In the past weeks Muslims around the world have been offended, hurt and upset as a consequence of Westerners feeling the need to stress their freedom of expression — but for what reason?

Except for a few details, the recent incidences have had remarkable similarities with something we have seen before: the short film ‘Submission‘, made in 2004 by Theo van Goghon, a Dutch film director, and Somalia-born Ayaan Hirsi and the Mohammed Cartoons incident by a Danish newspaper in 2005, which caused the Arab world to boycott Danish-produced goods like dairy products. These are just a few of the examples to be mentioned.

Most Muslims in Egypt and elsewhere in the Arab world keep their feelings to themselves and their family and friends, or express them in a peaceful way – just like many Westerners fail to comprehend the purpose of publishing that type of material, time and again. However, it seems like a controversy that we, on both sides, are forced to witness again and again which makes it valuable to investigate some potential underlying dynamics for the recent incidents.

According to Politiken.dk, a feeling exists in the Arab world of differential treatment practiced by Western Governments; examples include that Western Governments support free will except in cases where Islamic parties win elections. They fight for human rights except in countries where the oppressor is a dictator who cooperates with the Western world; Western Governments support freedom of religion, except when it concerns Islam.

Additionally, Western politicians continuously make hostile comments about Muslims and Islam. This is reinforced by my research (to be published in Arab-West Report in April 2013) on the migration of Egyptians where Muslims indicate that they feel as second class citizens in their own country next to expats living there. At the same time they feel unwelcome in Western countries such as the U.S.A. and several European countries.

So while Western countries claim they are fighting for equal rights, freedom to be whoever you are, as well as the right to control your own life, it easily comes across as the exact opposite in the countries that are the target for that fight.

Politiken.dk continues that while the mentioned examples by people in the Arab World are perceived as differential treatment and interference, Western Governments understand it as isolated reactions to specific incidents. This could be related to what Charles Clay Lemert, Professor in Sociology, characterizes as ‘colonization’ in his book Sociale Forhold -En indføring i det sociologiske liv (2004), which he defines as the process where people with power and money get the idea that their theories and perspectives of the world gives them the right to take over other countries, their assets and sometimes even the soul of the native people, who rarely are in a position to defend themselves.

And it is all justified by the perception that the invasion will result in a better moral, a better political system, and in general a better way of living. But according to whom?

If the world is believed to be a social construction that only makes sense in relation to the society in which it exists, it makes sense that people around the world have not only different ways of living, but more importantly different perceptions of what ‘the better way of living’ is. No doubts that people in the Arab world are dreaming about a better world, as witnessed during the Arab Spring that last year permeated in several Arab countries. We are still, at the time of writing, witnessing how Syrians fight against the local regime, or how Palestinians continuously experience their rights to land reduced — but is this battle a cry for the Western world to free them from Islam, Islamist or Islamic values?

Without a doubt there is a perception in the Western world that politics and religion should be two separate entities in a modern society, anno 2012 — or is there? Maybe it is more the perception that politics and Islam should be separated? This leads back to the imagination of the world as a social construction: if we acknowledge that different people have different perceptions of ‘the better way of living’, it might again be reasonable to assume that different societies have different ways of structuring a democracy.

Can democratic values not be implemented in a religious society? It is true that according to the construction of democracy that exists in the Western world, it is difficult entities to unite, but Egypt and the rest of the Arab world have a different way of constructing their societies. In this light it might be fair to assume that the construction of a democracy, in these countries, would contain different elements than what we see in Western countries’ understanding of democracy -elements that focus less on freedom of expression and more on mutual respect and the right to practice your religion.

However, as Ahram Online writes in an article on their English website, the challenges may lay in the rapid development of technological tools that connect the world, crossing societies of different social constructions. This means that a film like that of the recent controversy can be made and distributed online in Western countries where legislation is developed in the context of Western social constructions, without repercussions. One such filmmaker, or a cartoonist for that matter, may be perceived as offensive to a group of people but cannot be indicted for a criminal act, because one segment of the world does not perceive it as such.

However, in the same breath it must be stressed that individual action, like the ones discussed here, does not represent perceptions, opinions or acts of neither entire populations nor every politicians. But because of societies based on different social constructions of what is legal and what is not, a Western politician cannot demand the person behind such material brought to trial. But does this mean that Western countries should consider reversing their understanding of democracy and put restrictions on what can be expressed and what cannot?

