Archive for the ‘Islam’ Category

Muslim Men in Mini Skirts, Heels and Beards…. #LikeNever

Posted: March 13, 2013 in Affad Shaikh, American Muslim, History, identity, Islam, male sexuality, Masculinity, Masjid, Sharia, Social
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Check out them pointy heeled shoes! (and the socks, those became a aristocratic fashion symbol too!)

Check out them pointy heeled shoes! (and the socks, those became a aristocratic fashion symbol too!)

Fashion is all about leaning forward.  Designers do their thing by pushing the limits and this post is almost a stream of conscience reaction to men’s fashion because I highly doubt one day we will have practicing Muslim males showing up at masjids wearing mini skirts and high heels and the while sporting burly beards.

Did you think high heels were only a women thing?  If so you are completely wrong!  In fact, thanks to Persian (Muslim Safavid) fashion, heels made their way into European court (Shah Abbas’s diplomatic missions to Germany, Russia and Spain).  Soon enough, heels were all the rage amongst the aristocrats from Vienna to Westminster (until Napoleon banned them, I wonder what complex he had against them since it would only have helped him!).  What Persians had worn out of necessity, the heels helped them control their stately steeds in battle, were soon to be regulated into the world of women’s high end fashion, Jimmy Choo’s, anyone?

But the current trend in fashion for androgynous fashion- the mixing of masculine and feminine characteristics (think Prince, Marilyn Manson, Annie Lennox, Boy George, Steven Tyler…).  Basically its the ideal of either having no gender value, or having some aspects generally attributed to the opposite sex.  I would say would be the idea that in Europe little boys could not wear pants during the Victorian era because those garments were the exclusive dress of grown men.  So women wearing pants during that time was unthinkable (interestingly enough Paris just took off the ban on women wearing pants but the Hijab is not permitted!).

Well bringing back the blog to relevancy, I was perusing through Pinterest’s collection of Men’s Fashion pins and came across the JW Anderson collection, I was immediately reminded of the many men’s fashion restrictions placed by the Prophet.  JW Anderson has created the perfect line of boy’s dressed in mini skirts and I cringe at the thought that his design might influence other men’s designers to follow suit, happily though, this whole thing is a blurb that history will allow us to laugh at, or maybe not… Judge for yourself:

J.W.-Anderson-boys in dresses sipping tea

So besides this being the bane of fashion and totally a FML moment, I wondered what the Prophet had to say about this, because he had a lot to say about men’s fashion and not just about women’s fashion (i.e. the Hijab) yet we barely hear about that in our culture wars.  For instance in one Hadith the men who shave their beards were seen to be to be outside the realm of mercy from Allah (as Reported by Ibn Abbas (R.A.) in Tibrabi).  (Apparently beards also keep you healthy, go figure!)

In one variant, “The Messenger of Allah cursed men who made themselves look like women and women who made themselves look like men.” [al-Bukhari]

Also:

Abu Hurayra said, “The Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, cursed any man who wears women’s clothes and any woman who wears men’s clothes.” [Abu Dawud]

...if heels aren't your thing, then try this pair of mary jane shoes!

…if heels aren’t your thing, then try this pair of mary jane shoes!

The whole thing is just fascinating to me because it seems to me the projection of societal norms is leaning towards this androgynous fashion.  Pop culture is thriving on this norm, within the fashion industry this style of gender neutral clothing has been raising itself in one form or another since the 1990′s.  The acceptance of skinny jeans, and even women’s jeans worn by teenagers (sometime rock stars) is increasingly becoming acceptable.

I do then wonder how Islam will cope with this trend.  Women wearing jeans, at least in the West, is now a settled fashion question.  Though from what I understand girls can’t wear trouser type things during prayer therefore they will don long flowly garbs.

Clearly cross dressing by men is prohibited in Islam but what about androgynous or “genderless” dress, or transgenders in general in Islam?

