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THE WAR IN IRAQ: Area Muslims offer their unique perspectives by Nathan Harris
Local Muslims have a unique view on the actions of the United States in Iraq, but it is not a universal one. There is no single Muslim opinion, just as there is no one Christian opinion, Michigan State opinion or American opinion. Yawar Rizwan, an accounting freshman, is an international student from Karachi, Pakistan. He admitted that his background outside the United States and his Muslim upbringing affect the way he thinks about issues. While growing-up in Pakistan plays the larger role, religion has a part, he said. “Religion is the only thing that keeps people from doing sins,” Rizwan said, referring to the ineffectiveness of law in his home country. This is the way he said his faith affects him, informing his decisions and giving him moral guidelines. However, he also sees a difference in the role of religion in public and private life. If asked to choose between a secular and a religious leader in government with similar policies, he would choose the secular. “Religious leaders tend to be the most corrupt and very extremist,” he said. Rizwan said he feels that the United States should never have gone into Iraq, even if there had been weapons of mass destruction. “Saddam Hussein was an internal issue,” he said, stating the view of many people in Pakistan. “The U.S. went there [Iraq] for purely U.S. interests. It had nothing to do with establishing peace.” He also has strong feelings about the violent Sunni/Shiite conflict in Iraq. “I find it very disgusting,” he said. According to Rizwan, the conflict is an old one, going back hundreds of years, but it has never before been this violent. The intense friction between the two groups does not exist in other parts of the world, he said. “I found out I was Sunni when I was like 14.” Rizwan sees a bleak future for future United States involvement in Iraq. “The U.S. cannot hope of achieving peace in Iraq.”
Freelance writer Ali Eteraz recently wrote about the Muslim perspective on the war in Iraq for altmuslim.com. He strongly disagrees with United States action in Iraq in principle and in practice, but concurs with Rizwan in speaking out against attacks upon civilians. “We western Muslims can oppose the American occupation,” he said, “but we also have to oppose the way the insurgents are brutalizing and defiling life and human dignity.” Tammam Alwan is a general management freshman and the president of Michigan State’s Muslim Student Association. He brings his own perspective to the issues, that of an American Muslim local to the area. Alwan said that his opinion of the United States in Iraq has changed since troops were first sent to the country in 2003. “Perhaps the U.S. invading Iraq caused more harm than good,” he said. He also sees the upcoming increase in troop numbers as a move that will hurt the stability of the region instead of helping it. His faith definitely has an impact on the way he views this and other situations. “Islam is a way of life,” he said, describing its profound importance with a simple phrase. Islam affects his politics, but, “It’s not a cause and effect type thing.” He went on to explain that his political views are an outgrowth of his religious convictions, but that his faith does not require a particular political ideology. “You’ll find Muslims everywhere on the political spectrum,” he said. Alwan also disagrees with the attacks of Muslims upon Muslims which have long been a part of the Sunni/Shiite conflict. He said he sees it as motivated by “worldly things” rather than religious concerns. “It is never appropriate to harm any civilian,” he said. “If you kill one man, it is as if you have killed all of humanity,” Alwan said, citing the Quran in response to these and other civilian deaths, both Iraqi and American. Lubna Ansari sits with Alwan on the executive board of the MSA. She said that her faith increases her concern for the Iraqi civilians being killed and that it does influence her political thought on specific issues such as abortion. She said she understands the reasons for an American presence in Iraq. “They [the Iraqi people] needed somebody to help them,” she said. Ansari said she doubts the tactics of the United States in Iraq more than its motives. “I know the intentions of the U.S. are good,” she said, “[and] that they want to help the Iraqis, but they’re not going about it in the right way.” Mohamed Mahgoub is a structural engineer working with the Michigan Department of Transportation and a representative of the Public Outreach Committee at the East Lansing Islamic Center. Sharing his personal views, Mahgoub said that the United States should never have been in Iraq in the first place. “Saddam should have been removed” he said, describing Hussein as “an evildoer,” but, according to Mahgoub, this would eventually have been done by an Arab country, possibly a neighbor of Iraq. Mahgoub said he separates religion from his thoughts on politics and other areas of life and that his view that the Iraqi people should be responsible in their own nation is independent of Islam. He too spoke out against the conflict in Iraq between Sunni and Shiite Muslims. In his home country of Egypt, he said, the two sects live together peacefully. According to Mahgoub, someone is stirring up the conflict between these two groups that share so much: religion, language and land. Mahgoub’s views on attacks on civilians in Iraq resembled Alwan’s. “As a Muslim and a human being, I don’t agree with killing civilians no matter what their religion is. It is against logic, against religion, against peace, against everything.” Mahgoub said he felt his responsibility as a Muslim in the United States is to make people aware of the realities of Iraq and Islamic culture. “People here are looking at one side of the coin,” he stated, referring to what he said is a slanted presentation of facts in the news media. Whatever their disagreements with one another, Tammam Alwan and Yawar Rizwan agreed with Mahgoub on this point. “As a Muslim and as an American it is my responsibility to fight for what I think is right,” said Alwan. “The scholar’s pen is holier than the martyr’s blood,” he said, citing the Hadeeth in favor of intelligent discourse. “People need to be more aware,” Rizwan said. “It is my responsibility to break down stereotypes. Some people need to learn; less than one percent of Muslims hold these extreme views. The word ‘Islam’ means ‘peace.’” |
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