Islam Growing in America, U.S. Military
By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, Oct. 4, 2001 -- "Islam is peace," President
Bush said. And the United States is not against the
religion of Islam, he stresses, but those who pervert the
religion to support terrorism and mass murder.
Muslims, those who believe in Islam, are everywhere in the
United States. They may be your doctor or drive your taxi.
They may serve you in restaurants or advise you in law. And
they increasingly may be in the same foxhole, manning the
same position or working on the same aircraft as you.
Islam is the second-largest religion in the world, counting
more than 1.3 billion believers. Americans have the
misconception that all Muslims are Arabs and that all Arabs
are Muslims. In fact, less than 20 percent of the Muslims
in the world are Arab, and all Arab countries have
populations that believe in other religions. The nation
with the world's largest Islamic population is Indonesia --
88 percent of its 280 million people are Muslims.
In the United States, Islam is the fastest growing
religion, a trend fueled mostly by immigration. There are 5
million to 7 million Muslims in the United States. They
make up between 10,000 and 20,000 members of the American
military.
Army Chaplain (Capt.) Abdul-Rasheed Muhammad is a Muslim
Imam stationed at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in
Washington. In his chaplaincy, he ministers to all faiths.
Imam Muhammad said Muslims all believe in the Five Pillars
of the Faith. "The foundation of the faith, or Shahada, is
the testimony in the belief in one God and that Muhammad is
the messenger of God," he said.
Another of the pillars is prayer. Muslims pray to Allah
five times a day, at dawn, midday, afternoon, evening and
night. Wherever they are, they bow in the direction of
Mecca, the Saudi Arabian city where Muhammad was born, for
their prayers.
Charity is another pillar, Imam Muhammad said. "One gives a
minimum of 2.5 percent of their wealth to the Islamic
community yearly," he said.
Another requirement is fasting during the month of Ramadan
each year. Ramadan begins Nov. 18 this year.
Finally, Muslims are expected, if possible, to make a
pilgrimage to Mecca once in a lifetime. This is the Hajj to
the Grand Mosque.
In addition to prayer, a requirement of Islam is to not eat
pork and not consume alcohol. Muslims gather at mosques for
religious services, called Jumah, on Fridays just after
mid-noon. Like many other religions, men typically do not
mix with women during worship.
Muslim women wear the headscarf, or hijab, and all Muslims
must dress modestly. Men may wear a head covering called a
kufi, but it is not a requirement of the faith. The
chaplain said one of the obstacles for Muslim women serving
in the U.S. military is that commanders may authorize them
to wear the hijab or not. "Some do, some don't," he said.
Muslims accept vast portions of the Bible and accept many
Judeo-Christian teachings. Islam sees Jesus Christ as a
very holy man, but not the Son of God. But Muslims believe
the Prophet Muhammad received the revealed word of God --
and that is Islam's holy book, the Koran.
Like the Bible, the Koran is open to interpretation, up to
a point. "Those terrorists must be reading a completely
different Koran than the rest of us," said Marine Corps
Capt. Aisha Bakkar-Poe. Bakkar-Poe is from Kentucky. Her
father comes from Syria and her mother from the states.
She said her co-workers have been asking her about Islam
since the attacks in New York and Washington. "The question
I get most often is, 'Who is this Allah guy,'" she said.
"And how could these fanatics make these attacks.
"I try to answer their questions and explain that Islam
does not believe in killing innocent men, women and
children."
Army Capt. Arneshuia Balial, a nurse instructor at Walter
Reed Army Medical Center and a Muslim, said the terrorists
claiming to act in the name of Islam was "like a knife
through my heart -- that people would practice Al-Islam,
but do deeds like what they've done. It's not true faith.
Some people twist religion to the way they think." Balial
converted to Islam in 1987. She said the religion is more
than just a set of beliefs, it is a way of life.
Army Sgt. Jamal Abdel-Wahed is a medical supply specialist
at Walter Reed. Born in Jordan, he moved to the United
States in 1986 and is now a citizen. Abdel-Wahed said he
has a good working relationship with his co-workers.
"The people I work with are all professionals, and we deal
with each other in a professional manner," he said. Like
many other Muslims in America he worries about the effect
the terrorist strike will have on his family. He said he
hasn't experienced any discrimination, but has heard
reports. "I am proud of what I am, who I am and what I
believe in," he said.
All of the Muslim service members said they would have no
problem going to war against terrorism. "This isn't about
Islam," Bakkar-Poe said. "It's about terrorism."
Chaplain Muhammad said service members must understand that
their fellow soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and Coast
Guardsmen who are Muslim are just like they are. "It's
important for all of us to see ourselves as coming from the
same origin," he said. "It's too easy for people to get off
on what's different.
"People have a way of just being people," he continued.
"That nature God has already put into us. There's not one
Polish nature or Italian nature or Muslim nature or
Christian nature. It's just human nature. When people get
to the essence of what makes us who we are, then that's
what binds us together.
"The Koran says that God created us different nations and
tribes that we may come to know each other, not that we
should hate or despise each other."
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