(Curiously enough is there a “necessity clause” for instance in the case of Mualana Abdul Aziz of Lal Masjid standoff fame, who was caught trying to escape arrest while wearing a burka?)

In my search for this I ran across this article on Transgenderism and Islam, where I found a translation of renowned Hadith scholar An-Nawawi.

I unfortunately can’t share due to copyright restrictions.  which makes me hate JSTOR, may God rest Aaron Swartz soul and allow his mission be accomplished!

But the what I can share I am pulling from Wikipedia just to avoid any sanctions or what have you:

“A mukhannath is the one (“male”) who carries in his movements, in his appearance and in his language the characteristics of a woman. There are two types; the first is the one in whom these characteristics are innate, he did not put them on by himself, and therein is no guilt, no blame and no shame, as long as he does not perform any (illicit) act or exploit it for money (prostitution etc.). The second type acts like a woman out of immoral purposes and he is the sinner and blameworthy.”

While the whole thing requires more reading on my part, I will leave you with this.  In the same country as the Burka Wearing Mullah, the Pakistani Supreme Court ruled that the government must take proactive steps to protect transsexuals from harassment and discrimination, although no legislation in the area of gender identity exists.  Pakistan officially protects ‘Third gender’ discrimination back in 2010.  Which is not to say that the actual protection occurs, but if you ever visit Pakistan, its totally an open secret that no one officially wants to recognize.

The last thing to remaining untouched in this post on fashion is the elephant that never leaves the room- Hijab- and well, on that account I will borrow the Nobel Peace Prize Tawakkul Karman, the mother of Yemen’s revolution, response to a question by a journalist on how the hijab is not proportionate with her level of education and intellect:

“Man in early times was almost naked, and as his intellect evolved he started wearing clothes. What I am today and what I’m wearing represents the highest level of thought and civilization that man has achieved, and is not regressive. It’s the removal of clothes again that is a regression back to the ancient times.”

Reason Enough to Get A Tattoo(s)

Posted: February 2, 2013 in Affad Shaikh, American Muslim, identity, Islam, Masculinity
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Tattoo’s are haraam in Islam.  Haraam being that the act is strictly forbidden.  It will lead you to hell, but it isn’t necessarily your ticket to hell, for that there really is the ONE unforgivable Sin.  The Sin of Sins that you can’t repent from, and getting a tattoo is not one of those.  If you happen to be Shia Muslim, tattoo’s are not haraam for you then.  But as a Sunni, of Hanafi school of thought, a tattoo just is out of the question.  Unless of coarse you find yourself a “Halal Tattoo” Parlor (see below) then its significantly less haraam, maybe, but don’t take my fatwa for it baby.

 

 

 

 

 

halal tattoo

Reflections- Linda Sarsour: Pushing a Progressive Agenda

Posted: January 21, 2013 in Activism, Affad Shaikh, American Muslim, Democrat, Islam, Politics, Republican
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linda sarsourIt’s 2012 and we are still waiting for the promises of 2008 to be fulfilled. I get it. It’s frustrating. It makes us angry.

We feel like the community has been played for a fool. Instead of complaining about all of the promises that weren’t kept and all of the additional terrible things that have happened since- drones, wiretapping, passage of NDAA, and increased deportations – I want the American Muslim community and more specifically our institutions and activists to become more effective in doing something about it.

We are the jacks of all trades and masters of none. We are spread too thin and have no organizations focusing on specific issues.

Instead, we combat Islamophobia, encourage civic engagement, campaign to pass Muslim holidays in local school districts, and try to save stranded American citizens overseas – all in one organization.

In the next four years, I want to see our community become more sophisticated in our organizing.  To start this process, we must map our resources, identify experts in different arenas, and invest in building institutions addressing particular priority areas.

In order to get there, the community also needs a national strategic plan. This might seem like a daunting task but the first step is for the leaders of the Muslim community to come to the same table, renew our intentions and be prepared to push a progressive agenda.

