Building bridges between Muslims and America

1. Mozlem to Muslim and Brother to Brother
Building bridges between Muslims and America
No images in this presentation are of or reflect the Prophet
Muhammad, his family or his companions.

2. Who am I?
I am an American
I am also a Muslim

3. Who are you?
Also a Muslim.
Perhaps in a country
where you are angry
at America

4. Maybe you
hate
Americans

5. First a
disclaimer. I
am not paid by
the American
government to
say this.

6. I want to
acknowledge
first that not
everything
America does
on the world
stage is good
or right.

7. What you
experience of
American
foreign policy
is one aspect
of America.

8. When you
hate America,
what does
that mean?

9. Did you know
most
Americans
compared to
other cultures
are very open
minded?

10. Over ~20,000
Americans
convert to
Islam every
year.

11. America in spite of
being unpopular in
the world is the
number one
destination for
people in the
world.

12. Most
Americans
consider them
selves to be
religious,
patriotic,
charitable.
Doesn’t that
sound like you
and me?

13. Americans
have values
that we believe
are the envy of
the world like
Freedom and
Justice?

14. When you hate
Americans, do
you know that
there are 2-8
Million
Muslims in
America?

15. Did you know
most
Americans
who have
contact with
Muslims have
a positive view
of them?

16. Did you know
America is a
big country. It
has over 300
Million people,
that’s larger
than western
Europe.

17. Because America
is so big, the
average
American has
less
understanding of
the rest of the
world than do
Europeans and
other cultures.

18. After 9/11
American-
Muslims have
faced many
challenges.

19. The American-Muslim
community has tried
to open up our homes
and mosques, so our
neighbors, and co-
workers, and
community have a
better understanding
of who we are.

20. If we are to
build bridges
of
understanding
we need your
help.

21. We can’t say in
our mosques,
Islam means
peace, and
when they go
home and turn
on the news
they see
Muslim
violence.

22. An embassy or
consulate of
any country
has a special
protected
space in all
societies.

23. If you kill an
Ambassador or
other US
representative,
you are breaking the
sanctity of not only
human life but the
rules by which we
humans live. The
Prophet never
allowed this.

24. If you destroy
an embassy or
consulate, who
pays the bills
to rebuild it?
It’s you.

25. As a society we
may not agree
with all laws,
but if we do
not obey laws,
the result is
anarchy.

26. Extremists of
all faiths, try to
trigger conflict
between us
and in our
communities.
Don’t take the
bait!

27. If you are unhappy
with my
government or
yours, setting
McDonalds or KFC
or other American
icons on fire, will
help no one and
only hurt
everyone.

28. Uprooting
railway lines,
and other
infrastructure
will only harm
your
community.
Who pays? you
do.

29. If you put a
bounty on a
author or film-
makers head,
or have them
killed, who
pays the price?
We all do.
All Muslims get
a bad rap.

30. You have to
understand
that in America
and Western
Europe,
“Freedom of
Speech” is a
deep value
that society
believes in.

31. In most cases it
is the right of
everyone to
express
themselves
and censorship
is viewed in a
bad light.

32. You may say
America does
not always live
up to its ideal.
Sadly we
Muslims also
have double
standards.

33. The Prophet
told us to
follow the
middle path
i.e. avoid
extremism.

34. And what
does the
Quran say
that we all
follow?

35. “Fight in the way
of Allah against
those who fight
against you, but
begin not
hostilities. Lo!
Allah loveth not
aggressors.”
Quran (2:190)

36. “And dispute ye not with the
People of the Book (Jews and
Christians), save in the most
courteous manner and say,
"We believe in the revelation
which has come down to us
and in that which came
down to you; Our God and
your God is one; and it is to
Him we bow (in Islam).“
(29:46)

37. Just as the Quran
is a sacred book
for Muslims, to
Americans the flag
is sacred. Burning
it is against the
law, and for
Americans to see
Muslims burning
it, is provoking
them.

38. What about
Palestine,
Kashmir, Iraq,
Afghanistan,
America’s
invasions and
occupations or
interference
and the drone
attacks?

39. I like other
Muslims care
about the
suffering about
our Muslim
brothers and
sisters through
out the world.

40. There are no
easy answers.
But there is a
common
denominator,
besides
America, or
Israel and
Jews.

41. There are
many lessons
that can be
obtained from
9/11. For those
like Osama Bin
Laden, and Al-
Qaida it is that
you cannot
defeat America
militarily.

