Proud of My Muslim Face (From December of 2005)

Daveed Gartenstein-Ross' Dec. 11 column titled "Extremists among us?" clearly delineates two approaches in dealing with the issue of the American Muslim community and religious extremism.

One approach is to masquerade one's personal and professional animus toward the growing civic activism of the American Muslim community by trying to convince the American public that behind every American mosque and mainstream Muslim organization, there is a cabal of extremists lurking in the shadows waiting to destroy American society.

The other approach is to engage mainstream American Muslim organizations as they push to the forefront of challenging religious extremism, hate and violence.

It is truly regrettable that Mr. Ross has opted for the former, rather than the latter. Although regrettable, Mr. Ross' incorrect characterization of the Muslim American Society is quite predictable. As an old Southern country boy, I think someone should tell Mr. Ross that you can call a horse a mule, but it doesn't make it one.

For his part, Mr. Ross has lent his talent to the Washington Investigative Project, a group that has made a cottage industry out of attacking American Muslim organizations and their leadership.

This is the same organization whose leadership, without any evidence, made public announcements to the media that the Oklahoma City bombing was the work of Muslims. In fact, if you visit their Web sites and blog pages, you will find that Mr. Ross and his group would have you believe that every Muslim organization in America has ties to extremist groups. They achieve this amazing feat by cherry-picking out-of-context quotes and passages from Islamic reading materials and speeches made by Islamic leaders.

Mr. Ross' article on MAS employs the same technique. He mentions a Chicago Tribune article that attempted to link MAS to Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, but failed to mention that in addition to the reporter's inaccuracies, later investigations revealed that the primary source used for the article was Dr. Ahmed Elkadi. We now know through affidavits and pending litigation that Dr. Elkadi suffers from dementia and that his cognitive faculties were seriously impaired when the Chicago Tribune interviewed him. In fact, his family members have issued a written statement to this effect in hopes of preventing unscrupulous reporters surreptitiously interviewing Dr. Elkadi.

Additionally, Mr. Ross asserts that a fatwa (religious opinion) in our March 2002 American Muslim magazine supports suicide bombing. There is absolutely no such fatwa in the March 2002 edition of the American Muslim magazine. However, if one reads the fatwa section of our magazine, we have presented differing opinions, both literal and interpretive, by Islamic scholars throughout the world and provide a balanced view from all perspectives. In addition, the magazine carries our disclaimer that the views and opinions presented in the American Muslim magazine do not necessarily reflect the views of the magazine or the Muslim American Society.

Our views on suicide bombing are consistent, clear and unambiguous: We condemn it. MAS is an independent American Muslim organization with a staunchly clear and firm American identity operating with full respect and compliance of our laws and Constitution. We subscribe to the values and ideals of our faith, our country and the law of this great nation. The administrative and organizational structure and methodology of MAS is well known and public. We maintain the highest level of transparency and believe in the tenants of public work in a free society.

Our work includes memberships on the board of directors of America's largest interfaith organizations, participation in State Department negotiations in national and international summits on terrorism, the initiation of gathering signatures of more than 100 prominent American Muslim religious leaders for our "Declaration of Support and Action Against Terrorism," the establishment of Boys and Girls Scouts of America chapters nationwide within our MAS Youth department, a MAS Youth campaign against a local initiative in Texas that would expand the accessibility of alcohol beverages, and MAS Youth girls providing holiday gifts in children's wards of Texas hospitals. Also, there is the MAS Youth Civic Empowerment class focusing on volunteerism, U.S. government and politics, and citizen participation.


Mr. Ross' information concerning MAS and the Muslim Brotherhood is equally flawed. For example, he mentions Sayyid Qutb "advocating militant Jihad against non-believers," but fails to mention that the leader of the Brotherhood in the '60s, Hasan Hudaybi, wrote an extensive refutation of Mr. Qutb's views. And as MAS is not the Muslim Brotherhood, my only point here is to once again point out Mr. Ross' slovenly research and inaccuracies concerning Islamic movements, organizations and their history.

In the final analysis, the average American is not concerned with the intricacies of classical Islamic history, fatwas and Islamic polemics. Most Americans want to know what we can do to protect ourselves against religious extremism and the violence and hate that accompany it. We at MAS are beyond the mere façade of addressing terrorism and have demonstrated through concrete action our categorical and unequivocal rejection and condemnation of terrorism wherever its roots may appear. But don't take my word for it.

One merely has to query government and public officials, members of Congress, American faith and civic leaders and, most recently, the thousands of victims of Hurricane Katrina whose lives were positively impacted in Houston and throughout the Gulf region by the "MAS Youth Boots on the Ground" Katrina relief program.

As America's largest grass-roots Muslim organization, with more than 50 chapters nationwide, we feel the cultivation by mainstream society of relationships and dialogue with genuine moderate Islamic organizations such as MAS will help resolve the worrisome "enigma" of extremism, illuminate our ideas and clearly show our fellow Americans that understanding Islam and Islamic activism – and engaging its followers and proponents – is by far the most effective and best way to work together to rid our world of the scourge of terrorism, eliminate the clash of civilizations