This agenda has to build on the political power and influence that the American Muslim community already has. A progressive agenda will ensure that it protects not only our community’s rights but also benefits other marginalized communities in the United States thereby putting into practice fundamental principles of Islam: to despise oppression, to speak out against injustice and to act toward changing inequality.

The time is now to act upon our principles.

Read other perspectives here.

Linda Sarsour is a working woman, community activist, and mother of three. Ambitious, outspoken and independent, Linda shatters stereotypes of Muslim women while also treasuring her religious and ethnic heritage. She is a Palestinian Muslim American and a self-proclaimed “pure New Yorker, born and raised in Brooklyn!”  Currently, she is the Advocacy and Civic Engagement Coordinator for the National Network for Arab American Communities and ACCESS and locally serving as the director of the Arab American Association of New York, a social service agency serving the Arab community in NYC.

Reflections- Mohamed Elibiary: For Muslims, Policy Objectives Must Remain Bipartisan

Posted: January 21, 2013 in Activism, Affad Shaikh, American Muslim, Democrat, Islam, Politics, Republican
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METhe key issues so important to Muslims like civil liberties and war related issues require reform efforts from within.  The nature of the constraints required to bring in the Executive Branch privilege never succeeds when it is driven from inside the political party holding the White House.  It requires a party not in power to drive the political debate toward constraining the Executive privilege.

American elections are nearly always cyclical, so we can expect some Republican congressional gains in 2014 followed by an intense two-year partisan electoral cycle focused on picking a new President in 2016.   That leaves perhaps eighteen months before congressional and media attention shift towards the 2014 midterm elections.  During that time President Obama’s attention will be focused on fiscal policy negotiations, implementation of Obamacare and possibly comprehensive immigration reform. White House foreign policy work will focus on the Iranian nuclear program, drawing down military forces in Afghanistan, pivoting to East Asia and possibly mitigating the Arab Spring transition.

With an extremely full domestic and foreign policy plate already and less than two years before our political system relegates Obama into a lame duck president, Muslims activists wishing to advocate for policy reforms outside these priority policy areas will find only superficial traction in Washington DC.

The lesson to draw from these macro forces is that the Muslim community must learn to advocate within.  For Muslims to find their issues catching traction their advocacy must be supported by liberty minded conservatives as well as the Obama Progressive-Minorities coalition. Or as the old Arab saying states, one hand can’t clap.

Bush, and by extension Republicans, socially integrated Muslim voters in the 2000 election, and Obama, and by extension Democrats, did the same thing in the 2008 and 2012 elections.  For Muslims wanting change, organizing reform is harder to achieve then social integration and it will require Muslims to achieve a bi-partisan consensus for their policy objectives in 2016 and beyond.

Read other perspectives here.

Mohamed Elibiary is a “Texas Republican” active in the American Muslim community and the Republican party for the past 20 years.

Reflections- Pamela Taylor: Looking Toward a Presidential Legacy

Posted: January 21, 2013 in Activism, Affad Shaikh, American Muslim, Democrat, Islam, Politics, Progressive, Republican
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In 2008 President Obama promised some important things- to get us out of Iraq, to close Guantanamo, to forbid torture, to fix the economy and to this in bipartisan fashion with the Republicans.  He has delivered significant promises but not all of them.

The blame for Obama’s failures during his first terms is not solely his, rather, the recalcitrant members of Congress, namely Republicans.  One relevant example is how Republicans moved to make it illegal for President Obama to move prisoners at Guantanamo to the US when he took steps to close it down.  This is not to say that there aren’t grave concerns about President Obama’s independent actions- from indefinite detention, the use of drone strikes, and now extrajudicial killings of American citizens overseas.

With President Obama no longer focused on his actions affecting his bid for re-election there is now an opportunity to begin to see clearer stances, clarifications of doctrines and also his desire to establish executive legacy.  The American Muslim community can capitalize on this to build momentum.

