Muslims are a part of our American heritage

by Sheila Musaji

My dear brother Jamal Badani received an email letter entitled “MUSLIMS A PART OF OUR HERITAGE…..ALWAYS…...I THINK NOT” which was sent to him by someone calling himself Mr. Sheldon.  Jamal responded to him from the point of view of a Muslim in the U.S. military. (Both Mr. Sheldon’s original letter and Jamal Baadani’s response are at the bottom of this article.)  I would also like to respond.  I had previously received this as an email quoting the source as Patriots for America, but have found the posting on sites all over the web.  So, we have yet another of those viral emails that are really from an anonymous and therefore cowardly source. 

This letter is yet another in a long list of bigoted propoganda stating some “fact” that “everyone knows” which is quite simply not a fact at all.  The most commonly repeated claims about Muslims are that “everyone knows” that most or all terrorists are Muslims, and there are no Christian and no Jewish terrorists (or terrorists of any other religious stripe).  Everyone also knows that Muslims are not equivalent to real Americans, that they are the enemy within, that good Muslims can’t be good Americans, that they are all militant,  that Islam is “of the devil”, and an “evil encroaching on the United States”, and this is a Christian nation, which everyone knows the Muslims are trying to take over, starting with getting an Eid stamp which is the first step towards shariah law.  Everyone knows that Muslims are given a pass by the elite media.  It’s “us versus them”, and even those Muslims who do speak up or seem moderate are simply lying or practicing taqiyyah.  The problem is that what “everyone knows” is wrong.  These self-righteous and incorrect statements are usually followed by a demand that the Muslim community do something about whatever is the false flag of the day or face the inevitable consequences.   

There may not have been any Muslims who signed the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, or the Bill of Rights (as most Muslims in America at that time were slaves) but Muslims are still defending those documents.  You can read about some of those Muslim slaves here.

There were Muslims in the “wild west”, for example:  “There is one further story, that of Hajj Ali, the only truly legendary Old West figure of Arab origin. Born in Syria, he arrived at Camp Verde with the second shipment of camels in 1857 and helped the Americans handle their camels on Beale’s trek to California. His easygoing nature—and Americans’ ignorance of Arabic—left him with the nickname “Hi Jolly,” and after the westward trek he took part in numerous camel projects throughout California and Arizona. After the auctioning of the camels, Hi Jolly prospected for gold, hauled freight and scouted for the US Army. Granted citizenship in 1880, he married Gertrude Serna of Tucson and had two daughters with her. However, in the tradition of the solitary Old West adventurer, he returned to the desert in his late years to prospect alone near Quartzsite, Arizona. He died in 1902. Legendary for his skill with animals, he was cared for in his final days by ranchers and prospectors.”

You can see a photograph of Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther King together here and read something about their struggle for civil rights for African-Americans.  You can go here to see a photograph of Dr. Martin Luther King giving his I have a dream speech, and see how many Muslims (the folks with the white hats) are immediately surrounding and protecting him.  I am a pretty ordinary person, but was in college in the 60’s and was a small part of the Civil Rights movement as were many other Muslims.

You can read an article by Dr. Shafeeq S. Shamsid-Deen which points out:  “Did you know that in 1492 an Afro-Spaniard named Pedro Alonzo Nino accompanied Christopher Columbus on his fist voyage to the Americas?  Did you know that in 1522, Muslims were at the forefront of the freedom struggle of slave’s throughout the Americas? Most of these revolts were unsuccessful as far as freedom was concerned. These freedom fighters were ruthlessly crushed, hanged, burned and even thrown in boiling oil.”  So, a Muslim was here before those Pilgrims first landed, and were already engaged in a struggle for civil rights 400 years before the civil rights movement of the 20th century, and 300 years before the Civil War.

You might check out the Muslims in America exhibit currently at Shaw University in Raleigh NC.  According to a local news article about this exhibit:  “The exhibit, “Muslims in America,” demonstrates that Muslim explorers may have predated Christopher Columbus and that Muslims fought in every U.S. war since the Revolutionary War. Census records show nearly 300 men with surnames from Muslim areas fought in the Civil War, for example.”  You can read about Muslims and Arabs in the U.S. military here.  Jamaal Baadani gives a few specific examples below.

You might check out this collection of Muslim voices denouncing terrorism, extremism, and violence which absolutely shows your claim that Muslims do not denounce terrorism, and did not denounce 9/11 to be a lie.

