Sarah Palin – a Modern-day Medusa?

At the very outset I must admit that I did not vote for John McCain and Sarah Palin in the last U.S. presidential election. Forget her kowtowing to the neo-conservative, Likudnik, Christian Zionist cause, and harmful divisive views on everything that mattered from internal politics to international affairs, she appeared so vague and so damn stupid in her interview with Katie Couric that I could only take pity on those brain-dead supporters that voted for her and McCain. Well, I am not alone in that evaluation of Palin’s performance.

In her new book “Dirty Sexy Politics,” Meghan McCain, daughter of Senator McCain, says that Katie Couric’s interview with Palin before the vice presidential debate had been disastrous. Meghan writes, "Unhappy with her performance, Palin seemed to blame the interview on the campaign. And she continued to blame other poor interviews and snafus on the campaign too.”

The selection of Palin as a running mate for McCain itself was a blunder and shocked many voters and pundits. McCain’s daughter reveals the choice caused plenty of behind-the-scenes drama, too. She says that Palin brought “stress, drama, complications, panic and loads of uncertainty” to the campaign, and “she was turning out to be somebody who leaves a wake of confusion and chaos - to the point of dizziness - wherever she went.”

With such dismal performances in interviews which only highlighted how little she knew on anything, and how dull she was, it is a miracle that Palin did not have her political Waterloo. She is alive and kicking. In the post-election era, thanks to the media, she has been transformed into an iconoclastic voice within the neo-conservative and disgruntled section of the population, including the so-called Tea Party movement, and has emerged as the de facto Republican leader to resurrect the party. She endorses candidates, who appear to be winning. She’s got her own TV show. She appears in the Fox News. In November, “Sarah Palin’s Alaska” is set to premiere on TLC. Her daughter Bristol Palin, who gave birth to a child out-of-wedlock, will be competing on “Dancing With the Stars” this fall. Sarah is also going to Iowa to be the headliner at a Republican fundraiser. That state will be the first state to hold a contest in the 2012 presidential campaign.

Obviously, Sarah Palin has become a celebrity these days. In her spare time, she is charging $75,000 for each speaking engagement, to which she must be flown first class, as per her standard contract, or in a private plane that “must be a Lear 60 or larger.” And excuse her typos, she even Twitters!

Just as with any celebrity, people are interested to learn more about this former Miss Congeniality from Alaska. In a recent Vanity Fair profile, Michael Joseph Gross provides more than a glimpse to satiate people’s cravings. The author says he wanted to write a positive piece, but was shocked by what he learned as he researched his story on Sarah Palin.

“The worst stuff isn’t even in there,” Gross said on “Morning Joe” Thursday; “I couldn’t believe these stories either when I first heard them, and I started this story with a prejudice in her favor.” In the profile, Gross paints Palin as an abusive, retaliatory figure with an extreme ability to lie. “Her on-the-record statements about herself amount to a litany of untruths and half-truths… This is a person for whom there is no topic too small to lie about,” he said. “She lies about everything.”

Gross says, “Warm and effusive in public, indifferent or angry in private: this is the pattern of Palin’s behavior toward the people who make her life possible.” A onetime gubernatorial aide to Palin said to Gross, “The people who have worked for her—they’re broken, used, stepped on, down in the dust.” On the 2008 campaign trail, one close aide recalled, it was practically impossible to persuade Palin to take a moment to thank the kitchen workers at fund-raising dinners. During the campaign, Palin lashed out at the slightest provocation, sometimes screaming at staff members and throwing objects. Witnessing such behavior, one aide asked Todd Palin if it was typical of his wife. He answered, “You just got to let her go through it… Half the stuff that comes out of her mouth she doesn’t even mean.” When a campaign aide gingerly asked Todd whether Sarah should consider taking psychiatric medication to control her moods, Todd responded that she “just needed to run and work out more.” Her anger kept boiling over, however, and eventually the fits of rage came every day. Then, just as suddenly, her temper would be gone. Palin would apologize and promise to be nicer. Within hours, she would be screaming again. At the end of one long day, when Palin was mid-tirade, a campaign aide remembers thinking, “You were an angel all night. Now you’re a devil. Where did this come from?”

Palin gives the impression she is serious about family and promotes family values. According to Gross, some details of the Palins’ private life, however, suggest a reality at odds with Sarah’s image. In speeches, Palin pays tribute to the man she still calls “the First Dude” (husband Todd), but the reality is that the couple has considered a divorce.

