Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, April 2000, pages 62, 78

Mahjabeen’s Musings: A Pakistani-American Pilgrim Along the American Way

Stand Up and Be Counted

By Mahjabeen Islam-Husain

January 3 was a day of achievement in the Toledo area, where a number of Arab and Muslim Americans stood for places in the Ohio delegation to the Democratic national convention, and, happily, two were elected as delegates. Needless to say, it happened because there were a large number of their supporters in the audience, which did the electing on the spot.

A delegate to the national conventions has the opportunity to vote for the presidential candidate of the party, the adoption of the national party platform and to work with local campaigns. Even by the time this edition of the Washington Report reaches subscribers, there will still be some states where Muslim and Arab Americans can compete to be elected as delegates to the Republican and Democratic national conventions. To find out more, all that is needed is a call to your local party office, where the information is available.

It is vital that we seize this incredible opportunity for Muslims in the United States. Across the land we have gained unprecedented visibility. With the laudable work of many organizations, and particularly the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) on behalf of Muslim Americans, newspapers across the country carry reports of job discrimination or harassment of Muslims and the very effective solutions worked out with employers or community authorities by CAIR.

Another happy development was the solution to the problem of who would host the annual Eid al-Fitr gathering at the White House, a tradition started in 1996 by first lady Hillary Clinton in cooperation with the American Muslim Council. This year Ms. Clinton was conducting her senatorial campaign in New York. So President Bill Clinton picked up the slack.

The happy result: The Muslims got the president to themselves, and the powerful Jewish vote in New York didn’t get turned off this year by a first lady who, in the words of a Zionist extremist in 1996, “invited terrorists to the White House.”

The reality is that Muslims now number 6 to 8 million in the United States. Such numbers, particularly because they are concentrated in major metropolitan areas, can turn many an election campaign if the individual Muslim voters and potential voters are mobilized and motivated appropriately.

“We shall not be spectators but active participants in the American political arena.”

One issue that has come to the fore in this election year is the proposed Secret Evidence Repeal Act. Since all but two of some 30 persons who have been held, or still are being held, on secret evidence are Arab Muslims (and the two Christians are closely associated with Muslims), this is an issue which must galvanize Muslims. In fact, without their participation it won’t be solved.

In the 1996 presidential election national Muslim leaders considered a bloc endorsement of a presidential candidate. The initiative died, partly because neither candidate was convinced that Muslims really would turn out as a bloc to support the candidate chosen by their leaders, and partly because the Muslim leaders were divided among themselves (meaning the candidates were probably justified). An incredible opportunity thus was lost. To let the year 2000 elections pass without united Muslim action would be inexcusable.

The main thrust to become politically effective should be to stand for public office, mobilize the entire Muslim community to register to vote, and to lobby for issues important to Muslims. There is a strange dichotomy among the Muslims of North America. There are those (and I feel these are in the majority) who remain subdued, apologetic and acquiescent. In their minds, living from day to day is struggle enough and politics is the impossible dream. They almost invariably feel that political involvement means having loads of money. Even though Muslims may well be on the threshold of a dream, the cynical uninvolved Muslims can’t quite adjust to this and feel that our time could not possibly have come.

The minority is a spirited lot indeed—epitomized by Dr. Agha Saeed of the American Muslim Alliance (AMA), Nihad Awad of CAIR, and Omar Ahmed, a founder of CAIR and of the newly established American Muslims for Jerusalem (AMJ), to name but three. Their confidence is impressive and their message is positive: “We have every right to be here, and we shall not be spectators but active participants in the American political arena.” These are not immigrants satisfied with the American dream, but activists who are actively shaping the future of America.

The time of the Americanized, apologetic Muslim is gone. Hijab and accent notwithstanding, in every walk of life this breed of spirited Muslims is providing Americans a true picture of the Islamic way of life, and how much America can benefit from the values of its Muslim citizens, a true blend of compassion and conservatism. The days of Mo (Mohammed) and Huss (Hussain) have passed. It is now politically correct to enunciate those tongue twisters—even mouthfuls like “Mahjabeen.”

A Town Hall Meeting

The Arab American Institute (AAI) organized a town hall meeting in Toledo on Feb. 13 which was addressed by Representatives Nick Rahall (D-WV) and Marcy Kaptur (D-OH), her challenger, family physician D. Bryan, and by representatives of the Democratic and Republican parties. The audience was grateful for the presence of living, breathing members and would-be members of Congress, but some of the speeches tended toward warm and fuzzies prior to the question-and-answer session. It is annoying to think that many politicians and candidates for office consider Muslims and Arabs in such a neonatal state of political awareness that just showing up, without preparing themselves on “our issues,” will humble and ingratiate us.

Some naiveté (actually ignorance) was uncomfortably evident, when the question of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and repeal of the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (which authorizes the use of secret evidence) were discussed. Most of the politicians did not even know that federal authorities were using secret evidence, meaning that they were detaining and deporting foreign-born U.S. residents on evidence that neither they nor their attorneys were allowed to see and defend themselves against. The visitors were embarrassingly reminded by a member of the audience that a prominent newspaper had published a lengthy report about this just two days earlier.

I must wonder what politicians think will be important to Arab Americans, if not issues that are burning here and now. Most of the haranguing was done by the audience, whilst some of the speakers fumbled.

Perhaps George W. Bush, John McCain, Al Gore and Bill Bradley have a functional knowledge of these issues, and their assistants are too overloaded with data on too many issues to have an intelligent discussion. But we must make clear that we won’t just settle for good intentions. As a now-vocal community, quickly finding its political footing, it is our right not to just choose among the above, but also to know whether the candidates care enough about issues affecting us to educate themselves and their representatives on where they stand on our issues.

The process of Muslim-American and Arab-American participation in politics has begun. It is vital that we work together in a dedicated fashion, increase voter registration and then turn out for the primaries.

That should help us gather enough steam to vote as a unified Muslim bloc for a presidential candidate and representatives to Congress in November. If we are not result-oriented now, we will easily set ourselves back at least a decade, particularly if the presidential race shapes up as one between candidates with clearly contrasting positions on issues important to us, like Jerusalem and human rights for Palestinians, as now seems increasingly likely.

The process may be arduous but we need to think of it as pleasant stress or fun work. We must not be satisfied by vague terms such as “diversity” and “choice” and “democracy.” We must demand informed discussion and relevant answers—nothing less.

It’s time to stand up and be counted in election year 2000—not just as nameless voters with vaguely defined agendas, but for who we are and what we stand for.

Dr. Mahjabeen Islam-Husain is a Sunni Muslim Pakistan-born family practice physician living in the Midwest. She and her husband, a Pakistan-born Shi’i Muslim who also is a physician, have three daughters, and both are active in their local Islamic communities and in national Muslim-American affairs. She may be reached via e-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it