Omar Jamal and the soothing article

[Xargaga]

what would you call this a sign of givng in or what?

 

Omar Jamal: U.S. outdoes Europe at helping Muslims into the mainstream

 

Yet despite constitutional rights, in our post-9/11 America many Muslim immigrants feel less protected.

The recent deaths of two teenagers in a Paris suburb, and the subsequent string of riots and carnage, sparked debates about whether similar riots could happen in the United States.

 

Most of the people involved in the riots were of Muslim background, and therefore everyone had doubts about the real cause of the unrest. Almost 6 million French Muslims and Arabs are concentrated in the Paris suburbs.

 

I am afraid that, considering the current political climate and lack of international political astuteness, it is possible that people with the same ethnicity and religious background would take to the streets in the major cities of both Europe and the United States.

 

But there is a difference between immigrants in the United States and those in Europe. Past riots in the United States and the more recent ones in Europe have virtually the same cause: years of resentment and discrimination. But in the United States, immigrants in general, and Muslim immigrants particularly, are far more integrated than any immigrants in Europe, not to mention France. This crucial difference is deeply rooted in the history and psychologies of the communities on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.

 

Some people have called the French riots a European intefadeh, and also allege some element of terrorism, although there has not been any shred of evidence for that.

 

The highest numbers of immigrants in France arrived in the 1950s and 1960s. As the economy of France advanced, so did the contemptuous policy and temperament of France toward immigrants. In the United States, however, immigrants have already entered the mainstream of the society, and thus are part of the overall mind-set of the country. The immigrant riots in France, the bombings in London and the religiously motivated assassination of a filmmaker in the Netherlands, coupled with the insufficiency of both social and political programs geared toward immigrant populations, are clear indicators of a European political nightmare.

 

There is no better country in the world than the United States to address issues of diversity within its populace with individual rights encoded in its Constitution. Even so, in the post-9/11 era many Muslims have worried that they lack the same constitutional protections that the rest of the population enjoys.

 

A feeling of detachment, arising from inequitable practice of the law, can lead to despair and distrust of the criminal justice system. The longer this practice continues, the more the community becomes isolated and therefore vulnerable to thoughts of riot and defiance.

 

Source: Star Tribune

 

 

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Omar Jamal is executive director of the Somali Justice Advocacy Center in St. Paul.

[Castro]

Originally posted by nabadshe:

what would you call this a sign of givng in or what?

Nabadshe, you've given us two options to pick from: 1) "a sign of giving in" and 2) "what".

 

Atheer, what (or who) is being given in to? And what is a "what"?

 

Omar Jamal seems to be a bright dude. A little on the convservative side, I must say. Are you insinuating he's giving in to America? The neo-cons? Come on, you gotta do better than posing non-questions and expecting answers.

[Yoonis_Cadue]

What a total crap, that chap called Omar Jamal wrote. Simply speaking not the US nor Europe are helpful to muslims. Why should they help them into the mainstream and integrate Muslims into "their" way of life and thinking.

 

The situation in the US is equal to the situation in Europe. I can't see any difference. I guess we've been warned not to live with the infidels unless for business, education and dacwah!

 

It is said that the Westerners will never "accept" us as we are for it was said in the Holy Quran that they wouldn't accept us until we followed their "ideology", way of life and lifesytle such as clothes, eating, drinking and religion etc.

 

Muslims don't need to integrate but too emmigrate from those countries to a much saver "haven" (religious wise) than to stay put in the land of the crusaders and the cross.

 

I'd rather starve and die in a muslim country than to loose my religion.

[Castro]

Originally posted by Yoonis_Cadue:

I'd rather starve and die in a muslim country than to loose my religion.

Hurry up and leave then. Time is running out.

 

Your odds of losing your religion in the west are lower than those in a muslim country. But your odds of starving are obviously higher there than here. Your call.

[Gabbal]

^I always wanted to ask this; sxb are you Somali? The fact that I am questioning your "Somalinimo" should tell you a thing or two about what others perceive of your character too.

[Xoogsade]

Kashanre, Out of curiousity, what is the meaning of your username? If you are brother Horn, salaamullahi Calayka as well. You have the same quote at the bottom as he did and I wasn't around lately to be aware of the name change. Hope I don't sound too intrusive.

 

I think Castro has some valid points. If the strength of one's faith depended on one's location, it would have shown in our country. The same vice exists albeit under the radar. All the bad things are suppressed in islamic countries for fear of aleination but they do exist. I must add not to the extent and support vile exists in the west, nonetheless it does exist. As for hunger, most somalis are too poor lately and rely on the support of their relatives. Those who don't have relatives have difficult times back home. Somalia today is about haves and havenots and the havenots are the majority. The contrast is evident in every Somali town you visit as the story has it. Dadbaa qashinka cuno. Faqriga iyo gaajada waa ciqaab la muteysto.

