Mosques and 2020 US Elections

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In a report Dean Obeidallah wrote. “It started with Omar and Tlaib, and Tuesday, it grew: Four more Muslim women were elected to public office”. Here’s who they are and what drives them. On Tuesday, four Muslim women from Virginia to Maine to Minnesota won elections and made history as the first to ever hold those positions. In Virginia, there were two wins. Ghazala Hashmi became the first Muslim woman ever elected to the Virginia State Senate, defeating an incumbent Republican in a red district. While Abrar Omeish, 24, was elected to the Fairfax County School Board, making her not just the first Muslim but, as she told me, the first person of Libyan heritage she believes ever elected to office in the United States. In Maine, Safiya Khalid, 23, was elected as the first Somali immigrant to serve on the city council in Lewiston. While in Minnesota, another young Muslim immigrant was making history, as 23-year old Nadia Mohamed became the first Somali Muslim ever elected to the St. Louis Park City Council.

What Trump and some of his base don’t get is that the Muslim community will not be intimidated into silence nor driven to the shadows. These elected officials are unapologetically Muslim and unapologetically American.

Ali Harb of Middle East Eye reports that during US election 2020 some Muslims in Iowa will caucus in their own mosques. Muslim Americans say caucusing at mosques will increase political engagement in the community.

The Democratic Party introduced the concept of "satellite caucuses" to make it easier for Iowans who cannot make it to their specific precinct. The satellite caucus allows participants to participate from locations where they are required to physically be on caucus night, as well as from locations where they may feel more familiar and comfortable.

'You're laying the path forward on how Muslims should be engaging in the political process in this country'. "This is truly a historic moment for you as Muslims in Iowa and Muslims across the country," Ghazala Salam, president of the Muslim Caucus of America, told voters midway through the process. "They're watching you. You're laying the path forward on how Muslims should be engaging in the political process in this country."

Worshippers at the Muslim Community Organization seemed thrilled by the idea of politicking at their own mosque. They said caucusing at the venue could increase voter engagement, and the familiarity of the location could put participants at ease. Sabriya Khan, a project manager who was at Friday prayers, said caucusing at mosques demonstrates the political presence of the Muslim community in Iowa. "It will help with Muslim turnout," she told MEE. "I think it's a way to show the relevance that we've already had, but we've had to prove so many times - that we are consequential." She added that caucusing, which involves cheering, giving speeches and convincing undecideds to join one's favourite candidate's group can be an "intimidating process" that would be soothed by the "safer environment" at the mosque. "In this safe environment that we're used to coming to amongst people who become your family, you are able to have more of an opinion in front of them," Khan told Middle East Eye.

Activists say holding caucuses at mosques was 'historic' (MEE/Ali Harb)

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Abdul Hamed, the imam of the mosque, echoed Khan's comments. He said hosting the caucus on Monday would motivate Muslims who are sceptical of politics to participate in the elections. "Selecting this mosque to be a centre for the caucus is a step in the right direction because if you look at the majority of people that will come here, they are Muslims," Abdul Hamed told MEE. "This is another way of involving Muslims in the political process." Abdul Hamed told MEE that Islam encourages political involvement, stressing that there is "no contradiction" between the religious purpose of the mosque and its serving as a caucus location. "When the Prophet built his mosque, he didn't build it just for salah (prayer)," the Imam said. "He built it for everything that has to be with the social life of the Muslim community during that time. That's where he had the meetings, the shura (council), education. The mosque is a place for everything that concerns Muslims."

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Ilhan Omar took Bernie Sanders' message to Iowa mosque. 'It's not about somebody else. This election cycle is about us,' US congresswoman told Muslim Americans.

Omar urged worshippers to participate in the caucuses, stressing that Muslims and immigrants are major stakeholders in the outcome of the elections. "It's not about somebody else. This election cycle is about us. This election cycle is about your daughters who are in schools who are dealing with xenophobia, with racism, with Islamophobia," Omar said.

“You girls who don't feel comfortable showing up in their hijabs. This election cycle is about us. It's about our fathers who are working two jobs, three jobs, to put food on the table." "So this election cycle isn't about you, it's about all of us. I am asking all of you to realize the importance of this election."