You might read this article with a partial list of Muslims who died in the 9/11 terrorist attacks (over 50), including a pregnant Muslim woman on American Airlines Flight 11.  As noted in the article

Imagine being the family of Salman Hamdani.  The 23-year-old New York City police cadet was a part-time ambulance driver, incoming medical student, and devout Muslim.  When he disappeared on September 11, law enforcement officials came to his family, seeking him for questioning in relation to the terrorist attacks.  They allegedly believed he was somehow involved.  His whereabouts were undetermined for over six months, until his remains were finally identified.  He was found near the North Tower, with his EMT medical bag beside him, presumably doing everything he could to help those in need.  His family could finally rest, knowing that he died the hero they always knew him to be.

Or imagine being Baraheen Ashrafi, nine months pregnant with her second child.  Her husband, Mohammad Chowdhury, was a waiter at Windows of the World restaurant, on the top floors of Tower One.  The morning of September 11, they prayed salaat-l-fajr (the pre-dawn prayer) together, and he went off to work.  She never saw him again.  Their son, Farqad, was born 48 hours after the attacks—one of the first 9/11 orphans to be born.  In an interview with CTV Canada, she relates that in the months to follow, she mourned for her husband and endured the hostility of some ignorant people around her.  “When they saw me ... I’m wearing a scarf. There is a hate look.”

Or consider Rahma Salie, a passenger on American Airlines #11 that crashed into the North Tower.  Rahma, a Muslim of Sri Lankan origin, was traveling with her husband Michael (a convert to Islam) to attend a friend’s wedding in California.  Rahma was 7 months pregnant with their first child.  According to the Independent UK (October 11, 2001), Rahma’s name was initially put on an FBI watch list, because her “Muslim-sounding” name was on the passenger manifest, and her travel patterns were similar to those of the hijackers (she was a computer consultant living in Boston).  Although her name was eventually removed from the list, several of her family members were barred from taking flights to her memorial service.  Her mother, Haleema, said, “I would like everyone to know that she was a Muslim, she is a Muslim and we are victims too, of this tragic incident.”

You might also read about Shahram Hashemi.  In 2002, Shahram received the F.H. LaGuardia Association Memorial Award for his exemplary academic record and his volunteer rescue effort at Ground Zero in the immediate aftermath of the attacks of September 11th in New York, an event which served as the catalyst for his commitment to human rights.  Or, you might read about the four police officers and one firefighter who assisted in the rescue operations after the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington on September 11.  At a ceremony honoring these men,  Ralph Boyd, assistant attorney general of the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice said: “This is a reminder to Americans of what it means to be American.  In addition to suffering alongside the rest of us, our Muslim and Arab brothers and sisters were also involved in rescue operations in the aftermath of the horrific attacks on our country.”

You might read about Abdulrahman Zeitoun who voluntarily stayed behind in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, America’s largest natural disaster to selflessly help his neighbors.  Or Hassan Askari who saved three Jewish men being attacked inn a N.Y. subway.

You might read my article Muslims Who Fought Against the ‘Real’ Fascists for some understanding of just how marginal the Mufti was (his views like those of Henry Ford did not represent the majority opinion).  As I said in that article:

With the recent increase in the use of the misleading term Islamic Fascists it is important to point out a few facts.  There may have been a few Muslims who cooperated with the Nazis/Fascists during the Second World War, but they were a small minority.  Most Muslims followed the Qur’anic injunction:

“Oh you who believe, stand up firmly for justice, as witnesses to God, even if it be against yourselves, or your parents, or your kin, and whether it be against rich or poor; for God can best protect both. Do not follow any passion, lest you not be just. And if you distort or decline to do justice, verily God is well-acquainted with all that you do” (Quran 4:135).

The bottom line is that all of those who participate in, cooperate with, or do not speak out against evil (no matter what their religion) bring shame on the human race, and all of those who stand for justice and compassion give us all hope.

Bulgarian Christians and Muslims protected Jews from the Nazis.  Albania was the only Muslim majority country in Europe.  Albania not only saved Albanian Jews from the Nazis, but, in fact, Albania was the only country in Europe that had a larger Jewish population at the end of the war than before the war.  Not one Albanian Jew or any other Jew who came to Albania for protection was turned over to the Nazis.

300,000 Moroccan Jews in Israel mourned the death of King Hassan of Jordan in 1999.  His father, Mohammed V, is widely credited with having saved Morocco’s Jews from deportation during World War II, and Hassan continued the philo-Semitic policies of his father. Although there was an outbreak of anti-Jewish incidents following the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, the Jewish community was generally safe under the protection of both Mohammed and Hassan, who proudly considered the Jews “Moroccans of Jewish origin.

Arabs and Jews once fought together under the British Flag against the Nazis in the Palestine Regiment.

Noor Inayat Khan fought against the Nazis and was killed at Dachau concentration camp.

