Ayloush commenting on the Boston Bombings on KPCC's AirTalk Show with Larry Mantle

AirTalk | April 19th, 2013, 10:54am
KPCC/NPR Affiliate 

STAN HONDA/AFP/Getty Images

Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick (L) speaks to the media at a shopping mall on the perimeter of a locked down area as a search for the second of two suspects wanted in the Boston Marathon bombings takes place on April 19, 2013 in Watertown, Massachusetts.

Stay up to date with on the ground coverage of the search for Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev as reporters from WBUR check in with law enforcement. We'll also consider the way the bombings and manhunt have affected local communities, including the Islamist and Chechen communities. How could a city like Boston be effectively shut down? What's it like to be under seige?

KPCC's up-to-date coverage on the Boston Marathon bombings

Guests:
Steve Brown, reporter and anchor at WBUR in Boston.
Erroll Southers, Adjunct Professor of Homeland Security and Public Policy Associate Director, Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events, USC
Hussam Ayloush, Executive Director of the greater Los Angeles office at the Counsel on American-Islamic Relations (CARE)
Olga Oliker, Associate Director, RAND International Security & Defense Policy Center and author of "Russian Foreign Policy." Born in Russia and fluent in Russian, Oliker's expertise includes Russian foreign policy and deterrence strategy.
Thomas Wieczorek, ICMA Center for Public Safety Management
Phil Mattingly, Justice Department Reporter, Bloomberg News

BOSTON BOMBINGS: Islam condemns violence, Muslim leader reiterates

Posted on | April 19, 2013

Hussam Ayloush

As news emerges that the two suspects in the Boston Marathon bombings were from the predominantly Muslim Russian republic of Chechnya, an Inland Muslim leader emphasized something he’s had to repeat every time a suspect in a terrorist attack is Muslim: Violence against innocent people is a severe violation of the teachings of Islam.


“A person who claims an Islamic basis for such a heinous crime is no more faithful to the teachings of Islam than a KKK member who claims a biblical basis in committing bigoted crimes,” said Hussam Ayloush, executive director of the Southern California chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations and a Corona resident.

“Islam’s teachings are very clear in protecting the sanctity of life,” he said. “Anyone who claims to be a Muslim cannot act in opposition to those teachings.”

One of the suspects, Dzhokhar Tsamaev, posted links to Muslim websites on a Russian-language social media site. He also posted links to websites advocating Chechen independence from Russia. Chechen rebels fought two unsuccessful wars for secession in the 1990s.

But the suspects’ uncle, Ruslan Tsarni, said he believed religion had nothing to do with his nephews’ motivations.

“Being losers, hatred to those who were able to settle themselves, these are the only reasons I can imagine,” he said “Anything else, anything else to do with religion is a fraud. It’s a fake. We’re Muslims. We’re ethnic Chechens.”

Ayloush said a small number of Americans, goaded on by anti-Muslim extremist commentators on the Internet, may blame Islam for the tragedy.

“There are people who are exploiting the tragedy in Boston to exploit anti-Muslim fear and paranoia,” he said.

But he said Inland Muslims generally have found support after past terrorist acts that were committed by a Muslim.

“It has been a positive experience when their neighbors, coworkers and friends say that you can’t blame a whole group for the actions of a few,” Ayloush said.

Ayloush said he’s not spending time thinking about the possibility of verbal or physical abuse that could be directed at Southern California Muslims as a result of the Boston attacks.

“Our bigger sentiment has been and continues to be with the victims in Boston,” he said. “We shouldn’t take away our focus from them.”

Follow me on Twitter: @DavidOlson11

Guest Column: We must forgive, in all events (OC Register)

Forgiving someone for attempted murder seems unfathomable.

(Apr 04, 2013 - Anaheim, CA) 

The shotgun came up. It pointed directly at the dark-skinned man clerking at the Dallas gas station. He recently had immigrated to the United States from Bangladesh. After the Sept. 11 attacks, Rais Bhuiyan observed some customers at the gas station who grew aggressive and argumentative. On Sept. 21, Mark Stroman walked in, asked Bhuiyan where he was from and then shot him in the face, blinding him in his right eye. Bhuiyan was Stroman’s third victim in a hunting spree that left two other South Asian men dead.