Sarah Palin is nasty with everyone including her husband Todd with whom she had fought many times. Quoting a frequent houseguest of the Palins,’ Gross says that the couple began many mornings with screaming fights, a fusillade of curses: “‘F**k you,’ ‘F**k this,’ ‘You lazy piece of shit.’ ‘You’re f**n’ lucky to have me,’ Sarah would always say.” (This person never saw Todd and Sarah sleep in the same bed, and recalls that Todd would often joke, “I don’t know how she ever gets pregnant.”) According to Gross, whatever the nature of the relationship, “Todd is now as much a part of Sarah as Hillary Clinton is of Bill. Whether they like it or not, the Palins, like the Clintons, are probably stuck with each other.”

Palin presents her family as a religious family that finds strength in the teachings of the Bible. Of course, we know better from her teenage daughter’s sinful life! Sarah is now a grandma of a bastard child Tripp! Levi Johnston, the father of the kid, has posed nude for the Playgirl, and has trashed Palin for her hypocrisy. Gross tells us that even her children saw hypocrisy in her. A campaign aide is quoted by Gross as saying that one of the Palin children found her mother’s public displays of piety especially annoying. Though Palin prayed and read the Bible every night, aides never saw the family join her for devotionals. “You’re just putting on a show. You’re so fake,” one of the children said when Palin made a point of praying in front of other people. “This is not who you are. Why are you pretending to be something you’re not?”

Gross is not alone in unmasking Palin who is not the hockey-mom that people heard about during the last presidential election campaign. In an October 2009 issue, Levi Johnston mentioned, “The Palin house was much different from what many people expect of a normal family, even before she was nominated for vice president. There wasn’t much parenting in that house. Sarah doesn’t cook, Todd doesn’t cook—the kids would do it all themselves: cook, clean, do the laundry, and get ready for school. Most of the time Bristol, now 18, would help her youngest sister, Piper, 8, with her homework, and I’d barbecue chicken or steak on the grill. I only saw Sarah help Piper—the youngest before Trig—with homework a few times, and I’ve only seen her read a book to her once. I actually never saw Sarah reading much at all—once in a blue moon, I’d see her reading a book, and I’ve never seen her read a newspaper. The Frontiersman and the Anchorage Daily News were always there in the morning, but the only one who looked through them was Todd. The Palins didn’t have dinner together and they didn’t talk much as a family… Sarah was always in a bad mood and she was stressed out a lot. Sometimes she would wonder why she took the job as governor. It was too hard, she said; there was so much going on. Todd was always out in the garage working on his snow machines and drinking beer or screwing off… They’re good on television, but once the cameras would leave they didn’t talk to each other. In all the time Bristol and I were together, I’ve never seen them sleep in the same bedroom. (I don’t know how she got pregnant.) Even during the Republican National Convention they slept in different bedrooms at opposite ends of her suite… If Sarah and Todd did talk—they really don’t communicate at all—they were fighting… Sarah Palin has said she’s a hockey mom and a hunter, but that’s really not the case. She pays no attention to her kids when the cameras aren’t around.”

If you think that you have heard enough about Sarah Palin’s personal life, here are some more gems from Levi: “After Tripp was born, Sarah would pay more attention to our son than she would to her own baby, Trig. Sarah has a weird sense of humor. When she came home from work, Bristol and I would be holding Trig and Tripp. Sarah would call Trig—who was born with Down syndrome — “my little Down’s baby.” But I couldn’t believe it when she would come over to us and sometimes say, playing around, “No, I don’t want the retarded baby—I want the other one,” and pick up Tripp. That was just her—even her kids were used to it.”

Sarah Palin is vindictive and mean. Gross informs us that when Palin was mayor, she made life for one low-level municipal employee so miserable that the woman quit her job, sought psychiatric counseling, and then left the state altogether to escape Palin’s sphere of influence—this according to one person with firsthand knowledge of the situation. The woman did not want to be found.

This latest revelation from Gross should not come as a surprise to anyone who is familiar with the Troopgate – when Palin dismissed Public Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan. Monegan’s crime: he had resisted persistent pressure from Palin, her husband, and her staff, including State Attorney General Talis Colberg, to fire Palin’s ex-brother-in-law, Alaska State Trooper Mike Wooten; Wooten was involved in a child custody battle with Palin’s sister after a bitter divorce that included an alleged death threat against Palin's father.

For any politician, such true narratives in the Vanity Fair should have been enough to commit a political hara-kiri. But don’t expect such hara-kiri from Palin. She is a perennial politician who continues to amuse and amaze gullible voters. As I have noted earlier about the near-Ground Zero Muslim cultural center controversy, with the right-wing media, morons, bigots and extremists behind her, she can transform a local issue into a national issue, and who knows may be an international one into making!

