A Few Rotten Apples

In the vernacular of boxing, the religion of Islam has "taken somewhat of a beating" the last couple of years. With Muslim extremists responsible for so many acts of terror the World Trade Center tragedy, the bombing of a Bali nightclub in Indonesia, suicide bombings in the Middle East, the sniper shootings (although it hasnt been proven that John Allen Muhammad was a militant) Islam has come under fire from critics like Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson who have made claims, though obviously unsubstantiated, that it is a hateful and hostile religion.
American Muslims suddenly find themselves in a defensive position, quick to protect the teachings of the Koran and swift to explain away the work of a few "rotten apples" as not indicative of an entire religion. While incidents of racial profiling increase and the Justice Department and the Immigration and Naturalization Service detain and deport Arabs and Muslims, civic groups such as the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee and the American Civil Liberties Union have been busy policing the situation.
The Bush administration, in an effort to portray Muslims as patriotic and happy members of the general public and perhaps to mollify these groups, recently released four videos as reported in The New York Times showing Muslims praying, watching a softball game, working for the New York City Fire Department and other all-American pastimes. The message of the videos is clear: Muslims should be viewed no differently than you or me.
The videos, which suggest that Islam is not under attack but is in fact more popular than ever, have come under some fire for painting a picture of Muslim-American life that may not be entirely accurate. The truth is probably somewhere in between.
Abdul Azeem Khan is the Imam and the general director of the Masjid "Omar Ben Abdel-Aziz" Mosque in Jamaica, Queens on 88-29 161st Street. Two other Mosques exist in Jamaica servicing what Khan described as a very healthy Muslim community in Jamaica. Born in Guyana, Khan dresses in traditional Muslim clothing but considers himself a happy byproduct of assimilation into this country. He runs a supermarket called "Khans Halal Meat Market," on Hillside Avenue. "As an immigrant to this country, I come here to work," he said. "I come here in peace and harmony to live with my family. I didnt come here to declare war on nobody."
Although he couldnt remember any demonstrations of anti-Muslim sentiment in his neighborhood, he did admit that many people he spoke with had muddied impressions of Islam, and he attributed their ignorance to disinformation given out by the media. Khan said he often lectures students at high schools on Islam.
"When I do a question answer forum at schools, I find that the children have the wrong concept because the media are giving them the wrong concept of what Islam is all about," he said. "Because some in the media really do not know what Islam is all about, they really need schooling to be told what Islam is."
Unfortunately, there are followers of Islam who disagree, and these people just so happen to be some of the most dangerous people in the world. The latest disaster took place in Moscow involving Russian separatists from Chechnya, reported to be a large Muslim ethnic group, who captured a theatre and held more than 700 people captive before they were taken out. Khan said that these people totally misinterpret the teachings of Islam.
"People have their own egos and their own concepts of how they do things," Khan explained. "There are also wars that have been going on for fifty years. People on the whole are taking Islam out of context and they are slaughtering and killing innocent people. The groups that have claimed destruction to innocent people, they are calling this Jihad. That is not Jihad. That is not Jihad to blow up innocent people. So just because there are a few bad apples in the barrel does not mean that the entire barrel is rotten.
"You look at the sniper case in Virginia; there were a lot of Muslims that were looking for this sniper. A lot of groups of Muslims were assisting and working along with the police and the FBI to find the sniper. So when we say that this guy is a Muslim and that this guy did it because he was a Muslim, well, he did it individually. He didnt have any ties to anyone else. He was alone."
Unfortunately, some people dont make that distinction. "People need to learn about Islam," Khan said. "They need to take a course. If they did they would not say what they say. They would realize that Islam is a religion of peace."