I was on a flight from Baltimore to the West Coast early this week and ended up sitting next to a young Muslim who was originally from Kenya. However, as soon as he came to the United States he joined the U.S. Army as a way to obtain funds to go to college. He spent most of his years in military service in Korea.
I was reading some New Republic coverage of events in Afghanistan and he noticed that and started a conversation. As you would imagine, it didn’t take long for this to evolve into a discussion of issues linked to the Fort Hood massacre. He was stunned and appalled, but not completely surprised.
In our conversation, he kept returning to two points. First of all, serving in the U.S. military raises a wide range of issues for Muslims and, here is the crucial point, Muslims simply do not agree on how to deal with these issues. Again, there is no one Islam. Some Muslims will have few difficulties meshing into the military. For others, it will be all but impossible. What’s the key factor? That was his second point. There is no way to discuss this without being informed and honest about the wide range of doctrines and beliefs in Islam and how different groups of Muslims interpret them. These tensions are tremendous, he said, often leading to striking displays of Muslim vs. Muslim prejudice.
U.S. officials (put journalists into this scene as well) are simply going to have to be very careful and take these doctrinal issues seriously, he said. They must find out what Muslims truly believe, if they are to serve in the U.S. military. Again, some Muslims fit. Some do not. Doctrine is the key factor in this.
But, I said, how do military officials (1) know Muslims are telling the truth? And (2) ask these kinds of highly personal, probing questions without violating, well, the separation of church/mosque/synagogue and state, without singling Muslims out for unique discrimination? He did not have an answer for that. Neither did I.
For a glimpse of how all of this affects the Fort Hood story, check out this new Washington Post report by Michelle Boorstein. Here’s the top:
U.S. Muslim service members say they stand out in both their worlds.
Among fellow troops, that can mean facing ethnic taunts, awkward questions about spiritual practices and a structure that is not set up to accommodate their worship. Among Muslims, the questions can be more profound: How can a Muslim participate in killing other Muslims in such places as Iraq and Afghanistan?
Just 3,557 members of the 1.4 million-member U.S. armed forces describe themselves as Muslim, and followers of Islam said the military is just starting to accommodate them by recruiting Muslim chaplains, creating Muslim prayer spaces and educating other troops about Islam.
There it is, in the second paragraph. That’s one of the doctrinal issues that this Muslim man and I discussed during the flight. Simply stated, Muslims disagree on how to answer that life-and-death question. Also, there is a good chance that Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan had one set of beliefs about that doctrinal issue when he entered the military and another when he purchased his handguns and began planning his ambush on his fellow soldiers.
There are other questions: Must Muslims actively attempt to win converts? What about serving with and under the command of women? Can Muslims serve in some parts of the world and not others? How do members of the military find the line between debating religious issues (such as those that may be seen as affecting U.S. policies in the Middle East) and using these debates as a way to express prejudice? That question affects people on both sides of this divide, including clashes between Muslims who have different beliefs.
These issues loom over the story and deserve more attention. Here’s another glimpse of the terrain:
Saleem Abdul-Mateen, a Washington native who was in aviation electronics in the Navy from 1975 to 1995 and is a national leader of a veterans group, said he straddles two worlds. “Today, a [Muslim] brother said to me, ‘You know, if we’re about peace, why are we fighting another country?’ And that’s valid. But you have to support the country when it’s right and when it’s wrong,” Abdul-Mateen said.
Doug Burpee, who took the call name “hajji” as a helicopter pilot, said he “never had a problem in 26 years.” Although he loves to engage in academic discussions about religion, he said, he kept his prayer invisible and thinks that Muslim service members, like others, have to compromise to fit into military life.
“There are Muslims who stop in their footprints to pray, and those people might have a problem,” he said. “But if you’re going to join — join. If Muslims don’t fit in, it’s their fault.”
