IslAmerica: The Trials of Islamic Converts in The United States ......The political context we are in is so charged with anti-Muslim rhetoric that its almost impossible, I would say, for that conversion not to have some kind of political ramifications even if the convert in no way intends it, says Brannon Ingram, a professor of religious studies at Northwestern University, who specializes in Islam and Sufism. In July of 2013, Fox News correspondent Lauren Green interviewed religion scholar Reza Aslan about Zealot, a book he just had written about Jesus Christ. She repeatedly questioned his credentials and asked him to explain how a Muslim could write about Christianity. In 2013, a Pew Research Center for the People & the Press study found that 45 percent of Americans believe that Muslims face a lot of discrimination. Negative sentiments about Muslims most often link to an association of Islam with radicalism and terrorism. A 2007 document by the New York Police Department entitled Radicalization in the West: The Homegrown Threat, says, Jihadist ideology is the driver that motivates young men and women, born or living in the West, to carry out an autonomous jihad via acts of terrorism against their host countries. Because of these beliefs, the police instated surveillance over New York Citys mosques and Muslim communities using informants, neighborhood mapping, photos and video footage. When the American Civil Liberties Union caught wind of this policy in June of 2013, they sued the NYPD. ......Muslim converts have received extensive media attention. Katherine Russell, the widow of one of the notorious Boston Marathon bombers, began practicing Islam after meeting her husband. Samantha Lewthwaite, known as the White Widow after her husbands 2005 suicide bombing in London public transit, is among the suspects implicated in the Nairobi mall massacre in September 2013. She, too, is Muslim convert. Nicholas Brody, a main character of the popular television show Homeland, becomes a Muslim while he is imprisoned by al-Quaeda in Damascus, Syria. Once back in the United States, he collaborates with his captors to plot and execute terror attacks. - See more at huffingtonpost/michele-moses/islamerica-the-trials-of-islamic-converts-in-the-united-states_b_4823354.html
Posted on: Sun, 23 Mar 2014 11:30:27 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015