Eight years later, the story changed – as hearts change – from one of revenge and terror to forgiveness and repentance. On the day that Stroman was slated for execution, Bhuiyan told Stroman that he had for-given him. Stroman, who had grown deeply penitent over his actions, thanked Bhuiyan in his last moments of living.

Forgiving someone for attempted murder seems unfathomable. It is difficult for the broken-hearted to forgive.

In all three Abrahamic traditions, the human journey begins with sin and forgiveness. God created Adam and forbade him from eating the fruit of a specified tree. Adam disobeyed the command, repented to God and he was shown forgiveness.

It’s much easier to be angry than to forgive. Sometimes we unnecessarily cling to anger. But Islam, as other faith traditions, asks us to rise above anger and discord and to reflect God’s attributes to the best of our limited human capability on this Earth.

“They should pardon and forgive. Do you not love that God should forgive you? And God is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful” (Quran 24:22).

To forgive is not an act of passivism. We do not forgive by forgetting or not dealing with those who have wronged us. It is not our anger that inhibits us from forgiveness, but how we deal with our anger.

Forgiveness liberates our souls, empowers us with profound resolve to move forward, to improve our own shortcomings, to not let the sting of hatred or malice control our hearts and hinder us from improving ourselves.

It is an act of mercy to the wronged and the one who has wronged.

We cannot have what we will not give. We cannot have the fruits of forgiveness – peace, generosity, comfort, compassion and mercy – without giving it as Bhuiyan gave it to Stroman.

– Hussam Ayloush is the executive director of CAIR-Greater Los Angeles, based in Anaheim

Kerry says U.S. looking to accelerate fall of Syrian regime

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry during a meeting in Rome on (Giuseppe Lami / EPA / February 27, 2013)

By Paul Richter

 

February 27, 2013, 2:00 p.m.

WASHINGTON -- Secretary of State John F. Kerry said Wednesday that the United States and allies are jointly planning new ways to accelerate the fall of the Syrian regime, amid signs that Washington may begin directly providing non-lethal aid to opposition fighters.

Speaking in Paris one day before a gathering of Syrian opposition officials and world leaders in Rome, Kerry said U.S. officials and allies are discussing ways to convince Syrian President Bashar Assad "that he can’t shoot his way out of this. ... We are examining and developing ways to accelerate the political transition that the Syrian people want and deserve.”

As many as 70,000 people have died in the almost two-year-long war between forces loyal to Assad and opposition fighters, according to the United Nations.

Administration officials, who have been under growing political pressure to expand the U.S. role, said they are weighing whether to begin directly supplying equipment such as armored vests and armored vehicles, which are non-lethal but valuable on the front lines. They remain opposed to providing arms, despite pleas from the rebels and many top U.S. officials.

Directly supplying aid would be significant for an administration that has been intent on limiting its involvement in the fight, and could presage other moves toward deeper involvement, analysts say. To date, the administration has provided humanitarian and non-lethal military aid through the political opposition and aid agencies, rather than directly to the fighters.

Such a decision "would be a big step, in that the former policy line of staying clear of armed groups would have to be redrawn," said Andrew Tabler, a leading Syria expert at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “That has policy implications going forward.”

Tabler said that in the absence of a “political track” -- negotiations between the two sides to end the conflict -- direct aid to the fighters was “inevitable.”

The administration has been reluctant to provide arms because of the difficulty of knowing which of the dozens of loosely connected armed groups are trustworthy, and which might end up aligned with dangerous militants. But critics have argued that in the absence of U.S. arms, militant factions grow stronger and the U.S. fails to build ties that could be valuable when it comes time, after the war, to build a new Syria.

“Hesitation and half-hearted support such as non-lethal equipment is no longer sufficient to stop Assad’s barbarism,” said Hussam Ayloush, national chairman of the Syrian American Council, a pro-opposition group. “We have a moral duty, as one of the world’s most powerful nations, to provide the Syrian people with every means to defend themselves and their families.”