As one of the focal points for democracies in Western countries it is hard to see that happen. Being a Westerner, brought up in the social constructions of a Scandinavian country, it is believed that having the freedom to speak up against the current government, the practices of the church, or other societal institutions that are disagreed with, is a crucial fundamental right, which should neither be restricted nor jeopardized.

But does this give the people in Western countries the right to offend the values of people in countries where social constructions of societies are different?

With an economic crisis dominating most of the Western world, it might be time to start rethinking what used to be ‘the center of the world’ – to a growing extent, the Western world depends on countries and people around it. It may be worth considering if respecting other cultures’ way of life wouldn’t be more productive than upsetting them purposefully.

Image Courtesy of  arindambanerjee / Shutterstock.com

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Washington, U.S.A — The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) have welcomed a decision by the U.S. military to stop using a target depicting a Muslim woman wearing a religious head scarf (hijab) and verses from the Quran to train Navy SEALs at the new close quarters combat range at Joint Base Fort Story in Virginia Beach, Va.

The Navy made that announcement after the Washington-based Muslim civil rights organization sent a letter to Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta on Friday asking that the target and the religious text be removed from the training facility, referred to as a “kill house.”

Lt. David Lloyd, a spokesman for Naval Special Warfare Group 2, told the Virginian-Pilot: “We have removed this particular target and Arabic writing in question from the range in the near term, and will explore other options for future training.”

“We welcome the Navy’s prompt action to address community concerns and hope this incident serves as a reminder that credible scholars and experts need to be consulted when designing training materials relating to Islam and Muslims for our nation’s military personnel,” said CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad. “This is a welcome first step, but a serious and comprehensive review is needed to deal with the issue of Islamophobia in military training.”

Awad noted that CAIR recently called on the Department of Defense to dismiss an instructor at the nearby Joint Forces Staff College in Norfolk, Va., who taught fellow officers that only a “total war” on Islam would protect America, that they should use “Hiroshima” tactics, target civilian populations, and abandon the Geneva Conventions.

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Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) announced  a national Shariah education campaign to promote religious freedom and combat Islamophobia. ICNA’s campaign, Defending Religious Freedom, Understanding Shariah, will include a 25 city education tour to introduce the Islamic faith to the American public.

ICNA is also promoting awareness through a public service announcement campaign, billboards across the country, college campus seminars, radio ads and a national hotline dedicated to addressing questions about Shariah and the Islamic faith.

Outreach has already started, including a seminar in Pittsburgh, billboards and radio ads in Kansas Cityand public service announcements in San Francisco. The next scheduled event will be in Miami on March 10th, followed by Washington, D.C. on March 27th and Los Angeles on April 17th. More dates will be announced shortly.

The campaign will include these elements:

• Shariah education and interfaith events, town hall forums and activities in 25 cities including New York City, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Houston, Dallas, Los Angeles, Boston, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington, D.C., Atlanta, Miami, Kansas City, Detroit and Hartford
• Billboards in 15-20 cities nationwide including Kansas City, New Jersey, New York (near the Lincoln Tunnel, seen by 120,000 people each day), Chicago, Houston, Dallas, Sacramento, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Detroit, Miami
• 40 national ICNA chapters mobilized, including thousands of volunteers
• National hotline dedicated to answering questions about Shariah and the Islamic faith. The toll-free number is: 1-855-SHARIAH
• A public service announcement campaign distributed and aired in 20 cities nationally
• Seminars on 20 college campuses including George Washington University, Bradley University,George Mason, and University of Delaware in March and April
• Radio ads aired in approximately 20 cities nationally
• Local media outreach by trained spokespeople and leaders from 30-35 ICNA chapters across the country
• ICNA annual convention in Hartford, CT, during Memorial Day weekend, attracting over fifteen thousand people as it did last year

“The First Amendment guarantees religious freedom for every citizen. Muslim Americans are asking for the same fundamental rights to observe Shariah, a component of the Islamic faith, in our personal, familial and religious affairs within the boundaries of the United States Constitution and all local, state and federal laws.” says Dr. Zahid H Bukhari, President, Islamic Circle of North America.

In each city visited on the “Defending Religious Freedom, Understanding Shariah” education tour, ICNA plans to hold town hall events that foster positive discourse about religious freedom and the state of Islamophobia in our country. The plan is to clear up common misconceptions about Shariah and the Islamic faith and present the facts through open dialogue with Americans of all faiths.