This is a solid story, as a starting point. Let’s hope that journalists see these questions and take them seriously. The government may have legal problems attempting to explore these issues. There’s no reason that journalists cannot take them seriously.
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Comments (19) |
November 11, 2009, at 1:28 pm
More and more, I have come to see religious reporting as being pretty much limited to English language concepts and words. Islam presents a problem in that doctrine and belief are presented with words that are difficult to pronounce and do not have direct English counterparts. From the coverage, I do not have a very clear sense of just what an Iman does. Is he a pastor, a scholar, a theologian or an honorific? The term has been applied to such a wide range of clerics, I don’t know. The few Muslims I have known have reminded me of Reformed Jews, but that is not a picture I can compare to press accounts of Islam.
The first clue I had on the subject was when I compared the treatment of Anglicans to Lutherans in the press. Both are world religions; the difference being that one runs in English, the other doesn’t. The largest Lutheran Church in the world (Church of Sweden) just opened sacramental marriage to GL people. There has been no coverage that I have seen of this in the press.
November 11, 2009, at 1:33 pm
The level of ignorance and prejudice about Islam is very sad and no doubt you’ll have to delete a few rants here. So I’m glad that there was this good piece about some of the challenges that Muslim service people face and the choices they must make.
One thing I mentioned in another topic that I think applies very strongly to this area is the divisions in the ranks of those who are called “jihadis” at least about tactics:
http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/11/09/libya.jihadi.code/index.html
Of course that statement does not deal with soldiers who are women and naturally the terrorists will ignore it, but still it will have an impact at some level and will have impact on the doctrinal issues you mentioned in your review.
November 11, 2009, at 3:30 pm
I agree it would behoove many Christians to understand that just as they do not all agree on doctrine, neither do believers of any other religion. It’s the job of religion reporters (among other people) to explain this to American Christians.
By the way, “How can a Muslim participate in killing other Muslims in such places as Iraq and Afghanistan?”
Change Muslim to Christian and Iraq and Afghanistan to Germany and then ask the question.
November 11, 2009, at 3:48 pm
“The largest Lutheran Church in the world (Church of Sweden) just opened sacramental marriage to GL people.”
I was under the impression that Lutherans did not consider marriage to be a sacrament? Does the Church of Sweden differ from other Lutherans in this matter?
November 11, 2009, at 4:31 pm
Brian,
What is the source of your quote?
As far as I know, Lutherans do not consider marriage a sacrament, as do Catholics. As for the Church of Sweden, many consider it to be LINO. It’s primarily the State Church.
November 11, 2009, at 4:44 pm
Not to go too far afield here, but the Scandinavian Lutheran churches can be accurately compared to Episcopal Church in the US. They are exceptionally liberal, declining rapidly in size, and (generally) do not hold doctrinally to Christian beliefs as historically defined.
On a more general note, there appears to be a generally poor understanding of religions (and their ancillary customs) that are not American (or at least Western) in origin and do not figure prominently in American history. While Islam is chief among these, it certainly is not the only one that falls into those categories.
November 11, 2009, at 5:41 pm
Speaking of Muslims serving in the military: since today is Veteran’s Day, I thought this was an eloquent statement in pictures of tombstones at Arlington National Cemetery which, amongst all the others, had one of a Muslim who had won a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart fighting in Iraq: http://bycommonconsent.com/2009/11/11/powerful-monuments-to-service/
November 11, 2009, at 7:37 pm
Ed, sorry I was quoting Dalea in comment number 1. It’s not related to this story.
November 11, 2009, at 10:23 pm
Some very interesting points brought up.
Both Islam and Catholic Church have a “Just War” Doctrine—-(See Catechism of the Catholic Church 2307—-2314) More or less saying War must be “legitimate”, in self-defense, and civilians and their properties must not be damaged…..etc. Those Musims and Catholics who know their religion, may need to do some soul-searching. But I do agree that it is an individual thing and “Chaplains” should be trained to counsel and guide on these issues.
