Hearing on Racial Profiling Needed

Muslims in America are faced with the indignity of yet another profiling incident at a US airport. Six Imams, i.e., Muslim religious leaders, were removed from a domestic flight yesterday in Minnesota. The Imams were taken off a US Airways flight at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport Monday night because of alleged "suspicious activity."

Is the language used familiar?

The Imams, who were handcuffed and questioned for several hours by authorities before being released told the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) that they suspect that the “suspicious activity” cited by the authorities involved the performance of normal evening prayers offered by members of the group in the airport before boarding the flight.

A prominent national Islamic civil rights and advocacy group today called for congressional hearings on religious and ethnic profiling at airports after six Imams, or Muslim religious leaders, were removed from a domestic flight yesterday in Minnesota.

All of the detained Imams, several of whom are from Arizona, were in Minnesota to attend a conference of the North American Imams Federation (NAIF). A representative of the FBI was invited to attend the conference. The people at the Minnesota conference were "discussing how to build bridges" between Muslims and American society.

Instead, "they were treated like terrorists ... humiliated," said Abu Hannoud, a civil rights director for the Arizona chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. The men were taken off the US Airways flight in handcuffs.

Again, does this seem familiar?

CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad said today that security concerns are of "paramount importance," but that the incident in Minnesota was apparently triggered by prejudice and ignorance, not by real evidence of a threat to passenger safety:

"CAIR is receiving more reports of 'flying while Muslim' and racial profiling incidents from members of the Islamic community nationwide. We therefore call for congressional hearings to deal with the issue of racial, religious and ethnic profiling in our nation's airports.

"We also call on the Department of Justice and the Transportation Security Administration to conduct thorough investigations into the incident in Minnesota and to ensure that security procedures of US Airways and other airlines conform to constitutional standards mandating the protection of religious freedom and other civil rights."

He added that CAIR received a letter today from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties saying it has opened a review of the case as it relates to the actions of DHS employees.

To the 70s and 80s Singapore Babies

Walk Down Memory Lane

A friend emailed me the following post, which I thoroughly enjoyed reading because it brought back a lot of memories of my childhood in Singapore.

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Just for good old days.

When life was simple & carefree

To the 70s n 80s babies!

For us born and raised in Singapore and Malaysia (esp. fond of the memory of the Milo truck coming to school once in a blue moon to give away free packet-chocolate-milk at school!). Miss the good old days - despite its low-tech nature....

For your reading pleasure...some might be true.

Hope you will all enjoy reading it. This might bring you back the old memory especially during those school days.....

Signs that you are a 70s' or 80s' baby:

1. You grew up watching G-Force, He-man, Transformers, Thundercats, Silver Hawk, Woody Woodpecker, Chipmunks and Mickey Mouse. Not to forget Ninja Turtles, Mask, Smurfs and Voltron too.

2. Girls watched Japanese cartoon like My Little Pony, "Xiao Tian Tian", "Hua Xian Zi " etc.

3. You grew up brushing your teeth with a mug in primary school after recess time.

4. You squatted by a drain with all your classmates beside you, and brushed your teeth with a tin or colourful plastic mug.

5. Remember the days when the school nurse, comes with a list for the dentist appointment, the sound of the drilling when your friend has a fill in his tooth.

6. You remember the packets of milk that looks like a pyramid we get in primary school to encourage us to drink more milk. (It cost only 30 cent per pack!)

7. In secondary school, girls go to the library to borrow their favourite romance storybook.

8. In secondary school, girls altered their school skirt to shorten it and guys will go to the school appointed school uniform tailor shop to tailor make their school trousers to the then fashionable "baggy pants"!

9. During primary school days, the teacher will punish you using a ruler to hit your palm and cane on the buttock.

10. A bowl of noodles soup cost only 30cent in primary school days.

11. When you were in primary school, girls like to go to the bookshop to buy cute stuff such as animal erasers, various shape sharpeners, colourful notebook etc.

12. Yaohan Department Stores used to be a favourite hangout for families during weekends.

13. In secondary school days, you buy the Bata BM Turbo or Pallas Jazz school shoes. Some guys like to wear those china made ankle high shoes. Some even like to wear those very thick socks with their school shoes.

14. Internet? E-mail? What the hell is that?

15. So you thought a decade or more ago, your friends don't have pagers or hand phones in school.

16. CDs? What's that? Cassette tapes were the norm. Movie tickets used to cost less than $5 last time.

17. The goodies from Mama shop used to be Chickerdis, Mamee , Kum Kum, UFO, O-Ya, Ding Dang chocolate balls with toys in the box, colourful hard "egg", "cigerette" bubble gum, KIKI Bubble Gum, pink bottle of bubbles c/w a small tubes with yellow sticks to blow "more lasting" bubbles that you can pop more air in or slam it on.

