make plans to volunteer our time, efforts, and if
possible, money ,in order to push an agenda that
we would like for this country.
On the future political
strategy for the Muslim community, Eric Vickers,
Communications Director of the American Muslim Council,
said that Muslim organizations should continue to
organize and educate the Muslim community and the
American community about Islam. “The community should
press the President for a meeting with the Muslim
leadership.”
Shafi Refai, President
of the United Muslims of America, believes that
Muslims should be involved in both parties.” We
are now an outsider. Every four years we get up
and vote. In American there is a virtually two party
system and we have to get involved in both parties.”
He went to say that Muslims are socially conservative
and politically liberal. Socially they are closer
to the Republicans and politically to the Democrats.
“Now the question is, what is the solution? I think,
the best way to resolve this issue is that we join
both parties.”
Syed Rifat Mahmood,
a Muslim political leader and former congressional
candidate, argued that we should now think about
building the political base of our community. “We
should get out of rhetoric and go to the practical
field.”He was of the view that the Muslims should
stop complaining and start working. “We have to
be vocal and proactive. We should try change the
Bush policies particularly the reformation of Patriot
Act.”
Syed Mahood went on
to say: “We should encourage people to work in both
the major political parties. We should become part
of the political process. We should gain a voice
inside the party policy decision making.”
He said that the Muslim
organizations are seen active only at the election
time. “From today we should plan for the future
political course and not just few months before
each election.”
(Abdus Sattar
Ghazali is the Executive Editor of the online magazine
American Muslim Perspective: www.amperspective.com)
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