Like Gingrich, Giuliani, Lazio, Pat Toomey, and many Republican leaders today, Sarah Palin is a political opportunist who knows how to stoke fear and bank on fear-mongering. Politics with racism and bigotry is always easy by painting the “other” group (often a minority) as sub-humans or harmful beings that are bent on taking “control”. But as every student of history knows by now fear-mongering is a way of the fascists and Nazis. It does not lead to peace and security. It does not belong in a society that claims to be open, plural and forward-looking, a model of a modern liberal democracy that integrates and not divides. The likes of Sarah Palin are an anathema to that very principle and must therefore be defeated.

Asked about Palin’s political future, Gross said it depends on what the media lets her get away with. “If we decide to let her keep lying and getting away with it, she’s gonna still be around,” he said. “But if we start returning to the standard that a politician has to talk with people, and a politician has to tell the truth, then she’s outta here, because she can’t stand up to that.” Gross is right.

But will American public listen and disown the modern-day Medusas, Hecates, and fork-tongued hypocrites?

The Nazi Hunter Simon Wiesenthal was an Israeli Mossad Agent

The September 2 issue of the New York Times has a very interesting piece on Simon Wiesenthal, the Nazi-hunter. For too long he was considered the lone Nazi hunter having no connection with the Israeli government. But some of us always entertained doubt with that narrative. My view was that he worked intimately with the Israeli secret service - the Mossad. The NY Times article now confirms that suspicion.

Tom Segev, the author of the new book “Simon Wiesenthal: The Life and Legends,” says that Mr. Wiesenthal was first employed by the political department of the Israeli Foreign Ministry, a forerunner to the Mossad, and then by the agency itself. It financed his first office in Vienna in 1960, paid him a monthly salary and provided him with an Israeli passport, the biography says. Mr. Wiesenthal’s codename was “Theocrat.” His main task was to help locate Nazi criminals, including Eichmann, one of the architects of the Final Solution, and especially to watch out for neo-Nazis and provide information on the activities of former Nazis in Arab countries, the book says. Mr. Wiesenthal’s role in the 1960 capture of Eichmann has been a matter of dispute. Isser Harel, the former Mossad head, now dead, claimed that the Nazi hunter deserved no credit.

Christianity Today endorses a bigot

I just came across an article in Christianity Today. Its editor is David Neff who wrote an article “Give Franklin Graham Some Slack—and Some Credit,” which is problematic on several grounds. By writing such praises for one of the worst chauvinists of our time, the editor has shown that the paper promotes bigotry.

Neff endorses Franklin Graham’s offensive remarks about Islam. This is a sickening display of selective amnesia when one finds worst kinds of crimes committed in the name of Christianity over the last two millennia. Just in Iraq alone, Franklin Graham and his spiritual student George W. Bush killed more than a million innocent Iraqi Muslims, all under the false pretext of finding never-to-be-found WMDs. Is lying kosher in Christianity? Is killing human beings kosher in Christianity?

And then Franklin Graham had the audacity to appear in Iraq with his Samaritan Purse, which did not fool anyone as to where his motivation lied. It was not helping unarmed and maimed Iraqis, thanks to his own evil preaching in favor of war (and not peace), but to steal the souls of those victims.

Shame on Christianity Today and David Neff for endorsing a murderous bigot whose very preaching was responsible for two devastating wars that not only killed more than a million innocent human beings on the other side but also thousands of patriotic American soldiers.

Are politicians like prostitutes and pimps?

In an earlier article, I have compared politicians as prostitutes and pimps. I have also mentioned that fortunately there are some exceptions to this rule, where I mentioned amongst others the New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

As to why I sounded so negative about the politicians, just remind yourself with what John McCain and Joe Lieberman had said during the 2008 primary election. When McCain was endorsed by John Hagee, McCain said he was "very honored" to receive this endorsement and, when asked about some of Hagee's more twisted views, responded: "all I can tell you is that I am very proud to have Pastor John Hagee's support."

McCain's sainted supporter, Joe Lieberman, spoke to Hagee's group in 2007 and lavished him with such obsequious praise that Lieberman actually compared Hagee, favorably, to Moses.

Now who is this John Hagee? He is, of course, the white evangelical who is the pastor of a sprawling "mega-church" in Texas. He is the President and CEO of John Hagee Ministries, which telecasts his national radio and television ministry carried in the United States on 160 TV stations, 50 radio stations, and eight networks, including The Inspiration Network (INSP), Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN), and Inspiration Now TV. He is also the founder and National Chairman of the Christian-Zionist organization Christians United for Israel, incorporated on February 7, 2006. As I noted elsewhere that many of these evangelists are not only parasites they actually live immoral lives. Ted Haggard, Jim Schwartz are well known examples. Hagee is no different either. Published reports suggest that he contradicts himself time and again in his personal life. In 1975 he was the leader of the charismatic Trinity Church and was the father of two children. He had an adulterous affair with a woman and admitted to immorality in front of his church. Pastor John Hagee then divorced the mother of his two children and married a younger woman (Diana Castro, now Diana Hagee) from that same congregation. Pastor John Hagee willfully abused his position of trust and power to take advantage of a younger gullible woman and cheat on his wife. Now he is the pastor of another congregation- the Cornerstone Church in San Antonio Texas.