18. You never forget 'Ti Kam'. When exams are over, the board games (e.g Monopoly, Donkey, Transportation Comparison Card) & held video games will be all over the class room.

19. Your favourite sound is the bell For it's the homemade ice cream man. The cream that tops Haagan Dazs !

20. And the other peddler you love is the old lady who sells juicy Muah Chee and thick olden syrup rolled in a balloon the tip of a chopstick

21. Another bell is the recess bell, a time to get away from school work and to eat.

22. Another time when there is no bell but all guys will anxiously wait for it...The PJ (Pendidikan Jasmani), PE time (time for football)

23. Your favourite childhood games were playing "guli"(marbles), five stones, five bottle cover, zero-point, catching, "Pepsi-Cola one two three" and/or "Police & Sentry"!

24. The best thirst quencher of all times is the yummy colourful ice tubes you can buy from provision shops for only 10cent. To eat them, break the tab and suck while holding the freezing tube!

25. All gals has a Barbie doll/strawberry shortcake/my little pony/pound puppy, while all boys have a soldiers figurine (combat) or a rubber band catapult that shoots folded paper!

26. Once was the era whereby ice-cream sticks were valuable items, then came the paper aircrafts, chalk fights.

27. Some boys made their own guns from wood, and used 'Bacali' as the bullets.

28. Some even used matches to shoot and burn kids' lanterns during Moon Cake Festival.

29. And your favourite holiday was Lunar New Year! New clothes, Ang Pows, shopping, junk food and family outings!

30. Let's see, the majority of students in universities today were born in 1987 / 88.... They are called "youth".

31. For them, they have never heard of the song "We are the World, we are the Children..." And the "Uptown Girl" they know is by 'West Life' but not 'Billy Joel'.

32. For them, there have always been only one Germany and only one Vietnam. AIDS exists since they were born.

33. CD exists since they were born.

34. Michael Jackson is already whitened.

35. John Travolta is always round in shape and they can't imagine how this fat guy could be a god of dance.

36. They believe that Spiderman and Incredible Hulk are just new films.

37. They can never imagine a black and white screen for a computer.

38. They never know what is Atari or 'Game & Watch'.

39. They can't believe a black and white television ever existed and they
don't even know how to switch on a TV without a remote control.

40. And they never understand how we can go out without a mobile phone when we
were in university...

Let's check if we're getting old...

1. You understand what was written above and you smile.

2. Most of your secondary school friends are getting married.

3. You are always surprised to see small children playing comfortably with
computer.

4. When you see teenagers with mobile phones, you shake your head.

5. You spend less and less time talking on phone with your friends daily.

6. When you meet your old friends from time to time, talking about the good old days, repeating again and again all funny stories you experienced together.

7. Lastly, having read this mail, you are thinking of forwarding it to some other old friends. You think they will like it too.....

Hahaha!.... Yes! We are getting old too...........

Brings back old memories huh?

Cheers to the 70s n 80s babies!!!

Eid Mubarak

Eid Mubarak to all our Muslim readers

and

Selamat Hari Raya to our South-east Asian Muslim readers

We wish you peace and joy!

To all our non-Muslim readers, we also wish you peace and joy!

Response to Reader Comments on the Pope Article

Alpheus said:

“When the early Fathers learned reason from the Greeks, this is not equal to 'polluted' but 'learned' to navigate history better. Why? because without reason, many civilizations would be dead by the sword by now (negotitate instead of fight) “.

The influx of Greek philosophy into Christianity came during its early days. The Crusades and the bloody wars in Europe came much later; all of it stemmed from issues within Christianity itself. Clearly, the influx of man-made reason, i.e., Greek philosophical thought, did not “better” Christianity because history shows that there was more sword than negotiation.

“The God of history is also the same Christian God who is transcendental to man's limited understanding. By the same principle of transcendence to which Islam subscribe as well, a religion that can learn reason is more capable, not polluted because something that is reasonable cannot pollute, otherwise it ceases to be reasonable. However, favoring non-reason, you can also argue that being transcendental, God can also be unreasonable. But this argument can only come from a mind that has concluded that the Transcendental God is unreasonable - and this choice of argument has nothing to do between being Christian or Islam”.

I think the point I was trying to make is that a true religion should not have to learn reason because a true religion is reason itself. Having reason (rationality) is having a good judgment and good sense. If Christianity lacked good judgment and good sense at its inception, and required the input of the human mind to provide these attributes, then how and why should one hold this to be a transcendent truth? Surely, God should not have had to rely on his Creation (Man) to perfect his truth for him?

Another reader said:

“Rationality, even if you label it a 'construct' is not changeable. When something is fundamentally rational from the beginning, it remains so for till the end of time. A thing that stands eternity cannot be simply a 'man-made construct'”

Well, that is your understanding. My understanding is that rationality can be derived from two sources – from the divine and from the human mind. It is my contention that the rationality of the human mind is changeable.

