Author: Larry Witham
Publication: The Washington
Times
Date: November 28, 2000
American Muslims began
the Ramadan month of fasting last night as a remarkably well-organized
religious minority.
Advocacy efforts have
put Muslims on the political map, secured religious liberties, discouraged
media and corporate slighting of Islam, and included its religious symbols
in national holidays.
As a relatively new minority,
Muslims overall do well financially in the United States, especially among
Asian and Middle Eastern immigrants who make up most of the estimated 6
million followers of Islam here.
"U.S. Muslims have
become more visible at a variety of levels of society," said John Esposito,
director of the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown
University.
"We notice them in many
professional areas, and right down to taxi drivers."
Ramadan, the month of
daytime fasting, adds visibility to U.S. Muslims as they get exemptions
in workplaces or schools to observe the fast. The month ends Dec.
27 with a feast day, Eid ul-Fitr.
These religious customs,
including the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca, have generated more favorable news
stories about Islam in the United States - with the help of Muslim public
relations groups.
"The fast is performed
to learn discipline, self-restraint and generosity, while obeying God's
commandments," says the "Ramadan 2000 Media Kit" circulated nationwide
by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in Washington.
In the nation's capital,
an Islamic crescent now stands with the Christmas tree and Hanukkah candelabra
on the Ellipse, and the U.S. Postal Service will issue a stamp for
Eid ul-Fitr next year.
"This is a giant step
forward for a growing and vibrant Muslim community," said Rep. Thomas
M. Davis III, Virginia Republican.
Muslim leaders said that
3,000 Muslim schoolchildren wrote letters promoting the stamp idea, an
example of how constituents can be organized.
The American Muslim Council
in Washington sponsored one of the largest U.S. protests over the
recent violence in the Mideast, and Ramadan is being portrayed as an occasion
for American sympathy for Islamic concerns.
"During this time of
crisis in the Holy Land, the fast of Ramadan offers people of all faiths
an opportunity to learn more about Islam and about the Islamic community
in America," said Nihad Awad, executive director of CAIR.
Muslims also have mobilized
for elections.
Two weeks before Election
Day, the American Muslim Political Coordination Council endorsed Texas
Gov. George W. Bush and a post-election poll found 70 percent
of Muslim voters took its advice.
Mr. Esposito said
the political savvy Muslims are showing reflects their maturity.
"They have been reasonably successful in voter registration and in identifying
election issues that concern Muslims," he said.
Still, the continued
claim that Muslims face "Islamophobia" and "discrimination and harassment"
has prompted some critics to call it special pleading. Some critics
say that American Muslims, while decrying discrimination against them in
America, rarely scold Islamic governments in the Middle East for harsh
discrimination against Christians and Jews.
"Muslims are flourishing
and in some cases are privileged," said Daniel Pipes of the Middle East
Forum, a critic of U.S. Muslim political advocacy on Middle East
issues. "My impression is that the leadership asks for these privileges,
not ordinary Muslims."
Privilege, he said, is
evident in the easy ability of Muslims to win legal disputes with financial
penalties, payments from corporations who offend Islam, retractions from
newspapers and favors from government.
"I don't see any Hindu
stamps, and I don't see Hindus filing so many complaints," he said.
In a Commentary article
this month, Mr. Pipes listed the successes of American Muslims, including
Senate and White House resolutions against discrimination and Muslim median
household incomes of $69,000.
"This is not to deny
that some degree of bias against Muslims does exist," Mr. Pipes writes.
"But no immigrant community or non-Protestant religious group wholly escapes
such prejudice."
