Muslim In The US

[muse]

September 9, 2009
Muslims Widely Seen As Facing Discrimination
Views of Religious Similarities and Differences



Overview
Eight years after the terrorist attacks of 9/11, Americans see Muslims as facing more discrimination inside the U.S. than other major religious groups. Nearly six-in-ten adults (58%) say that Muslims are subject to a lot of discrimination, far more than say the same about Jews, evangelical Christians, atheists or Mormons. In fact, of all the groups asked about, only gays and lesbians are seen as facing more discrimination than Muslims, with nearly two-thirds (64%) of the public saying there is a lot of discrimination against homosexuals.

The poll also finds that two-thirds of non-Muslims (65%) say that Islam and their own faith are either very different or somewhat different, while just 17% take the view that Islam and their own religion are somewhat or very similar. But Islam is not the only religion that Americans see as mostly different from their own. When asked about faiths other than their own, six-in-ten adults say Buddhism is mostly different, with similar numbers saying the same about Mormonism (59%) and Hinduism (57%).



By a smaller margin, Americans are also inclined to view Judaism and Catholicism as somewhat or very different from their own faith (47% different vs. 35% similar for Judaism, 49% different vs. 43% similar for Catholicism). Only when asked about Protestantism do perceived similarities outweigh perceived differences, with 44% of non-Protestants in the survey saying Protestantism and their own faith are similar and 38% saying they are different.

Results from the latest national survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press and the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, conducted Aug. 11-17 among 2,010 adults reached on both landlines and cell phones, reveal that high levels of perceived similarity with religious groups are associated with more favorable views of those groups. Those who see their own faith as similar to Catholicism, Judaism, Mormonism and Islam are significantly more likely than others to have favorable views of members of these groups.




Detailed questions about perceptions of Islam show that a plurality of the public (45%) says Islam is no more likely than other faiths to encourage violence among its believers; 38% take the opposite view, saying that Islam does encourage violence more than other faiths do. Views on this question have fluctuated in recent years, with the current findings showing that the view that Islam is connected with violence has declined since 2007, when 45% of the public said that Islam encourages violence more than other religions do.




Almost half of Americans (45%) say they personally know someone who is Muslim. Also, slim majorities of the public are able to correctly answer questions about the name Muslims use to refer to God (53%) and the name of Islam’s sacred text (52%), with four-in-ten (41%) correctly answering both “Allah” and “the Koran.” These results are consistent with recent years and show modest increases in Americans’ familiarity with Islam compared with the months following the 9/11 attacks. Those people who know a Muslim are less likely to see Islam as encouraging of violence; similarly, those who are most familiar with Islam and Muslims are most likely to express favorable views of Muslims and to see similarities between Islam and their own religion.

 

[muse]

Religious Similarities and Differences

When asked how much various religions resemble their own, the public cites Protestantism and Catholicism as the faiths most like theirs. Overall, more than four-in-ten non-Protestants in the survey (44&#37 say that the Protestant religion and their own faith are similar (including 12% saying they are very similar), slightly more than say Protestantism and their own faith are somewhat or very different (38%). Of non-Catholics, 43% see mostly similarities between Catholicism and their own faith, while roughly half (49%) see mostly differences. More than one-third of non-Jews say Judaism is somewhat or very similar to their own faith (35%), while 47% say it is somewhat or very different.



By comparison, the public is even more likely to see differences rather than similarities between their own religion and Mormonism, Islam, Buddhism or Hinduism. In fact, majorities say that each of these faiths is different from their own religion, with sizeable numbers saying that these religions are very different from their own (37% say this about Mormonism, 40% about Hinduism, 44% about Buddhism and 45% about Islam).

Protestants see Catholicism as the religion most like their own, followed by Judaism. Among Protestants in the survey, white evangelicals (49%) and white mainline Protestants (50%) are somewhat more likely than black Protestants (39%) to see their religion as similar to Catholicism. But all three groups have roughly the same impression of Judaism’s similarity with their own faith (39% similar among white evangelicals, 34% among both white mainline Protestants and black Protestants). Fewer Protestants see Mormonism (22%), Islam (15%), Hinduism (9%) or Buddhism (7%) as similar to their own faith.



