Muslim Unity Lacking As 2016 Election Nears
as elections heat up and primaries record winners and losers, Muslims in the area were seen rallying for their candidates of choice.
Since the presidential choices are limited or obvious, there is no major movement in support of any candidate from major Muslim organizations.
A study by CAIR found that 74 percent of Muslim Americans intended to vote in the 2016 presidential primaries, with 67 percent registering support for the Democratic Party. In the poll conducted by Muslim think thank the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding (ISPU), Hillary Clinton is the candidate most preferred with the highest support from Muslims among the four religious groups surveyed. The poll also noted that Muslim citizens' top concerns are the economy, civil rights, and education.
American Muslims for Hilary held an event that took place in late April at the Shady Grove campus of the University of Maryland. There were 500 people present. Organized by Dr. Islam Siddiqui of the American Muslim Institute and Tufail Ahmed of the Montgomery County Muslim Council and with help from Terry Lierman, former chairman of the Democratic party of Maryland, the establishment Muslims and their allies entrenched in government were out in full force. Most were in their 60s and older.
Keynote speakers US Representative Elijah Cummings (D-7th District) and John Podesta, chair of Hillary for America as well as U.S. Representative John Sarbanes (D-3rd District) and U.S. Secretary of Labor Tom Perez made remarks during the event. Congressman Cummings touched on the current tone of the presidential campaign and challenged politicians and voters to value the diversity of America. Diversity is not our problem, its our promise, Cummings said in a thumping speech.
Sultan Chowdhury is an organizer and member of the Coalition of American Muslims for Hillary said that the event was an opportunity for the Muslim community to engage in the political process. Tahira Anwar of Gaithersburg came out to show Muslim numbers, Hilary wins or not, I want them to see our numbers. She recalls a time when America was a safe country. Now she feels that free speech has morphed in harmful speech. Talent used to be awarded, said the mother of three professionals. Despondent about the lack of unity in the Muslim voices, she urged Muslims to show up and vote.
I am voting for Hillary because she is a woman, says Tanzeem Abbasi, a daycare provider, as she recruited volunteers at the American Muslim for Hilary event. It will be good to have a woman leader shape America ... women solve problems in a proper way and she is the most experienced [candidate], she added. Abbasi was active in the Obama campaign, phone banking and calling community members to vote.
Many of the younger generation of Muslims do not agree with Clintons politics calling her a war hawk and out of touch with social justice issues. They have thrown their support behind Senator Bernie Sanders. Muslim US Representative Keith Ellison (D-MN) has endorsed Sanders as has Muslim basketball icon and columnist Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Bernie Sanders is the only candidate that has visited the Nations Mosque, Masjid Muhammad in D.C.
Which candidate's policies are most in line with broader Muslim American values, interests and concerns, particularly given the rising tide of Islamophobia and Muslim scapegoating? asked Professor Zareena Grewal, recently tenured at Yale University and Donna Auston in an opinion piece in Al Jazeera.
To his credit, Sanders voted against the US PATRIOT Act and openly critiqued sweeping surveillance of Muslim Americans after 9/11, which presumes a similar stance against expanding counter-radicalisation (CVE) policing programmes, write the duo, with the help of other Muslim political commentators, many who are in the 30s and 40s, such as law professor Khaled Beydoun and Duke Professor Omid Safi.
The founder of Muslim Americans for Bernie Sanders, Ahmed Bedier, won his election to represent Florida at the Democratic National Convention in support of Bernie Sanders. Virginia is Bediers second home. Several Muslim delegates are headed to the Democratic convention in Philadelphia in July. Jameelah Malik ran from Maryland and garnered approximately 25,000 votes but didnt win a seat.
Linda Sarsour, a racial justice & civil rights activist from New York, is getting out the vote for Sanders across the country. She is seen in his latest campaign advertisement.
I know there are no candidates that are holistic on all the issues that we all care about and fight for every day. I get it. But we gotta get in this. While we continue to build political power and the political capital to create a more competitive field
He has proved his consistency in his platforms - he has been an activist challenging the status quo for decades. He can be moved on other issues. I believe that.
Ideological purity without political power will never move us towards the victories that we need for our communities. I am not asking you to compromise, I am asking you to see the broader long-term vision. We are in this for the long haul but for now, we are in crisis and we cannot afford to sit this one out. We need to SHOW UP. We need to get off the complaints counter and get on the claims counter. We will continue to create a democracy by the people for the people, not one that is bought by and owned by the 1%. Until then. Time is now, she said as she issued her endorsement.
Other says I love Bernie, but, questioning his electability., while others say that he is the only candidate that can beat Donald Trump as he is not linked to any political scandals. According to Politico, in the Democratic primary, Clinton leads Sanders nationally by 14 points, 54 percent to 40 percent. But its the Vermont senator who beats Trump in a hypothetical head-to-head by a wider margin, 53 percent to 41 percent.
As hard as it is to believe there is a Muslims for Trump contingent based in the DC area. Kamal Nawash is a DC based lawyer. "I respect people who understand how to make a deal," Nawash says of Trump, in an interview with Al Jazeera. Sajid Tarar, a 52-year-old gas station owner who sat on the Governors Commission of Small Business, hosted an American Muslims for Trump event in his Baltimore home. He believes that Trumps message is twisted by media and in the myth that the U.S. doesnt have a system that vets refugees.
