VTMBH Article: Body
With great interest, I followed the articles in Al-Ahram about the conferences in Washington, D.C., moderated by Dr. Mohamed El-Sayed Said, called, Muslims in America and their role in public elections.
The first section was published in Al-Ahram on June 28, 2002, and the second section on July 5, 2002.
From the speeches highlighted, it is clear that Egyptians and Arab Muslims attended the conferences.
The Islamic conference for work in the United States discussed the dimensions of Muslims political existence and focused on strategies for Islamic work post-September 11th, Al-Ahram reported.
The second section focused on todays election policies and the position of Muslims in the next elections, as well as the important role that Arab Christians play in this country, for their homeland and for the Palestinian cause. In fact, the Arab Christians were pioneers in building up Arab-American identity and rebuilding the connections between Arab-Americans and their countries of origin, Al-Ahram reported.
I was anxious to know what the Arab Christians said at this important conference about their cooperation with their Muslim brothers in creating an Arab-American policy for the upcoming elections. Especially since Arab Christians in this country constitute more than 70 percent of the Arab-American populationmaking them the overwhelming majority.
I read the entire issue of that newspaper, but I could not find a single name of an Arab Christian who took part in this conference.
For example, one speaker said, If we focus on our strong points, we will find that states like Michigan, New Jersey, California, Florida, Ohio and Illinois are the most important states from the electoral perspective. They fluctuate between the Republicans and the Democrats because neither party has had a lasting effect. In those states, we will find that Muslims have great influence.
The writer went on to explain the meaning of Islamic work and the need to strengthen the unity of Islamic groups.
We start by making alliances that serve American interests. We have to work on the energy problem that conservative Republicans are also trying to solve. We must tell them that their new energy policy should not use dams, nor should they continue their ridiculous attacks on Arabic and Islamic countries. Those countries will produce the oil and export it.
He added that the Islamic groups share conservatives ideas about culture, and that mosques and Islamic institutes are pioneers in the struggle against alcoholism and the rehabilitation of criminals in prison.
His comments made it clear to me that the conference focused completely on Islamic issues and did not mention anything about the role of Coptic and Arabic churches in cultural and social programs.
And thus, everyone involved in the meetings focused on the role of his Islamic groups effect on the hearts and minds of Americans. It also focused on putting monetary and spiritual pressure on political candidates to garner support for Islamic and Arabic causes. But they turned a blind eye to the American Arab Christian majority who did not participate in the conferences. I do not know whether this omission was intentional or accidental.
But why his remarks included the important role played by Arab Christians in this country for Palestinian and Arabic causes is a mystery. Without representation of Christians in the conference, his address was meaningless. But we must recognize that Arab Christians played a very important roleperhaps more than any otherin defending Muslims and Arabs since September 11th.
For example, Dr. James Zogby, co-founder and president of the Arab American Institute in Washington, D.C., was able to succeed, with the help of many Christians of Arabic origin, in convincing then-President Bill Clinton to organize and participate in the first Arabic conference. I participated in this conference and wrote about it three years ago.
The Al-Ahram writer was also one of the first people interviewed by the American mainstream media after September 11th. He asked the media and the American government to help protect Arabs and Muslims living in the United States from any attacks by ignorant Americans. He gave an example of the murder of a Coptic Christian man in Los Angeles, who was killed solely because he was Egyptian and resembled the September 11th hijackers.
Therefore, it is strange that the Al-Ahram international newspaper asked us last July, in a piece written by Nabal-Luka, to follow the line of one Coptic organization, which supported the Egyptian position and the Palestinian cause, and asked the Coptic organization to join their Muslim brothers to create one united Egyptian-Lobi group.
Al-Ahrams reporter does not know that there is a Coptic newspaper like this one, which defends the Palestinian cause and those who are victims of the conflict and demands that the other Arabic papers call for an independent Palestinian state.
Finally, at the end of this commentary, we blame Dr. Mohamed El-Sayed Said and Al-Ahram because they ignore, and silence, the Arab Christian majority who work for the benefit of its motherland. And we insist that this majority be represented in such conferences because the minority of Arab Muslims cant have a stake in U.S. politics without the help of the Arab Christian majority.
