One among us
Fatina Abdrabboh
Issue date: 3/7/07 Section: Op-Ed
- Page 1 of 2 next >
On a recent afternoon, almost two years into our program, a few of us from the Muslim Caucus gathered in the Forum to determine what would be our last event of the school year. While we brainstormed, one thing was clear: we were still committed to illustrating to the KSG community that many American Muslims have suffered a backlash since 9/11. And so we agreed that our next event would reflect our communities' marginalization and their subsequent efforts at outreach. And we would not self-identify as victims by calling the event "the Crime of Being Muslim" but would instead demonstrate our situation with a panel entitled "Crimes Against Muslims".
Today I am keen for Muslims at Harvard to be instrumental in constructively clarifying the confusion surrounding Islam and Muslims.
Getting this far has been an ongoing process of self-assessment. For instance, all last year I would sit through my classes and cringe at the grammatical and syntactical misuse of the term "Islamic." Sometimes it was used as a prescriptive term, sometimes as a descriptive one, and all too often simply as the default word used to signify "them." I paid particular attention to this sloppy conflation of religious and political terms with people and their identities, because well, I'm one of "them." I am a Muslim, and visibly so.
In our early days as MPP students, I would complain to my friends in the Muslim Caucus of how frightening some of the positions of other students towards Muslims were on issues such as profiling in airports, Guantanamo Bay and the Muslim bashing in the media. My friends in the caucus shared classroom experiences of insensitivity and ignorance.
But, together we assured ourselves that only a tiny minority favored the extreme suggestion of "internment for Muslims."
One day, it was ironically a non-Muslim American student who apologetically confessed to me, "Some of the people here are such bigots, they stop short of suggesting putting Muslims in camps."
Today I am keen for Muslims at Harvard to be instrumental in constructively clarifying the confusion surrounding Islam and Muslims.
Getting this far has been an ongoing process of self-assessment. For instance, all last year I would sit through my classes and cringe at the grammatical and syntactical misuse of the term "Islamic." Sometimes it was used as a prescriptive term, sometimes as a descriptive one, and all too often simply as the default word used to signify "them." I paid particular attention to this sloppy conflation of religious and political terms with people and their identities, because well, I'm one of "them." I am a Muslim, and visibly so.
In our early days as MPP students, I would complain to my friends in the Muslim Caucus of how frightening some of the positions of other students towards Muslims were on issues such as profiling in airports, Guantanamo Bay and the Muslim bashing in the media. My friends in the caucus shared classroom experiences of insensitivity and ignorance.
But, together we assured ourselves that only a tiny minority favored the extreme suggestion of "internment for Muslims."
One day, it was ironically a non-Muslim American student who apologetically confessed to me, "Some of the people here are such bigots, they stop short of suggesting putting Muslims in camps."
Be the first to comment on this story