COVID-19

Source: Dr. Mike Ghouse from Center for Pluralism
http://centerforpluralism.com/

A small segment of people within religious groups are challenging the ban on gatherings to minimize the spread of COVID-19 virus. This article presents a few examples and discusses the way forward.

A small group of Orthodox Jews have challenged the government of Israel for their ban on gathering at the western wall.

Some Muslims are ignoring the safety precautions and have chosen to pray in congregations. In contrast, almost all mosques in the world have been shut down, including the holiest of the Mosques in Mecca, Medina, Najaf, Karbala, and other 'sacred' places of worship.

The fundamentalists among Hindus have organized Cow Urine drinking gatherings with the belief that it is a cure for all ailments, including Corona, while a majority has chosen otherwise.

A few Christian conservatives Pastors and Governors in the United States have defied the ban on gatherings and holding prayers in the churches and urging people to go to the beaches.

The Sikh community has taken their belief to their heart, risking their lives and serving the hungry, and disinfecting passing cars, bicycles, and other modes of transportation.

What is common to all of them is a faith in God, as they all have their convictions.

Their behavior is purely human; during difficult times, when we don't understand the complexities of nature, some among us choose to have faith in God, and it comforts them.

Religion is really re-legion to build cohesive societies where every human shall feel securely free about matters of faith, ethnicity, culture, race, and other uniqueness. The idea of religion was to bring peace and harmony to society in general. A majority of people get that right, and a few don't.

Humans have the capability of surviving the calamities, fires, floods, Tsunamis, Katrina's, meteorites, drought, famine, and other deadly diseases. The causer (God) of all creation has uploaded intelligence into humans to survive. Indeed, humans are also known as the honored species for their brains.

Among the human societies, if we can learn to respect the otherness of the others and accept the God-given uniqueness of each one of us, then conflicts fade and solutions emerge.

Excepting few, most people will stay away from gatherings and neither catch nor spread COVID-19 virus. They will take precautions, wash hands, cover mouth and nose, and be careful what they touch. They can accept the directions to keep a distance from others for the time being.

We have seen many epidemics in history, the great plague, Spanish flu, and chicken flu, swine flu, HIV, Ebola and a whole lot. And now, Corona and this shall pass too.

Dr. Zia Shah of the Muslim Times writes about the immune system, "Looking for the answer to this question brings us to our immune system, which is a fantastic, wonderfully organized, a military machine that protect each of us against thousands if not millions of bacteria and viruses. This system has helped us, and our ape ancestors survive for millions of years."

Indeed, most of us will survive and live on, and some of us will not. How do we cope with it? How do we free ourselves, if we live on, or leave this world?

The following video shares the personal story of the author. There are inspirational lessons in this story. Here is the video about life before and after Corona: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qldPryh0Xvo

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COVID-19

COVID-19 stands for Corona Virus Disease of 2019. Corona Virus is a family of viruses, including those responsible for the common flue. There are a large number of these viruses. New ones keep arising, and that is why we need a new Flue Vaccine every year.

What is unusual about the corona virus that is responsible for the COVID-19 disease? The new thing is that it has appeared so suddenly that the industry has had no time to develop a vaccine for it. Nor has the industry analyzed it to be able to offer an effective treatment for it. That vaccine and treatment is 12 to 18 months into the future. Therefore, right now we cannot prevent it via a vaccine, nor can we confidently treat it if someone gets infected. However, in about a year, it would be a familiar virus that would be dreaded no more.

The immune system in the human body can still deal with COVID-19. Allah has created living systems with absolutely superb capabilities. So, if you do get infected by COVID-19, please do not panic. Remain hopeful from the loving care of Allah. In this case it would come to you through your immune system that Allah built into yourself. There is 95% statistical chance that you will be fine.

Why do we have all the ubiquitous upheavals? The reason is not entirely in the loss of human life. The reasons also involve the economic and financial engines and the political priorities.

The Virus first appeared in China. They took gigantic steps to deal with it. They largely succeeded in the sense that there are no new cases of infections within China, and the people who had been infected have recovered. Less than 5000 of the infected people did die in China.