42. America is the
current world’s
only Super-power.
What that means
is militarily,
economically,
media-wise,
socially it is by far
today the most
powerful nation on
earth.

43. If you want
America to
change it’s
foreign policy,
it has to be
done through
political means
and from
within.

44. The success of
American-Jews
and then eg
Indian-
Americans in
influencing
foreign policy
is legendary.

45. Soft power,
through
politics, media
and other ways
is more
influential than
hard power.

46. What this means is
Muslim countries
and the people
who want a
change in course
of the US have to
rethink how they
engage with
America.

47. Think about it, all
Israeli’s or Indians
do not necessarily
love America, but
you never see
them or their
leaders
denouncing
America. They are
less emotional and
more pragmatic.

48. Muslims have
valid
grievances but
we are very
emotional and
by in large
non-pragmatic.

49. Let me make
a thought
provoking
statement for
you.

50. My father
when he
emigrated to
the UK in the
sixties said he
learnt “true
humanity” by
going there.

51. “Americans and
their West
European peers
are more just or
have a sense of
justice than pretty
much all the
Muslim countries
combined.” Why is
that?

52. Muslims have
many issues,
and we cannot
blame it all on
America, or
the Jews,…

53. In Islam you
cannot try to
reach just
ends by
unjust
means.

54. How about
preserving the
sanctity of life? In
Quran (5:32) we
find reference to
that if one saves a
life he saves all
humanity and if he
takes a life unjustly
he has killed all
humanity.

55. After claiming to
be Muslim how
can you take the
life of others
through suicide
bombing etc.
Most of the
people killed are
innocent
bystanders.

56. Remember we are
not on the battlefield.
If someone puts a
bomb near an
American post, a
church, synagogue,
Sunni or Shia
mosque, 99.999% of
the time innocent
human beings are
being killed.

57. These are not acts of
martyrs but
misguided cowards
and Jihadis. Suicide is
forbidden in Islam.
Anarchy is forbidden
in Islam. Taking the
Lives of innocent
people is forbidden in
Islam.

58. If you are sick, you
try to find the best
doctor, not a
quack. Why in
your religion/deen
would you go to
people whose
scholarship is
questionable and
follow them when
it clearly
contradicts our
faith?

59. So where do
we go from
here?

60. If as Muslims
we are angry
about a book,
or film or
cartoon about
the Prophet
(PBUH), think
how would he
behave?

61. Interestingly
the Prophet
Muhammad
(PBUH) was
mocked and
blasphemed in
his time.

62. What did he
do?

63. In different
situations he
responded in
different
ways.

64. Sometimes
he ignored it.

65. Other times,
like when they
made bad
poetry, about
him, he
laughed it off.

66. At other times
he recruited
the best poets
to avenge the
sayings of
others.

67. But and this is
worth noting
he never
started a war
or started
attacking
others because
of this
mockery.

68. Let’s go back
to basics.

69. The Prophet
Muhammad after
returning from a war
said “We have come
back from the lesser
jihad to the greater
jihad.” Meaning jihad
al-nafs (jihad against
the self)
Note: some folks claim this is a weak hadith, but even if it is
There is a valuable lesson in it for us.

70. We must
acknowledge
our own faults,
and get our
own house in
order.

71. This doesn’t
mean
Muslims have
to become
passive.

72. Movies,
books,
cartoons are
all ideas. This
is a war of
ideas.

73. You can vent
and vent more
productively,
by getting a
better
understanding
of the
situation.

74. You can help to
calm your and
your
communities
emotions, by
being a voice
of reason.

75. You can
write, blog,
speak out,
pray, without
a call to arms.

76. Please share this with your friends
• All images are from public domain and copyright of respective
owners.
• If there are any mistakes (and I am confident there are), they
are mine please overlook them. This is one little Muslim’s
attempt to bring a voice of reason to a highly ignited world. It is
not definitive or the last word. If you have better insights rather
than criticizing this presentation, create one of your own.
Muslims and America can co-exist, we just have to work our
way towards it patiently and with prayers.
• Thank you God Bless and JazakAllahkher
A K2 Vista Project