By the way—-Muslims (men and women)should have no problem serving under a Woman Leader (Aisha (wife of the Prophet(pbuh) led an army).
November 11, 2009, at 10:33 pm
Also—-Iman (with an “n”)means “faith/trust” —-one that uses reason and intellect to arrive at conviction.
Imam (with an “m”) or “Sheikh” can be an honorific but is often associated with scholar. Today it is usually understood as scholar of theology but previously a “scholar” was someone who understood the various areas of knowledge such as mathematics, theology, law, science….etc
November 12, 2009, at 10:30 am
Develop a set of generally applicable questions that don’t mention any particular religion, and ask them of everyone?
November 12, 2009, at 10:34 am
DAVE:
Afraid not. The Kenyan would note that you have to know how they apply very specific Islamic doctrines. Doctrine that matters cannot be stated vaguely.
November 12, 2009, at 12:41 pm
One thing I have learned is that jihad does not mean holy war, it means struggle. It is only some Muslims who accept that it includes a duty to fight others.
The Ahmadis reject jihad as meaning anything more than a duty to preach Islam.
The real meaning of jihad is one issue that the press seems to constantly avoid exploring.
November 12, 2009, at 12:44 pm
Kat,
historical presecent does not lead to current reality. The Taliban rejected woman doing anything outside the home. What we need to know is the actual views of Muslims in the United States.
The media rarely get us close to this, and it does not help that we have such a cultural aversion to head scarfs that we rarely get beyond them.
The fact that many Muslims are immigrants who speak little English also limits communication.
I went to a college where at least 10 percent of the students were Muslim, but got very little insight into their beliefs and practices.
November 12, 2009, at 12:48 pm
Steve,
There is even a bigger question. What about “How can Irish Christians go around killing Scottish Christians?” Of course the fact that the Irsih are Catholics and the Scottish are the Scots-Irish protestants in Northern Ireland leads to an easy answer.
Since Iraq is majority Shi’ite, are the people there really religious brethren of the American Muslims who are mainly Sunni?
Looking at it this way, maybe it is because now we are sending troops to Sunni Afghanistan that the violence has began. It is an important issue that people need to explore more.
November 12, 2009, at 1:08 pm
I started looking deeper into this. Back on April 21, 2006 the New York Sun had an article on Muslims in the military. They also spoke of Colone Burpee, and told us a lot more about him.
He is an American-born convert to Islam who joined in large part because he was dating a Muslim women from Egypt, at least that is how the Sun framed it. Whether he would say that that was why he joined or how he got introduced to Islam, I do not know.
However, this leads to another question. Is the issue Muslims in the military or immigrants from countries we are at war with in the military?
Do Arab-Muslims in the United States military have any problem working in operations against Abu Saief in the Phillipines?
Is this an issue of religious brotherhood or ethnic solidarity? I think the media needs to ask these questions.
November 12, 2009, at 1:17 pm
The issue of figures without context also should be looked at. Back in 2006 an estimate put the number of Muslims in the United States military below 2000.
The worst article was newsmax’s one where they went off on how there were twice as many Wiccans as Muslims in the Air Force. This is after describing the military as “overwhelmingly Christian”.
Compared to what? There reports ignore the fact that American Muslims are overwhelmingly college educated and middle class. Many come to the United States to attend universities. Then there are the black Muslims who hate white people so much that serving under the command of such a person is unthinkable. That might be a bit of an extreme description, but to make the military sound like some front for Christian proselytizing is just inaccurate.
The main thing I know is that I have seen ary recruitment billboards in Arabic.
November 12, 2009, at 3:21 pm
The Onion had a piece about this issue that I think expresses the viewpoint of many Muslims. DO NOT CLICK IF YOU ARE OFFENDED BY FOUR LETTER WORDS. http://www.theonion.com/content/news_briefs/american_muslims_to_fort?utm_source=onion_rss_daily
November 13, 2009, at 4:04 pm
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