“ICNA is making an honest attempt to reach out and connect to our fellow Americans and introduce them to our Islamic faith,” says Naeem Baig, Vice President of ICNA Public Affairs. ”We see it as our responsibility to clarify misconceptions about American Muslims.”

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Britain is among the safest places for people to worship freely and in peace, an Islamic leader has said at the opening of a new GBP900,000 mosque in Feltham, west London.

His Holiness Hadhrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, Caliph of the worldwide Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, made the remarks before MPs, councillors and worshippers at the new Baitul Wahid Mosque. His comments were broadcast around the world via the community’s own satellite channel.

In the wake of attacks on mosques and other places of worship by hardline fanatics in a number of countries including Pakistan and Indonesia, he spoke about his admiration for British values of justice and equality.

Speaking about how planning permission for the mosque was granted upon appeal, His Holiness said:

“Ultimately we were granted permission to build this mosque and this was because, as I have said many times, that here in the UK the system of governance is just and one which affords citizens their due rights. We, who are Ahmadi Muslims, always pray that God Almighty enables just and fair governments to be established throughout the world.”

The Caliph highlighted how acts of revenge following burnings of the Holy Quran were sheer acts of criminality that ran counter to the very teachings of the book that zealots claimed to ‘defend’. His Holiness said:

“The Qur’an calls for the establishment of peace. It calls on Muslims to act compassionately towards all of mankind.”

And he highlighted the fact that the establishment of places of worship augmented peace in the community:

“This Mosque has been built only for the worship of God, and as a means to develop love, affection and peace. We have no other purpose, and we never will. Any true Muslim can never desire injustices or suffering for any other person because that would run entirely contrary to what the Qur’an and the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) have taught.”

The National President of the UK branch of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, Mr Rafiq Hayat, said:

“We welcome this ringing endorsement of the purpose of mosques, which is to instil inner peace and to spread a message of peace.

“That is why the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community is active in cities across Britain to raise funds for charities and to hold interfaith activities, blood donation drives and to serve our neighbours. We are also in the midst of a nationwide peace campaign to counter Islamophobia and highlight Islam’s message of Love for All, Hatred for None.”

Mary Macleod, MP for Brentford & Isleworth, offered her support for the wide ranging work being undertaken by Ahmadi Muslims and praised the community’s role towards building a peaceful society. Seema Malhotra, MP for Feltham & Heston, highlighted the interfaith work of the community and said that the community’s values were an example for others.

The Mayor of Hounslow, Councillor Amrit Mann, called the Ahmadiyya Muslim community in Hounslow ‘a model community’. He praised the community’s motto of ‘Love for All, Hatred for None’ and its commitment to humanitarian efforts. Mr Jagdish Sharma, MBE, Leader of Hounslow Borough Council, said Ahmadi Muslims had the distinction of being ‘law abiding and tolerant’.

The mosque was funded entirely from donations for the community itself with some members donating tens of thousands of pounds.

Contact:

Basharat Nazir media@ahmadiyya.org.uk Tel +44-7703-483-384

Mr Zaheer Khan +44-7768-336-873

http://www.loveforallhatredfornone.org

http://www.alislam.org

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The Council on American-Islamic Relations and United Firm of Carolina Law announced the filing of a lawsuit against Delta Air Lines and Atlantic Southeast Airlines for removing two Islamic religious leaders, or imams, from a flight to a conference on Islamophobia in Charlotte, North Carolina, earlier this year after the pilot refused to fly with them on board.

CAIR and UFC Law attorneys announced the lawsuit at a news conference earlier today at Memphis International Airport in Tennessee. Interfaith leaders also took part in the news conference.

The lawsuit states in part:

“Despite having been cleared twice by TSA agents, Defendants’ pilot took the matter into his own hands when he chose to eject Plaintiffs from the flight based on arbitrary and capricious reasons, including his personal preconceived notions of race, religion, and national origin.”

According to the lawsuit, the defendants violated both a federal law preventing an air carrier from subjecting a passenger to “discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, or ancestry” and a Tennessee law that prohibits denying an individual the “full and equal enjoyment of the… advantages and accommodations of a place of public accommodation… on the grounds of race, creed, color, religion, sex, age, or national origin.”