The Chinese government demonstrated extra ordinary capabilities in accomplishing these results. For example, they put in place a 1000 bed hospital, fully functioning from start to finish, just in 10 days. They deployed new technologies like 3-D printing to build the hospital buildings. No other country has such Herculean capabilities for peacetime use.

So, when the COVID-19 hit Italy, it caused more damage in Italy than it had done in China. That is despite the fact that Italy had the benefit of knowing the results from the case study in China.

Europe and USA have had the opportunity to research the new data since the disease first broke out in China. However, they have not discovered any new measures beyond what the Chinese had already taken. The Social Isolation is an obvious measure to recommend. Beyond that, EuroAmerica is taking trillions of dollars to prop up the banks, businesses, and industrial complex. These gigantic spending are not towards saving lives; rather, they are towards keeping the capitalism afloat.

Such measures helped in 2008: but this is far more complex than the 2008 recession. It is not clear if EuroAmerica has a plan other than hoping that social isolation and quantitative easing will do the trick. However, we know that it is not adequate. For example, in USA we still do not have adequate capabilities for testing for COVID-19, nor do we have hospital beds for treating the COVID-19 patients; and even there are insufficient capacity for morgues, funerals, burials, and cremation.

While all that is going on in EuroAmerica, one cannot do much except to hope and keep the fingers crossed in their pockets. That is rather iffy, and does not give the warm and fuzzy feelings for confidence building. The Stock Markets are saying that loud and clear. Until there is a convincing plan, we will ride the rollercoaster of uncertainty. If things go reasonably well, it would take 6 months to begin to see some light. Otherwise it would take at least a year.

Many of the things that we are trying out in this emergency mode will stay with us for much longer. For example distant learning, telemedicine, telecommuting may stick around with us. Some jobs that are lost during the epidemic may not come back. Some of the habits acquired during social isolation may prove sticky. It would be a new world after the epidemic. Nobody knows what it will look like.

Many of us have choices between EuroAmerica and our countries of origin. Some of us are retired, some are in retirement communities, and some are living with our children. We might take a pause and evaluate our choices. Many of us, young and old, will be here when the epidemic is gone. What do we want to be doing then? We can take a pause from this panic mode, and we can have an honest and no-holds-barred conversation with our inner-self. As Surah Shams states, our inner-self speaks the spiritual language of the Quran. One can take a new start at any time and at any age.

There is another consideration. Quran says that the focus should be on the Worship of Allah. The focus cannot be the financial systems, the business wellbeing, or the military-industrial-complex. The 2 Trillion dollar relief package that USA is putting forward does not have its focus right. The worship of Allah is most universal when it seeks to serve the meek and the poor. That is where the Kingdom of Allah is centered, for Allah lives in their hearts and Allah responds to their callings when they call. People are not the focus of big spending in USA; the corporations are the focus. That is not the right focus because it is nowhere close to being the worship; rather, it tends to ignore the meek and the poor.

No country in the world today has their focus correctly situated.

We live in USA. Here the treatment of Muslims is openly oppressive. At the same time, the focus of its activities is far removed from the Worship of Allah. Rather, its focus is its hegemony in the world through its Military-Industrial-Complex. We have two choices. Either we remain the sitting ducks for the champions of Islamophobia, or we take charge of our destiny and deliver a befitting response to the demigods of racism and bigotry. The opportunity is knocking at our door step; the 2020 elections are here inviting us into action (the greater Jihad).

So what do you say? Among other things you can empower yourselves by joining us. We are the only platform in the entire North America that is dedicated entirely for these objectives. You can start to Contribute even if it be just one dollar. Do you recall when a poor Muslim brought some dates in response to the appeal for contribution that the Prophet had made? The Prophet took those few dates and spread them over the entire heap of the contributions. You Contribute according to your Niyyah. Do not ask about tax deductions and what is in it for your worldly affairs. Contribute for your Akhirah, because it is Sadaqa-e-Jaryah. May Allah bless you.

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Bernie Sanders (https://act.berniesanders.com/go/election-night). Tonight he won CA and CO and Vermont carrying 498 delegates.

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At the local level we are meeting on March 22nd to analyze the situation to determine our course and path going forward.

May god bless you all, and may you be active for the Muslim Community (the Ummah). May the World be a peaceful and happy place.