Catholics, especially white, non-Hispanic Catholics, name Protestantism as the faith that is most similar to Catholicism. Interestingly, Catholics see greater similarities between Catholicism and Protestantism than do Protestants. After Protestantism, Catholics see Judaism as most like their faith. Indeed, Catholics are slightly more likely than Protestants to say their faith is similar to Judaism. Less than a quarter of Catholics (22%) see Mormonism as similar to their religion, 19% see Islam as similar, 16% see Buddhism as similar, and 12% see Hinduism as similar.

Compared with other groups, fewer of the religiously unaffiliated see their own beliefs as similar to Catholicism, Protestantism and Judaism. However, the religiously unaffiliated are more likely than any other group in the survey to see their own beliefs as similar to Buddhism (26%).

Analysis of the survey reveals that perceptions of similarity with religious groups are linked with more favorable views of these groups. For instance, non-Catholics who see mostly similarities between their own faith and Catholicism are much more likely than those who see mostly differences to view Catholicism favorably (76% vs. 54%). And two-thirds of those who see mostly similarities between their own faith and Islam have a favorable view of Muslims (65%), compared with fewer than half of those who see mostly differences with Islam (37%).



Discrimination and Religious Minorities

Americans are more likely to say there is a lot of discrimination against Muslims than against any other religious group asked about in the survey. Most people say there is not a lot of discrimination against Jews, atheists, Mormons and evangelical Christians in the U.S., while nearly six-in-ten (58%) say there is a lot of discrimination against Muslims.

The only group that Americans perceive as subject to more discrimination than Muslims is homosexuals; nearly two-thirds of adults (64%) say gays and lesbians face a lot of discrimination. About half say blacks (49%) and Hispanics (52%) suffer from a lot of discrimination, and more than a third (37%) say there is a lot of discrimination against women in the U.S. today.



Young people (ages 18-29) are especially likely to say there is a lot of discrimination against Muslims, with nearly three-quarters (73%) expressing this view. Among those older than age 65, by contrast, only 45% say that Muslims face a lot of discrimination.

Across the political spectrum, most people agree that there is a lot of discrimination against Muslims. But this perception is most common among liberal Democrats, with eight-in-ten saying there is a lot of discrimination against Muslims. This is significantly higher than among all other partisan and ideological groups.

There are only minor differences of opinion between members of the major religious traditions on this question. Black Protestants are most likely to say there is a lot of discrimination against Muslims (65%), but majorities of all religious groups say Muslims face a lot of discrimination.



Few Feel Like Part of a Religious Minority
When asked about their own religious status, one-in-five Americans (19%) say they think of themselves as belonging to a minority because of their religious beliefs while 78% do not, numbers that are unchanged since early 2001. Though white evangelicals constitute the single largest religious group in the country, roughly a quarter (24%) identify themselves as part of a religious minority, much more than the 11% of white mainline Protestants and 13% of Catholics who do so. In this regard, evangelicals resemble black Protestants, among whom 22% regard themselves as part of a religious minority. Among the religiously unaffiliated, 18% see themselves as part of a religious minority, a figure significantly higher than among mainline Protestants or white Catholics.

Frequent attendance at religious services is associated with a higher tendency to feel like part of a religious minority. Overall, one-quarter of those who attend religious services at least once a week say they are a minority because of their beliefs, compared with 16% of those who attend less often. And among white evangelicals, nearly three-in-ten regular churchgoers (29%) see themselves as part of a religious minority. Likewise, 23% of those who say religion is very important in their lives think of themselves as minorities, compared with 14% of those who say religion is less important in their lives.

Politically, those in the middle of the ideological spectrum are less likely to consider themselves part of a religious minority. Just 13% of moderates identify as religious minorities, compared with 22% of conservatives and 21% of liberals.



Views of Islam and Violence
Americans’ views of the link between Islam and violence have fluctuated in recent years. Currently, a plurality (45%) says Islam is no more likely than other faiths to encourage violence among its believers, compared with 38% who say that Islam does encourage violence more than other religions. This is similar to positions on this issue in 2005. By contrast, in Pew Research Center surveys conducted in 2004 and 2007, more people said Islam does encourage violence than said it does not.



Among conservative Republicans, 55% say Islam is more likely than other faiths to encourage violence, down 13 percentage points in two years. However, conservative Republicans are still more likely than other political groups to express a negative view of Islam on this question. Views of Islam and violence have also changed considerably among conservative and moderate Democrats (with the number saying Islam encourages violence more than other faiths down nine percentage points since 2007), while holding steady among other political groups.