So, if Muslims and Christians unite defend their causes in Arabic, they can do a great job, and they can have a great influence on American public opinion, because here, state policies are separate from religious divisions.
The first section was published in Al-Ahram on June 28, 2002, and the second section on July 5, 2002.
From the speeches highlighted, it is clear that Egyptians and Arab Muslims attended the conferences.
The Islamic conference for work in the United States discussed the dimensions of Muslims political existence and focused on strategies for Islamic work post-September 11th, Al-Ahram reported.
The second section focused on todays election policies and the position of Muslims in the next elections, as well as the important role that Arab Christians play in this country, for their homeland and for the Palestinian cause. In fact, the Arab Christians were pioneers in building up Arab-American identity and rebuilding the connections between Arab-Americans and their countries of origin, Al-Ahram reported.
I was anxious to know what the Arab Christians said at this important conference about their cooperation with their Muslim brothers in creating an Arab-American policy for the upcoming elections. Especially since Arab Christians in this country constitute more than 70 percent of the Arab-American populationmaking them the overwhelming majority.
I read the entire issue of that newspaper, but I could not find a single name of an Arab Christian who took part in this conference.
For example, one speaker said, If we focus on our strong points, we will find that states like Michigan, New Jersey, California, Florida, Ohio and Illinois are the most important states from the electoral perspective. They fluctuate between the Republicans and the Democrats because neither party has had a lasting effect. In those states, we will find that Muslims have great influence.
The writer went on to explain the meaning of Islamic work and the need to strengthen the unity of Islamic groups.
We start by making alliances that serve American interests. We have to work on the energy problem that conservative Republicans are also trying to solve. We must tell them that their new energy policy should not use dams, nor should they continue their ridiculous attacks on Arabic and Islamic countries. Those countries will produce the oil and export it.
He added that the Islamic groups share conservatives ideas about culture, and that mosques and Islamic institutes are pioneers in the struggle against alcoholism and the rehabilitation of criminals in prison.
His comments made it clear to me that the conference focused completely on Islamic issues and did not mention anything about the role of Coptic and Arabic churches in cultural and social programs.
And thus, everyone involved in the meetings focused on the role of his Islamic groups effect on the hearts and minds of Americans. It also focused on putting monetary and spiritual pressure on political candidates to garner support for Islamic and Arabic causes. But they turned a blind eye to the American Arab Christian majority who did not participate in the conferences. I do not know whether this omission was intentional or accidental.
But why his remarks included the important role played by Arab Christians in this country for Palestinian and Arabic causes is a mystery. Without representation of Christians in the conference, his address was meaningless. But we must recognize that Arab Christians played a very important roleperhaps more than any otherin defending Muslims and Arabs since September 11th.
For example, Dr. James Zogby, co-founder and president of the Arab American Institute in Washington, D.C., was able to succeed, with the help of many Christians of Arabic origin, in convincing then-President Bill Clinton to organize and participate in the first Arabic conference. I participated in this conference and wrote about it three years ago.
The Al-Ahram writer was also one of the first people interviewed by the American mainstream media after September 11th. He asked the media and the American government to help protect Arabs and Muslims living in the United States from any attacks by ignorant Americans. He gave an example of the murder of a Coptic Christian man in Los Angeles, who was killed solely because he was Egyptian and resembled the September 11th hijackers.
Therefore, it is strange that the Al-Ahram international newspaper asked us last July, in a piece written by Nabal-Luka, to follow the line of one Coptic organization, which supported the Egyptian position and the Palestinian cause, and asked the Coptic organization to join their Muslim brothers to create one united Egyptian-Lobi group.
Al-Ahrams reporter does not know that there is a Coptic newspaper like this one, which defends the Palestinian cause and those who are victims of the conflict and demands that the other Arabic papers call for an independent Palestinian state.
Finally, at the end of this commentary, we blame Dr. Mohamed El-Sayed Said and Al-Ahram because they ignore, and silence, the Arab Christian majority who work for the benefit of its motherland. And we insist that this majority be represented in such conferences because the minority of Arab Muslims cant have a stake in U.S. politics without the help of the Arab Christian majority.
So, if Muslims and Christians unite defend their causes in Arabic, they can do a great job, and they can have a great influence on American public opinion, because here, state policies are separate from religious divisions.