The President won by tens of thousands of votes in key states – six of the seven swing states. All of these states are where the Muslim vote accounted for more than the number of votes he won by, and exit polls indicate that 95% of Muslims voted for him. American Muslims can use these statistics to demonstrate the power of the American Muslim vote and begin to negotiate policy concerns.  President Obama’s re-election is not just a national victory, but rather, we need to tell ourselves the story of how we are powerful and we made it possible for President Obama to win a second term.

There are, however, challenges to organizing Muslims around elections that is beyond getting out the vote and that is the fact that we lack focus.  There are multiple issues and multiple directions by which the community can rally around.

A key way to address this challenge is to identify two or three items that we can more or less agree on as a community- healthcare, civil rights, or a specific foreign policy. To be effective in achieving our objectives, being able to identify the three or four issues for the community to work around is critical.  Around this a Muslim MoveOn organization can be created to continue the civic engagement beyond the vote.

Politics isn’t just about voting once in a while, or lobbying your Congressman its about civic engagement: being on the Parent Teacher Association for your child’s school or running for the School Board, mosques providing volunteers and funding for soup or homeless shelters more often then once a year.   This means helping to identify and supporting Muslims to participate at local public city council meetings and eventually running for local office.

Read other perspectives here.

Pamela K. Taylor (http://www.pktaylor.com) is co-founder of Muslims for Progressive Values, former director of the Islamic Writers Alliance and strong supporter of the woman Imam movement.  You can read her thoughts at Newsweek-Washington Post “On Faith” blog.

CA Muslim Community Makes Political History 28 Muslim Delegates Elected to CA Dem Party

Posted: January 16, 2013 in Activism, Affad Shaikh, American Muslim, Asian American, Democrat, History, Islam, Politics, Progressive
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By Farrah KhanCADem D36 Affad and Affan
This past weekend, California Muslims made political history when 28 Muslim candidates were elected by Democrats as delegates and alternate delegates to the California Democratic Party (CDP). This constitutes the largest number of Muslims ever elected as delegates in California.

The CDP held statewide elections for delegates to represent each of the state’s 80 assembly districts.
This encouraging achievement was reached with the help of CAIR-CA PAC, an independent political organization. In an effort to promote American Muslim political engagement, CAIR-CA PAC closely worked with candidates and organized voters to support them.

Among the hundreds of other candidates, at least 36 California Muslims ran for delegate positions. Twenty-eight were elected (five as executive board members and two as alternate delegates), and eight lost their races.  This is an incredible step for Muslims to become more involved in the political process and make a difference for the Muslim community and in their districts.

CAIR-CA PAC is proud of every candidate that ran whether they were elected or not, because it takes a lot of effort and commitment to present oneself as a candidate and run in a fairly competitive race.

The California Democratic Party is governed by the Democratic State Central Committee (DSCC) which has approximately 3000 delegates.  Some delegates are appointed by elected officials, but about one third are elected every odd numbered year through elections divided by assembly district.  Twelve individuals (six women and six men) from each assembly district are elected as delegates to serve a two year term to the DSCC.

An elected delegate is able to vote on candidate endorsements, help shape the platform of the CDP, approve the rules by which the CDP functions, vote on resolutions of concern to various communities, and choose CDP representatives to the Democratic National Party. Delegates are also responsible for attending the annual statewide convention.

Additionally, one representative from every 12 delegates is voted to the executive board.  The executive board (E-Board) has all the duties and powers of the CDP when it is not in session (at the Democratic National Convention). E-Board members are required to attend three quarterly E-Board meetings each year, as well as the statewide convention.

For more information on becoming active in the political process, please contact CAIR-CA PAC:  714-388-6755,info@caircapac.org or via www.caircapac.org.

The following is the list* of Muslim candidates and the results of the recent elections:


 * List does not includes all Muslim candidates  There were other Muslim candidates that we were not able to contact.

Farrah Khan is a Southern California interfaith and political activist and a Board Member of CAIR-CA PAC.