Jay Carney, the White House press secretary, said the administration is trying to help the opposition “become stronger, more cohesive and more organized. As part of this effort, we will continue to analyze every feasible option that would accelerate a political transition to a post-Assad Syria.”

The best Jihad and the crippling Arab proverbs

I love Arabic poetry and proverbs. Most of them promote honor, heroism, selflessness, sacrifice, love, courage, and justice. But there are a few popular proverbs that need to be forever purged from the Arab culture because they lead to cowardice, dishonor, defeatism, apathy, selfishness, and lack of self-respect. Here are a few examples (I know that the rough translation sounds funny):

امش الحيط الحيط وقل يارب السترة
Walk beside the walls and pray for your safety (i.e. Avoid taking risks)

مين تزوج أمي بسمي عمي
Whoever marries my mother, I will call him my uncle (i.e. Go with the flow and blindly submit to authority)

اليد التي لا تقدر عليها بوسها وادع عليها بالكسر
The hand which you cannot resist, kiss it in submission, and then pray that it may be broken (i.e. Submit to injustice, and only resist it with empty hopes)

حط راسك بين الروس وقول يا قطّاع الروس
Place your head among all the other heads that are about to be cut, and then invite the executioner to proceed (i.e. Blindly follow others, even if it is in cowardice and helplessness)

ابعد عن الشر وغنّيله
Avoid trouble and sing to it (Usually used to convince people that getting involved in undoing injustice will only bring trouble)

الباب اللِّي بيجيك منهْ الريح، سدُّهٌ واستريح
The door from which wind will come, shut it and be safe (i.e. Don't rock the boat. Avoid trouble)

 الف مرة جبان ولا يقولوا مرة واحدة الله يرحمه
One thousand times coward is better than saying may God bless his soul (i.e. It is better to live as a coward without dignity and rights than to risk one's life and die)

For years, many Arab (especially Syrian) parents repeated those proverbs to their children to sway them from challenging repressive and brutal rulers. A whole generation of people who behaved like sheep developed, a generation of mostly subdued, humiliated, terrorized, intimidated, and apathetic people. With the exception of a few brave ones -- most of whom were executed, tortured, or exiled -- most Arabs witnessed and endured occupation, abuse, humiliation, dispossession, and denial of basic human rights for them, their neighbors, relatives, friends, and loved ones.  Most bore this abuse with resigned attitudes of complicity, apathy, and silence; some even responded with acceptance, justification, or opportunism.

In some countries like Syria, Libya, Iraq, and Tunisia, citizens allowed their psychotic and sadistic rulers to deprive them of political opinions or even of their hopes and dreams for a better day. Those victims, through the propagation of defeatist proverbs, justified their silence as a self-preservation and protection of loved ones and innocently helped extend the rule of fear, complicity, and helplessness for decades in their societies. Those proverbs and the attitudes they inspired are responsible for half a century of dictators who, until recently, believed that they had an unquestionable right to own the country, subdue its people, and murder dissenters.

When the Palestinians erased those destructive proverbs from use, the Intifada (uprising) against the brutal Israeli occupation started. And when other Arabs abandoned those proverbs and their resulting culture of fear, apathy, cowardice, and dishonor, the masses launched the Arab Spring and the popular Arab revolutions for freedom.

Out of a defeated and broken population came out amazing stories of heroism, courage, selflessness and sacrifice for justice, freedom and dignity, in Syria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Bahrain, Yemen, Palestine (Gaza and now in Bab Al-Shams), and many other places. Arabs, and all other nations, must permanently erase those proverbs from their psyche and culture to ensure that dictators are never allowed to return and for the remaining ones to reform or be dumped into history's  trash, along with Assad, Saddam, Mubarak, Ben Ali, Qaddafi, and all those like them.

A nation is in good condition as long as its culture advances a sense of dignity, love for freedom, and pursuit of happiness, equality, justice, and peace for all.

In the Qur'an (17:70), God says:
"And indeed We have honored the Children of Adam"

The honor and dignity bestowed by God on all people cannot be taken away by another human being, unless that person accepts to forfeit that God-given right.
 