Many would call him a hateful bastard, a bigot, a religious crusader who does not know right from wrong. His offensive remarks against Muslims and gay and lesbians are well known (e.g., right after Katrina hurricane, Hagee said, "God caused Hurricane Katrina to wipe out New Orleans because it had a gay pride parade the week before and was filled with sexual sin.").

Because of his pro-Israel views these days, Hagee is a darling amongst the Likudniks and many Christian Zionists. But do people know about what he had said about the Jews?
Hagee has made statements that are antisemitic, including blaming the Holocaust on Jews, stating that Adolf Hitler carried out a divine plan to lead Jews to form the modern state of Israel, calling liberal Jews "poisoned" and "spiritually blind," and stating that the preemptive nuclear attack on Iran that he favors will lead to the deaths of most Jews in Israel.
"It was the disobedience and rebellion of the Jews, God's chosen people, to their covenantal responsibility to serve only the one true God, Jehovah, that gave rise to the opposition and persecution that they experienced beginning in Canaan and continuing to this very day... Their own rebellion had birthed the seed of antisemitism that would arise and bring destruction to them for centuries to come.... it rises from the judgment of God upon his rebellious chosen people."
In another sermon, Hagee blamed American economic problems on the fact that the Federal Reserve System is controlled by "a group of Class A stockholders, including the Rothschilds." In the same series, Hagee further asserted that the Rothschilds, who are Jewish, were part of a wide-ranging conspiracy of "international power brokers based in Europe."

How about the Catholics? John Hagee calls the Catholic Church 'The Great Whore,' an 'apostate church,' the 'anti-Christ,' and a 'false cult system' . . . .

In Hagee's book, Jerusalem Countdown, he calls Hitler a Catholic who murdered Jews while the Catholic Church did nothing. 'The sell-out of Catholicism to Hitler began not with the people but with the Vatican itself,' he writes. He also states that the Roman Catholic Church "plunged the world into the Dark Ages," allowed for the Crusaders to rape and murder with impunity, and called for Jews to be treated as "Christ killers". (p. 73)

How about McCain supporter Rudy Giuliani? Just a few months into the 2008 primary election, Rudy stood on the same stage and gushed with gratitude over the endorsement by Rev. Pat Robertson of his presidential bid. That's the same Rev. Robertson who, among so many things, said that Ariel Sharon's stroke was God's punishment for giving up Gaza and the 9/11 attack was divine retribution against America -- America's fault -- for tolerating gays, feminists and the ACLU.

And yet these evil people promoting hatred and xenophobia are the most coveted items for political endorsement, especially so amongst the GOP, the Republicans. It is not difficult to understand why America is becoming increasingly intolerant of minorities. A church in Gainesville, Florida wants to burn the Qur'an on 9/11/2010 to show their hatred of Islam. Just a few hours ago, building materials at a Tennessee site for a proposed mosque were set on fire. Where will such bigotry end?

These white evangelical Ministers are free to advocate American wars based on Biblical mandates, rant hatefully against Islam, and argue that natural disasters occur because God hates gay people. They are slick marketers who play upon people's fears and hatreds to make money and push their insane policy ideas. As noted two years ago by Greenwald in a salon.com article, sadly, these hateful ministers "are still fit for good company, an important and cherished part of our mainstream American political system. The entire GOP establishment is permitted actively to lavish them with praise and court their support without the slightest backlash or controversy. Both George Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert sent formal greetings to the 2006 gathering of Hagee's group."

It is not difficult to understand why I said what I said about such politicians.

[Interested readers may like to read Billy Graham's views on Jews by clicking here.]

Ramadan – the month of self-restraint

The blessed month of Ramadan is upon us. To a Muslim no other month is as meritorious as this particular month is when the reward of every good deed done is multiplied several times. It is not difficult to understand why the Prophet Muhammad (S) said that fasting is like a curtain against the Hellfire. It is also the month when the Qur’an was sent down as a guide to mankind – with clear signs for guidance and judgment between right and wrong. As instructed in the Qur’an every able bodied Muslim who is not ill or on a journey is obligated to fast the entire month from dawn to dusk (2:185). In that practice, Muslims are also reminded that it is something that was also prescribed to people who came before them so that they may learn self-restraint (2:183). Thus, teaching self-restraint is the essence of fasting.