The lawsuit seeks a permanent injunction that would prohibit the defendants from “singling out passengers for mistreatment based on their perceived race, color, ethnicity, religion, alienage, ancestry, and/or national origin” and order them to “take all affirmative steps necessary to remedy the effects of the illegal, discriminatory conduct described herein and to prevent similar occurrences in the future.” It also seeks attorneys’ fees and compensatory and punitive damages against Delta and Atlantic Southeast Airlines “in an amount to be determined at trial.”

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A prominent national Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization calls on the FBI to investigate a number of threats of violence targeting mosques posted online on an anti-Islam hate site, including the comment “I want [Muslim] blood on my hands” by an individual who claims he regularly drives past a Virginia mosque.

The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) also urged WordPress.com to remove the hate site because its calls to violence violate the hosting company’s terms of service,” which prohibit blogs that “contain threats or incite violence towards individuals or entities.”

At CAIR’s request, WordPress.com last year deleted a similar blog containing posts that advocated burning mosques, making false bomb threats implicating Muslims, desecrating Muslim graves, and that recommended the “proper way to shoot a muslim [sic].” CAIR said articles and comments posted on the anonymous blog “Bare Naked Islam” (BNI) routinely urge attacks on and desecration of American and European mosques.

“Keith Mahone (aka Charles Martel),” who states that he regularly drives by a Virginia mosque, wrote: “[I]f you see a Muslim licking an ice cream cone in the park and you blow his head off you are technically committing an act of self defense. . .Muslims must learn they they are not safe anywhere outside a Muslim country. . .My heart does a back flip to see a mosque “desecrated”. . .Burn every mosque to the ground in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and kill every Muslim twice. . .I want their blood on my hands as a matter of principle.”

In a November 23 post headlined “Ready the Pigs’ Blood,” the blog’s author and commenters on the article urged violence and religious desecration to prevent the construction of a New York mosque. BNI’s author wrote: “The mosque may go up, but it will never stay up.”

Commenter “angel” wrote: “I hope the tough Russians will burn this mosque to the ground many times over until the a**lifters get the message.” ”Sarastro” wrote: “Ban all mosques, blow up those that exist, and do not let another inch of sacred American soil be designated to be desecrated by Islamic buildings. Let’s hope the Russian Mafia will find the right remedy for this outrage.”

“Carl Tapp” wrote: “Bay people must contaminate the ground, buildings, and Muslims with the blood, urine and guts of pigs.” ”Kenneth Schustereit” commented, “Fill this hole with pig’s blood!” while “perry” wrote: “a lil pigs blood applied here and there.” In reply to these threats “barenakedislam” suggested: “Perry, pouring [pig blood] in the cement would be better.

They couldn’t wash it away.” The blog’s author later wrote: “I sincerely doubt that mosque will ever get to the point where they are blaring the Call to Prayer at 5AM. Mr. BNI has a Russian Jewish business associate from that neighborhood. He will know what they are going to do but I doubt if he will tell us. Probably better that way.”

Another BNI November 23 post headlined “WOO HOO! Yet ANOTHER anti-Muslim attack on a French mosque” asks, “Will the Muslims ever get a clue that they are not welcome in France?” A comment to that post by “Sarastro” stated: “What’s all this pussy-footing??? Throw 10 Molotov cocktails into these mosques and burn them down even with a**-lifters in them, especially with a**-lifters in them.”

“GrouchyFogie” wrote: “Bomb the things to the ground, THEN burn them.” ”Burnerjack” wrote: “THAT’S not an attack. An attack is boarding the doors while the mosque is full and then fire bombing it. THAT’S an attack. I’m just saying.”

“Calls to violence and desecration targeting an American religious minority should never be tolerated and must be investigated by the FBI and other relevant law enforcement authorities,” said CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper. “Too many American mosques have already been targeted by those who share the extremist views expressed on this hate site.”

He noted that in the past year, mosques or mosque construction sites in Massachusetts, Oregon, Ohio,New York, Iowa, Maine, Georgia, Missouri, Louisiana, Tennessee, Texas, California, and Michigan have been targeted by arson, vandalism or threats. In May of last year, a bomb exploded at a Florida mosque. A recent fire at a Kansas mosque is still under investigation.

Hooper said a number of recent reports have documented the growth and promotion of Islamophobia nationwide.

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