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| U.S. Muslims urged to play greater role in US |
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| jaihoon |
| 11/17/02 at 02:17:28 |
| U.S. Muslims urged to play greater role in domestic politics Abu Dhabi |By A Staff Reporter | 17-11-2002 Print friendly format | Email to Friend A U.S. Muslim scholar has urged Muslims living in the United States to play a more active role on the domestic political scene to demonstrate their commitment to that country despite anti-Muslim campaigns following last year's attacks in the U.S. Khaled Al Safouri, President of the U.S.-based Islamic Institute, said such campaigns have prompted some Muslims to curtail their activity while others decided to struggle for their rights. But the majority remained taciturn and kept themselves in a state of despair and fear. "Despite the current apathy and some harassment, Muslims should not keep to themselves... they ought to interact with the American society... the coming elections are an opportunity for Muslims to participate actively and be volunteers as they are citizens of that country," he said in a lecture at the Zayed Centre for Coordination and Follow-up. He accused some parties in the U.S., including what he described as the conservative rightists, of launching smear campaigns against Muslims to distort their image and discourage them from joining the government and the army following the September 11 deadly attacks in New York and Washington last year. "Muslims should strive to convince the Americans that they are an integral part of the U.S. and there is no reason to keep them away from building America," he said. Al Safouri regretted that Jews in the United States are more organised and cooperative than Muslims as they donated more generously to the election campaigns. "It was not the Jewish vote but it was the size of their donations that mattered...their donations constituted nearly 50 per cent of the Democrats' budget," he said. But he expressed optimism that Muslims would join the elections and their number could climb to more than 12 million voters in the next 10 years. "The Muslim community should try to protect its interests and gains inside America as it could do nothing to change the policy at present." Al Safouri criticised a recent U.S. Congressional decision considering Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and also assailed Arab states for their silence. "There was no reaction at all in the Arab world even from the Quds (Jerusalem) committee against the passing of that resolution," he said. He noted that Washington has never "paid any price for its ill treatment of Arabs and Muslims and that it would revise its policies only when its economic interests are affected". |
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