Probably at no other time in America is this message more relevant than this Ramadan. Truly, it has been a very difficult month for most Muslim Americans who are viciously attacked both verbally and physically by the anti-Muslim bigots and chauvinists. Last week a Bangladeshi-American taxi cab driver was stabbed severely by a young white Christian student who not too long ago was an embedded photo-journalist with the American forces in Afghanistan. The published reports also suggest that the attacker was affiliated with a group that had supported the construction of a Muslim cultural center in Lower Manhattan. If this report is true then it is perhaps not difficult to understand what religiously intolerant messages spewed out by bigots -- Christian ministers like Franklin Graham and John Hagee, and Republican politicians like Newt Gingrich, Sarah Palin, and Rudy Giuliani -- can do to anyone.

For the GOP, i.e., the Republicans Islamophobia is the new anti-communism. As a result of such onslaught on Islam, many Muslim houses of worship are vandalized and discrimination against Muslims is at an all time high. On August 28 equipment at the construction site of the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro in Tennessee was set on fire. In June, someone broke the sign at the future site of the center. Previously, the words "Not Welcome" were spray-painted on the sign. On the ninth anniversary of 9/11, a Christian church wants to burn the Qur’an.

A recently published Pew Research Center poll reported that more Americans now have unfavorable than favorable views of Islam by 38 percent to 30 percent. In 2005, it was reversed: 41 percent had favorable views, 36 percent unfavorable. Republicans voiced negative views of Muslims by more than 2-1, with 54 voicing unfavorable views and 21 percent giving positive ones. Obviously, America is failing in its role as a nation that values religious tolerance.

In spite of such hateful barrages, Muslims should practice self-restraint and avoid any heated discussion that can be counterproductive. They have the noble examples of their beloved Prophet Muhammad (S) and his companions to follow.

The tenth year of the Prophetic mission of Muhammad (S) was a sad one. He had lost his wife – Khadija (R) and uncle - Abi Talib who had tried to protect him for years against the pagans. To make things worse, Abu Lahab, an uncle of the Prophet and an ardent enemy of Islam, had now become the chief of the clan; and the Prophet was ill-treated as never before. On one occasion a passer-by leaned over his gate and tossed a piece of putrefying offal into his cooking pot; and once when he was praying in the courtyard of his house, a man threw over him a sheep’s uterus filthy with blood and excrement. On another occasion, when the Prophet (S) was coming from the Ka’bah, a man took a handful of dirt and threw it in his face and head. When he returned home, one of his daughters washed him clean of it, weeping while the Prophet (S) reassured her, “Weep not, little daughter, Allah will protect your father.”

It was then that he decided to seek help from the Thaqif, the people of Ta’if – a decision that eloquently reflected the apparent gravity of his situation in Makkah. Accompanied by his disciple, Zaid ibn Haritha, Muhammad (S) came to Ta’if. On his arrival, he went straight to the house of three brothers who were the leaders of Thaqif at that time, the sons of ‘Amr ibn Umayyah. When the Prophet (S) invited them to Islam and asked them to help him against his opponents, they abused him verbally. So the Prophet rose to leave them, perhaps intending to try elsewhere in Ta’if; but when he had left them they stirred their slaves and retainers to insult him and shout at him, until a crowd of people were gathered together against him who started pelting stones at him. His feet started bleeding. Zaid himself was injured with a head injury. The Prophet could not walk any longer. But the unbelievers put him on his feet and again resumed throwing stones at him. Ultimately, the Prophet (S) was forced to take refuge in a private orchard. Once he had entered it the crowd began to disperse, and, tethering his camel to a palm tree, he made for the shelter of a vine and sat in its shade.

When he felt himself to be in safety and at peace, Muhammad (S) prayed: “O God, unto You do I complain of my weakness, of my helplessness, and of my lowliness before men. O Most Merciful of the merciful, You are the Lord of the weak. And You are my Lord, Unto whose hands will you entrust me, unto some far off stranger who will ill-treat me? Or unto a foe whom You have empowered against me? I care not, so You be not wroth with me. But Your favoring help – that were for me the broader way and the wider scope! I take refuge in the Light of Your Countenance whereby all darknesses are illumined and the things of this world and the next are rightly ordered, lest You make descend Your anger upon me, or lest Your wrath beset me. Yet is it Yours to reproach until You are well pleased. There is no power and no might except through You.”

After he had made the supplication, Muhammad (S) looked up. He saw a cloud providing shade to him and in that cloud was seated the Angel Jibril (Gabriel). Jibril said, “Allah has heard what your community has said and He had also witnessed what the people of Ta’if had done to you. He has sent you the Angel who is entrusted with the mountains. Whatever you command, he will carry it out.”

