Since Islam is a global religion, Muslims seem to have some difficulty understanding exactly how to domesticate their ideals. How do you Westernize or Americanize Muslim politics? This challenge is complicated by the fact that many of the Muslims, who are most interested in American politics, are naturalized first-generation Muslims coming from quite different traditions of political participation in their countries. For the most part these Muslims have not been active or paid much attention to American politics accept to protest those aspects of foreign policy that directly effect their countries of origin. As authentic as they are, still they are the least experienced. On the other hand, we have American Muslims who have generations of experience even if only as observers, but seem to have absolutely no interest in participation. There are numerous reasons for this.
| We must enter the project with virtuous goals, behave with virtue, and promote virtue. |
For many Muslims, participation in any system is like tacit approval of that system. Some Muslims believe that if they participate in the American political system, which is seen for the most part as a very corrupt system, they will suffer retribution like every other participant. The worst of these punishments is to become like the stereotypically corrupt politician who is void of any moral quality and whose political position is simply for sale. No Muslim could tolerate this state of being. It would be an abominable denial of Islamic teachings and beliefs. We must enter the project with virtuous goals, behave with virtue, and promote virtue.
Since the 1970s, America has hosted numerous and some very heated debates among Islamist activists of all racial backgrounds on the issue of "nationalizing Islam in America." This debate centers on how to create a movement that is different from a registered organization. An organization is an incorporated entity that has an objective set forth in a constitution and by-laws and operates almost like a business. A movement, on the other hand, is an activity that focuses energy toward a certain target, hoping to move it in one direction or another. Movements are vehicles for change; organizations are mechanisms through which serves are provided. To mount an organization you need $75.00; to mount a movement you need masses of people. One is much easier to construct than the other.
Other topics of debate have included:
- The geographic parameters of the movement. Will it be international or domestic?
- Will it be patterned after the international Zionist movement, which cast itself variously as Democrat, Communist, and Marxist in political ideology as a means to attract large numbers of people (the proletariat) since Jews are not a majority anywhere in the world?
- Will the movement attempt to reform domestic policies, as well as international or foreign policies? And does there have to be a distinction between the two? Can the movement address principles that permeate both the international and domestic political spectrum? For example, if we oppose the occupation of Palestine, it stands to reason that we would not support the right of the federal government to restrict fund-raising for organizations that are fighting the occupation, especially since fund-raising is a constitutionally protected first amendment right.
- Will the Islamic movement in America have ties with the international movements, and share membership, leadership, resources, and issues?
- Have Muslims in America finally forsaken the "Myth of Return," and have indigenous Muslims given up their search for paradise in the Muslim world? In other words, are Muslims committed to America?
| The greatest challenge will be for Muslims to bring the Islamic program to America and avoid having Islam 'secularized' as the other monotheistic religions have been. |
The answers to these questions will lay the ideological foundation for an organized movement that can be unique in American minority history. No immigrant or indigenous community has ever entered American politics looking to improve America, as a whole, as its priority, understanding that a better America means a better life for all Americans, as well as those whom Americans respect. The challenge is for Muslims to develop a methodology to construct an ideology that is genuinely Islamic, rather than parroting other groups, either secular or religious, who seem to have made the politics of power and money their ultimate goal. The greatest challenge will be for Muslims to bring the Islamic program to America and avoid having Islam 'secularized' as the other monotheistic religions have been.
This distinguishes our project and our motive from those of others who made the leap from the boat to the board rooms, and to the Oval Office, but who forsook some virtues in the way. Muslims have a real challenge if we hope to become a political force in America. But we also have every reason to believe that of all the communities that have contributed various delicacies and traditions to America's rich culture, the Muslims' commitment to morality and justice will prove to be the most durable and greatly rewarded.
