How Donald Trump Made Us Muslims

Shadi Hamid

We are talked about, fretted about, debated. For some, we are a worry; for others, a cause. We have our own perpetually trending hashtag, which tends to make me, and us, nervous (#Muslims). We are, for better or worse, a “we.” It wasn’t always like this. It happened over time.

For most of my life, I saw myself as an American who happened to be Muslim, rather than a Muslim who happened to be American. But now — almost imperceptibly and without quite wanting it to — I find my identity narrowing. I suppose I have Donald Trump to thank partly for this. From the very start of his campaign, Trump, like so many of his fellow right-wing populists, seemed preoccupied with the “Muslim threat.”

The attacks of September 11 began a process that continues to this day, in which Muslims are categorized as “good” or “bad,” either “loyal” or vaguely suspect. Without really meaning to, Trump has helped to salvage the legacy of President George W. Bush. Today, Bush is hailed as a great statesman for his words of solidarity in the aftermath of the attacks, saying, for instance, that “Islam is peace” and insisting that intimidation against Muslim citizens “should not and… will not stand in America.”

The hypocrisy of New Zealand's 'this is not us' claim

對美國知名穆斯林的批判

Last week, Muslims of the World (MOTW) - a platform describing itself as "designed to give a voice to Muslims around the world" - launched an Instagram contest offering a free trip to New Zealand. It claimed the winner would meet families of Christchurch shooting victims and visit the mosques with the platform's founder, Sajjad Shah, Imam Suhaib Webb, and author Khaled Beydoun - all US-based.

The announcement swiftly provoked a backlash, including from Maha Elmadani, the daughter of one of the victims, who wrote, "I don't know who you think you are but you and your idiot friends are not welcome to come here and look at us like animals in a zoo." 

The contest has since been cancelled and Muslims of the World issued an apology, and so did Beydoun - who deleted his Twitter after the controversy - and Webb. It is tempting to see all this as a one-time, isolated occurrence - an individual mistake - but it is not. This type of social media-related opportunism has many manifestations and is very much rooted in Muslim celebrity culture and trauma tourism inspired by Orientalist attitudes.

The trend of Muslim figures rising to almost untouchable celebrity status has been noted in closed circles for some time, but many have been reluctant to speak out about it on a public platform. 

THE DIFFICULTY WITH DIVERSITY

對一本研究美國穆斯林專書的評論

It is an unexpected consolation that the Trump era, while offering unusually severe levels of polarization, has also produced fascinating, even groundbreaking writing on the difficulties of living in a diverse, plural society. I believe that diversity is a good thing, but many of my fellow Americans seem to disagree.

This diversity skepticism might be problematic in moral terms, but it is not entirely unfounded. Early on in the new book Out of Many Faiths, the Muslim interfaith leader Eboo Patel notes that “the higher the diversity, the more people distrust their neighbors and the less they volunteer and give to charity.” So, whether or not we like it, diversity has become a “problem” that at the very least demands more creative ways of thinking and acting. The central task of Patel’s book—and the three welcome commentaries that accompany it—is to ask how we might move from mere diversity to a deeper pluralism and to understand the role that religion can play in the process. Diversity, Patel writes, “is simply a demographic fact; pluralism is a hard-won achievement.”

Bosnia and Herzegovina is Andalusia in the making

這段複雜的歷史還在了解中

Rule number one of border changes in the Western Balkans is that they are always about Bosnia and Herzegovina.

As the presidents of Kosovo and Serbia, Hashim Thaci and Aleksandar Vucic, are seeking the support of the EU for a "land swap" between their respective countries, one should keep in mind that talk of partition - because this is what it really is – of Kosovo is not about Kosovo, but about Bosnia and Herzegovina. 

It is somewhat ironic that Thaci and Vucic have openly broached the issue of border changes between Kosovo and Serbia on the anniversary of another attempt to carve out Bosnia and Herzegovina. 

In August 1939, the prime minister of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Dragisa Cvetkovic, and leading Croat politician Vladko Macek reached a deal whereby Bosnia and Herzegovina ceased to exist as a distinct political and administrative entity, with the autonomous region of Croatia annexing roughly one-third of it and the Serbian region keeping the rest. The deal is known as the Cvetkovic-Macek agreement. 

Muslim Tatars: The patriots practising a 'light version of Islam'

波蘭的Tatar穆斯林簡介

The year was 1395.

Tokhtamysh and his Tatar Muslim army were rushing to the northeast across the vast steppes of Ukraine, unsure of what was to come. 