The Angel who is entrusted with the mountains approached Muhammad (S) and said, “O Muhammad, I am the Angle of Mountains. I am at your command. If you command me I shall destroy this town by smashing it with the Mountain Akhshab.”

At this moment of trial, what the Prophet of mercy had to say simply surprised the Angel. The Prophet (S) said, “I beg forgiveness for them. Even if these people do not accept Islam, I do hope from Allah that there will emerge from there a people submissive unto Him who will not associate any partners to Him.”

No man has ever uttered such words for those who caused so much suffering. But such was the person Muhammad (S). No wonder that he is described in the Qur’an as the Rahmatal-lil ‘alameen -- the mercy to the entire universe (21:107)!

In later years, when asked by his wife A’isha (R) if there was ever a more troubling moment in his life than that of Uhud, the Prophet (S) replied, “I had the most troubling time in Ta’if.”

It was all too natural for the Prophet of Islam to forgive all his tormentors on the day of the conquest of Makkah some ten years later. After entering the city of his birth from where he was forced to flee, Muhammad (S) performed the ritual tawaf (encircling of the Ka'bah) on his camel, surrounded by the Muslims. When he had finished, he said, 'There no divinity except Allah and He has no partner. Men and women of Quraysh be not proud for all are equal; we are all the sons of Adam, and Adam was made of dust.' Then he recited this verse to them:
In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
O mankind! Lo! We have created you male and female, and have made you nations and tribes so that you may know each another. Surely the noblest of you, in the sight of Allah, is the best in conduct. Lo! Allah is All-knowing, All-aware. (Qur’an xlix.13)

After this he said to them: 'O Quraysh, what do you think I am going to do to you?' The people thought carefully before answering because they knew that according to the laws of war they could all be taken prisoners. They also knew, however, that the Prophet Muhammad (S) was generous, so they replied, ‘You will treat us as a kind nephew and a generous brother would.' To this he replied with the words used by the Prophet Joseph when his brothers came to Egypt: 'God forgives you and He is the Most Merciful of the merciful.' Later the Prophet (S) went to the hill of Safa and there the crowd followed him and surged forward, taking his hand one by one, to declare their faith in Islam. He then turned to the Ka'bah and, pointing his staff at the three hundred and sixty-five idols, which were placed there, recited from the Qur’an:
In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful
… Truth has come and falsehood has vanished away.
Lo! Falsehood is ever bound to vanish.
(Qur’an 17:81)

At this, each idol fell over onto its face. Together with his followers the Prophet (S) then proceeded to purify the Ka'bah, after which he ordered Bilal (RA), the Abyssinian companion, to climb on top of it and perform the call to prayer.

Since then the call to prayer has been heard five times a day in Makkah. The Ka'bah has served the purpose for which it was built by Abraham thousands of years ago -- as a sanctuary for the worship of Allah, our Creator, and Makkah continues to be the spiritual center of Islam. That nascent faith of Islam has now grown to become the faith of some 1.6 billion people in our planet. No fear-mongering and xenophobia will be able to stop a faith that is global and growing fast.

(Speech delivered at the Ramadan celebration in the Trinity Church, Swarthmore College, Pennsylvania on August 28, 2010. The stories are extracted from the author’s upcoming book – The Book of Devotional Stories in Islam, pub. A.S. Noordeen, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.)

Hate Crime in New York - cabbie stabbed

As I feared, Islamophobia has its latest victim in a hate crime that saw a Muslim cab driver in New York city severely stabbed several times by a White American. The Republican leaders and right wing conservative talk show hosts cannot escape from being held responsible for spreading hate crime against Muslims. Such propaganda and hatemongering is sure to bring the worst from bigots and chauvinists.

Here is the report from the USA Today:
NEW YORK — A Manhattan cabbie who was stabbed Tuesday night by a Putnam County man questioned Wednesday whether the attack stemmed from the contentious debate over creating a mosque near ground zero.

Ahmed H. Sharif, 43, of Queens, was stabbed several times by Michael Enright, 21, of Southeast, N.Y., after Enright had asked Sharif if he was Muslim and the cabbie responded that he was, a police spokesman said.

When officers responded to the scene around 6:15 p.m. Tuesday, Sharif was outside the vehicle, suffering from stab wounds, after attempting to lock Enright inside the cab, a police spokesman said. Enright escaped but was captured nearby by police.

The charges against Enright include attempted murder as a hate crime.

In a statement Wednesday the from New York Taxi Workers Alliance, Sharif warned his fellow cabbies.