The stories of Muslim rescuers of Jews are largely unknown and unpublished. Only in the past fifteen years have Holocaust researchers brought a few to the public’s attention. Yad Vashem and other Holocaust memorial groups have honored several Muslims (whose courageous stories we have been able to confirm) as Righteous Gentiles. The Muslim rescuers include:

The Bosnian Dervis Korkut who not only hid several Jews from the local pro-Nazi regime, but Dervis Korkut saved the precious Sarajevo Haggadah, concealing it in his home and thus keeping the 14th-century volume, the best known illuminated Hebrew manuscript, intact.

Selahattin Ulkumen, the Turkish Consul at Rhodes, whose rescue of several dozen Jews from certain extermination at Auschwitz led to the death of his wife Mihrinissa when the Nazis retaliated against him

The Albanian Refik Vesili who — as a 16-year-old — saved eight Jews by hiding them in his family’s mountain home.  In fact, the Albanians saved so many Jews that they were the only country in Europe who had more Jews at the end of the war than at the beginning of the war. 

The Central Mosque of Paris served as a shelter for hundreds of French Jewish children being rescued from deportation to death camps.  This mosque was built in the 1920s, as an expression of gratitude from France for the over half-million Muslims from its African possessions who fought alongside the French in the 1914-1918 war. About 100,000 of them died in the trenches.  A film has been made about this called Their Children Are Like Our Own Children.

Khaled Abdelwahab who was honored by the Wiesenthal Center as one of Shoah’s righteous Arabs - A Tunisian Muslim who saved Jews during WWII.
The majority of Allied troops that landed on the beaches of Provence in August, 1944 were “Free French” Muslims from North and West Africa. Thousands of Moroccan and Indian Muslim troops voluntarily served in the liberation of Italy. They risked and gave their lives along with Polish freedom fighters and American GIs at Monte Cassino. Tens of thousands more Soviet Muslim troops bravely served at hellish Stalingrad and Leningrad. All of us should honor and be thankful for their sacrifice in helping end the scourge of Nazism.

You might read Muslims in American History: A Forgotten Legacy by Jerald Dirks where you would learn:  “In reality, there is a centuries long history of the Muslim presence in America, which is all too often overlooked or misidentified. Written documentation, linguistic evidence, and reports of early Spanish explorers of the New World suggest Muslim contact with the Americas prior to Columbus. Muslims and Moriscos sailed with Columbus and were part of many of the Spanish explorations of the New World. Muslims comprised a significant percentage of the enslaved Africans who were brought to the Americas, and many Islamic residuals have found their way into contemporary African-American life and culture. At least one Muslim fought for American Independence during the Revolutionary War, and many other Muslims were prepared to fight to keep American independence during the War of 1812. Another prominent Muslim was part of the taming of the Wild West. Beginning in the late 19th century, successive waves of Muslim immigrants enriched America, and phenomenon of Americans converting to Islam became increasingly widespread. In reviewing this history, the author presents a series of brief biographies of individual Muslims to illustrate the Muslim presence at each stage in American history.”

SEE ALSO:

American Muslim History, Fareed Numan http://www.islam101.com/history/muslim_us_hist.html 
Archive of Muslim American History and Life http://www.ulib.iupui.edu/digitalscholarship/collections/AMAHL
The Islamic Community In The United States: Historical Development, Muhammed Abdullah Ahari http://www.sunnah.org/history/islamamr.htm
Timeline of Islam in the U.S. http://mediaguidetoislam.sfsu.edu/intheus/10_timeline.htm
 

Jamal Baadani’s response

Dear Mr. Sheldon: Your facts regarding Muslim Americans are incorrect, here’s why!

I read your impassioned letter (copy of letter is below) to our President and Commander-in-Chief, President Barack Hussain Obama regarding Muslims in America titled “MUSLIMS A PART OF OUR HERITAGE…..ALWAYS…...I THINK NOT”......., and as a Patriotic American who has fought for this country since June 1981 - your characterizations regarding Muslims are wrong.  You need to have some facts clarified.  I have sent attachments to you personally via email to support my point.

As a Muslim American Marine, I have lead Marines in combat on numerous occasions and since 9/11, I have participated in counter-terrorism operations to pursue those terrorist bastards who attacked our country - I didn’t wait for my country to call, I asked to be deployed.  While waiting for six months to be deployed, my personal possessions were put in storage, and I moved out of my home and rented a room from a friend so that when my turn was called I would not waste valuable time preparing - I was prepared and deployed at a moments notice. 

The terrorists used Islam to justify their horrific and cowardly acts on 9/11.  As Americans, Arabs and Muslims packed their bags, as I did, to get some pay back against the terrorists who struck our country.  The attack on our country was not a Christian thing, it was not a Muslim thing, it was not a Jewish thing, and surely it wasn’t a white, black, yellow, or brown thing.