Coming to Terms with 30

Posted: December 11, 2012 in Affad Shaikh, American Muslim, facebook, Health, identity, Islam, Social Media
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serenityMaybe the crisis one feels at turning 30 is really rooted in the intense attachment to this worldly life and a lack of connection to the spiritual life.  At least that is the lesson I am beginning to piece together since my last post on the fear of turning thirty.  I thought I share my reflection since, 30, is just a month away.

One of the things I undertook immediately after posting those fears to the broader world was I stopped hanging around people my age.  There are lots of things that motivated me to that.  First, I felt anxiety from seeing where they stood in life as opposed to me.  Worse, the greater connectivity I had with folks in my peer group through social media drove home this internal self doubt about where I was in life and questioning whether I had done the right thing with my life.  Second, the younger friends only drove that home toward a bitterness because it seemed they were far younger then I was and were following some path that I had not read the guideposts about.  Finally, I realized that my decisions were a product of my choosing, my circumstances and my life experience and therefore they were unique.  I couldn’t, shouldn’t, compare the path that I took because it was a path not trodden by my peers, it was one that I was pioneering for others.

By hanging out with folks older then me they enabled me to put aside my fears of getting older.  I saw folks still struggling with the same things I am struggling with, who were ten, fifteen and even twenty years older then me.  Unemployment, start up businesses, academic endeavors, failing marriages and new relationships along with opportunities that they had not imagined.  I guess in a way I am significantly different from my peers because for me the “party” scene was intense and short lived, but the expectations of life and enduring to find some meaning in it isn’t something that fades away, it sticks around and people continue to deal with it at different levels and intervals in their life.

What I came to realize in my push to spend more time with older friends, mentors and seek out grandparent figures was that being able to understand growing old requires understanding our mortality.  In understanding mortality we need to grapple with death, because in essence our anxiety about aging is rooted in the sense of one’s own progression toward death.  Which for Muslims I find is a silly thing to fear given our very direct involvement with death- forced participation in funeral prayers, the handling and washing of the dead, the burying process is a communal one where the males carry the body and everyone is required to carry and pray for the deceased.

But its not that Muslims are immune to a disconnect from death, its that our culture (American) creates a static around our mortality by presenting it as something far off in distance even if we are engaged in the rituals around death.  So to make life meaningful, thereby lessening the anxiety I felt, I had to make death a greater reality or factor in my life not one of ritual.  I quickly told myself that a near death experience was not the way to learn this lesson.

What I conclude from my experience is that the path of spirituality, greater sense of oneness with creation and therefore God, allows that understanding of death to become relevant and not some far off experience.  When we become connected to God we loosen that strong connection to the worldly life and allow for us to transcend things like vanity (oh, look how I am looking), vitality (I can’t run like a 18 year old), feeling of dissertation (I am alone in this world), and accomplishment (I didn’t buy that house or save this much) connecting with the the afterlife, not just this mortal life.

Check out Dr. Zingbarg’s article “Sacred Anxiety: Anxiety as an emblem of Spirituality” in Psychology Today, where he discusses the possibility that a persons anxiety might be due to one’s spirituality or lack thereof.  For the meditation inclined, I stumbled on this Islamic Meditation website, you have to pay to get the six week course material, but I thought I share because of its quirkiness.

How is that politicians always know the answers?

Posted: December 2, 2012 in Activism, Affad Shaikh, American Muslim, Islam, Law, Politics, professional, Progressive
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http://allisonnazarian.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/dontknow.jpg

Ever wonder how a politician could possibly know everything? Can it be omnipresence? When I was younger I just was in awe at how politicians could answer all the questions being asked of them, how they must have amazing memories but also a voracious appetite for information.  To me that put a politician in a special breed of humans, one that I knew I couldn’t possibly be part of because my ability to remember things was near zilch (though my ability to take complex things and break them down was pretty awesome).

Then came President Bush, the second, and the whole notion of politicians knowing everything was squashed, but also a new reality dawned on me, maybe politicians were amazing BS spitters, like me.  Whats fascinating though is that we have made politicians this way.

