New Trend Magazine (www.newtrendmag.org)

[Biggest Islamic web site in the U.S.]
P.O. Box 356, Kingsville, MD 21087.
Phone: 410-435-5000.

Disclaimer: Views expressed are not necessarily shared by editorial committee.
Responses (positive or negative) up to 250 words are welcome.
Names will be withheld on request.
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NEW TREND'S LANGUAGE [for readers in Pakistan and other countries.]
ANALYSIS OF TENDENCIES AMONG AMERICA'S MUSLIMS
'ISLAM IN AMERICA' is the Fun and Games of the RICH and the POWERFUL
CRITICISM IS UNKNOWN IN 'ISLAMIC' PUBLICATIONs in USA

New Trend sees America's Muslims divided into two tendencies, both going against the Sunnah of the Prophet (pbuh). The terms we used were:

1. Assimilationist. These are Muslims who want to be Americans first and Muslims second. They dress, talk, eat, behave like non-Muslim Americans. Many of them are married to non-Muslims. They condemn all those forces which the White House condemns. [An interesting example: A 'Muslim' working for the FBI is complaining that the FBI is showing distrust of him. He is willing to work against the Muslim community but the FBI is suspicious that he might be a real Muslim!] For them, Islam is a religion of "peace" and all Islamic movements which fight are "terrorists."

ia. The assimilationists have already done serious harm to the Muslim community by attempting to legitimize voting for non-Muslim parties. They called for a bloc vote for BUSH and have not apologized to the Muslim community for the disaster. They are unable to learn lessons in strategy. Next time they will probably vote for the Democratic Party candidate or perhaps Ralph Nader. [A drowning man will grab at any straw.]

ib. These groupings do not have the moral courage to face the fact that PROPHET MUHAMMAD (pbuh) WOULD NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, ACCEPT BECOMING PART OF AN OPPRESSIVE POWER STRUCTURE.

2. GHETTOIZED. The second major tendency among America's immigrant Muslims is that they have mosques which are little more than social clubs. These Muslims live in a world of their own. There are areas of New York, parts of New Jersey, Detroit and Chicago where a little Pakistan or Egypt or Yemen seems to have emerged. These are Muslims who interact only with their own kind. They seem to have achieved a Nirvana where they are at peace, dressing like Pakistanis, Arabs etc, eating their own food, speaking their own language. They have their own newspapers, often copied wholesale [without permission] from Pakistani or Arab newspapers. Their influence on America is ZERO.
2a. The ghetto Muslims include African-American Muslims too who have formed racial organizations with a religious veneer. They too stay with their own kind. The biggest Muslim group among African-Americans is intensely ghettoized to the extent that they look with suspicion at African-American Muslims who have rejected Anglo-American clothing. They are ineffective in American society but are quite happy because they are doing business with the U.S. government and are used by the U.S. as examples of patriotic American Muslims.

MUSLIMS WHO WANT TO FOLLOW THE QUR'AN and THE SUNNAH must reject both assimilation and ghettoization. The correct way was outlined by the Prophet (pbuh) when he taught that the Muslim is in the world but not of it. We come from Allah and are returning to Allah. This world is nothing as compared to the next. Unfortunately, most Muslims in America are only interested in getting richer and having 'fun.' Islam in this country is controlled by the rich and the powerful. It has become another name for FUND RAISING for million dollar mosques. Even Juma' khutbas have becoming hidden spiels for appeals for donations.

CRITICISM is not tolerated by the rich and the powerful. Look at the publications of ANY big Muslim organization in America: One thing they have in common: There is absolutely no place for criticism. Look at the MUSLIM JOURNAL (W.D. Muhammad's outfit), or ISNA's paper ISLAMIC HORIZONS or ICNA's magazine MESSAGE. These are all public relationing outlets totally unrelated to journalism. Criticism of the leaders of these organizations is not allowed in the their papers, not even in the "letters" columns. Read 'back numbers' of these publications: YEAR AFTER YEAR, there is no letter of criticism. These people have destroyed the Islamic potential of the Islamic ummah of America, yet their publications pretend that they are EVER ON THE UPSWING, moving forward to conquer America for Islam! [Recently Siraj Wahhaj's group decided to publish his African-American version of ISNA. The very first issue of his paper, GRASSROOTS, 20 pages, had PHOTOS OF SIRAJ WAHHAJ on SEVEN DIFFERENT PAGES plus an invitation to do Islam in the vicinity of Disney.]
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2003-07-22 Tue 17:59ct