Yes, I’m often confused about issues in the Middle East region, and remember that I am one of the relatively few Westerners who has actually been to the Middle East and talked to actual real, living Muslims, been in their homes, played with their children. I find you to be even more of a puzzle. You are obviously intelligent… and you are older than sixteen, so by my own standards, you should hold conservative political views on US issues at least, yet you do not. Confusing indeed!

I am well aware that Angry Bearded Muslim Man and Covered in Black Muslim Woman are not necessarily mainstream… though in some regions they seem to hold sway pretty well. You, however, are certainly not mainstream either… and honestly, this is to your credit. Middle of the road people are, after all, the folks who gave us President Obama.

I knew that you had been on Fox, but I didn’t know you were on The O’reilly Factor. I’m just now reading a book he wrote… a most interesting read, I might add, though I have not yet finished it because the Female Half of the Household hasn’t released it to me yet. I’ve gotta ask, though, what is Mr. O’Reilly like off-camera?

After my appearance on “The O’Reilly Factor”, some viewers sent me email asking “Are you sure you’re a Muslim? Where’s the headgear?”

Lol. I recall that, I think. After 9/11 I watched all the cable news channels, like an addict. Flipping back and forth with the remote. It seems to the best of my recollection, there were 4 people who were the “Muslims” making the rounds at the time. You, somebody named Sara something (I think she was/is in CAIR), Hussein Ibbish whose name I can recall only because in my head I referred to him as “Insane Rubbish”, and a woman who always wore a mini-skirt, whose name I can’t recall at all but she was at the US office for an Arabic newspaper.

Obviously, none of the 4 of you were either “Angry Bearded Muslim Man” or “Covered in Black Muslim Woman”, right? And you were the Muslims that Americans were presented after 9/11. Maybe Americans weren’t buying it? Maybe “Angry Bearded Muslim Man” and “Covered in Black Muslim Woman” are more credible to Americans, than Muslims who don’t seem to match the observable realities? I mean, educated and westernized liberal-minded Muslims is not the TRUTH, is it? Sure, there are some Muslims like that, but to present that as the (only) public face of Islam? Maybe the media has gone too far in the other direction, but personally I don’t see many Muslims being interviewed on US news programs anymore. It seems more to me that the US media has lost interest in trying to get the Islamic perspective on anything.

PS-It was my confusion about the mismatch between what I was seeing n American television and what was happening in real time, in the real world, that got me reading Arab blogs in the first place. I still don’t understand. I don’t understand small things, like the fact that in a Public Opinion poll conducted right after 9/11, 62% of Kuwaitis said they dislike or intensely dislike the US – and that was the best the US did in any Arab country. And yet, immediately before/during/after the invasion of Iraq, Arabs were saying it would turn the Arab world against us. that is a total “WTF!?” for me. Does not compute. When things are as bad as they can get, how you gonna claim “if you do this or that, I’ll hate you more!”? Doesn’t work. Just like I never believed, and still don’t believe, that unpopular US actions fighting terrorism create more terrorists. Right. That’s like, fighting Nazis in world War II created more Nazis?

Too many headaches for me. I don’t get it. The neocons didn’t get it. Maybe Obama will get it? Or maybe he won’t. I’m not so sure i care anymore. Things will get better, because they can’t get worse. Right?

“When we stop equating conservative with authentic, we recognize the diversity of Muslim views and refuse to allow one voice to speak for us all. Only then can we be recognized as human beings, in all our differences.”

I think the reason this does not happen more often is that people tend to be sheep. A select charasmatic few will direct, lead, and often times indoctrinate the masses into blindly and obediently following their lead and never question what they say or do. When one diverges from this norm and realizes that they too have a brain and just might be capable of using said brain and if that person, or persons, gains enough back bone to use that brain that person or persons will more than likely get thrashed not only by the self appointed leadership but also the spineless masses. A lot of people have the brains, very few have the back bone.

I’ve noticed this A LOT in my community and the sheep like behavior so many people display really gets on my nerves. REALLY gets on my nerves. However, seeing a select few that have enough back bone to come out and one, have the backbone to use their own brains and think for themselves, and two, present their arguments and point of views without conforming each and every time is not only refreshing but it gives me hope and courage to do the same. Sadly though I feel that this will be an up hill battle for some time to come but things may be changing for the better now. That is one of the few things I really like about President Obama. He is, to put it very bluntly, a swift kick in the nuts to the masses. A good, hard, painful but delightful to watch, kick square in the nuts of the “establishment” if you will. I LOVE it!