"Right now the public sentiment is very serious" because of the ground zero mosque debate, he said. "All drivers should be more careful."

Sharif, who was treated at Bellevue Hospital for stab wounds to his arms, throat and face, said the incident made him sad.

"I have been here more than 25 years. I have been driving a taxi more than 15 years. All my four kids were born here. I never feel this hopeless and insecure before," he said.

It was Sharif's first fare of his shift.

Enright, a 2007 graduate of Brewster High School and an aspiring filmmaker, recently returned from Afghanistan, where he filmed Marines as part of a project for the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan, where he is a student. In Afghanistan, he was embedded with a Marines Corps crew that included his fellow Brewster High graduate, Cpl. Alex Eckner.

Enright was highly intoxicated when he hailed the cab, the police spokesman said. Once inside the cab, Enright asked Sharif whether Sharif was Muslim. When Sharif responded yes, Enright stabbed him several times with some type of utility knife.

According to the statement from the Taxi Workers Alliance, Enright's conversation with Sharif started out friendly, with Enright asking the cabbie where he was from, how long he had been in America, if he was Muslim and if he was observing Ramadan.

Enright then went silent before suddenly cursing and screaming, the statement said.

He then shouted "'Assalamu Alaikum,' common among Muslims as a wish for peace, before pulling out the knife and slashing Sharif across the neck and stabbing several more times as Sharif tried to knock it out of Enright's hands, the alliance said.

Enright was charged with attempted second-degree murder as a hate crime, first-degree assault, felonies, aggravated harassment and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon, misdemeanors. He is awaiting arraignment.

Enright also worked with Intersections International, a Manhattan-based, multifaith and multicultural effort that seeks to promote justice and peace. Messages left with the School of Visual Arts and Intersections International were not immediately returned.

Islamophobia is on the rise in the USA

There is no doubt that Islamophobia is on the rise. It is no longer an isolated issue that is thriving in some bigotry-ridden corner in Europe. Thanks to its evil promoters, the beast has become a global phenomenon today. One such promoter is the group called Stop the Islamization of Europe (SIOE), which is led by Anders Gravers. As is evident from its motto “Islamophobia is the height of common sense,” the group doesn’t sugar-coat its bigotry. The group has its American equivalent in Stop the Islamization of America (SIOA), which was created by anti-Muslim bloggers, bigots and militants Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer. One may recall that in 2008, Geller announced that Barack Hussein Obama is not, as previously reported, the son of Barack Hussein Obama, Sr., but rather the illegitimate son of Malcolm X. In a 2009 blog she called for the destruction of the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem. Sadly, conservative politicians and the media in the USA continue to lend her insanity credence thereby destroying whatever slender base of credibility that they had.

Florida's Dove World Outreach Center recently announced its plan for "International Burn a Koran Day" on 9/11, as a way to what it claims "stand up for righteousness." These Christian bigots are emboldened by many Republican politicians who are trying to reclaim their leadership amongst the right-wing, conservative, racist and bigoted section of their support base. And for them, fascists by many counts, nothing could be more politically expedient than targeting a minority religion whose 19 members reportedly had the audacity to strike back in a classic blowback style. Obviously, when the hunter gets hunted it is no fun any more; it loses its wit and behaves like a stinking sewage rat. So, the religion of Islam, the faith of 1.5 billion Muslims, has to be evil! What else can explain the “terrorism” of those hijackers on 9/11!

Unfortunately, xenophobia sells, as it did in places like Nazi Germany some eighty years ago. With a deflationary economy that has yet to show a recovery sign from the almost-trillion dollar stimulus package and unending wars in Iraq and Af-Pak territories it is not difficult to fathom why the fascist elements within the American society are selling this poison pill of Islamophobia.

Take for instance the statements made by Newt Gingrich, the former speaker of the House of the Representatives in the USA, in relation to his opposition to the proposed construction of a Muslim cultural center in Lower Manhattan. The Muslim site is several hundred yards away from the former WTC and yet, if you listen to bigots like Gingrich, it would seem that the proposed site is right in the middle of the Ground Zero. He has argued, among other chauvinist and highly offensive things, that the Muslim congregation shouldn't build the center because "Nazis don't have the right to put up a sign next to the Holocaust Museum in Washington." Just in one such xenophobic outburst he has equated American Muslims with the Nazis. For years, this immoral politician has been dreaming about a political comeback, and for him nothing could be more opportunistic than selling fear of a growing Islamic polity. Sarah Palin has weighed in, too, in opposing the "Ground Zero mosque." The pain, she said, is "too raw, too real." Surely, with a bastard grandchild now she ought to know this “pain” better than most American grandmas!