Politicians are the special breed of animals they are because of our expectations of them.  Imagine if a natural disaster happens and a politicians responds to a reporters answer that “they don’t know”.   A slew of follow up questions follow.  The storm builds if its found that the politician not only doesn’t know but has no idea how to find out the answer to the question.

In that way I feel the old saying about how politicians are a reflection of the society is so apt.  Not only does our society expect that from politicians but it rewards, cheers on in fact, those who vigorously push a partisan idea.  This same behavior is dispersed throughout society from academia to boardrooms.   There simply is no way to gracefully say that “I don’t know the answer” or that “there are places where your point seems plausible.”

I find this all incredibly relevant today as I sit back to read, listen and watch a Congressionally manufactured economic crisis called the fiscal cliff.

Our politics is so messed up that our politicians, in order to accomplish something meaningful for the country, have to manufacture crisis that could plunge the country into deeper trouble then were they able to put aside their egos and partisan pet ideology to comprise a solution that is for the greater good of the American people.

I am reminded of Islamic history, in particular an incident with Imam Malik, where a man travelled a long distance to ask him about a particular hadith.  Imam Malik was a scholar of scholars, the very fountain of the knowledge that held the faithful together.  When this man asked his question, Imam Malik simply said “I don’t know.”

Can you imagine in a time where transportation wasn’t easy being told by the greatest scholar at the time that he doesnt know the answer to your question.  You traveled there not for business, let alone pleasure, but to get answers to a list of questions and are told that there were no answers.  I once heard a khateebh, don’t remember who to attribute the quote to, say that saying “I don’t know” was half the process of gaining knowledge.

In the end I don’t think our politicians will change anytime soon.  However, I am a firm believer in change starting with ourselves.  When we change, those around us notice and respond accordingly.  What we can practice in our lives is to be careful in making statements because we will be held accountable for them, and to hold ourselves accountable when we do speak.  Granted my perspective of politicians is a bit generalized and there are politicians that will say they don’t have the answers but will get them, however, there are too few of those around these days.  Therefore,  being an activist is not just about going out to stomp the ground for positive change, rather, its also about being a force of change within yourself.  I believe that being a progressive requires this type of change.

Picture is from Allison Nazarian’s blog, in particular this post about realizing the power of saying “I don’t know.”

Why I can support Obama but not vote for him

Posted: November 5, 2012 in Activism, Affad Shaikh, American Muslim, Asian American, Democrat, Foreign Policy, History, Islam, Justice, Politics, Progressive, Republican, Social
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politics

I believe this is half constructed reality. For my conscience these issues affect my vote just as much as empowering the community through political strategy and also the greater good issues.

I wrote an earlier post, where I shared an unpublished letter about how frustrated I was last year in August with President Obama.  I cannot consciously vote for President Obama given his stances on a range of issues.  He is, in my opinion, not someone who fits well with my conscious.  However, I think people have the impression, or are confused, about my stance when it comes to President Obama, and worse voting.

I am a firm supporter of voting, people are dying to have that right, as seen currently in Syria, so voting matters even more.  Also voting is not just about or between two Presidential candidates.  In my opinion local politics is far more impactful on my present circumstances then the Presidential election.

People believe that my tactic is a wasted vote.  I strongly disagree because my decision is not constructed blindly.  Voting is as much a community strategy as it is a personal decision.  However, not voting is unconscionable and I do not accept that line of reasoning.

I understand and appreciate the gravity of having Romney become President.  However, from the get go, my vote in California does not matter because California has never been in contention when it comes to the popular vote or the Electoral College.  However, if you live in a battleground state, or as they are called by others-swing states- like Florida, Ohio, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and now New Hampshire, your vote actually matters.

