Ramsco's Women Empowerment Initiative Recognized Among Top BRICS Businesswomen Practices for 2025    Egypt, Elsewedy review progress on Ain Sokhna phosphate complex    Gold prices end July with modest gains    Pakistan says successfully concluded 'landmark trade deal' with US    Egypt's FM, US envoy discuss Gaza ceasefire, Iran nuclear talks    Modon Holding posts AED 2.1bn net profit in H1 2025    Egypt's Electricity Ministry says new power cable for Giza area operational    Egypt's Al-Sisi, Italian defence minister discuss Gaza, security cooperation    Egypt's FM discusses Gaza, Nile dam with US senators    Aid airdrops intensify as famine deepens in Gaza amid mounting international criticism    Health minister showcases AI's impact on healthcare at Huawei Cloud Summit    On anti-trafficking day, Egypt's PM calls fight a 'moral and humanitarian duty'    Federal Reserve maintains interest rates    Egypt strengthens healthcare partnerships to enhance maternity, multiple sclerosis, and stroke care    Egypt keeps Gaza aid flowing, total tops 533,000 tons: minister    Indian Embassy to launch cultural festival in Assiut, film fest in Cairo    Egyptian aid convoy heads toward Gaza as humanitarian crisis deepens    Culture minister launches national plan to revive film industry, modernise cinematic assets    Rafah Crossing 'never been closed for one day' from Egypt: PM    I won't trade my identity to please market: Douzi    Two militants killed in foiled plot to revive 'Hasm' operations: Interior ministry    Egypt's EHA, Huawei discuss enhanced digital health    Egypt, Oman discuss environmental cooperation    Egypt's EDA explores pharma cooperation with Belarus    Foreign, housing ministers discuss Egypt's role in African development push    Egypt reveals heritage e-training portal    Three ancient rock-cut tombs discovered in Aswan    Sisi launches new support initiative for families of war, terrorism victims    Egypt expands e-ticketing to 110 heritage sites, adds self-service kiosks at Saqqara    Egypt's Irrigation Minister urges scientific cooperation to tackle water scarcity    Palm Hills Squash Open debuts with 48 international stars, $250,000 prize pool    On Sport to broadcast Pan Arab Golf Championship for Juniors and Ladies in Egypt    Golf Festival in Cairo to mark Arab Golf Federation's 50th anniversary    Germany among EU's priciest labour markets – official data    Paris Olympic gold '24 medals hit record value    A minute of silence for Egyptian sports    Russia says it's in sync with US, China, Pakistan on Taliban    It's a bit frustrating to draw at home: Real Madrid keeper after Villarreal game    Shoukry reviews with Guterres Egypt's efforts to achieve SDGs, promote human rights    Sudan says countries must cooperate on vaccines    Johnson & Johnson: Second shot boosts antibodies and protection against COVID-19    Egypt to tax bloggers, YouTubers    Egypt's FM asserts importance of stability in Libya, holding elections as scheduled    We mustn't lose touch: Muller after Bayern win in Bundesliga    Egypt records 36 new deaths from Covid-19, highest since mid June    Egypt sells $3 bln US-dollar dominated eurobonds    Gamal Hanafy's ceramic exhibition at Gezira Arts Centre is a must go    Italian Institute Director Davide Scalmani presents activities of the Cairo Institute for ITALIANA.IT platform    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



Unfortunately, strangers on a train
Published in Daily News Egypt on 10 - 04 - 2006

I was on the evening train from Washington to New York, happily reading a book, when I overheard a sliver of conversation that would make it impossible to concentrate and remind me just what an uphill struggle it could be to be a Muslim in America, today. "And those cartoons! They get so angry about cartoons but planes flying into buildings? My God. Cartoons, said a woman. "That's why the two people shouldn't mix, is what I thought I heard the man next to her reply. I felt at once nauseous and invisible. I was sickened by the contempt for Muslims that was clear in the woman's words. In my own writing, I have criticized as exaggerated the reaction by some Muslims to the Danish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed. But I criticize as a Muslim who is proud to be identified as such. And I felt invisible because it was obvious that these two Americans never for a second thought a Muslim could be there on the train with them. To them, Muslims were "over there, somewhere primitive and far away, not on a train from Washington to New York, just like them. I tried to imagine what it would be like to ignore what I had heard. I tried to continue reading my book. On any other day it might have worked. But I had spent that day at the home of a friend and her family who were so absolutely and comfortably American and Muslim at the same time that it made even more absurd the notion of Muslims as "over there. And I could not ignore the comment that weekend, which I had spent at a conference of the Egyptian American Alliance for Youth in Virginia. Egyptian Americans had flown to the conference from more than 10 states. Not everyone was a Muslim, of course, but those who were managed to embrace all their identities seamlessly, further highlighting the absurdity of the idea of a clash of civilizations. These young people were the reason there wouldn't be such a clash. It was impossible to ignore the conversation of course. And so I put my book away, pulled out two business cards from my bag, put a smile on my face and turned around to begin a conversation meant to remind my train companions that Muslims were "over here too. I reminded them of the many condemnations issued after September 11, 2001, and of the critical Muslim voices that did not always make it into the media they followed. But I also explained that Muslims were angry because something they held to be sacred had been insulted. And to the man who seemed to think the two people should not mix, I explained neither Muslims nor Westerners were monoliths. I told him I was sure he would hate to be lumped in with the stereotype of whatever the West or America was supposed to be. I told my train companions that I have had mirror conversations in the Middle East in which I've tried to explain that there is another America besides the cheap stereotype. Actually, we ended up having a good conversation that also touched on our views over what the U.S. should do about Iraq. Most importantly, by the time I turned around and resumed my reading, my train companions knew there was a Muslim sitting in front of them. My train companions were sad examples of the growing proportion of Americans who expressed unfavorable views of Islam, as documented in a recent Washington Post-ABC News poll. A majority of Americans now say that Muslims are disproportionately prone to violence and nearly half of Americans, 46 percent, have a negative view of Islam, seven percentage points higher than in the months after the September 11 attacks, The Washington Post reported. According to the newspaper, experts said Americans' attitudes about Islam were fueled in part by political statements and media reports focusing almost solely on the actions of Muslim extremists. For example, both Republicans and Democrats in Congress who were trying to block the Bush administration's attempt to hire a Dubai company to manage operations at six American ports resorted to the worst kind of anti-Arab stereotypes. For many Americans, Arabs and Muslims are interchangeable. As for the media, you will invariably see more images of those Muslims angry at cartoons, angry, violent, and destructive, and of extremists whose views are obligingly black and white, than you will see Muslims who are able to present an argument that is both self-critical and nuanced. But to practice self-criticism of my own here, some Muslims have been all too willing to fit the stereotype. If it is not apparent already, the fallout of the cartoon controversy has caused untold damage to the way Muslims are perceived around the world. It feels at times as if Muslims, particularly those of us who live in the West, are firefighters, constantly on call to put out the fires of radical disasters, usually caused by Muslims who don't live in the West. I dread Fridays sometimes. For it is on those days that it seems the entire world's media decides to attend Friday prayers, listen to the sermon and then rush to report the latest radical proclamations of the imams, as if those imams speak for us all. It is tiring and tedious to always have to be ready with a statement of condemnation. But being a Muslim is a full-time job. Especially in the West.
Mona Eltahawy (www.monaeltahawy.com) is a New York-based commentator. She wrote this commentary for THE DAILY STAR.

Clic here to read the story from its source.