New Years 2006

The New Year 2006 has begun. This chilly January morning I attended the inauguration of Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York, at the kind invitation of Muslim colleagues in the Mayor’s Office. Billionaire Republicans are not usually my cup of tea. However no tea was needed; we were all served hot cider in embossed aluminum thermoses. And, as Chaplain told us after the program; “Muslims must be everywhere there is an event!” At this particular event, the Chaplain was the first to offer prayers of hope and challenge.

A New Year has begun. Again. It is a reminder that we may always begin again. Speakers reminded us of the last inauguration after 9/11 when bitter smoke still rose in the near distance, and no one knew what the next moment would bring. This time both the Mayor and Comptroller Thompson reminded us that any moment might indeed bring a better future. Imagine that!

Allah knows best. Only three days ago in our own neighborhood He called Sister Selima Akhtar to His Paradise. She had gone to the window to look out. At that one moment on the street below a drunken soldier on leave from Iraq shot into the air and hit her in the eye, killing her instantly, insha’Allah. Who would expect the war in Iraq to occur in our midst, now, in Queens, New York?

The young soldier turned himself in, having forever changed life for many families and individuals. And how will he bear his own stupidity? At the moment it may have seemed a fine heroic gesture. Now he too will suffer. But how many times do soldiers fire their rifles in the air overseas? How many unknown victims are there in Iraq? And yes, this sort of random tragedy also happens at weddings in Beirut and Belfast and the Bronx.

But besides this irresponsible man, we must also blame the culture of war; the training that brutalizes men in the name of protecting our security. And we can blame the movies too. Around the world young men want to enter the Matrix; and become Rambo or Superfly or any cool action hero. Some of these heroic figures exemplify some principle or show some humanity. Some just kill, entertainingly, blowing the mind, numbing the mind. Twenty years ago we had Charles Bronson, Steven Siegal, Bruce Willis; but now there is also an increasing number of violent female role models to choose from. Chill! Mad cool!

Since Muslims often suffer from stereotyping in the mainstream media, we as a community may be relatively aware of the dangerous power of propaganda. We see how dumbed-down populist politics can easily control a secular nation. Of course media helps this process of control by pandering to fear. In this way, CSI, Sleeper Cell, and many other programs focus lazy American minds on the “Muslim threat”.

But the increasing proliferation of heroic prosecutors and noble cops in law and order programs has also been troubling for several years. As media critic Alessandra Stanley of the New York Times observes, “Strangely, the more doubt that DNA testing casts on the fairness of the American system of justice, the more criminal cases on television dramas become open-and-shut. The "Law & Order" shows all vibrate with moral certainty. The "CSI" series make a religion of forensic science.” (12/30/05) Those of you who grew up with this may not remember anything different—you may accept it as normal!

In a similar way, nations, resistance groups and criminal individuals all rationalize primitive and aggressive impulses through religious and nationalistic imagery. They may even hypnotize themselves. And they accept their paranoia and megalomania as normal. Muslims! If we do not reflect, if we do not wake up, the literal interpretation of scripture and revelation may lead past the logic of ethics to Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD).

Unfortunately like other humans, some Muslims are drawn to the intoxicating power of propaganda. At best, these Muslim men and women are irresponsible as drunken soldiers. Hundreds of websites irresponsibly distort the Quran and the Sunna in the name of militant jihad; hostage beheadings are shown on many sites; and even the 9/11 terror attack was a special effect worthy of Hollywood.

But so far Hollywood has the bigger budget. And yes I go to the movies too, though selectively! Just saw Steven Spielberg’s Munich; if you see it, go with a friend you can argue with! Its bittersweet glorification of the Israeli War on Terror may not please us Muslims but it is not a simple cartoon version with superheroes. It is a complex cartoon version. Let us all beware!

On January 20, movie theaters will show, “the hilarious story of what happens when the U.S. Government sends comedian Albert Brooks to India and Pakistan to find out what makes the over 300 million Muslims in the region laugh.” Hmmm? Will we all be laughing together or at each other? Will Albert Brooks be laughing all the way to the bank?

Still later, several other films about 9/11 will open; by directors Spike Lee and Oliver Stone among others. All of this is normal—a form of national dialogue. But we Muslims need to be ready to respond, to create our own films, distribution, markets; and not only be crouched in a defensive posture forever. Oh, I am so tired of being so serious! How do we move towards laughing and towards convincing others of our humanity and brotherhood? Our Deen is not only obedience to a way of life but also a deeper faith; which can develop human virtues and inspire the world. If we follow this course with patience we have no need of militant websites, nuclear bombs or dirty tricks.

This moment as you are reading these words— this precious now; is this a new beginning of the rest of your life? Or the last, a moment ending in an accident; a heart attack, a bomb attack? The heart ticks like a bomb. You think that discomfort in your chest is only heartburn brother? What was that sound, sister and brother, like a gunshot in the distance? Hope or fear? What is it?