Let me give you an example. The religious teachings (Islam and Christianity) prohibit homosexuality, and call it an abomination and a sin. Believers cannot engage in such activities, and they are also to prevent others from doing so in society. This is a religious principle. So not too long ago, open homosexuality in society was discouraged. The religious principle dictated that the divinely inspired rationale behind prohibiting open homosexuality was accepted.

However, the discourse and theories on the topic changed over time with the separation of the church and the state, and the rise of individualism – a new form of rationality. Religion became something for the private domain, while the public domain developed its own set of rationality; acceptance of homosexuality is one of them.

Homosexuality is propagated as a natural condition, something acceptable in society. Consequently, it is no longer rational for someone to not condone homosexuality in society; it is not reasonable to be “homo-phobic”. The good judgment and good sense of the modern man in the West has evolved to accept homosexuality, even though the Christian principle clearly states otherwise. There are even Christian priests who are homosexuals with congregations that think it rational to accept homosexuality and stay a believer.

The Western man has formed his own rationality on the topic of homosexuality that contradicts a transcendent religious principle.

So I re-iterate that man-made constructs are changeable. And if the rationality we talk about is man-made, and without a transcendent principle, then it is open to change.

“The body of teachings of Christ as transmitted by the Bishop of Rome through the Early Fathers and through the Church is admittedly the only set of transcendent principles in the world that is still unchanged for the last 2000 years. Even when Greek rationality became the medium of thinking in theology, it did not change the transcendent principles of the Catholic church for the past 2000 years”.

Given the evidence shown by Christian theologians, I am inclined to believe that some of the transcendent principles in the Bible may be there in spirit, but certainly they have been modified.

"Lastly, I doubt if there is such a thing as a pure "genuine enlightenment" that is 100% independent of human mind. The fact that God uses a prophet's mind means there will always be human element in any revelation. So between 2 prophets, who determines the exclusion of the other? Therein lies the inevitable need for a dialogue".

Indeed, there should be dialogue between the two groups in order to promote mutual tolerance and understanding. But that doesn’t change the fact that Muslims call Prophet Muhammad a “Messenger” for a reason. His job was to relay God’s message in an undiluted form. The angel Gabriel told Muhammad to “recite”. When Muslims talk of God’s word, we do mean his words, and not Muhammad’s understanding of God’s words. The unchangeable divine rationality in Islam stems from the transcendent principles in God’s own words.

The Principled Stance

The Muslim world has made its point. This can be seen in two recent events.

First, the youth wing of the Danish People’s Party was shown on television drawing mocking images of Prophet Muhammed. But this time around, the Danish Prime Minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, quickly denounced the drawing of new cartoons. Absent was the free speech and independent media excuse that the Danish Prime Minister used earlier this year. Instead, he condemned the latest drawings as “tasteless” and “unacceptable”. It is possible that he did so because he did not want a repeat of the widespread protests in Muslim countries that the first incident sparked, which left almost 50 people dead.

Second, the Pope today released a revised text of the speech that quoted a Byzantine emperor’s brusque criticism of Prophet Muhammed. In his revision, he makes it clear that he finds the brusque quote “unacceptable”.

The cartoons controversy and the Pope controversy have shown the world that the Muslim world will not tolerate mockery of religions, and that it is offensive. This is a principled stance that all Muslims abide by. Muslims are duty-bound to defend religions’ honour because it is transcendent truth that people try to live up to.

Sadly, it will be the violent acts that came about during the Muslim protests, and that were sensationalized by the mainstream media, which will stand foremost in the minds of the rest of the world. And so they can only view the principled stance with dubious eyes.

Correction to the Previous Article on Pope's Speech

A reader of my blog commented (offline) that I had misunderstood parts of the Pope’s speech.

I had written:

What he says on this is profound: “The subject then decides, on the basis of his experiences, what he considers tenable in matters of religion, and the subjective "conscience" becomes the sole arbiter of what is ethical. In this way, though, ethics and religion lose their power to create a community and become a completely personal matter. This is a dangerous state of affairs for humanity, as we see from the disturbing pathologies of religion and reason which necessarily erupt when reason is so reduced that questions of religion and ethics no longer concern it. Attempts to construct an ethic from the rules of evolution or from psychology and sociology, end up being simply inadequate”.

I would agree with him; he is absolutely right that man-made constructs cannot frame a reasonable, ethical and moral society. And Christianity, as he himself has defined, is a combination of Jesus’ teachings and man-made constructs and elements, such as the Greek thought. It is a modified, man-made religion.

The reader said that the Pope actually is in disagreement with me in regards to the above. The reader said that the Pope was making a plea to the Christian world to not exclude theology from the study of science. I agree with that. The reader also said that the Pope was encouraging the study of theology as a science, so that man can come up with man-made constructs that involve religious ethics.

Well, on that point, I stand corrected.