White evangelical Protestants are significantly more likely than other religious groups to say Islam is inclined toward violence, with more than half (53%) taking this view. Within other religious groups, fewer than four-in-ten people express this opinion (39% of white mainline Protestants, 38% of white Catholics, 33% of the religiously unaffiliated and 30% of black Protestants).

 

[muse]

Familiarity with Muslims
Just under half of Americans know a Muslim, a figure unchanged from 2007 and slightly higher than in November 2001, when 38% of Americans said they personally knew a Muslim. Familiarity with Muslims varies greatly by age and education.



Two-thirds of college graduates (66%) know a person who is Muslim, as do a smaller majority of those with some college (55%). But that drops to just 29% among those who have not attended college. Similarly, 52% of people under age 30 know a Muslim, as do almost half of those ages 30-64. But among those over age 65, just three-in-ten personally know a Muslim.

Men are more likely than women to say they know a Muslim (51% vs. 40%), and blacks are more likely to know a Muslim (57%) than are whites (44%) or Hispanics (39%). Half of moderates (51%) and liberals (50%) say they are acquainted with a Muslim, compared with 41% of conservatives.

White evangelical Protestants are now 11 percentage points more likely to know a Muslim than they were in 2007 (41% vs. 30%), bringing them more in line with the 40% of mainline Protestants and 43% of white Catholics who also say they know a Muslim. Interaction with Muslims is much more common among black Protestants, among whom 61% say they know a Muslim.


Knowledge of Islam

A slim majority of Americans know the Muslim name for God is Allah, and a similar number can correctly name the Koran as the Islamic sacred text. Overall, 41% of the public is able to answer both questions correctly, 23% can answer one but not the other, and 36% of Americans are unfamiliar with either term.



Men are generally more knowledgeable about Islam than women; 47% know the Muslim name for God and name the holy book correctly, compared with 35% of women. This knowledge is also higher among whites than among Hispanics, and Americans under age 65 are much more likely than seniors to know these facts about Islam.

Still, as with knowing a Muslim personally, education makes the greatest difference: Almost two-thirds of college graduates (64%) answered both questions about Islam correctly, compared with less than half of those with some college (48%) and 24% of those who have not attended college.

A majority of liberal Democrats (56%) named both Allah and the Koran correctly, as did nearly as many conservative Republicans (49%). Fewer than half of independents (44%) and just a third of moderate and liberal Republicans and conservative and moderate Democrats answered both correctly.

Knowledge of Islam is fairly equal across religious groups, though it is highest among the unaffiliated (44% answered both questions correctly) and lowest among Catholics (35% answered both correctly).

More Americans can correctly identify both the Koran and Allah today (41%) than could do so in 2002 or 2003 (33% and 31% respectively), though there has been only a marginal increase in Americans’ knowledge about Islam since 2005, when 38% were familiar with both Allah and the Koran. Awareness of the Muslim holy book and name for God has increased noticeably among some groups while remaining steady among others. For instance, 42% of those under age 30 can correctly name the Koran and Allah, up eight percentage points from 2002. Knowledge is also significantly higher among those ages 30 to 64, but familiarity with Islam is largely unchanged among seniors, the group that was least knowledgeable about the religion to begin with; 26% can name both the Koran and Allah today, compared with 23% in 2002.

Knowledge has grown markedly among many religious groups. The increase is most obvious among black Protestants, among whom 42% can name both the Koran and Allah today, compared with 27% in 2002. White Catholics as well as evangelical Protestants are also much more familiar with Islam today than they were in 2002. However, the trend is not apparent among the religiously unaffiliated; 44% of this group can name both Allah and the Koran today, compared with 42% in 2002. The unaffiliated stood out for possessing the most knowledge of Islam in 2002, whereas today there is less of a gap between them and other religious groups.



Familiarity with Islam Affects Views

Roughly a fourth of Americans (26%) have a relatively high level of familiarity with Islam, that is, they know the names Muslims use to refer to God and to their sacred text, and they are also personally acquainted with a Muslim. Another fourth of the population (27%) is basically unfamiliar with the Muslim religion, neither knowing a Muslim nor having knowledge of Allah or the Koran. The remaining half of the population (47%) falls somewhere between these two groups in terms of familiarity with Islam.