"CAIR believes most of Trump's Muslim supporters tend to vote with their wallets and are more attracted to his economic proposals, lower taxes for private business owners, sidestepping any concern they might have about his Islamophobic rhetoric," says Robert S. McCaw, government affairs manager for the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
I felt that my religious values aligned with the Republican Party platform, said Saba Ahmed, the founder of the Republican Muslim Coalition, a group that educates Republicans about Muslims, explaining what prompted her to join the party five years ago. We are pro-life, pro-traditional family values, pro-business and tradethose are things that Republicans really care about and are supposed to advocate for. She has said on record that she believes that Trump can be educated about Islam.
Many others who remained in the big tent party are worried.
Mohamed Elibairy, a Republican from Texas who stood by Jeb Bush for two years and voted for Marc Rubio in the Texas primary says, as he headed out of the Republican Convention, 15 years into the fight his party is demoralizing him.
He said on Democracy Now, that as a consequence of the party elders making the miscalculation that Trump was going to flame out, hes now kind of solidified the base of the politically radical right and is the Republican party nominee. I dont look at Trump and say he created this constituency. I saw that it existed, with all its hate and xenophobia and anger. But hes coming to lead it, he said.
On the good news front, the Islamophobes had a whole lot invested [Ted] Cruz and that campaign ended with a humiliating defeat and bad blood with Trump's people. So those guys have been largely silent the past few weeks because they no longer know how to move their agenda forward. Analyzing the deep machine, he says that the Islamophobes want a controlled dose of low level Islamophobia and more targeted government actions at home to stifle the political influence of American Muslims in the foreign policy sphere. Trump goes overboard in his Islamophobic comments, which [trigger] broad pushback domestically and overseas which actually ends up mainstreaming Muslims. Plus the Islamophobes deep down feel Trump is a capitalist sell out they can't really count on. His recent reversal on the Muslim Ban to call it just a suggestion is a case in point that proves their worst fears and makes them less excited to support him aggressively for November.
His advice to Muslim Republicans remains the same as after 9/11, stay confident, work at the state level and keep your eye on the long-term prize because our time will come around 2025.
Elibiary thinks one's election strategy should always be determined by which state they live in. Remember we don't pick Presidents nationally, we pick them state by state. So in some states that are moderate/purple states, a Muslim Republican might join a Republicans for Hillary group and go to town to weaken Trump from there. In other states where Trump will solidly win then they can chose to not vote on the presidential line but vote for down ballot campaigns they've engaged with and found to be moderate/inclusive. Or they can cast a protest third party (ex. Libertarian) vote on the presidential line and frame it as Trump isn't a principled constitutional conservative enough nominee for them. And finally if one's a Muslim Republican with deep enough roots to fight internal battles in the GOP, and those few know who they are around the country, then they can work the media to put pressure on Trump.
Sayyid Syeed is the national director of the Islamic Society of North Americas Office for Interfaith and Community Alliances in Washington D.C. He sees the current election with its exaggerated language and extreme rhetoric as an evil that may push people to do more good. I am sure this will bring out the best of America and we need to be involved in that. Muslims have also been jolted by it and we hope that our leaders, journalists, Muslims who are aware and involved will take the whole community with them. Syeed smiles when asked about November and says, We will not have another Trump; this will be the last trump in America.
American Muslims now know the value of elections, of grassroots movements. It is very critical that evil become well-defined then you rush for something good. Syeed has noticed many more Muslims running for elected offices, from school boards to city councilsour second and third generation, children and grandchildren of immigrant doctors.
Locally, in the Maryland Senate race, many Muslims supported Rep. Donna Edwards of Prince Georges County.
You may pretty much vote for whosoever you want but for the Maryland's Senate race we should vote for Donna Edwards - the lady who has the guts to stand up to Israel's dreaded lobby, AIPAC, wrote Makhdoom.
The Muslim community faces a myriad of challenges both in-house and abroad that require Donna's guts, intellect and foresight to resolve. Her record has established her not to be a "yes-man" to any foreign lobby in Senate. Throughout she has fully supported Obama's various initiatives including his hallmark Obama Care. It is time that we send to Senate a person who can tackle all these challenges, and that person is, Donna Edwards, urged a director of the Montgomery County Muslim Council Rashid Makhdoom. Makhdoom, who is the former President of the Muslim Community Center, is a resident of Potomac.
The Prince Georges Muslim Council had also endorsed Edwards for her Senate race. It is important that our community not get so absorbed by the presidential race that we forget an important fact immortalized by the statement of former Speaker of the House of Representatives Tip ONeill, All politics is local, Jameel Aalim-Johnson reminded the Muslim community in Maryland. Based upon experience, understanding of Washington and electability, the members of PGMC supported Glenn Ivey for Congress in the 4th District.
Despite a tough race, Edwards lost the seat to Van Hollen and Anthony Brown defeated Ivey in the primary reminding us that all politics is, indeed, local.
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