The journey was long and strenuous, but the warriors were disciplined nomads skilled in horsemanship and accustomed to hardship.

Tokhtamysh's army was escaping the battlefield of the Terek river, looking for safety after a humiliating defeat at the hands of Tamerlane, the ruler of the Timurid Empire. 

For the Golden Horde - Tokhtamysh's khanate, this was the beginning of a prolonged decline. 

The army was heading to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which under Vytautas the Great was in a period of its greatest territorial expansion, looking to take control of lands in the east.

概念性探討生活在非穆斯林主體建構社會的穆斯林型態 (草稿)

生活在非穆斯林主體建構社會的穆斯林，大致有三種型態。第一種型態是族群化，即外來穆斯林來到該地，很自然物以類聚，找尋屬於自己的群體(如同一個種族、語言與文化相近)。如在台灣的巴基斯坦與印尼穆斯林是個典型的範例。

第二個型態是去中心化，即沒有一個統一的穆斯林領導機構，而是出現數個具有相同功能的穆斯林團體，協助穆斯林大眾爭取宗教實踐(如禮拜場地、清真飲食、墓地)的權益。

第一種與第二種型態通常有重疊之處，即以族群為導向的穆斯林分別成立穆斯林組織，但其成效如何仍有待觀察。

至於第三種型態，則是以個人為導向，不盲從群體組織意識的城市穆斯林。這一類的穆斯林可算是另類的遊牧民族，不以特定的清真寺或穆斯林協會為隸屬單位，而是以理念為導向，但這是少數中的少數。

透過這三種型態為分析單位，或許可以深入了解穆斯林在台灣的現況。

Anti-Islam Movement Has New Rallying Cry — Let’s Delete Verses of the Quran

YOU THINK LIFE is bad for Muslims in Trump’s America? Spare a thought for the Muslims of France.

Over the past few years, they have been collectively blamed, and punished, for a series of horrific terror attacks carried out in France by so-called “jihadists.” The latest, a knife attack in Paris by a man shouting “Allahu Akbar,” killed one person and injured four others last weekend.

While anti-Muslim bigotry has become a hallmark of the Republican right in America, in France it is a truly bipartisan affair. Islamophobia is peddled by left and right alike, with both socialists and conservatives falling over one another to defend French secularism, or laïcité, by demonizing French Muslims.

Consider: Successive French governments have criminalized the face veiland banned the headscarf in schools. French mayors have targeted Muslim women who want to cover up at the beach and Muslim schoolkids who try to have a pork-free lunch. The French president — and new liberal hearthrob — Emmanuel Macron has introduced draconian counter-terror legislation that United Nations human rights experts have warnedcould have a discriminatory impact on Muslims in particular.

The Perils of #MeToo as a Muslim

幾個重點

1. 生活在西方的穆斯林群體，不可避免受到西方社會大環境的影響。如近期反性侵害運動，在穆斯林社群內部也開始發酵。Tariq Ramadan與Nouman Ali Khan成為爭議性的人物。

2. 穆斯林女性即使包含有學問的女性，也難以在公眾領域發聲。但早期伊斯蘭的歷史，不少穆斯林女性與男性平起平坐。

3. 當前那些穆斯林知識份子與知名教長，他們也是一般人，不是不會犯錯。跟隨他們的信眾不經思考盲目跟隨，無助於穆斯林社群的發展。

This has been a difficult year for Muslims. I’m referring not only to the external forces that buffet us daily—anti-Muslim hate crimes, inflammatory tweets or President Trump’s travel ban—but also to the internal ruptures that have forced us to reexamine our own communities. As the #MeToo movement reveals the names of alleged sexual predators in politics, media, and business, and the #ChurchToo hashtag trends on Twitter, Muslims are also grappling with fresh allegations against revered men. (西方穆斯林不可避免受到西方社會整體大環境影響)

Muslim women are speaking up about Islamic scholars and clergymen who have allegedly preyed on their piety, and their stories are forcing a reckoning about the fallibility of these outsized personalities.

How big of an issue is Islamophobia in Poland?

對波蘭右翼六萬反伊斯蘭示威的幕後報導

Like hundreds of thousands of her compatriots, Anna Lachowska left her native Poland shortly after its accession to the EU in the hope of finding opportunity elsewhere in the bloc.

The journey first took her to Ireland, then the Czech Republic, and later to the UK where she spent a decade living in the capital London.

It was there that she underwent a spiritual transformation leaving the Christianity of her upbringing behind for a faith few in her native land knew much about. 

"Islam showed me God like I had always felt I seen," she told Al Jazeera, describing how the decision prompted a reaction of disappointment from her mother.