The survey shows that higher levels of familiarity with Islam, and especially knowing someone who is Muslim, are associated with more positive views toward the religion. For example, among the group with the highest level of familiarity with Islam, most reject the idea that Islam encourages violence (57%). By contrast, fewer than half of those with medium familiarity with Islam (46%) and one-third of those with little familiarity (34%) reject the idea of a link between Islam and violence. Not surprisingly, people with lower levels of familiarity with Islam exhibit higher levels of non-response in attitudes about Islam, saying they do not know whether it is more or less likely than other religions to encourage violence.



Similarly, those with the highest levels of familiarity with Islam express the most favorable views of Muslims. Nearly six-in-ten of those most familiar with Islam express favorable views of Muslims, compared with less than four-in-ten among those with less familiarity.



Regardless of their familiarity with Islam, more Americans say that their beliefs are different from rather than similar to the Muslim religion. However, even on this question, those who are most familiar with Islam stand out as being more likely to say that their religion is similar to Islam (27% vs. 7% among those with low familiarity). More than a third (35%) of those with low familiarity say they do not know whether their religion is similar to or different from Islam.



A similar pattern exists with regard to whether Americans perceive a lot of discrimination against Muslims. Those who are most familiar with Islam are significantly more likely than those with minimal exposure to say that there is a lot of discrimination against Muslims today. Seven-in-ten say this, compared with just 44% of those with a low level of familiarity. As on the question of Islam and violence, a large portion (25%) of those with minimal knowledge of Islam say they do not know whether there is a lot of discrimination against Muslims today.

 

[fhassan]

(I have not read the full report, so I am just making a general comment)

I believe we have amongst the best Islamic personalities who hail from the USA, and this trend will only get better.

In general, American reverts are amongst the most knowledgeable and most beneficial to the Ummah as a whole.

Shaykh Hamzah Yusuf, and Shaykh Yusuf Estes being prime examples.

 

[muse]

I encourage you to read the report - I think you will find a lot of interesting ideas, interesting trends.

Though I would point out that 58% of Americans agreeing on anything shows just how huge the problem is and exactly the nature of the injury US has done to itself in the name of security after 9/11, though the trend, it seems to me, was clear even before that.

 

[muse]

For gentle American friends, a fascinating learning curve - but look at who, what kind of persons and more importantly who's left out :

38% of Americans said they personally knew a Muslim. Familiarity with Muslims varies greatly by age and education.

Two-thirds of college graduates (66%) know a person who is Muslim, as do a smaller majority of those with some college (55%). But that drops to just 29% among those who have not attended college. Similarly, 52% of people under age 30 know a Muslim, as do almost half of those ages 30-64. But among those over age 65, just three-in-ten personally know a Muslim.

Men are more likely than women to say they know a Muslim (51% vs. 40%), and blacks are more likely to know a Muslim (57%) than are whites (44%) or Hispanics (39%). Half of moderates (51%) and liberals (50%) say they are acquainted with a Muslim, compared with 41% of conservatives.

White evangelical Protestants are now 11 percentage points more likely to know a Muslim than they were in 2007 (41% vs. 30%), bringing them more in line with the 40% of mainline Protestants and 43% of white Catholics who also say they know a Muslim. Interaction with Muslims is much more common among black Protestants, among whom 61% say they know a Muslim

 

[muse]

The "feeling" is mutual - it would seem:

Among conservative Republicans, 55% say Islam is more likely than other faiths to encourage violence, down 13 percentage points in two years. However, conservative Republicans are still more likely than other political groups to express a negative view of Islam on this question. Views of Islam and violence have also changed considerably among conservative and moderate Democrats (with the number saying Islam encourages violence more than other faiths down nine percentage points since 2007), while holding steady among other political groups.

White evangelical Protestants are significantly more likely than other religious groups to say Islam is inclined toward violence, with more than half (53%) taking this view. Within other religious groups, fewer than four-in-ten people express this opinion (39% of white mainline Protestants, 38% of white Catholics, 33% of the religiously unaffiliated and 30% of black Protestants).

 

[muse]

Absolutely incredible!

Americans see Muslims as facing more discrimination inside the U.S. than other major religious groups. Nearly six-in-ten adults (58%) say that Muslims are subject to a lot of discrimination, far more than say the same about Jews, evangelical Christians, atheists or Mormons. In fact, of all the groups asked about, only gays and lesbians are seen as facing more discrimination than Muslims, with nearly two-thirds (64%) of the public saying there is a lot of discrimination against homosexuals.

 

[muse]

Muslims in an American story
Rafia Zakaria


If Guantanamo and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan indicted the Bush administration before the larger world, Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath presaged its downfall before Americans. Images of hundreds of people being holed up in the New Orleans Superdome, with dwindling food supplies, crying and sick children and non-existent security, left Americans stunned and angry at the ineptitude of the Bush administration.

