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Dear members of the list,
Assalamu Alaikum.Please see the article from
Chicago Tribune.The situation there for the Muslims is indeed
horrible in many places in the US.
Shah Abdul Hannan
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Original Message -----
From: Mumtaz Ahmad
To: sahannan
Sent: Monday, November 07, 2005 8:54
AM
Subject: Trouble
IL: TROUBLE AHEAD, TROUBLE BEHIND: AMERICA'S PARANOIA - TOP
Ahmad A. Ahmad, Chicago Tribune, 11/6/05 http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-0511060232nov06,1,6491339.story [Ahmad A. Ahmad is a Tribune editorial assistant.] I was 18 hours into a train ride from Chicago to New York City. I don't often get time off, so I decided to visit my sister Abeer and an old friend. The Amtrak train was four hours outside New York City when we heard the conductor's voice on the loudspeaker. He told us the train in front of us went off the tracks. We were all stuck, somewhere in the middle of New York state, and we would have to wait for a bus to take us to the nearest big city. In this day and age, it's hard for me to travel anywhere. I am 22 and an editorial assistant at the Chicago Tribune. I have a passion for photography and reading, and I'm known to play a mean guitar. I am also Middle Eastern and I speak with an accent. I've been living in the U.S. for 12 years. In a post-Sept. 11 world, people give me icy glares. Once, a girl at a nightclub who at the beginning of the night was into me (or so I thought) changed her tune when she found out I was from Jordan: "I'm sick of what you guys are doing to my country. Go back home." And when I check in at an airport, 8 out of 10 times I get pulled out of line and questioned by authorities. I was getting sick of it. So a few weeks ago I decided traveling by train would give me less grief. . . I heard sirens approaching, and the bus suddenly came to a stop on the side of the highway. Police cars came--so many I couldn't even begin to count them. The man and his girlfriend ran down the aisle, past me, and off the bus. We all stepped out to see what happened. There was the stranger, pointing to me, "He is going to blow up the Amtrak!" The man told police he understood Arabic and had overheard my conversation. He thought I was talking to some terrorist cell when I was chatting with my mother. The police put me in the back of their vehicle. Dogs were sniffing around, and officers from the state Counter-Terrorism Intelligence Unit were interviewing my fellow bus passengers. My cell phone was low on battery and had turned off, but they would not turn it back on. For all they knew, it could have been a bomb. I was shocked, confused, speechless. The authorities questioned me for nearly three hours at an Albany police station. They asked me where I was from, whether I was a United States citizen, who I knew in New York City, who I worked for, and why I was traveling alone. I answered every question in a calm and collected demeanor. The officers were, for the most part, courteous and understanding of my situation. One officer, Investigator James L. Rogers of the New York State Police, would later call me twice to make sure I made it to New York City with no hassles. Once the police realized the man couldn't actually speak Arabic, they knew the allegations were baseless, and that he was a wacko, hell-bent on deporting every Muslim back to the Middle East. Just when I was leaving, I saw that man again. He cursed at me and called me a terrorist. "Come and fight me!" he yelled. "You're lying out of your teeth! You know you want to blow up the Amtrak!" I know people say Americans are living in a new America, after what happened on that Tuesday morning four years ago. For the majority of Muslims, who are peaceful, law-abiding citizens, we, too, are living in a new America. This is our reality *************************************************************************** {Invite (mankind, O Muhammad ) to the Way of your Lord (i.e. Islam) with wisdom (i.e. with the Divine Inspiration and the Qur'an) and fair preaching, and argue with them in a way that is better. Truly, your Lord knows best who has gone astray from His Path, and He is the Best Aware of those who are guided.} (Holy Quran-16:125) {And who is better in speech than he who [says: "My Lord is Allah (believes in His Oneness)," and then stands straight (acts upon His Order), and] invites (men) to Allah's (Islamic Monotheism), and does righteous deeds, and says: "I am one of the Muslims."} (Holy Quran-41:33) The prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "By Allah, if Allah guides one person by you, it is better for you than the best types of camels." [al-Bukhaaree, Muslim] The prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) also said, "Whoever calls to guidance will have a reward similar to the reward of the one who follows him, without the reward of either of them being lessened at all." [Muslim, Ahmad, Aboo Daawood, an-Nasaa'ee, at-Tirmidhee, Ibn Maajah] -------------------------------------------------------------------------- All views expressed herein belong to the individuals concerned and do not in any way reflect the official views of IslamCity unless sanctioned or approved otherwise. If your mailbox clogged with mails from IslamCity, you may wish to get a daily digest of emails by logging-on to http://www.yahoogroups.com to change your mail delivery settings or email the moderators at [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the title "change to daily digest". YAHOO! GROUPS LINKS
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- [IslamCity] Fw: Trouble--of the Muslims in the US-from Chicago ... sahannan