Initially heated conversations about Islam, however, turned more conciliatory and eventually Lachowska's mother came to defend her daughter's decision.

"Whenever she is on the phone with some relatives from Poland, if they say something 'anti-Islamic', she bravely argues with them, defends Islam, defends my choice, alhamdulillah (thank God)." (因為在英國入教的波蘭人)

Tariq Ramadan, Islam, and the Presumption of Innocence

無罪推定原則

Note: While our nation is grappling with many high profile cases of sexual misconduct, a parallel drama has been playing itself out in the Western Muslim community (specifically in the UK and the US). This blog was written in response to the alleged misconduct of two high profile figures in this—my—community, Tariq Ramadan and Nouman Ali Khan. While I wrote this with that specifically in mind, I thought recent events might justify sharing these thoughts with a broader audience.

“The one place where a man ought to get a square deal is in a courtroom, be he any color of the rainbow, but people have a way of carrying their resentments right into a jury box.”

—Atticus Finch, To Kill a Mockingbird.

I do not know Tariq Ramadan.

I do not know Henda Ayari.

And when I say I do not know them, I mean that in the broadest sense. I’ve listened to maybe 5 minutes of Professor Ramadan’s lectures in as many years. I maintain what we’ll call philosophical disagreements with his late grandfather, and by virtue of Hassan al-Banna’s late-ness these are disagreements I do not think we will resolve.

Were There Any Female Prophets According to Islam?

關於是否有女先知的討論

Short Answer: There is a difference of opinion. Though some scholars are of the opinion that there were no female prophets because “women are imperfect”, “a number of renowned scholars have demonstrated that there were female prophets, as there were male prophets; although they did have different opinions about whom to include in their list of female prophets… It is time to correct the general misperception that no single woman, however excellent she might be, could be equivalent to men in carrying major responsibilities and leading people in the way of good deeds.”

---

Asalamu Alaikum sister, 

Thank you so much for your question. 

Some scholars say that there were never any female prophets, and their reason is that a prophet is a “perfect” human being, while women—according to them—could never be perfect, despite the Prophet (peace be upon him-PBUH) having made mention of perfect women (see hadith below).

美國穆斯林社群內部議題

最新聲明。

Disclaimer: MuslimMatters Inc. does not have an official position on this matter – we have published the statement below as submitted with comments closed as requested by the signatories of the statement

———–

In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate

The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, “The believers in their mutual kindness, compassion, and sympathy are like one body. When one of the limbs hurts, the whole body reacts with wakefulness and fever”. (Muslim and Bukhari)

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Islam: Greetings of peace and may the mercy and blessings of God be upon you: as salam alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu

We come to you as women and men who care deeply for you, our brothers and sisters in faith. We grieve with you at the state of the world today, where so many are suffering from war, oppression, displacement, and deprivation. Prophet Muhammad, may God’s peace and blessings be upon him, said that the believers are like one body, if one part hurts, the whole body is afflicted with sleeplessness and fever.

It is for this reason that any violation of trust and ethics which comes within our community of faith is even more painful and distressing. We all share that distress, and we wish that such violations never happened. But reality is not based on our wishes, and much injustice has continued because of denial. Allah the Most High says,

論男性宣教士與女性穆斯林教眾的權力關係

今天才知道這件事情。剛才與一位在美國生活的朋友通話，大致了解事情的全貌。簡單的說，一位知名的阿訇被控與女性穆斯林在社群媒體的對話有不適當的行為。若不從伊斯蘭信仰角度來看，這個行為並沒有犯罪，在非穆斯林身上是司空見慣的事情。至於引起爭議的要點在於這位阿訇的能見度遍及全美甚至是全球。他在臉書上有兩百萬的粉絲，經常透過臉書、youtube的社群網絡分享他的理念，在全美甚至全球年輕穆斯林眼中是一個頗值得尊敬的阿訇。後來有人爆料這位阿訇，讓許多以他為榜樣的年輕穆斯林感到困惑甚至起而捍衛。

這邊不是要特別針對這位阿訇的個案討論。而是這種男性宣教士利用宣教的方式，達到個人的利益，在美國與英國並不是特案。如這篇文章A Muslim Preacher's Texting Scandal Is Making Some Women Speak Out About Sexism提到的，不少男性宣教士利用職權關係，讓有心學習伊斯蘭知識的穆斯林女性感受到不舒服。