David Egger’s new book Zeitoun brings the global catastrophe into national context by telling the story of a Syrian-American family caught in the ravages of Hurricane Katrina. In doing so, he brings together two tales whose simultaneous unravelling has often been ignored in American political and social discourse. Set in New Orleans, the story is the saga of 47-year-old Abdulrahman Zeitoun, an immigrant from an island town in Syria, his wife Kathy, who is a Louisiana native, and their four children.

The story of the couple, their meeting, their negotiation of cultural differences and the mixture of acceptance, revulsion and suspicion they face living in the American South brings together symbiotic narratives of the American South and American Islam. Abdulrahman, the owner of a painting business, is the quintessential immigrant, working long hours to provide his kids with a suburban home and private schools. Kathy, having grown up a Southern Baptist and poor in a family of many kids, is a convert to Islam who manages the business and is proud of having provided her the affluence absent in her own upbringing.

In the narrative run up to the storm, the American reader is treated to an inside look into the lives of an American Muslim family. Kathy wears a hijab and is sometimes harassed for doing so by her family. Their three daughters, much to the amused chagrin of Abdulrahman, have girlish obsessions with the music from Phantom of the Opera and Pride and Prejudice. Kathy complains of her husband’s workaholic nature and boasts of her unilateral decision to take the family on vacation regardless of whether he chooses to join them or not (he always does at the last minute). Abdulrahman talks of how Kathy’s southern twang is comforting to those made uncomfortable by the foreign sounding “Zeitoun” painters.

All in all, with the harried schedules, the rambunctious kids and the strained finances, the family’s existence is thoroughly American.

It is this evocative depiction of the ordinariness of the Zeitoun family that makes the ensuing events so particularly poignant. In the days leading up to the storm, part of the Zeitoun family, like so many others, flees New Orleans for nearby Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

But Abdulrahman Zeitoun stays, and as the city fills up with water, as his neighbourhood becomes navigable only by canoe, he provides help to anyone who needs it. As he steers through the neighbourhood in a small boat bought on a whim, he rescues elderly couples, provides food to abandoned animals and delivers water to anyone who needs it. The eerie if deceptive calm spread of the abandoned city is calming and the sense of providing aid to those desperately in need a fulfilment that has been missing from his workaday life.

The cataclysmic moment of the story comes when after a week of camping on his roof during the night and rescuing stranded residents during the day, Abdulrehman, at a friend’s home making a phone call to his family, is inexplicably and suddenly arrested by federal agents. Without being permitted to inform any of his family and without having been provided any explanation of why he is being arrested, Abdulrahman is put into detention.

In the harrowing days hence, the reader is taken on the harrowing journey of uncertainty and frustration as Kathy, now in Phoenix, Arizona, with the children has to consider the reality that her husband, unheard from in over a week may really be dead. The terror of a family with small children confronting the spectre of losing their father transcends, as Eggers may have planned it, the specificity of their religion. The suspicious Muslims next door become finally the ordinary Americans. The two storms that engulf them, one climatic and undiscriminating in its victimisation and the other ideological and crudely discriminatory in its impact, thus come together in a single catastrophic moment.

Eggers’ book, released a few weeks before the eighth anniversary of 9/11, is a timely one to pose the crucial questions that arise with this juxtaposition of disasters. Eight years after 9/11, Americans are still grappling with whether Muslims are truly patriotic Americans and there is paltry little questioning of the repeated racial profiling of Muslims as terror suspects.

A new poll by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life found that American levels of tolerance of Muslims are lower than they were right after the attacks. Nearly 40 percent of Americans still think that Islam is more likely to encourage violence than other religions and a minority holds favourable views of Muslims.

On the same day as the release of the Pew Poll, a Muslim brother and sister were assaulted by unknown assailants in the college town of Ann Arbor, Michigan, in an apparent hate crime. The duo, both of Iraqi Arab descent, had been riding the school bus when the 16-year-old girls was attacked, her hijab pulled off. She needed several stitches to her face.

The Pew report and this most recent attack, one of many, illustrates the conglomeration of the twin evils afflicting post-9/11 America. The continuing insistence that profiling Muslims and Muslim communities yields benefits in terms of protecting America from terrorist attacks has made a grave impact on the public construction and understanding of Muslims. While the Obama administration’s overt change in rhetoric is likely to impact the image of America in the Muslim world, it is efforts like this book that make inroads into the image of Muslims in America.

