USA: A Response to Hussain Rashid - Re.: "The Muslim Loyalty Oath"

"The 'Muslims for Loyalty' campaign intends to peacefully but forcefully convey to Americans that all messages which encourage disloyalty to, or terrorism against, America contradict the teachings of Islam, the Holy Koran and Prophet Mohamed."

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | US Desk
Source/Credit: AMK / Ahmadiyya Times
By Amjad Mahmood Khan | January 27, 2011

Los Angeles, California: 

I read with disappointment Professor Rashid's recent blog posting objecting to the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community USA's "Muslims For Loyalty" campaign ("The Muslim Loyalty Oath," 1/18).  Professor Rashid casts aspersions on the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community's public activities without recognizing the Community's intentions or engaging with any of the Community's leaders or spokespersons.  This is becoming a habit for the good professor.  Last summer, he posted a similar loaded objection to the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community's public activities, and I respectfully pointed out my issues with his contentions at that time.  I am compelled to do the same here.

As a threshold matter, I must take issue with Professor Rashid's omission of the word "Muslim" from the name of our Community.  As is abundantly clear from our website and literature, we are the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community USA (not the "Ahmadi community").  The error, which I hope is unintentional on Professor Rashid's part, speaks to a more profound problem.  It is difficult for American Muslims of any persuasion to engage in any honest or productive inter-religious dialogue if they are prejudged as "non-Muslims."
 By not accepting the very name used by the group he critiques (and indeed by putting the name in quotation marks), Professor Rashid ends the conversation before he starts it.  The right to self identify as "Muslims" is extremely precious.  It is a right presently denied to millions of Ahmadi Muslims in Pakistan.  Whether Professor Rashid accepts members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community as "Muslims" or not, he should be sensitive to the Community's unflinching belief that they are "Muslims" and let God be the ultimate judge of that fact.  My point is not a philosophical one.  It is grounded in the tragic reality that the majority of American Muslim groups presently do not accept Ahmadi Muslims as "Muslims."  For example, the very organization that Professor Rashid cites as a model of inclusiveness -- the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) -- refers to the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community on its current website as a "pseudo Islamic cult" and to Ahmadi Muslims as "Qadianis" (a derogatory term) (http://www.isna.net/Islam/articles/America/Islam-In-Prison.aspx).  It is not easy to "work with other Muslim groups," as Professor Rashid laments, given this rhetoric -- yet the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community still invites all American Muslims to join them in promoting peace.

Now to the question of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community's current "Muslims For Loyalty" campaign.  Professor Rashid contends that the campaign "was apparently designed to encourage Muslims to be loyal to the U.S."  That is inaccurate.  The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community's Vice Chairman and Spokesperson, Naseem Mahdi, wrote about the campaign's purpose in the following terms:  "The 'Muslims for Loyalty' campaign intends to peacefully but forcefully convey to Americans that all messages which encourage disloyalty to, or terrorism against, America contradict the teachings of Islam, the Holy Koran and Prophet Mohamed." (Fox News op-ed, 1/13).  The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community launched the campaign for all Americans, not just American Muslims.  This is a very critical point.  The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community is not in any way "targeting" all American Muslims as disloyal or asking American Muslims to, as Professor Rashid says, take a "loyalty oath."  Rather, it is (1) condemning those few American Muslims who have recently sullied Islam's good name and teachings by attacking their own country and other fellow Americans; and (2) educating all Americans who are not Muslim that Islam truly stands for loyalty to one's country.  Indeed, if Professor Rashid read the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community's simple "Muslims For Loyalty" flier -- which quotes a Quranic verse and a saying of the Prophet Muhammad -- he would see that it is designed to educate Americans about Islam's admonitions concerning loyalty to one's homeland.  In short, the campaign is centered around curing the prevailing ignorance of Islam's true and essential teachings on an issue that clearly matters to many millions of Americans:  divided loyalties among some American Muslims.          

Professor Rashid levels several other spurious allegations against the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community without furnishing any evidence.

First, he contends that the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community is "ignoran[t] of the historical fabric of America."  The point is perplexing on several fronts.  First, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community is the oldest and longest standing American Muslim organization (laying its official roots in this country in 1920).  The Community is not only aware of the country's history, it has helped shape it.  Second, Professor Rashid does not specify exactly what "history" the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community is ignorant of.  If he means to suggest the history of discrimination against racial and ethnic minorities, I can assure him that he's mistaken.  Ahmadi Muslims, being bitterly persecuted themselves, are sensitive to the civil rights and liberties of all Americans.  By way of illustration, by most historic accounts, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community was instrumental in conveying the message of Islam to the African-American community in this country, particularly during the civil rights movement.

Second, Professor Rashid contends that the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community believes that "all Muslims are responsible for the acts of a few" and has "demeaned other Muslim communities."  Not surprisingly, he points to no evidence for these bold accusations.  The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community has never imputed the acts of a few radical American Muslims to all American Muslims or leveled any attacks on any other American Muslim organization.  In fact, time and again, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community has stood up for all Muslims.  Yet at the same time, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community accepts the grim reality that a number of disturbed American Muslim youth have resorted to acts of terrorism against their country and fellow Americans and refuses to let those acts go unaddressed.  It is simply not enough for a few Muslim organizations to issue an official peace message or two or make a few press pronouncements denouncing such patently un-Islamic acts.  More is required, and now.  The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community strongly believes that a greater number of American Muslims must take to the streets of America to proclaim in the loudest and most unambiguous terms that Islam is not and will never be with those who attack our country.  The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community has consistently invited all American Muslims to join them in this campaign.  Instead of decrying such efforts, American Muslims such as Professor Rashid should be welcoming them.

Finally, Professor Rashid contends that the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community has somehow "set the Muslim-American community back."  This is a deeply flawed assertion for several reasons.  First, Professor Rashid ignores the vital and ongoing contributions of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community to Islam in America, particularly in the area of public service and charity.  Second, Professor Rashid ignores the undeniable impact the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community has had in educating Americans about Islam.  Just in a year's time, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community has reached millions of Americans with its "Muslims For Peace" message by passing out fliers, knocking on doors and taking out bus ads all across the country; most recently, it  took out a prominent electronic billboard in Times Square ( http://www.muslimsforpeace.org/timessquare/).  The impact is certainly more "far reaching" than Professor Rashid might realize.  More tellingly, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community's campaigns have received wide-ranging acclaim by scores of prominent newspapers, magazines and news and media outlets from a variety of religious and political perspectives.  The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community's "good intentions" have clearly translated into good actions, whether Professor Rashid himself acknowledges those actions or not.

For American Muslims to move forward, they must do less finger pointing and more door knocking.  The small steps taken by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community towards this arduous task are not the only steps taken by American Muslims, but they are certainly among the more courageous ones.  


--Amjad Mahmood Khan is national director of public affairs for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community USA. 

-- Ahmadiyya Times