會有這種現象出現與現代科技的進步有關。20年前網路還不是發達，在沒有臉書、youtube的時代，穆斯林學習伊斯蘭教育的知識除了家庭教育之外，只能到清真寺學習。但現在學習伊斯蘭的管道很多，西方年輕一代的穆斯林宣教士利用社群網絡的便捷，隨時隨地上傳個人對信仰的感受與教授伊斯蘭知識。這些宣教士善用現代科技與演講的技巧，吸引不少年輕穆斯林，其中不乏年輕女性。而宣教士在透過社群網絡傳授知識的界線拿捏不當，容易引發後續的難以想像的效應。如女性穆斯林後來不滿，向其他伊斯蘭團體爆料。或是一些本來嫉妒宣教士高人氣的其他穆斯林，趁這個時機棒打落水狗。

先寫到這邊。之後有什麼想法再做補充。

A Muslim Preacher's Texting Scandal Is Making Some Women Speak Out About Sexism

這個是一個很好的教材，探討一般穆斯林女性與男性宣教士的權力關係。

Once you get past the shirtless selfies and the “sugar daddy” boast, the scandal surrounding Muslim preacher Nouman Ali Khan is a rare window into how difficult it can be for Muslim communities to deal with claims of misconduct by leaders, especially when women are involved.

Khan is a conservative, Texas-based teacher whose lively Qur'an lectures draw hundreds of thousands of fans to his stories blending modern-day scenarios with strict interpretations of scripture. He disapproves of men and women shaking hands, promotes marrying young, and chides Muslims who wear “skintight” clothes. 

Shocking claims that he abused his power to pursue relationships with women set off a nasty battle over how to handle allegations of religious leaders behaving badly.
Last week, the accusations — along with screenshots of text messages and photos allegedly sent to women by Khan — portrayed him as an undercover ladies’ man who violated the rigid moral code he advocates. The claims also raise serious questions about whether he might’ve abused his authority in order to approach young women who attended his lectures or studied at Bayyinah, his religious center near Dallas. Khan, who hasn’t been charged with any crime, said in a Facebook post that the claims are a mix of lies and distortions about “communications” between consenting adults after he divorced his wife. Neither Khan nor Bayyinah could be reached for comment.

Seeking the Muslim Martin Luther Against Calls for 'Islamic Reformation'

作者談到現在一般人對馬丁路德宗教改革的迷思。

根據最新的研究成果顯示

1.中世紀的天主教有彈性，未必壓迫與不寬容。馬丁路德認為天主教教義與中世紀的習俗混淆，無法得到救贖，因此提倡回到經典。(馬丁路德回到經典的論述類似於今日的Salafism)

2. 路德的宗教改革並未立即帶來宗教自由，大部份歐洲仍是屬於天主教信仰。

3. 宗教改革並未帶來現代化。如路德仍相信最後的救贖等非物質的信念。

This year marks the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther’s Reformation in Germany, a monumental event in Christian history that generated permanent divisions in the body of Christendom. As commemorations of Luther’s Reformation commence throughout the world, it’s likely that some of Islam’s most ardent critics will use the occasion to renew their calls for an “Islamic Reformation.”

Demands for an Islamic Reformation are nothing new, of course. They have fueled the careers of some of the most prominent anti-Islam activists in the West today. This is particularly true for “native informants”: current or former Muslims who use their personal knowledge of and experience with Islam to inform majority populations in the West that Islam really is stuck in the Middle Ages and in desperate need of its own Martin Luther.

Muhammad Ali’s Muslim Faith Is Being Scrubbed From His Legacy

該文指出當前媒體讚揚拳王阿里的人道精神時，卻忽略支撐拳王阿里的精神來源：伊斯蘭

Muhammad Ali, who died a year ago June 3, is remembered as a boxing legend, an Olympian, a civil rights warrior, a humanitarian, and a trailblazer for Parkinson’s disease awareness.

But one central part of his identity is missing from the official Ali Instagram and Twitter feeds: the proud, unapologetic Muslim.

Islam is conspicuously absent from the Ali brand, which is owned and managed by a New York–based licensing company that also owns the rights to Marilyn Monroe, Elvis Presley, and other American superstars. In 2013, Authentic Brands Group paid an undisclosed amount for Ali’s intellectual property, including troves of photos and videos, as well as trademarked slogans such as “Float Like A Butterfly, Sting Like A Bee.”

ABG, as the licensing company is known, runs the Ali social media accounts. With more than 2 million Instagram followers, 876,000 Twitter followers, and 11.8 million Facebook “likes,” the feeds are the main conduit for introducing Ali to a new generation of Americans coming of age after his death. His Facebook biography notes "his early relationship with the Nation of Islam," but the role Islam played in his life stops there. There are black-and-white photos of Ali visiting a hospital, embracing Nelson Mandela, and standing next to Martin Luther King Jr. But in the dozens of photos on posts dating back years, there’s not a clue that “The Greatest” was Muslim, an omission so glaring that it seems deliberate.

