Thursday, February 19, 2015

SubhanAllah .....Mr President

Subhanallah ......Mr President

SubhanAllah means Glory to Allah , it can also be used to reflect a feeling of great excitement ...."wow"!!!

I love my adopted country United States but I am also extremely proud of me being a Muslim , a follower of Islam .
I am an immigrant living in the United States for quite a long time .My adopted " homeland " has given me and my family recognition and prosperity .

I have always been proud of my religion , proud of my heritage. I made many friends while living in United States , these friends are Chinese , Arabs , African Americans , Indians and White Americans . We belong to different religions some go to a Synagogue , some to a Church , some to a Temple and some to a Mosque. We enjoy appreciating each other"s cultures.
Our faith has never defined us , our character defines us .
People have difficulty understanding my last name , yet they admire me for who I am.

Life somewhat has changed around me after that cold autumn day in 2001.
No one has said anything to me directly but there is always extra checking at the airport when me or my family members when we fly back from an oversees trip, maybe because our last name is " Akhtar ".
There are reports in media which label my religion as " extremist ".

While the stories about WMDs , about Al - Qaeda , Daniel Pearl case ,movies like Zero Dark Thirty nominated for Best Picture Oscar , media labeling Muslims as " fanatics ", reports about ISIS , Madrid bombing ,Charlie Hebdo shooting in Paris and perhaps most haunting, the killing of three Muslim-Americans in North Carolina are very raw in my mind . I worry about my children more than myself . Will they lead a prosperous life , will their faith and their identity become an issue for them ??

I smiled yesterday when our President Mr Obama read from what he said was the first Valentine’s Day card he received this year, before those from his wife and daughters.

It was sent to him from an 11-year-old Muslim - American fifth-grader named Sabrina.

“I am worried about people hating Muslims,” she wrote. “If some Muslims do bad things, that doesn’t mean all of them do. Please tell everyone that we are good people, and we are just like everyone else.”

Repeating “we are just like everyone else,” Obama said to the world wide audience “to remember that 11-year-old girl” and similar children around the world, as they consider how the U.S. fights terror".

President Barack Obama further said that he refuses to describe the Islamic State and al Qaeda as groups fueled by "radical Islam" because the term gives them a religious legitimacy . Actually they don't belong to any religion and they don't deserve it" !

"They are not religious leaders; they are terrorists," Obama said "We are not at war with Islam. We are at war with people who have perverted Islam."

So true.......
I smiled for a minute after listening to his remarks on TV.

The President is correct in avoiding "Islamic" labels. This is not an Islam problem. Most Muslims are not extremists just as most Christians or most Jews . All religions preach peace .
He assured not only one American -Muslim girl but thousands of them that they are like any other citizen of this country .

President Obama gave an elaborate defense Wednesday of his refusal to identify terrorists as Muslim extremists, saying doing so runs counter to American values and would empower violent fanatics.

“We must never accept the premise they put forward, because it is a lie. Nor should we grant them the legitimacy that they seek. They are not religious leaders. They are terrorists,” Obama said to a thunderous applause at the White House summit on countering terrorism.

“And we are not at war with Islam. We are at war with people who have perverted Islam.”



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