The Issues That Matter to Muslim Americans

Source: Pew Research Study: Muslim Americans, Middle Class & Mostly Mainstream

Moral Issues

63% of American Muslims polled say they lean democratic, 11% lean republican & 26% are independent/no preference. Although Muslim Americans are mostly Democrats, when it comes to particular social issues they express even more conservative views then the majority of Americans. For example, 61% of Muslim Americans polled say that homosexuality is a way of life that should not be accepted by society. 27% of Muslim Americans believe that homosexuality should be accepted (more than I thought!) while 51% of the American public believe that homosexuality should be accepted.

-59% of Muslim Americans believe that the government should do more to protect morality

-29% of Muslim Americans worry that government is getting too involved in promoting morality.

The All-American Muslim

65% of American Muslims are foreign-born, this statistic has led many to infer that the majority of Muslim Americans are un-assimilated & carry a set of mores distinct from that of the larger American society. However this is simply untrue, the Pew Research Center’s study  Muslims Americans: Middle Class and Mostly Mainstream finds that “A comprehensive nationwide survey of Muslim Americans finds them to be largely assimilated, happy with their lives, and moderate with respect to many of the issues that have divided Muslims and Westerners around the world.”

The Colors of Islam

In the Eurocentric Western World, there is a clear preference for those with features associated with being white. Just as the Italian and Irish immigrants who were presented with the privileged title of being white in exchange for their ethnic identity, Muslim American immigrants must consider whether they want to adhere to the Melting Pot or the Salad Bowl. In the face of increasing Islamaphobia, some Muslim immigrants have traded in a part of their ethnic identity in order to become accepted by and assimilated into American society. 65% of American Muslims are foreign-born and this statistic has led many to infer that the majority of Muslim Americans are un-assimilated & carry a set of mores distinct from that of the larger American society. However this is simply untrue, the Pew Research Center’s study  Muslims Americans: Middle Class and Mostly Mainstream finds that “A comprehensive nationwide survey of Muslim Americans finds them to be largely assimilated, happy with their lives, and moderate with respect to many of the issues that have divided Muslims and Westerners around the world.” This same study also finds that 44% of foreig- born Muslims describe their race and ethnicity as white, 28% Asian, 18% mixed and 10% black. These stats report self-described race and ethnicities, rather than the previous stats on demographics which was based on region of birth and not on the preferred self-identification of an individual. This explains why only 5% of foreign-born Muslims are Europeans (less than 5% are white Europeans) yet a majority, 44%, of foreign born Muslims are “white”.

This is significant, because it shows that within the Muslim immigrant community there is a certain level of code switching because some ethnically non-white Muslims are able to pass as white. One must assume that there is a logical cost benefit analyses being done when someone decides to disown a part of their identity. Put simply, being seen as ‘white’ in America comes with its benefits. My theory is that Muslim Americans who self-identify as white and are preceded by the world as being such, encounter different challenges and thus may have certain distinct mores and interests from other members of the Muslim community.

Demographics of Muslim Americans

The majority of American Muslims are foreign born immigrants, coming from Arab nations and South Asian nations

-Of foreign born American Muslims 5% immigrated from Europe, 4% from Africa, and 6% from Europe

-A majority of foreign born Muslims immigrated to the U.S. between 1990-1999 & 2000-2007

Native born Muslims comprise 35% of the overall Muslim American population

-21% of Native born Muslims are converts while 14% were born into Islam

African Americans represent 20% of the Native born American Muslim population

The Legacy of Bush on Muslim America

The Bush presidency is more negatively received among Muslim Americans then the wider American community. According to the Pew Research Center’s study  Muslims Americans: Middle Class and Mostly Mainstream, “Muslim Americans’ views of President Bush’s job performance are highly negative. Indeed, while the president’s overall job approval rating is low nationwide (35% in April 2007), Muslims are less than half as likely as the general public to say that they approve of the way Bush is handling his job as president (15%)….Negative evaluations of Bush among Muslim Americans continue to the present. Only 15 % of Muslims (currently) say that they approve of Bush’s performance in office; more than four times as many (69%) say that they disapprove of Bush’s job performance. Again, there are few demographic or ideological differences in views of Bush; even self-described conservatives disapprove of Bush’s job performance”

