Muslims committed to peace, respect

It is with a combination of hope and fear that nearly 7 million Muslim Americans are ending their celebration of Ramadan, a month of daylight fasting, reflection and prayer that concludes with the "eid" feast Sunday.

During Ramadan, the world's 1.2 billion Muslims rededicate themselves to two central Islamic values: sharing and tolerance.

So it was sobering for me to review a recent poll revealing disturbing levels of intolerance toward Muslims among a random sample of 1,000 Americans. The poll was conducted by an independent firm at the request of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

Some of the findings were chilling: 29 percent of Americans strongly or somewhat agree that Muslims teach their children to hate; 27 percent believe we value life less than other people; 29 percent believe in a kind of world Muslim conspiracy "to change the American way of life."

With negative stereotypes prevailing among more than a quarter of the American people, there is no wonder that reported hate crimes and discrimination against Muslim Americans increased 70 percent from last year alone.

More than 700 violent attacks, including several murders, against us, or those mistaken for us, occurred in the first nine weeks following 9/11. Scores of us were illegally removed from aircraft, sometimes because the flight crew "did not feel comfortable flying with someone named Muhammad."

Public leaders made defamatory statements, including the Rev. Jerry Falwell who said on "60 Minutes" that our prophet Muhammad was a "terrorist." Louisiana's U.S. Rep. John Cooksey stated on radio that any "guy with a diaper on his head, and a fan belt wrapped around it" should be pulled over by police.

The silver lining to the survey was that those with Muslim friends or colleagues had significantly more positive perceptions of Muslims.

For this reason, it is imperative for Muslim Americans to overcome our fears and let our friends and colleagues know more about us. As Muslims, we must be proud ambassadors of a faith committed to peace, justice and mutual respect among peoples.

We also ask Muslims and people of other faiths to join more than 700,000 Muslims who have already signed the online petition "Not in the Name of Islam," which rejects violence committed in the name of Islam and unequivocally condemns those who perform un-Islamic acts of terror and cruelty.

This year, Muslim Americans launched a special "Sharing Ramadan" initiative. Hundreds of mosques across the country opened their doors at the end of the daily fast and invited neighbors to celebrate the evening meal with delicious food from countries all across the globe.

However, we Muslims cannot fight anti-Muslim racism by ourselves.

We must call upon national and local leaders to speak out against bigotry against Muslim Americans.

We must appeal to legislators to protect Muslim Americans -- and all groups -- through firm hate-crime legislation.

We must encourage the proliferation of interfaith meetings, so that Muslim Americans can share the message of peace and understanding with our Christian, Jewish and neighbors of other faiths.

We must ask the media to rethink its sometimes careless and inflammatory depictions of Islam and Muslims. Next time you refer to us, momentarily substitute the word African Americans or Jews for Muslims. If you would not make that comment about another group, don't make it about us.

Racial or religious discrimination hurts all Americans. Our nation cherishes certain fundamental principles -- among them, the right to live without fear of prejudice and with equal protection of the laws. Like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Muslim Americans also dream of the day when we are judged by the content of our character and by our contributions to this society, not by our race, religion or ethnic background.

Omar Ahmad is the founder and chairman of the Council on American Islamic Relations, the leading Muslim civil rights organization in the United States.

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