I became a Canadian citizen in 2000, at the age of 22, and then moved to the US and have been calling the US home since then (I became an American citizen 4 years ago).
Since living in the US I have gotten a doctoral degree, worked in the healthcare field, built a business with my wife and helped establish two new pharmacy programs in two different states. I am the husband of a beautiful nurse in the making, the proud father of 3 young children with unlimited potential and the friend, colleague and neighbor of countless beautiful souls. More importantly Mr. Pence, #IAmARefugee
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If you compare #ISIS and #Trump's messaging, you will notice some frightening similarities. It's as if they are both using the same playbook
- both are capitalizing on abstract nostalgia (Make Islam great again vs make America great again) -both are emboldening a marginalized, due to their hate, group (Jihadists vs white supremacist) - both label and dehumanize other, therefor justifying their ill treatment (Kafirs or disbelievers/infidels vs Moozlums/Mexicans/Refugees) - both blame an ill defined, foreign enemy-(The west vs the immigrants) - both offer simple answers to complex questions- (Build a caliphate vs build a wall) - facts don't matter to either (every single Islamic teaching vs every single fact) - both are false prophets (guy with a big beard vs a supposed, self made billionaire) And the list goes on and on.... My name is Ahmed Abdelmageed
I have been called sand ni**a, camel fag, terrorist and wife beater. I am sorry if my somber words shocked your conscious awake, even if for a fleeting moment, from its stupor. But we really need to talk. No, not about me or how I sometimes maybe treated No, not about Leslie Jones per se (pictured below) and the ugliness she is enduring And no, not about Trump and how he is "the problem with this country" We need to talk about the status of collective moral coma in which we find ourselves. Trump is not the problem, Trump is the natural consequence of all the problems we have in our country. Trump is the simple manifestation of what our country has done and continues to do to people like Leslie Jones and others like her. We need to talk about how we continue to seek simple answers to complex questions We need to talk about the hate that exists among us, within us and around us I am afraid however, that by the time you have gotten to the end of this post, that fleeting moment of conscious' awakening has already sped by I wonder what style of numbers would Newt Gingrich like to tattoo on my arm? Yes, that is a wedding band on my finger. Yes, I do have children (three beautiful and rambunctious little rascals) Yes, I do believe in Sharia (which simplistically means what God has decreed for Muslims as lawful, e.g. Enjoying a juicy burger, and unlawful e.g. Desecrating the sanctity of life) Yes, I will raise my kids as American Muslims No, I will not forfeit the future of my country to people like you, Trump and others No, I will not shed my beliefs to appease your warped ideology because truly, that's what ISIS and their like want me to do No, I do not stand alone as there are many who reject your fear mongering and hate Dear Mr. Gingrich, consider me number 1 out of the 2.75 million Muslim Americans https://www.mediamatters.org/video/2016/07/14/fox-newt-gingrich-calls-muslims-be-deported-if-they-believe-sharia/211594 I was honored to be invited to speak against hate at a vigil in our fair city of Fort Wayne, IN yesterday. Here is the body of the speech as the recording is not the best We stand here today in a vigil for yet another massacre 49 people have ruthlessly lost their lives Here come the hate mongers from one side beating the drums of xenophobia, theophobia and fear Here come the apologetics from another side trying to defend themselves from guilt by association Here come the fervent media debate but unfortunately, hate continues to dominate. I stand before you today mourning such a tragic loss of life I stand before you today as a person whose faith compels him to stand with the victimized and the oppressed I stand before you today because, as I have learned in my Quran God says “whoever kills a soul unjustly…it is as if he has killed the entirety of humanity” I stand before you today because I, just like you, see the utter dangers of a “label” Because when you give a group of people a label, then marginalize that label, vilify it, dehumanize it then that group of people become an "it" and becomes easy to hate, abuse and even kill Yesterday's massacre was not a Muslim-American killing gay Americans. It was an American, killing Americans, using American made assault weapons bought in an American store. It's time to take a deeper look at ourselves It’s time to address the politics of fearmongering and hate It’s time to address our gun glorifying culture….and yes, that is a crucial part of this debate The existential threat that we face as Americans today is our own biases fueled by ignorance Our lack of understanding of one another Our lack of appreciation of the value of the life of the “other” I stand before you today, asking myself the same questions we ask ourselves after every tragedy but when will we ever learn? When will we look at causes beyond the convenient labels When will we look at our society's ills, I stand before you today because, like MLK said, I choose love over hate Thanks to John Gevers for the great photography 68 years ago my home was no longer free I became a "refugee" 68 years ago I was forced to live in three foreign lands, away from my grandfather's love and my grandmother's caring hands. I couldn't bury them nor in their funerals stand 68 years ago I became a victim of colonization I was hit with a somber realization that although I am the victim here, here........I need to live in fear fear that if I am to speak about a 68 year old atrocity, I will be faced with a distorted representation of the monstrosity that lives on to this day, on my land on the bodies of my people on anything but the minds, hearts or consciousness of a world that has become accustomed to complacency 68 years ago my "situation" became "complicated" 68 years ago the brutal occupation of my land became a "conflict" 68 years ago was the first black mark on a white page the world had supposedly started. 68 years ago I became a refugee 68 years ago I became.....me #NakbaDay #Nakba #Palestine #IamARefugee Today I will be giving a talk about Islam at the local YWCA. I will be speaking with about 30-40 people.