The Politics of Muslims in America

The lack of dialog among Muslims within my local Mosques is really one of the reasons why I created this blog. In Muslim traditions, the Mosque was more than just a place for prayer and sermons. It was a place of live debate and an exchange of ideas and interpretations on spiritual and social matters relevant to the Muslim community. The mosque was often the center of political discourse in a Muslim society. Hence the theocratic nature of some Muslim societies. Furthermore, the political systems in Muslim societies were more nuanced than the two-party system here in America and other Western nations. I digress, the point is when Muslims immigrate from majority Muslim countries to Western societies with governments that are secular in theory, they are faced with an interesting political dilemma. That having been said, I am in no way suggesting that Muslims have any intentions of introducing Sharia Law or anything of the sort into Western societies. This is simply ridiculous because Islam urges Muslims to honor the laws of the societies in which they live. Furthermore, there are many varying interpretations of Islamic Law within the Muslim community. However the political dynamics of the West present an interesting set of dilemmas which divide the Muslim community along racial, ethnic, socio-economic and ideological lines.

The Trade Off: Here in the U.S., there is pretty much a two-party-system. Which means that there are pros and cons for being a Muslim in either party. For example if a Muslim votes as a liberal based on Islamic principles of social justice they must reconcile this with conservative Islamic interpretations on the immorality of abortions and gay rights, because the democratic party supports gay rights and is pro-choice. Similarly a Muslim who votes conservative because of the republican interest in traditional morality must reconcile this with the Islamaphobia and corporate greed that the republican party has come to represent.

What’s this have to do with the Mosques? Well Mosques reflect how politics can divide the Muslim community. As I stated previously, I feel that there is a lack of dialog in many American Mosques, this does not mean that certain Mosques don’t support a partisan perspective. In fact, most of the Mosques I have been to have leadership that is active in either the Liberal or Conservative party. Why is this a problem? There is nothing wrong with supporting a cause, as a Muslim I take an active role in American politics. The problem arises when Muslims with democratic principals only attend a particular mosque because it calls for social justice and conservative muslims only go to a particular mosque because it calls for the implementation traditional mores in America.

Politics is always a hot button issue. It makes people uncomfortable because it exposes extrinsic differences in upbringing, economic and social status. We Muslims take pride in seeing ourselves as a community united across differences by a shared faith. In many respects this is true, but we are not a monolith on every issue. Politics is an issue that does divide the Muslim community. My argument is that we in the American Muslim community should talk about it anyway. A discussion on politics should not be avoided, this only leads to people listening to isolated dogma on either side without having a lively exchange. When we understand the fundamentals of why Muslim Americans have varied political associations we can become even more united as a community.

 

Back…

My last post was around spring break & I promised you guys that I would analyze some of the stereotypical images we often see representing Middle Eastern/Muslim people (this is a link to the IME tumblr where i will post this series). I wanted to write a series of posts on this subject matter because I saw firsthand how my  Middle Eastern Muslim friends were constantly harassed. But then a few days later I read about Shaima Al-Awadi, a 32-year-old mother of five bludgeoned to near death in her own home (she would be taken of life support three days later). Prior to this attack Shaima’s family and other Muslims in the city of El-Cajon California had been receiving profanity laced hate mail and death threats demanding “go back to your country”. Furthermore, Shaima’s murderer(s) left a note beside her body in the same tone of hate and blind rage. Shaima’s murder got the attention of hundreds of youth across college campuses who held Hijab & Hoodies rallies to show support for both her and Trayvon Martin. Shaima’s case got my attention and I sent out many letters to news organizations and Mosques wondering why there was not more wide scale coverage of her case. After doing this I realized that the whole case and public reaction to it was more nuanced (link to abc story) then first meets the eye. Regardless of weather or not Shaima was murdered because she was Muslim, she still deserves justice. When I as a Muslim approached local Mosques in an effort to organize an event to help publicize Shaima’s case, I was given the cold shoulder. In some cases I understood the reasoning why, the Mosques could not comment on a case before the police determined it was a hate crime. However, some of the reasoning behind why certain Mosques refused to even discuss the issue disturbed me.

If Shaima’s death was the result of a hate crime, we need to talk about it. If Shaima’s death was authorized by her husband and covered up by her daughter, we still need to talk about it.