Truly, a nation is in good shape as long as its people dare to speak out and stand against injustice.

In the Qur'an (4:135), God commands us:

“O you who believe! Stand out firmly for justice, as witnesses to God"

The prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said:  "The best Jihad is speaking truth to an unjust (repressive) ruler."
أفضل الجهاد كلمة عدل عند سلطان جائر
And that is my jihad today.

20 important lessons I learned through my activism for social justice

20 important lessons I learned through my activism for social justice, in no specific order.

1)  You are not alone in caring for social justice. Many others care too and are just waiting to be connected.

2) Never assume you can succeed alone. Learn to collaborate and partner with others.

3) No one religion has an exclusive monopoly on good values. There are many good people in every religion and community.

4) Charge your spirituality to prevent burning out. Unless you are charged, you cannot help charge others.

5) Pray to change your opponents more than to defeat them.

6) But also pray that evil be defeated if it is not going to be changed, before it causes more harm

7) Be patient. Change is a process, a long process often opposed by many challengers and haters.

8) Never become the immoral and unjust people you are opposing. They are not your role model.

9) Have faith that justice and truth will certainly prevail. They always do, with God’s help.

10) Know your potential and limitations

11) Keep a balanced life: God, you, family, friends, work, and activism

12) Be around positive, humble and pleasant people with integrity. They are contagious.

13) Stay away from negative, arrogant, unpleasant and unethical people. They are contagious too.

14) Seek advice. Appreciate sincere criticism. Be open to correcting yourself.

15) Plan your day, plan your goals, and plan your destiny. God will help you.

16) Seek excellence in all that you do and say.

17) Renew your pure and sincere intentions. Remember whom you are trying to please.

18) Remember, you can’t be an expert in everything. Find talented people and work with them.

19) Treat others the way you wish to be treated.

20) Frequently, ask yourself: what have I done during my life? What was the positive change I helped bring?

What Christmas means to this Muslim

As a Muslim who grew up with many Christian relatives, friends, and neighbors, I was always surrounded by Christmas and its festivities. At the many private and Christian schools that I attended, I remember, like all my peers, enjoying the candy and mostly the presents. Though it was not a Muslim holiday, Muslims that I knew appreciated the festive, generous and caring spirit that came with that holiday.

As I grew up, I learned that the holiday is a commemoration and celebration of the birth of Jesus (peace be upon). Yes, I know that historians agree that Jesus was definitely not born on that specific date. And I know that this specific date and some of its traditional practices are actually rooted in a Roman pagan holiday. And I realize that today's Christmas has been so commercialized and mostly devoid of its spiritual meaning. And for Muslims in specific, I know that we strongly disagree with our Christian brothers and sisters on the deity of Jesus. However, to me Christmas is about remembering the great blessing sent by God to mankind: Jesus the son of Mary.

As a Muslim, this day serves to remind me about the miraculous birth of Jesus Christ, his teachings, his sacrifices, and his believing and persevering mother. It is a day to thank Allah (God) for sending us Jesus and all other prophets before and after him. To Muslims, Jesus is one of the most important prophets sent by the Almighty, he is the Messiah/Christ who was mentioned and praised throughout the Quran. Like Christians, Muslims await his second coming after which he will lead a struggle to bring peace and justice to our suffering world.

I might not have a Christmas tree (btw, that's one of the leftover pagan aspects of the holiday), I might not host a Christmas dinner or exchange Christmas gifts, and I will not attend a Christmas mass; however, I will certainly pray in gratefulness to God for sending us Jesus. I will join my Christian friends and relatives in celebrating Jesus's birth by recommitting myself to his true teachings of faith in God, and justice, care, mercy, and love for fellow human beings.

Have a safe, blessed, and merry Christmas.

Muslim brothers sacrifice big NFL paychecks for spiritual journey to Mecca

Muslim brothers sacrifice big NFL paychecks for spiritual journey to Mecca

Hussam Ayloush's Speech at CAIR-LA's 16th Annual Banquet

November 2, 2012

Hussam Ayloush on Gaza, Israel, and the truce on KTLA TV