In April, I will be speaking about Islam to a communications class at IPFW then to an Introduction to Social Work class at Manchester University. This comes on the heels of a lecture about Islam that I gave to counseling/psychology students from the University of St. Francis which was within a short time span of my regularly scheduled, once a semester, lecture about Islam and caring for the Muslim patient that I give to healthcare students within the area. Not to mention my recent conversations about Islam with the Allen County Democrats and some soldiers deploying to Muslim majority countries. These are lecture that I have given, and will give, within few short months. If we go beyond that short period of time then I am not sure I can count all the talks about Islam that I have given to various groups such as local, state and federal law enforcement and police chaplains or the interfaith panels in which I have been involved. Each and every one of these talks were upon invite. Meaning, I was approached and asked if I can discuss Islam and give additional insight about the faith from particular angle (healthcare, counseling...etc) from which the audience can understand the basic principles of the Islamic faith. I approach each and every one of these talks with the simple underlying premise of "I am here to talk with you about what Islam is, not what it's not" and then follow my talk with Q&A that spans the stereotyping spectrum. We have honest, open, non-apologetic conversations about the faith and its dynamic impact in the lives of those who call themselves Muslim. Why do I mention all this? This certainly is no marketing ploy as I do all these talks pro bono. I mention this because no matter how high the waves of Islamophobia may become (think Trump, Cruz, Pamela Geller and their likes) they will eventually come crashing upon the rocks of understanding, coexistence and humanity. I mention this because we hear about the (blank)ophobes but we don't hear about the hometown heroes. The ones who reach out and inquire. The ones who reject the wide net of fear mongering and hate being cast on a people, a faith, a color. I mention this because I refuse to surrender to a few hijacking my faith, whether from the inside or out. I mention this because I refuse to surrender to a bleak, ugly future that we are being conditioned to accept as inevitable. I mention this because in these dark times, I choose to light a candle. “Execution-style” and “Muslim” together in one sentence have been forever ingrained in the minds of American Muslims. They trigger painful images of three young beautiful souls from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, who were lost simply for being Muslim.
A little over a year later, a heinous crime takes place in our own backyard here in the city of Fort Wayne. Three beautiful young black souls were plucked from among our midst “execution style” at an East Lewis Street home on Feb. 24. And the collective Muslim community yet again reads the words “execution style” and “Muslim” together in one sentence (although we later learned that not all three were Muslim). A shock wave was felt in the national Muslim community. Reactions of anger, fear and frustration have predominated on social media. Questions arose about what seemed to be the Fort Wayne Police Department’s summarily dismissing the act as religiously or politically motivated. Others were offended by use of the word “gang” and attributed its use to the fact that the victims were black and hence this is yet another disregard of the value of black lives by police and the media. All are legitimate thoughts, feelings and concerns with which I, as a Muslim and a racial minority, am far too familiar. After all, we live in a time when some of the main topics of presidential debates span from an outright ban on Muslims to a mere tolerance of Muslims, a segment of our collective American community that has been part and parcel of this country for centuries. We live in a time when such vile discourse has gone beyond rhetoric and is mani-fested in the targeting of Muslims across our nation by people who have been conditioned to view us as a threat and our beliefs as an affront to American values. Also magnifying the effect of such news is that the victims were black and that we continue to see examples of systemic racism and a seeming indifference toward the worth of a black American life. Such reactions, although legitimate, lack an important factor: an understanding of Fort Wayne and the dynamics of our city. Fort Wayne has been a welcoming city to many people from all corners of the nation and the world, including an estimated 3,000-plus Muslims. From Myanmar to Sudan, Bosnia to Pakistan, from East Coast to West Coast, north and south, the Muslim community comes in all shades of cultural and racial variety. They are factory workers, physicians, laborers, nurses, business owners and academics. They play a major role in making our city of Fort Wayne the city of faiths. A city where faiths exist together beyond mere tolerance. We pray together for safety and prosperity of all of our city’s residents in the mayor’s annual “Prayer for the City.” From annual Mayor’s Iftars to interfaith Thanksgiving dinners, we all work together to combat the xenophobia that has a chokehold on our national conversations. We, as a city, learn from our past and current mistakes to make sure they are not repeated as we strive to build a better future for ourselves and our children who call this place home. The murder of the three young beautiful souls was felt by the entire community. As stated by the family’s spokesperson, “this is a city issue.” Yet another homicide took loved ones out of the arms of many. There is a criminal (or criminals) out there who have committed this crime and need to be brought to justice. We grieve together. We mourn together. But more importantly, we work together to bring justice and peace of mind to the friends and families of the victims. If you want to help the families, then please be forthcoming with any information you may have and share it with the police department. This person (or persons) is loose in our community. If they have killed three, what stops them from killing more? Original article published in the Journal gazette (http://www.journalgazette.net/opinion/sunday-centerpiece/Not-who-we-are-11821094) |
AuthorPalestinian, Muslim, American, Husband, Father, Academic, Pharmacist, Coffee Addict, Nutella phene, Pseudo writer, Soccer player, former Canadian, Community servant, Pinch hitter imam, interfaith ninja, Intellectual vigilante, and the undisputed KING of snark Archives
October 2023
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