A Muslim Father’s Pertinent and Valuable Prescription
For his Children
Distressed by Donald Trump and Jihadi Terrorism
These days the most burning topic for we Muslims is our reaction to the bloody rampage of ISIS and Al Qaeda and the outburst of Donald Trump. In this context there was an exchange of emails in our circle. I would like to share these two emails with you all. It may help you to decide your line of thinking for the best Muslim approach. May be some of you may like to give us a feedback. After all, this is our common problem,
The first email was sent to some of the members of our Circle:
Sent from my iPhone
Begin forwarded message:
From: Ibad
Date: December 20, 2015 at 12:12:04 PM CST
At the democratic debate on Saturday, one of the candidates, Martin O'Malley, mentioned this very touching statement by my nephew, Kashif Firozvi:
The other night, my kids asked me a difficult question about what they heard Trump say on TV. Despite our efforts to shield them from the news, they saw enough to be scared. Here is my letter to them.
My Dear Sons,
The other night, you both asked me something that I did not know how to answer. “Where are we going to go if Trump wins and he kicks us out of our home?” The truth is that, I never could imagine that this question would be asked of me in my country, in my lifetime, by my child. The United States of America is the only country we have ever known. It is our home. It is where you and I were born. It is the country your grandfather loved so much that he was proud to pay taxes because he couldn’t fight for this country on account of the tears in his kids. It is the country whose love and kindness was reminded to me every year when Grandma Braeckel sent me a birthday card and a 10 dollar bill from the time I was born, till the day she died 3 years ago. It is where we grew up loving all things Baltimore, especially the Terps, Orioles and Ravens. It is where I met your Mom and eventually proposed to her on Penn’s Landing, even though we already had our baat pakki (engagement) because I knew as an American, she deserved to experience being proposed to on one knee. It is the country whose national anthem, we salute and take our hats off to at O’s games while screaming “Oh” at that one Baltimore moment that the rest of the country can’t seem to understand. It is the country that gave me the chance to dream of being a philosopher, while studying to be a doctor. It is the medical school, whose Jesuit teachers taught the value of integrating faith into the practice of medicine in order to serve one’s fellow human being. It is the country that allowed a clueless person like your dad to build a small business through hard work, determination and the generous help of an old Jewish doctor. It is the country whose police officer came to our house in the middle of the night when our house was robbed and gave you the security to go back to sleep knowing that nothing bad could happen now because she was downstairs to protect us. It is the country whose teachers sparked the same love of learning in you that was ignited in me 30 years earlier. It is the country that taught both of us that when you shake another person’s hand, you do so with a firm grip and a sincere smile. It is the country whose leaders wanted to make sure that you had every opportunity to learn and practice your faith, so they closed school on Eid. It is the country whose citizens are so considerate that they don’t want to eat or drink anything in front of us when we are fasting out of fear that it might offend. It is the country whose leaders inspired the world by creating the Peace Corps to help improve the lives of others less fortunate, by building bridges of understanding and friendship. It is the country whose experiment with freedom and adherence to the most noble of ideals was embodied in a statue of a roman goddess welcoming immigrants from all over the world. It is the country that taught the rest of the world the meaning of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness and reminded everyone that being American is an honor and a privilege that needs to be defended from both foreign and internal threats.
Today, there are those who would say that there is no room for Muslims in America. They would say the faith that has defined you, your family and friends is not compatible with being American. They would say the religion that inspires you to fast for a month in order to know the plight of those who have no food is somehow not compassionate. They would say that your reading the Quran that begins each chapter with praise of God as being Most Gracious and Merciful, somehow makes all of us selfish and cruel. They would say that the prayers of humility that we make to God each day are false and misdirected and should cause alarm for real Americans. When people say these ignorant comments laced with racism and misguided fear in order to get a few political points , remember, they don’t know you, they don’t know Islam and most of all, they don’t know America. The America they think they are preserving is not the America of our founding fathers and not the America that inspires the world. The loudest voice rarely ever speaks the truth. In a country that was founded on religious and personal freedom, your struggle to be Muslim makes you more American then those who would have you leave. They poison the country the claim to defend. By being true to your faith, we make America stronger. This is our home, our faith and our country. We aren’t leaving. This will be our struggle and our challenge. Don’t give up. The Soul of Our America is worth fighting for.
Love,
Your Proud American-Muslim Dad
I was really impressed by this statement. So I added my comments in an email to my group:
AoA Beti
This letter from a learned caring father to his loving children is simply fantastic; just beautiful; stunning in it’s substance and gorgeous in it’s style. It is unusually delightful to read because it is completely free of any bickering or polemics: “you said this, but you said that, no she said it, yes he made her do that etc.” A very profound message is conveyed calmly and clearly in this letter; a message that shows that the Kashif has balanced very harmoniously his dual American/Muslim identity. This should be a message for all of us in our circle. He has expressed with emphasis his appreciation and gratitude for his American identity while defending with equal force his Muslim obligations. If we want our children, grand children and great grand children to have a comfortable future, all in our circle — vocal, very vocal and silent —must seriously ponder over these thoughts in this letter. On the other hand if we continue in our present trend of strong emotional and therefore irrational attachment to our Muslim half of identity leaving only lip service for the American half, we will be surely a great support for likes of Ben Carson and Ted Cruz.
As for the Trump phenomenon. K (one of the sisters) had said very nicely in one of our meetings “Trump is the best thing to happen to us Muslims”. There is a huge outcry in the country to defend us. The whole leadership across party lines blasted Trump for his suggestion to bar Muslims from our country. He is rally a paradox. Despite his domination, as yet as a front runner for the Republican Primaries, most of the reliable analysts and commentators do not seem to take him seriously. Allah Hafiz
With kind regards
Uncle