In showing the plight of an ordinary family victimised first by nature and second by racism, Eggers has brought together two of the most prominent discourses in American public life. In thus interweaving the story of American Muslims with an American storm, Eggers makes a brave attempt to rescue American Muslims from the burdens of suspicion and otherness that have weighed them down since that fateful day in September, 2001.

Rafia Zakaria is an attorney living in the United States where she teaches courses on Constitutional Law and Political Philosophy. She can be contacted at rafia.zakaria***********

 

[WarProfessor]

When I was in my second week in America, I met one Christian girl who's trying to convert me to Christianity (with beaming eyes). She found out I am from China, and asked me if I believe in Buddhism, I told her "no, I don't have any religious beliefs." Guess what she said: "That's better".

I think Christian has an agenda to convert every human beings into a Christian, I guess its called "winning people for God". Since Muslims already has a religion, I am not surprised if they would be looked at with a biased opinion.

Also the report is flawed since it failed to acknowledge the importance of ethnic background/culture that also played a very important role in behaviors. I have personally met Pakistani and Egyptians, I think they are very peaceful. Or is it because I am Chinese?

For what its worth, above goes my 2 cents.

 

[muse]

See complete report, methodology and questionaire at:


Muslims Widely Seen As Facing Discrimination: About the Survey - Pew Research Center for the People & the Press

 

[TruthSeeker]

My overall impression of my own friends here in Virginia is that the statistics of this report are consistent with my experience. It would be interesting if such an in-depth capture of public opinion could be done in Pakistan asking the equivalent questions. The highest estimate of the Muslim population in the USA is about 2%, or 6 million. This is roughly equivalent to the Jewish American population.

 

[muse]

Watching a CNN clip of Senator Lindsey Graham berating supporters of right wing talking heads, the senator suggested that peole who do not think that President Obama was born in Hawaii, were "crazy", he went to say that President Obama was "not a Muslim, He's a good man".

 

[muse]

Happily ever after?



Part I

Wednesday, October 07, 2009
Anjum Niaz

The writer is a freelance journalist with over twenty years of experience in national and international reporting

This is a two-part tale of family honour; domestic abuse; incompatibility; male dominance; misguided Islamic values; callousness of a Pakistani community towards a homeless mother and her infant son; a world-famous hospital's refusal to get involved in family squabble; unfavourable immigration laws for the battered wife, a non-Muslim's act of compassion; APPNA -- Association of Physicians of Pakistani descent of North America's disconnect and one Pakistani cosmetic surgeon's solo search for justice.

In many ways the story has a similar thread that runs through a Bollywood movie Provoked in which Aishwarya Rai plays the role of a battered Indian wife. It's a true story of a Punjabi woman named Kiranjit Ahluwalia who leaves India to marry a London-based guy, only to be badly abused. She ends up in prison for murdering her abusive husband. The story of 'A' that I unfold has an unfinished script. It has yet to reach an end, though in the words of the 'Dr Good' (the Pakistani cosmetic surgeon) who has come to her aid "the wheels of justice turn very slowly even here in the USA. The ACLU--(women's abuse division) and every other human rights organization in America have been informed."

Domestic violence among South Asians in America is endemic. In New Jersey alone (where I live) the police reported 75,651 cases of abuse in 2005. Muslim girls especially are a target of false Islamic values engendered by the community. Often the brutalization of the husband is encouraged by the community in the name of religion. While wives of visa holders are legal residents of the US, but they are not allowed by the law to work or to self-petition for legal permanent residency in the country. 'A' is a victim of this discriminatory law. "These policies violate basic human rights and must be changed for the US to demonstrate a commitment to eliminating policies that increase women's risk for violence," say Anita Raj, a professor at Boston University. Family law attorneys and social workers testify to the fact that an angry or demanding husband might threaten to "call immigration" and have the wife deported. Pamela Constable has profiled young Pakistani wives in a column in The Washington Post imprisoned in abusive marriages, unable to fight the gossip and shame that come with defying their culture and religion, isolated from help that is just a three-digit (911) phone number away.

"Many batterers manipulate Islamic law or use its perceived authority to control their wives. A man who has the power to divorce can really twist the knife," says Mazna Hussain, an attorney for abused women at the Tahirih Justice Centre in Falls Church. "Muslim women want to be faithful to their religion, and the idea that you cannot disobey the word of God is very compelling, even if you are in an abusive relationship."