It was terrorists who hated us for a multitude of reasons that struck our country on 9/11 - all of which transcended color, race, religion, and nationality.  In doing so, the terrorist killed individuals who were from over 87 countries and of many religions at the World Trade Center, and my fellow brothers and sisters in Arms lost their lives in the Pentagon.  Muslims were among the dead both in the Pentagon and the World Trade Center.

The first documented Arab American immigrant - Private Nathan Badeen - from Syria died in the revolutionary war on May 26th, 1776, Private Nathan Badeen was with the 18th Continental Army of Massachusets.  He died fighting for a cause of freedom - two months prior to seeing the Declaration of Independence issued to the British.  So yes, there were Arab Americans and Muslim Americans who also died in the revolutionary war, as documented in the attachments - in addition to Private Nathan Badeen.

Over 5,000 Muslim and Arab Americans fought on both sides of the civil war - can you imagine Arab and Muslim Americans who were rebels, and on the other side Arab and Muslim Americans with the Union fighting to end slavery.

Over 15,000 Arab Americans fought in WWII to help rid the world of a Tyrant.

Since 9/11 Muslim and Arab Americans have given their lives serving in the US Military in Iraq and Afghanistan - Captain Khan saw the threat of a vehicle in Iraq approaching dangerously towards the check point manned by his fellow Army Soldiers - Captain Khan ran outside of the wire to a safe distance away from harms way to his soldiers and jumped in front of the vehicle so it could detonate before it got to his troops.  Captain Khan was months away from his Doctoral Degree when 9/11 happened, but held off getting his degree so he could join the US Army and serve his country in time of need. 

The attachments I sent you will give you some other information regarding Muslim patriotism in helping defend our country.

President Barak Hussein Obama in his Cairo speech was right, Muslims have been a part of America’s history.

Jamal Baadani is the founder of The Association of Patriotic Arab Americans in Military

The anonymous letter Mr. Sheldon forwarded:

MUSLIMS A PART OF OUR HERITAGE…..ALWAYS…...I THINK NOT

OBAMA said, in his Cairo speech: “I know, too,  that Islam has always been a part of America’s story.

Dear Mr. Obama:

Were those Muslims that were in America when the Pilgrims first landed?  Funny, I thought they were Native American Indians.

Were those Muslims that celebrated the first Thanksgiving day? Sorry again, those were Pilgrims and Native American Indians.

Can you show me one Muslim signature on the United States Constitution?  Declaration of Independence? Bill of Rights? Didn’t think so.

Did Muslims fight for this country’s freedom from England? No.

Did Muslims fight during the Civil War to free the slaves in America? No, they did not. In fact, Muslims to this day are still the largest traffickers in human slavery. Your own ‘half brother’  a devout Muslim still advocates slavery himself, even though muslims of Arabic descent refer to black muslims as “pug nosed slaves.” Says a lot of what the Muslim world really thinks of your family’s “rich Islamic heritage” doesn’t it Mr.Obama?

Where were Muslims during the Civil Rights era of this country?  Not present. There are no pictures or media accounts of Muslims walking side by side with Martin Luther King Jr., or helping to advance the cause of Civil Rights.

Where were Muslims during this country’s Woman’s Suffrage era? Again, not present. In fact, devout Muslims demand that women are subservient to men in the Islamic culture. So much so that often they are beaten for not wearing the ‘hajib’ or for talking to a man that is not a direct family member or their husband. Yep, the Muslims are all for women’s rights aren’t they?

Where were Muslims during World War II? They were aligned with Adolf Hitler.  The Muslim grand mufti himself met with Adolf Hitler, reviewed the troops and accepted support from the Nazi’s in killing Jews.

Finally   Obama, where were Muslims on Sept. 11th, 2001? If they weren’t flying planes into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon or a field in Pennsylvania killing nearly 3,000 people on our own soil, they were rejoicing in the middle east. No one can dispute the pictures shown from all parts of the Muslim world celebrating on CNN, Fox News, MSNBC and other news networks that day. Strangely, the very “moderate” Muslims who’s asses you bent over backwards to kiss in Cairo, Egypt on June 4th were stone cold silent post 9-11. To many Americans, their silence has meant approval for the acts of that day.

And THAT,  Obama,  is the “rich heritage” Muslims have here in America. 

And now we can add November 5, 2009—the slaughter of American soldiers at Fort Hood by a muslim major who is a doctor and a psychiatrist who was supposed to be counselling soldiers returning from battle in Iraq and Afghanistan.  That,  Obama is “muslim heritage” in America.

————-

SEE ALSO:

Islam in America article collection http://theamericanmuslim.org/tam.php/features/articles/islam_in_america/