In those states a minority turnout that supports Obama or Romney can significantly swing the states electoral college, and a study shows that minority do make up significant population growth areas in the past ten years.  Consider Nevada where its estimated that 12 percent of the population now is Asian.  That means if there is a 50-50 split among the general population, a strong Asian American turnout could tip the election. NAAS estimates that there is a 59 percent favorability rating for Obama among Asian Americans and they are more likely to vote if they have registered to do so. (stats pulled from National Asian American Survey)

While I will not vote for President Obama, I will do what it takes to support him where it counts.  That is why I devoted my weekend to getting out the Asian American vote with American Asians, Pacific Islanders for Obama‘s caravan from California to Nevada.  I encouraged my employed friends to donate to those swing state efforts.

However, I do not have any illusions that voting for President Obama is going to change his trajectory on issues that matter to me as an American Muslim. I encourage people to vote with their nose plugged and their eyes closed.

Furthermore, I am thankful I live in California where my vote doesn’t really matter.  Here I believe I can vote for a third party to give them stronger support, but more importantly exercise strategic voting.  For example read this excerpt from Chris Mathews biography Jack Kennedy: Elusive Hero:

As a Roman Catholic, Jack Kennedy would have been, until this moment, an unlikely candidate for national office.  World War II had changed things, however, and it was obvious that now there were ways to position oneself favorably as an Irish Catholic, to take advantage of the changes.  He needed to make the case that the number of Catholics Stevenson lost in 1952 could be lured back to the fold with the right running mate.  Catholics liked Ike, who’d vanquished Hitler, and were turned off by the divorced [Stevenson]…

Kennedy gave the job of proving the case for putting him on the ticket to Ted Sorensen…Again, Sorenson proved equal to the task, knocking out a seventeen-page memo showing the power of the Catholic vote in fourteen key states.  It demonstrated how Catholics’ defection in 1952 had cost the Democrats the election.  It showed, too, that they had split their tickets int he election, voting for Democrats for the House and the Senate, but for Ike for President [who was Republican]…

…he had the Sorensen memo distributed by Connecticut’s John Bailey, the state Democratic Party chairman, a close Kennedy ally.  In any case, the “Bailey Memo…” went out to fifty top Democrats thought to have Stevenson’s ear.  A few days later, it showed its power. Stevenson’s campaign manager, Jim Finnegan, asked for a dozen copies of “that survey” that was going around…”You know, about the Catholic vote.”

What I learn from this is that to show the power of a community’s voting capacity is to understand that it is not a winner take all system.  We have to plan things beyond the immediate election.  The rate of return in this upcoming election is insignificant because we do not, as a community, truly have the leverage to convert those votes into “rewards” which would be the most immediate form of political power we could gain and wield (i.e. appointments to Federal positions, cabinet positions for community members with the right credentials, assistance to elect more people from our community, appointments within key Senatorial or Congressional offices/committees).  That is how Indian Americans and Asian Americans translated their voting bloc power in 2008 and why we see Kal Pen and other Asian Americans in all sorts of positions within the Obama Administration.

The idea is incredibly straightforward and ingenious.  I can see this being applied by the Muslim community to leverage future political clout.  It is much better than the broken record lesser of two evils argument or the equally tiring third party argument being tossed around.  I am hungry for real political power.  I am hungry and I want it sooner for my community, rather then later.  But we seem to keep tossing it down the road with each approaching election.

While I am not deluded to think that we can show that type of results in this election I am still inspired by the JFK strategy to leverage the Catholic vote.   On this reasoning I believe that those Muslims living in non-swing states can, in essence, send a clear message to President Obama and the future Democratic Party that our vote is not to be taken for granted.  Future support depends on addressing our concerns and our issues.

But people living in swing states need to remember that for their consideration is not just their conscious but also the larger fate of the people of the world.   Unfortunately, your vote could place someone worse then Obama AND Bush in the white house. So we owe it to the people of the world to ensure the least amount of suffering possible is conveyed via our President elect.

That is my take on tomorrow’s Presidential election. However, more importantly, keep organizing and working in your communities.  Politics is local and there are significant issues that hit close to home that require your involvement.

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