[Gabbal]

Kashanre, Out of curiousity, what is the meaning of your username? If you are brother Horn, salaamullahi Calayka as well. You have the same quote at the bottom as he did and I wasn't around lately to be aware of the name change. Hope I don't sound too intrusive.

Waar gaal maahi ee "Calayka" halkee ka timi! Yes, sxb indeed I am Horn and you aren't sounding the least bit intrusive; hakuna matata.

 

It's not that I was really questioning Castro's logic, but that it provided an excuse to ask a question I have wanted to ask. I didn't want to sound too intrusive, so I just waited untill a good opportunity provided itself to ask him my question. :cool:

[Xoogsade]

Well saxib, I thought gaalada in lagu dhaho "waca-leykum" oo kaliya hadday ku salaamaan. So technically, salamullahi calayka I thought stood perfect as a greeting to a muslim. I stand corrected again though.

 

Castro is a full blooded Somali according to his posts.

[Gabbal]

^You do stand corrected sxb, because "wa-calayka" not "wa-calaykum" is the response given to a gaal who greets you in the Islamic greeting. I am not a gaal. "Salaamulaahi calayka"na waligay ma aanan maqlin.

[Xoogsade]

Do we misunderstand each other somehow? You are admittedly a muslim and I don't see how I would greet you with a greeting other than the islamic one. No emphasis are important on your faith but only an understanding of the greeting.

 

Also, What is wrong with "Salamullahi Calayka" as a greeting? Did you miss the name of "God" after the salaam despite in its singular form when I used it? May be One of us needs to reconsider his understanding of the greetings

 

 

PS: "I haven't heard" is not a disproof of some religious doctrine. Something you have never heard can still be valid islamically. Ma jiraa qof islaamka soo koobey xagga cilmiga?

 

I will do some research online to see if variant ways of greetings are acceptable and you do the same.

[Gabbal]

^No I'm sure you can do it for the both of us. Anyways sxb, misunderstand maahee hadalka si uusan u dhignayn baad u dhigeysaa. For the last time sxb, you do not say "wa-calayka" to a believer and "wa-calaykum" to a non-believer, it is quite the opposite. So you cannot greet a believer with "calayka" as you have done to my person. Hadalka intaas haku ekaado, faahfaahin iyo muran kale uma baahno.

[Xoogsade]

You are right, I am the one who misunderstood you then. Honestly, I should be on bed sleeping to make up for the lost sleep instead. Take care now. I wanted a big fat paycheck and decided to work the holiday when the rest took off and my brain is mixing the signals for lack of enough sleep. Bye Now.

[Yoonis_Cadue]

I don't know what the fuss is all about.

 

"salaamullaahi calayka (mus) or calaykih (fem)is just a singular form of "(as)salaamu calaykum" and it's just allright.

 

Calaka or Calaykum is answered when a gaal greets you with "as-salaamu calayk or calayki", then you simply say to him/her calayka or calaykum meaniging "you too/aswell", you don't reply with saying "peace be upon you too" because you would be making dua for the gaal.

[Gabbal]

Originally posted by Xoogsade:

You are right, I am the one who misunderstood you then. Honestly, I should be on bed sleeping to make up for the lost sleep instead. Take care now. I wanted a big fat paycheck and decided to work the holiday when the rest took off and my brain is mixing the signals for lack of enough sleep. Bye Now.

Lol..! Hakuna Matata.

[RedSea]

Salamu Calaykum,

 

OH dear lost boy Castro, what a wasteful human being you are. You are putting up an argument here that doesn't make any sense.

 

I can't help it but to say you watch too much Fox Chanel. I must tell that you have got it all wrong my friend.

 

The Prophet Muhammed(pbuh)said that he who leaves Muslim country without any reason whatsoever and travels to an infidel country is not part of his Ummah.

 

Just to mention your redicoulous point of Muslims having much higher chance of leaving their faith in Muslim country than they are in non Muslim country, well I have to tell you one thing that you are pure proof of a lost boy who if he was borned or raised for that matter in Muslim country wouldn't spit out an utter nonsense like you have.

 

Please stop accusing your Muslim and fellow nomads unless you are sure to make credible accusations, because we cannot except such statements that you have made. You seem to be walking in the dark so may Allah bring you to the light.

 

Salamu Calaykum.