Category: Blog

The question that is lingering in the minds of millions of Americans and is played out over and over on the evening news is: “What was the real motive behind the outburst of shooting by Major Nidal Malik Hasan’s, the 39-year-old US-born Muslim and army psychiatrist, at the Fort Hood base last , killing 13 and wounding at least 30 people?” and as Gleen Glenwood reported in Salon ”A media orgy of rumors, speculation and falsehoods” . Everyone is looking for the truth about Mr. Nidal’s Hasan’s motive. This American Muslim, who spent most of his life training to analyze and understand people’s deeper motives, now has his motive thrust into the spotlight of the American collective judgment and 24/7 media hype to be questioned and scrutinized. “He didn’t like what we are doing in Iraq and Afghanistan.” explained the make shift TV expert. Well, most Americans share Major Nidal’s view of those wars; however, because he is a Muslim, Major Nidal Hasan’s disapproval of the wars must be suspicious and be part of salacious motive. The cover of Time magazine has a cover with a picture of Midal with the word “Terrorist?” over his eyes. Unconfirmed report stated that “ He shouted Allah Akbar” before the shooting. Is he a mad man or a terrorist, Everyone is demanding a real answer. ‘What do you think about his motive?” a national newspaper reporter casually asked me in a telephone interview, as if Muslim Americans should have a different insight about the motives of other Muslims that is not available to the rest of the world, call it the “Muslim man burden” Muslims, I had to admit in fact, have special psychic skill not available to other humans, and, therefore, can explain the misbehaving Muslims all over the world? That we really do all know what motivates the 1.5 billon of our brothers and sisters, those apparently chronically angry Muslims who are committing suicide and burning the American flag on the streets of Kabul, Baghdad, Karachi, Gaza, Cairo and, of course, Major Nidal Hasan? In spite of the fact that he is an American, born here, educated here and that he committed a crime that is, tragically, not all that uncommon in America—even worthy of its own slang term “going postal”—somehow, when it comes to American Muslims, “going postal” becomes “going Islamic.”

“What first came to your mind when you heard the news of the shooting in Texas?” came the interviewer’s sympathetic voice over the phone. To be honest with you, the question of Major Nidal Hasan’s real motive has been going through the mind of millions of Muslims ever since. I thought to myself perhaps Major Nidal Hasan ‘s hidden motive as in all American Muslims arrived at birth and was carried as a burden all his life, the call for “Jihad” that started nagging him once he was given the name Nidal—which means ‘jihad’ or political struggle in Arabic. What is in his name summaries very much Major Nidal Hasan life, struggling for “jihad” This name was given as it is customary in the Arab/Muslim culture to him by his Palestinian parents as inspirational guidance for his future life, his parents who had lived under the Israeli occupation for years before moving to the U.S. The name itself was a heavy burden that Major Nidal had struggled all his ordinary life , one that was apparently devoid of real love, family or friends, a lonesome life for a lonely man because of his ethnicity and religion, teased frequently by his peers and friends whose trust he never gained. His name never allowed him to brush his past aside and forget. ‘Nidal”, Nidal’, Nidal”, people keep calling for Nidal everywhere he goes. A constant reminder to what is required of him as a Palestinian American. Did he think that his parents didn’t name him “Nidal’ just to sit down and listen to other people struggle and forget his own? Major Nidal who never risked anything in his life, made all the right decision easy decisions and became a doctor, his parents given name always reminding him of their suffering in Palestine through occupation and humiliation, played out every evening as a child listening to his parents bed stories about the Palestinian suffering and the Muslim victims milieu. The pictures of Palestinians children hanging on his bedroom wall , their faces full of anguish and fear a reminder of that and whispered to him at night to never forget, on his bedroom growing up there wasn’t any picture of a tree, a bird or even a naked woman to comfort him at night when he was finally alone and no one is looking. Growing up with a conscious that had been soaking terrible images of his people demise and suffering like a thick sponge immersed in dirty water. Verses of the Quran framed on his living room wall asked of him? To fight those who are trying to kill you where you face them. And now as a growing up military man, It must have been hard for him to hear all those terrible tragic stories happening to his Muslim brothers all over the world.; throwing salt inside his tragic wounds.

American people as children were shield from being exposed to the horrible of their own wars to protect their sensitivities , Nidal wasn’t as lucky, he was seeing it all and heard it all first hand; The heavy burden of an American Muslim psychiatrist who on a daily basis listened to the harrowing stories of his American countrymen and comrades describing horrible events, most likely committed against his Muslim brothers in Iraq and Afghanistan. All his life he has helped Americans with their tortured souls, but he never really came to term and helped his own.

Every time he hears his name “Nidal” he always asks himself about the real “Nidal”, the real struggle. A nagging question that hijacked his mind and his memories and never left him in peace. The suffering of the unfulfilled, unremarkable man, who never before had had the courage or had taken such a great risk, who with one outrageous action, could turn his ordinary miserable life into an extraordinary and infamous one, a lonely life was scarified to be part of a bigger than his own mundane one, the paradise is now, with plenty of virgins are waiting for the man whom himself was a 39 year old virgin.