Every Republican now imagines to have discovered the winning formula to either get reelected or unseat their Democratic opponent in the coming elections. The message has not lost its mark amongst vulnerable Democratic candidates either. The Senate Majority leader Harry Reid, a spineless politician, had no moral qualms in opposing the endorsement of the president. Even the president himself looked less than presidential and credible with his flip-flop remarks to reporters just within 24 hours of his earlier statement in a White House Iftar party that favored the construction of the Muslim cultural center. It was a sickening display that lacked wisdom and courage!

Karl Rove, perhaps former president George W. Bush's closest adviser in the White House, said in an interview last Wednesday on ABC News that Obama did "real damage to America's standing in the world by this inconsistent and incoherent answer that he gave Friday night with a different answer on Saturday morning." He is right.

The offensive statements from mainstream politicians against Islam and its people are sure to damage America’s liberal and open society image abroad. The opposition to the proposed Muslim center would be the greatest gift delivered on a platinum plate to the very al-Qaeda that America claims fighting since 9/11.

As I noted earlier, not all politicians are like prostitutes and pimps. Mayor Michael Bloomberg has epitomized religious tolerance with his historic speech at the Governors Island. Democratic Rep. Jerrold Nadler is another honorable mention in this fight against bigotry. He is New York City's most outspoken supporter of the Muslim congregation's right to build the center. In an interview with the Washington Post, he said, "It's disgusting," of the remarks by Gingrich and other Republicans who rarely expressed support for the city. "It is an attempt to exploit for purely political motives a sensitive issue. And to exploit people they obviously don't really care about." "It's only a slap in the face if you think that the people in the congregation are responsible for al-Qaeda." "Jews, of all people, should know that we have to support religious liberty," he said. "Because if you can block a mosque, you can block a synagogue."

The sad fact is that many minority Americans may not fathom the wisdom behind such a powerful statement from Nadler unless being victimized themselves in hate crimes. However, it would be utter stupidity to ignore lessons from history!

Many of the opponents to the Muslim project are outsiders who don’t have a clue as to how lower Manhattan even looks like. As noted by a New York columnist red cranes may slowly be rebuilding Ground Zero, but they are surrounded by a vibrant cityscape: doughnut shops and strip clubs and churches and mosques and synagogues and off-track betting parlors and podiatry centers. It would be insane to claim holiness for everything that is located within blocks of the Ground Zero.

As noted by Rabbi Arthur Waskow in a message published in The American Muslim, the Muslim real-estate developer who bought the proposed site fell in love with the patterns of Jewish Community Centers and Y’s in Manhattan. He sought land for such a center where Muslims in Lower Manhattan could reach it – and was ready to buy space on 23rd Street, till the financing fell through. He was not focused on the tip of Manhattan. But then space did become available –—not, as falsely claimed by some anti-Muslim bigots, on “hallowed ground”—but two long New York City blocks from Ground Zero, and hidden from the WTC site by tall buildings in the way. Thanks to the ill-intentioned propaganda and media carelessness, no, scratch it, call it – media meddling instead, the Muslim site came to be portrayed as the “Ground Zero Mosque”; all that geography and honorable intention of a proven Muslim visionary and leader Imam Faisel A. Rauf have lost their real meanings today.

It is probably not too late to remind fellow Americans with what our first President George Washington wrote, in a letter to the synagogue of Newport, Rhode Island, in 1790, during his very first year in office. He wrote: “For happily the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection, should demean themselves as good citizens.

“May the Children of the Stock of Abraham, who dwell in this land, continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other inhabitants; while every one shall sit under his own vine and fig tree, and there shall be none to make him afraid.”
It is altogether worthy that our 44th president has echoed the first one: To bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance. I wish the president had the hindsight to stand by such messages when push came to shove. Leaders simply cannot be populists, but must set examples of higher moral values.

While it is altogether worthy that our 44th president has echoed the first one -- To bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance -- I wish he had the hindsight and moral fortitude to stand by such messages when push came to shove. He sadly failed there. It is this failure in leadership which has largely contributed to making Islamophobia as mainstream American as apple pie is on a dinner table.

Leaders simply cannot be populists, but must set examples of higher moral values. They must rise above their histories, their constituencies, their pollsters, their circumstances, and their politics to do what is right even though this may not be popular.

As noted by many experts, Islamophobia has become this century’s anti-Semitism. The role of the media is no less deplorable in allowing this dangerous trend to emerge. They must now take the lead to stop this monster before its caustic effects are felt worldwide.

As to the American voters, they can start the very process of nailing a deathblow to this mortal enemy of mankind by refusing to elect the messengers and promoters of hatred and religious intolerance.

So here comes the test for the soul of America: will it cheer lead Islamphobia or put a stopper to it?