Hi Mona,

> I look forward to your feedback by email, on my blog or through Facebook.

Heh. You asked….

Good essay, please write on this topic often.

> As a journalist I am loathe to blame the media for all and
> any perceived ills.

As you note, the “angry bearded…” is better TV than happy shopkeeper / teacher / engineer / graduate. Sigh.

I’ve recently heard of a network of Muslim clerics using Sat-TV channels to preach across national boundaries without the “death to infidels” rhetoric and other nationalistic/despotic talk. If you can help your “infidel” readers find these sources, it will go a long way toward preventing my greatest fear.

> My first U.S. TV appearance was on the Fox News Network on a show called
> “The O’Reilly Factor”.

It’s a #1 show, so you may skip “a show called” next time. His detractors know who he is too.

> The host of the show, Bill O’Reilly is known for
> his conservative views and his confrontational style which often
> provokes guests with the result that O’Reilly and the guest shout at
> each other. It’s more entertainment than news or information.

What you say about O’Reilly’s confrontational style is spot on, both that this is his default mode, and that it makes for better television than say C-SPAN discussions.

To call O’Reilly “Conservative” is the common wisdom. He is surely less Liberal than you, and since he delights in skewering worthy-of-ridicule Liberal excess more than worthy-of-ridicule Conservative excesses, it is easy to understand how he has earned that label. He is also anti-abortion, though he only rarely lets that one slip, generally in context of being raised Catholic.

Unlike the classic conservative however, O’Reilly doesn’t believe in free markets, esepecially at crunch-time, placing him on the populist / left more times than not.

Those whose foolishness he spotlights tend to label, naturally. However you may wish to distinguish your own writing with a more nuanced articulation, perhaps even skipping the labeling. There are far more conservative voices out there (Hanity, Beck) and O’Reilly takes pains to praise liberals and/or give them a fair shake where appropriate.

How you wish to articulate O’Reilly if/when you write of him again, as something broader than “Conservative” I leave to you. I’m confident that you’ll come up with something, even if it requires watching a handful of his shows. If you go there, take notes, and later count minutes spent on each point of view… and O’Reilly’s bloviating.

All the best,
Scott

Hello Mona,

So being a “Happy Muslim” requires one to be “secular”? Wow, that is something new to me.

You should know this yourself by just walking down a street in Egypt; just because you don’t fit into the popular media’s mold as a Muslim man who is protesting and/or demonstrating against American, Israeli, or domestic injustices, or a Muslim woman who is covered in Niqaab who refuses to give a male Western journalist an interview because of her modesty in front of men does not mean these people lack human personalities and indeed happiness.

Should we expect the popular press to show [devout] Muslims in any different light other than as irrational sub-humans who want to hurt the West?

If you asked them on a normal day and not when they are behind a camera if they are ever happy they will give you a clear “Yes”. Ask a niqabi how she feels about wearing it, or how she feels in general.

Respectfully,
Abdel

Abdel:

As surprised as I am… I must admit that you have a point!

Abdel- i do see your point- however, re the niqabi- how can any human being or animal be truly satisfied when they are covered up like that- picture yourself like that- u wouldnt even get proper oxygen. But people can be convinced they are satisfied in many an unusual situation, because they have been told it is the right thing. But honestly, its just sexual politics confining them.

Mona- just a thought- part of the problem is that people who identify as islamic, do so to such an extent that they dont identify as much with their nation of origin.(for example- u are EgyptianAmerican. If they have been in their nation of origin, say India, they are part of a multireligious community where they are are also genetically linked thru many generations to all citizens, not only muslims- they are brothers with all. Yet they may identify as Muslims, more commonality seen with those from the gulf states. Why should a ‘religion, a superimposed mind game’ have such twisted impact on an individual? If they identified with their nation , their region, it would be more appropriate and probably less dangerous because they would want to further the goals of their region.Hopefully in a positive way)

so where are they? the pictures of ‘happy muslim men and women’?

