No Excuses: No Baggage: Waiting for the Train

No Excuses: No Baggage: Waiting for the Train

In Boston; I am waiting in the early morning station gloom for a Red Line train. No train, but oh, no; here comes that scary announcement again; "If You See Something, Say Something… Report any suspicious activity large or small to us; contact (617) 222 1212. Have a safe day…" Again, it repeats, loud and clear; and again and again. It is another version of the announcement in New York, probably now echoing in stations around the nation.

Each time, my fellow riders look more and more suspicious to me. I look at them. And they look at me. And look, there's a Muslim woman! And a dark skinned man! A young man with a backpack-now, two men with big, black bags. And what's that smell? Is it the perfume of cheap explosives or the normal body order of these sweating, waiting people? Should I get up and move, or will that look suspicious?

I wonder how my co-workers are affected in New York City, with the new, random baggage searches in the subway. And I wonder about Muslims in other cities. I guess we Muslims will just have to leave our baggage at home. Hold on to your Qur'ans, but leave that heavy burden of resentment and fear at home, no, even better to throw the extra cultural and emotional baggage away. Can we?

With all the media reports of course we are all understandably somewhat anxious. But we must ask ourselves: will US police follow a shoot to kill policy as in London, where bomb squad officers murdered an innocent, defenseless Brazilian in the train station on the way to work? According to witnesses; "He looked terrified as a cornered fox," as they shot him five times in the back of the head! In the coming days we will hear excuses for this deplorable act; but is fear really an acceptable excuse for adult men and women, law enforcement or civilian?

Responding to that fear, the US House of Representatives have just voted to make most of the Patriot Act restrictions permanent. While the Senate may modify this law slightly, it is very bad news indeed. You and I know directly how these and other such laws have targeted thousands of Muslims with no link to terror. We must also note that FBI and other Law enforcement agencies are now putting peace activists and even the American Civil Liberties Union under extensive surveillance. Moreover, law enforcement now depicts abortion foes and even animal rights activists as domestic terrorists if they conduct operations that may damage corporate property, as SHAC and ALF activists free chickens from vast and unnecessarily cruel factory farms. Feathers fly! The Bush Administration really gets a lot of use out of the word "terrorist."

Yes, the Muslim community is not the only target of this power hungry, capitalist cabal. Just as neo-conservative think tanks denounce Muslim groups to Congress, they also denounce other dissidents. Even the New York Times has condemned as "Orwellian" and "hypocritical" such groups as the so-called "Center for Consumer Freedom" which harasses and smears critics of their powerful corporate masters.

Breaking a law in the service of an ideal is not necessarily wrong; it certainly does not have to be terror. If punishment is called for, let it be proportional. If he had not broken a few laws through civil disobedience, Martin Luther King could not have led his successful movement for social justice; in fact, without such tactics we might be still enjoying the inhuman benefits of slavery. And across the harbor from this train station in 1774, the Boston Tea Party "Indians" protested unfair taxes with a bit of political theater, just like today's Greenpeace activists. But today they might well be called terrorists, and our founding fathers would be languishing in Guantanamo!

However, recent statements that minimize or seem to justify acts of terror are ill advised. Good to know that 500 imams signed a statement against terror in Britain; let us hope they will exhibit the same solidarity on other issues as well. Why isn't solidarity more important to us Muslims? Recently I helped to organize a statement against sectarian violence, the fratricide between Sunni and Shia, especially in Pakistan, Iraq and Afghanistan. Many of the New York area Muslim leaders who signed it had family in the affected regions. Why did certain reactionaries object to this statement, when it was meant to strengthen Muslim solidarity? I was disappointed by this, but glad that independently MPAC organized a similar statement on the West Coast. We do not need to be finding excuses for violence that weakens the Ummah.

There are also other ways to build a peace. Here in New York, I join other Muslims in a monthly dialogue with FBI, to bring serious complaints, organize Town Halls for discussion, and to provide cultural sensitivity and more advanced trainings. These may be risky, but many Muslim groups believe that lines of communication are quite necessary in the current political climate. In Houston, ICNA and CAIR have trained FBI; and Islamic Networking Group (ING) has prepared a curriculum for training other law enforcement officers. A similar dialogue also exists on the West Coast, and perhaps even in your locality. If there are, then ask: are mature Muslims involved who know how to maintain boundaries and stay on message? Muslims who know they are not there to make friends, trade secrets, or advance their faith based careers? And are there diverse Muslims, lawyers and civil libertarians involved in the discussions? Such initiatives should be transparent and accountable, to avoid any mistake. May Allah guide them -and us-- towards the truth.

And now my train has arrived. I hope my ride and yours will be a safe one, wherever you may be, insha'Allah. Let us be alert to those warnings, repeating and repeating mechanically, but also alert to the precious human gestures all around us, gestures of generosity and goodwill between Muslims and with non-Muslims too. Trusting in Allah, may we allow our hearts to remain free, open and receptive to His signs of Beauty and to His informing Light.