A Newly Discovered Manuscript and Its Lesson on Islam

編纂聖訓的歷史討論

“What does the Koran say about…?” is perhaps the most common question my students ask me in the Islamic history courses I teach. It’s an understandable question, but they will be disappointed with the answer if they hope it will explain how Islam has been interpreted and practiced for all of history.

In the post-enlightenment West, a society historically influenced by Protestantism’s “back-to-the-Bible” appeal, many of my students have grown up imbibing a public discourse obsessed with a religious or civil tradition’s origins and founding documents—the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament, the Constitution—and by extension often assume that the only book of consequence for Muslims is the Koran. After 9/11, sales of the Koran skyrocketed. More recently, in the wake of the Orlando nightclub shooting, news outlets from Haaretz to Newsweek ran pieces asking “What Does the Koran Say about Being Gay?” And over the past month, as ISIS called for increased attacks during Ramadan, the Koran was again scrutinized as the source of the violence.

We will not tackle extremism by stigmatising Muslim citizens

Message from Tariq Ramadan

Nothing can justify the killing of civilians, whether in Manchester and London, Kabul or Baghdad. It is important for us to be consistent in our condemnation of these criminal acts, and to maintain our support for all the victims, whoever they are, wherever they live. While the strategy of groups like Islamic State and individuals who commit these horrific attacks is to divide our societies, and to push us towards the perception that it is impossible to live together, it is critical for our leaders to resist sensationalist and divisive rhetoric.

Rather than targeting the so-called “Islamist-inspired terrorists”, we should be bringing people together and I mean all people, those with or without faith, in a united front against all senseless acts of violence against civilians, here or abroad. (統一聯合陣線)

To portray such criminal acts as part of an ideological battle between extremist, anti-western Muslims and western people and values risks further alienating Muslim citizens and ignores the fact that Muslims themselves also fall victim to these attacks. This distinction also inadvertently presents the problem as geographic, and restricts our ability to empathise with Muslim-majority societies, where most attacks actually take place.

Fear of Sharia: Harvard project aims to shed light on Islamic law

美國哈佛大學設立伊斯蘭法研究室，收集許多案例。

BOSTON, Massachusetts – As the United States continues to grapple with growing Islamophobia, Harvard Law School has launched a “flagship research venture” to organise the world’s information on Islamic law: SHARIAsource.

The project aims to provide a repository for scholars, journalists and policy makers, by making knowledge freely available, Sharon Tai, SHARIAsource’s research editor, told Middle East Eye.

SHARIAsource hosts scholarly discussions of court cases that have dealt directly with state and Sharia law from all over the world, with a special focus on the US.

“Islamic law is so often seen as an esoteric and impenetrable base of law. There’s this kind of perception of a lack of logic, because it’s based in theology,” Tai continued, “but actually there is a very clear logic behind it. The way it’s laid out historically, it worked well for the societies in which it was applied.”

The project was conceived nearly a decade ago, by Dr Intisar Rabb, Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and a director of its Islamic Legal Studies Programme. The initiative has come to fruition over the past few years.

Muslim Americans Are United by Trump—and Divided by Race

美國穆斯林社群內部，黑人穆斯林與中東裔移民的穆斯林有緊張關係在。

When weary Muslims gathered in Toronto in December for an annual retreat, marking the end of a tumultuous U.S. election year, they probably didn’t expect the event to turn into a referendum on racial tensions within the American Muslim community. But it did.

One session was led by Hamza Yusuf, a well respected white scholar who co-founded Zaytuna College, which claims to be America’s first Muslim liberal-arts college. At the end, he was asked whether Muslims should work with groups like Black Lives Matter. “The United States is probably, in terms of its laws, one of the least racist societies in the world,” he replied. “We have between 15,000 and 18,000 homicides per year. Fifty percent are black-on-black crime, literally. … There are twice as many whites that have been shot by police, but nobody ever shows those videos.”

He went on. “It’s the assumption that the police are racist. It’s not always the case,” he said. “Any police now that shoots a black is immediately considered a racist.”

The backlash on social media was swift and immense. “For black Muslims, hearing this from somebody we’ve all come to love and trust—it was a cold slap in the face,” said Ubaydullah Evans, the executive director of the American Learning Institute for Muslims, who is black.