In June this year, 'Dr Good' living in the Midwest gets a long-distance phone call late at night. The voice at the other end is sobbing and making no sense. He gets his wife to talk to the caller. Mrs Good recognizes the voice. It's the young Pakistani wife 'A' living in an abusive relationship for two years. Her physician husband, who is in America on a 'J' visa, given to professionals, has kicked 'A' out of the house along with their son. Dr 'S' has also called the police with a concocted story about his wife's attempt to kill him and the child. The police refuse to buy his story, seek out the abandoned wife sitting outside her home on a pavement and offer her shelter. She either goes to the official shelter for the abused or spends the night at the county jail. 'A' desperately calls the Pakistani community only to be told that they don't want to get involved. Finally a Hindu friend of Dr Good living in the area agrees to take 'A' and her baby in.

Two days later, 'A' is invited for dinner by a Pakistani woman 'Mrs Z' with a promise to help. When 'A' arrives, she discovers a group of men from the local mosque along with the man of the house. 'Mr Z' does the talking. "To our mind you're already divorced based on Islamic Law since your husband threw you out of the house, even though no papers have been served or legal briefs filed."

The battered wife faces five hostile men who try intimidating her with statements like this: "All your husband has to do is to say that he divorces you three times. He can write what he has said in front of two witnesses and from a Shariah stand point you are divorced." Has he done that? Asks 'A.' "He has told us that he has," replies 'Mr Z.' If he's already done that then why do you wish to talk to me? Asks 'A.' "Because we want to help you put your life together. We feel that you must not get involved with the local police and legal system. I think you made a mistake by calling 911 for police help. You should not have done that. But you can still help by withdrawing the abuse charge that you have placed against your husband. I do not think the abuse charge will help you at all. It will only hurt the good name of the Muslims in this town and I am sure you do not wish to do that. You and your son should go back to Pakistan immediately and live there with your parents. Your husband will then send you the Islamic divorce with the haq meher etc and the matter would be amicably settled. This will be a very decent act on your part and Allah will reward you."

What about all the beatings, spitting on my face and profanities? Asks 'A.' "Sometimes people say and do things in anger, which they do not mean to do. I am sure your husband is very sorry for such behaviour. He has asked us to mediate on his behalf. His conditions are: you drop all charges against him; opt for an out-of-court settlement for separation; return to Pakistan and if you don't he'll withdraw your spousal visa and you will be declared 'illegal'; your son will live half the time with his (her husband's) parents in Pakistan; He will not provide you with any support of any kind."

These so-called Muslims who denied shelter to a helpless woman from their country have the temerity to tell 'A' that she should not have gone to a Hindu's house. "They are our enemies and they wish us bad."

On the night when 'A' is thrown out, she's working on her laptop. Being a computer expert, she knows her only weapon against her abusive husband is to record his beatings and abuses. She records the husband yelling, screaming, beating, slapping and spitting. In the background is the terrified cries of the child. 'A' is equally aggressive and argumentative. She's demanding her visa that allows her to stay in the US as a dependant of her husband. He wants to divorce her and send her back to Pakistan.

The judge hearing the case issues an 'order of protection' against the husband and gives 'A' the custody of her son. The cosmetic surgeon and his wife, living 400 miles away from the scene of action, are the only Pakistanis coming to 'A's' rescue. They drive back with her and offer to keep her until the matter is resolved.

(Next week: Before condemning Dr 'S,' we must hear his side of the story)



(To be continued)

Email: aniaz@fas.harvard.edu & Introduction

 

[TruthSeeker]

Most immigrant communities in America retained their "home culture" and mores for two to three generations before assimilating into the mainstream USA culture. This assimilation primarily occurred through inter-marriage of the generations post-first immigrant. This process may take longer for Muslim immigrants because some Muslim religious customs, especially dress codes and teachings of having no friendships with non-Muslims, may inhibit the assimilation process. While occurring in only a tiny percentage of Muslim immigrant families, it is, nonetheless, frequently reported in our newspapers about a Muslim immigrant father harshly disciplining his daughter(s) for wanting to behave like their peers in their American high schools, in dress and dating. Sometimes the daughters are killed. Never are sons treated this way. Such incidents, though rare, stoke the feeling among non-Muslim Americans that the Muslim religion is very different from their own, and that it condones violence.