NEW YORK // Despite all his protestations, president Donald Trump’s travel and refugee ban is now almost universally referred to as “the Muslim ban”. But far from uniting Americans in “fighting terror and keeping our country safe” it has produced an unprecedented groundswell of support for Muslims.
Ever since the president signed the order a week ago, temporarily banning travellers from seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering the US and banning those from Syria indefinitely, Americans of all ages, faiths and social class have joined civil rights campaigners and taken to the streets in their thousands to protest against the move.
“At the protests, I saw white people, black people, Hispanics and even atheists coming together to oppose his act. As a Muslim, I felt overwhelmed to see so much support. It gave me a new sense of optimism,” said Khaled Abdullah, a pre-medical student born and raised in New York, who took part in protests at the city’s Battery Park last week.
The mayor of New York, Bill de Blasio tweeted in support of the nearly one million Muslims living in the city’s five boroughs.“I can’t read the president’s mind but if we take him too lightly we will regret it. He talked about a Muslim ban. His order is a first step.”
Imam Shamsi Ali, a religious scholar and president of the Nusantara Foundation, a non-profit organisation dedicated to building peace and harmony between people of all backgrounds, said the president’s executive order was particularly worrying because it seemed to legitimise Islamophobia.
“The message it sends out is that Muslims are not welcome in the US and it is really scary for many Muslims living here. In the past, Islamophobia was independent incidents but now it has become systemic, where the government itself is involved in spreading fear,” he said.
Many inter-faith leaders and Holocaust survivors have been an integral part of this resistance movement. Rabbi Marc Schneier, president of the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding, said: “Most Americans are ignorant of the patriotism of Muslim-Americans and we are trying to educate and sensitise the American community. When we look at the well-known American Muslim leaders, they too were immigrants when they came to the US and are now global ambassadors.”
The US Council of Muslim Organisations (USCMO) has partnered with several other groups such as New York Immigration Coalition and International Rescue Committee to organise a #WeAreAllAmerica inter-faith rally and Friday prayers across all major cities in America.
“We have received phenomenal support in response to the president’s ban,” USCMO secretary general Oussama Jammal said. “This support highlights the spirit of the American people and their attachment to the principles on which this country was founded. We wanted to lead this rally with the Friday prayers because this ban has been about people’s faith and we wanted to make it symbolic where Muslims are coming out to pray in large numbers and we have a human chain surrounding them made by people of all religions and ethnic backgrounds.”
Despite the apparent spirit of solidarity, some Muslim-Americans feel that these demonstrations may not change much.
“So many young Muslim friends of mine are telling me that these protests are not going to change much but to me if you are not protesting – what else are you doing?” said Heba Allam, a 22-year-old New York resident.
She wears a hijab and said she felt overwhelmed by the gestures of love and support she received when she went on the women’s march in Washington DC and another in New York City. “I’ve had random people walk up to me and ask me what can they do to help, hug me and thank me for being a Muslim,” she said.“Maybe now Trump thinks – Wow! What have I done? He has really brought different communities together and showed us who is really on the right side and who are the bigots in our country.”
However, the reality for Muslims living in less cosmopolitan parts of America is different. Hate crimes against Muslim-Americans tripled in 2016, according to New York State assemblyman David Weprin. A mosque in the small town of Victoria, Texas was burned to the ground last Saturday. Investigations are continuing and it remains unclear whether it was a hate crime or arson. However, the attack, brought together local religious communities. Jews and Christians offered the keys to the synagogue and church so that Muslims would have a place to worship. In addition, an online donation drive raised $600,000 in 24 hours towars the cost of rebuilding the mosque.
“I have met so many Jewish people at the protests and they understand what we Muslims are going through because they were in a similar place at one point,” said Mr Abdullah. It is precisely the diversity of the support which keeps up the momentum of the protests, he said.
“A lot of Muslims suffered after the 9/11 attacks and we have seen hate divide our country in the past, “ said Ms Allam. “But now seeing thousands of people stand in our support gives me real hope.”
foreign.desk@thenational.ae