Ahmed Tharwat/ Host of Arab American TV show BelAhdan

Airs on MN public TV Saturdays at 10:30pm

www.ahmedia.com

www.belahdan.com

Ahmed Tharwat

Is it me, or has Star Tribune columnist Katherine Kersten used her forum at the paper to vent fear of Muslim Americans in our communities?

From the “flying imams” fiasco at the airport, to the cabdrivers facing off with the Metropolitan Airports Commission about transporting alcohol, to the current flurry of articles about plumbing adjustments to accommodate foot-washing at Minneapolis Community and Technical College, Kersten’s interest strikes me as paranoia, or even out-and-out phobia.

In a culture like the United States, it seems, we have very few requirements for cleanliness beyond ‘wash your hands.’ Maybe that is why this topic appears to some a mystery.

Whatever her motive, Kersten is consistent in her attempts to agitate the reader about Muslims living in the United States and their perceived “threat” to Western civilization. Her zealous coverage of issues of the Muslim community is both puzzling and frightening.

The foot-washing topic has gone from a local concern at a community college to a national story. Will the shock jocks be ranting about it next? Shouldn’t Kersten give more attention to students who bring guns or drugs to schools than to those who want to wash their feet and stay clean?

Kersten seems intent on stirring up negative public opinion on relatively minor topics in her apparent crusade to save American culture from the Muslims. If this is “just the beginning,” as she warned of the foot-washing threat, what else might Muslims bring to campus? Lord forbid, Arabic books?

Let’s consider this assault on Western values and North American culture by Muslim personal hygiene. To understand the topic, Kersten really needs to understand the importance of the washing rituals, which may have something to do with praying (in Arabic this is called wudu) or not. Some Muslims may complain about a lot of issues, but I do not think they complain nearly enough about their daily torture at public bathrooms, where you are provided condoms as an incentive for casual clean sex but are severely under-equipped for a thorough washing.

Besides lacking a low-level washing area with a drain for washing feet, there is also no bidet-like system for cleaning after using the toilet. Water is the essential element for a thorough cleaning — toilet paper will not suffice.

You can say all you want about Muslims, but when it comes to the cultural issues of washing and personal hygiene, we are very meticulous. Without going into detail — we like to keep our private parts private — Muslims usually try to avoid public bathrooms. Muslim students at a college will, however, spend many hours on the campus and have to make do with the facilities available to them. “Being clean is half of religion,” the prophet Mohammed said.

Washing and following cultural rituals of cleaning don’t strike me as threats to North American culture.

To Kersten I would urge: If you are going to trail Muslims wherever they go, at least learn about this community’s customs and values as much as you urge them to understand yours. Believe me, Muslim washing rituals don’t constitute the threat to American culture that your writing does.

Ahmed Tharwat is host of the Arab-American TV show “Belahdan,” which airs Sundays at 10:30 p.m. on Twin Cities Public Television (Ch. 17).

Right before the election, Osama bin Laden showed up again on the Arab Network, Al-Jazeera, like the release of another scary Halloween movie sequel. Whether or not his appearance played a role in the election results remains to be seen. However, certainly watching Osama all these years unleashing outlandish terror threats with such calm and conviction is horrific. But as a Muslim American, what troubles me most is his sense of divine entitlement to speak for all Muslims all around the world, roughly a billion and half. “The United States must stop threatening the security of Muslims if it wants to avoid ‘another Manhattan,”’ he threatened. I often wonder how many Muslims around the globe are actually inspired by this skinny guy with the funny name. Considering Bush’s crusade of the so called “War on Terrorism”, and his Biblical alliance with Sharon, I’m sure that there are properly a quite a few. As a Muslim American myself, however, I’m inspired by another skinny guy with a funny name who has taken a different road to change America, the son of an African immigrant who was inspired by the generosity of the American dream and, in spite of the last Republican onslaught, was elected a black man Mr. Barack Obama, is the upcoming Democratic star who single-handily energized millions of Americans of all political convictions during the Democratic Convention. He spook of confident, inclusive, progressive, enlighten America. For years the majority of the American people chose a different America, a fearful America; hateful, evangelical, regressive, and isolated. As Muslim Americans who overwhelmingly voted for Obama we have a special obligation to help this country to get ready of its insecurity complex and before starting a mass exodus to Canada asking for asylum, as the whole country is quickly tilting to the abyss of the red right, we need to stay the course, we need to work with the millions of progressive Americans who voted to rid the country of its fear, its hate, its religious fanatic and its political juvenile delinquency. In other words, we need to take the road of Mr. Obama, the road of political activism with the same zeal as a pilgrimages path to Mecca would inspire. As we tried to weed out the Neo-Cons religious extremists and their ideology of “good and evil” from the White House, we also need to use the same vigor to weed out radical hate addicts , from our community, our coffee shops, schools, our mosques, we need to weed out benladinisim from our public and private debate. As Muslim Americans, we need to be inspired by another skinny guy with a funny name… Obama instead of Osama.Ahmed
Producer/Host of the Arab American TV Show Belahdan Minnetonka, 612-250-6567