Limpia, I dont think identifying with one’s nation is better than identifying with someone else from far away lands. The beauty of Muslims in India being able to identify with people in Cameroon, Indonesia, or Bosnia is the fact that it brings down racial and nationalistic barriers. I feel that nationalism and regionalism is more of a superimposing mind game than religion is or ever will be.

why not with both,Ahmed? to a much larger extent than surveys show is now felt by muslims?

Thanks for the smile- For I am one of those Happy Muslim Women who smiles, laughs and enjoys life- I go from scrubs in the Operating Room to American style clothes with the bangles, the perfume, and the portfolios into the Board Room! I most definitely don’t fit the profile when I can easily go from English, to Spanish, to Italian, to Arabic to Hindi…its not bragging- its stating a fact; one I have worked 45 years to attain by Allah’s Supreme Grace.

And boy, do I want to see more confused faces in the Board Rooms, in the OR’s, on the trains, in the planes, in the corner supermarket and at the Opera!

They make my day!

wowo, such a gift with language! oh and what a perspective and lifestyle!

@Limpia- My perspective comes from a kind of fearlessness- “you Trust in Allah; but you tie your camel” That camel can be education; career; goal oriented living; balance; and the single thing I shake my head when I speak to Muslims of a different mentality- (they never) is seeing that Allah gave us colors-shades of grey, where nothing is permanent and we should not be attached to Permanace- He Gives, He Takes, and He Gives Again- but only if you are not walking in cement shoes (of things past, spoilt milk, missed opportunities, stuborness) will you feel the changes as they come.

Muslims want uniformity- of some type- One Word, One Thought, One Mode of being and living (read the Bearded Angry Men and the Complaicent Black Shrouded Women- though they sound like Spartans of olde)- there is no such thing! Allah made us uniformly DIFFERENT emotionally, mentally, physically-so that we could learn from each other.

As a Muslimat I break many social norms of our “foreign” breathren- but two my headcarf and my prayers; but as an American I strive to live the dream this nation was originally founded for- my equality as a human being- a Homo Sapien Sapien who believes in Allah SWT- BUT ALWAYS ties her camels.

Ahmed,

The beauty of Muslims in India being able to identify with people in Cameroon, Indonesia, or Bosnia is the fact that it brings down racial and nationalistic barriers.

Really? Doesn’t it encourage people to interfere in matters that are none of their business, in the name of religion? And don’t you agree that can open a massive can of worms? Couldn’t we all say that it in fact already has? Not only today, but at many times in the past? Radical advocacy that recognizes no borders and no sovereign power has never resulted in anything good, has it?

I feel that nationalism and regionalism is more of a superimposing mind game than religion is or ever will be.

Nationalism and regionalism is an extension of tribalism. As such, it is probably 100% compatible with human nature. Combining tribalism with religion and you get… what? Taliban? Hamas? Oh, joy. I understand you want to remove the group identity and have only a religious identity, but that’s irrelevant because there isn’t any evidence that humanity can exist without group identities, because so far it never has. And even if you could manage that, aren’t you creating a new group – based on religion? And this new group, that believes it is bound together by spiritual values rather than worldly matters – is it better or worse than groups that are bound together by both? Or by worldly matters alone? Will there be more or less bigotry against people who aren’t in the group? Will there be more or less violence against people who aren’t in the group? I suppose the answers to those questions depend on whether or not the religion the group believes in is a tolerant one, right? Is Islam a tolerant religion, Ahmed? You may claim that it is, but maybe we should take a global poll of members who are not in that group of Muslims to see what their opinion is?

I really blame the media for this picture, I respect you Mona and respect your point of view, but some times I feel that you are not the right person to talk about Islam, I feel that I don’t have to look at you as a person who present Islam, maybe this works only with non-Muslims, but it will never work with Muslims! sorry to say that, but it’s only how I feel about you.

you showed us how the media present Muslims, angry men and black covered women, and you continue this show when you said “Look at me!!” , what should I look at? your hairs or your nails?

did you get what I mean?!
I am writing this comment and thinking that maybe I will never get a reply from you, I know that you don’t have time for this, but you have time only for Big shows and programs where you can promote your self!

If you want more examples of happy, successful muslims, look towards India. The biggest three heroes of the film industry there are muslims (the Khans – Aamir, Salman and Shahrukh) one of the most popular actress is Katrina Kaif. The most famous music composer (who recently won an Oscar) is A R Rahman. Our most popular President in recent history was APJ Abdul Kalam.