Detained for being “Muzlem”!
Posted Mar 11, 2010

Detained for being “Muzlem”!

by Jeff Siddiqui

Good old Nevada! They don’t call it the sin capital of the US for nothing!

People can be fondling each other in public and that doesn’t even get them a sideways look.

People can be dancing almost naked in the street and its, “ho, hum!”.

People can be soliciting for prostitution with pictures of naked women and it doesn’t even slow down the passer-by.


...but some MUZLEMS…prayin’??!!

“Holy smokes!!! Call out the national guard! them Trrrrrrsts are on the move…git yr gunz! watch out, AMERICA (by God!) IS ABOUT TO BE DESTROYED…IS ANYONE LISTENIN’!!!!”

(See Muslim group says police detained 7 praying men

Actually and tragically, this is simply one more manifestation of the bias that is continuously being programmed into America’s minds and worse, into the minds of America’s Law-enforcement agencies starting with the FBI and all the way down to the beat cop on our streets.

To be sure, lots of lip-service is given to “diversity” and “understanding different cultures and religions” and when asked, I doubt if there is a single Police department that will not say how “concerned” they are, that their officers do not profile and their officers make sure they treat everyone as equals.

....Well, with some exceptions…

·      Like the Sheriff of Bossier Parrish in Louisiana, who is training about 200 police volunteers under “Project Exodus” and who bought all kinds of weapons and even mounted a 50 mm machinegun on a “Battle Wagon”, in order to protect against, “Islamic Extremists”.

·      Or the (over two hundred thousand) Law-enforcement officers who have been and continue to be trained to view Islam and Muslims as terrorists, by fear-mongering organizations such as the ADL and SSI.

·      Or the law-enforcement agencies that pay anti-Muslim fear-mongering companies to train their officers about “Tolerance” (figure that out).

I still recall with pain, the time when our local Seattle FBI, put the nation on alert because Muslims had been sighted using Washington State’s Ferries…“in an abundance of caution”, they said.

This is the same FBI that VERY recently went dashing in to interrogate another Seattle Muslim, because he had asked someone else to send a few hundred dollars to his mother in Pakistan…and the same FBI that has not done much at all, to investigate another local Muslim’s complaint that an out of state group had defrauded his company of about $20,000 in an international hit (“No Muzlems? Ho Hum!” )...in fact, they actually made the Muslim victim feel threatened for making the report.

But I am sure we will be told that in each of the above examples, there are “extenuating circumstances” and if the perpetrators were NOT Muzlem, the situations were “isolated incidents” and NO! Law-enforcement will NEVER tolerate discrimination and profiling. Our collective legs have been pulled so often and so much, that there is a danger that they might get ripped out entirely!

The pull against this growing wave against Muslims and Islam will HAVE to come from actions…strong actions…by non-Muslims who currently enjoy the placid “protection” of our agencies AND by Muslims who are the target du jour but remain in near-complete denial about it. It is only when the paymasters (that’s us) yank on the wallet (remember, America’s only god is the Dollar), that our pit Bulls will calm down.

Until then, don’t worry, people like me and the few organizations like CAIR (also persecuted for “TRRRRRST sympathies”), will keep you informed…unfortunately, we WILL remain busy!

A few days after I wrote the above piece, I was asked what the Muslims were doing in Sin State and why this should be such a problem when non-Muslims praying in (my home country) Pakistan could have fared much worse; that we are in America and this is a better country.

My response was as follows:

Wherever these men were, they were on a road trip “The men were performing one of five required Muslim daily prayers in the lot while stopped to buy gas and food Dec. 20 during a road trip.”. The event occurred in Henderson, Nevada, however, even if they were in Las Vegas, it is not relevant to the treatment they received…their “Muslim-ness” is not at question.

Things have changed in Pakistan since I left back in Fall 1974 and even back then, things were moving towards intolerance. I would imagine, depending on where seven non-Muslims would decide to pray, they could get some heat from the public…certainly a crowd would gather because it does not take a lot for a crowd to gather in Pakistan (people have nothing better to do).

As you point out, we are in America, but this is also not the America I came to, back in 1974. It has swung a lot towards intolerance as well, although there is a large pretense of being a “democratic and tolerant state”.

To compare the sad state of affairs in America with an example of terrible state of affairs elsewhere and thus, to appear to justify what goes on (or gloss it over), is no better than looking at the 1990’s Serb genocide of Muslims and suggesting how much better Muslims fared than they would have, if they had been Jews in Nazi Germany.

The United States is rapidly going off its rails and if WE (you and I) do not work diligently and continuously to keep it on the rails, things WILL deteriorate and perhaps to a point from where even a return to its proper rails, would be a painful event.

Below is a transcript (with highlighting by me), of the exchanges between the Muslims and the Police, you should pay attention to what the Police says and then, to the ramifications of that line of thinking.

America is being inundated with hate and fear towards Muslims and Islam and the most potentially dangerous people in America (the armed, law-enforcement officers…Police, FBI etc.,) are being trained to treat Muslims as guilty and as suspects ... AND they are being instructed to target us.

You have to understand how dangerous this situation is; once they are trained and imprinted with the presumption of violence and guilt towards Muslims, it will take a generation for them to retire and even longer for those who follow them (and also get contaminated), to begin to lose their hate and fear of Muslims. Ask Blacks in America, how long it has been since the Civil Rights era (about 40+ years) and if they STILL think there is bias against them among law-enforcement officers.

As Muslims, it is simply not enough for us to compare what’s happening in America with how much worse things are elsewhere…we MUST take stands everywhere and in every way that is available to us, against such treatment and against the so-called “training” they receive…subsidized by The Department of Fatherland Security.

As Muslims, we should also know that whatever we do will not suffice, unless we can get a significant number of non-Muslim Americans to also wake up and stand beside us.

That will not happen unless Muslims build coalitions amongst themselves and with outside groups.


Partial transcript of Interaction between Henderson NV Police and people detained and searched…for being Muzlems!

See video at: http://www.youtube.com/cairsocal 

Henderson NV Police (continues):...we just want to make sure that you guys are good people and roamin’ our country, enjoyin’ our country and not out there as….(unintelligible)

Muslim: To be honest, I am kind of…I feel like, offended, that I have to be searched…that because I am a Muslim and I am praying…

Police: Well, you are not bein’ searched

Muslim: Well, whatever, our car’s been searched. What do you say to Muslims who have to pray as part of their religion and you have to do some movement and stuff like that so we need some space, so any time Muslims pray, is that suspicious activity? Just being Muslim?

Police: Well, here’s the thing, I’ll be honest with you. Based on studies and the classes that I’ve gone to and based on the events that happened around the world…you know, can you fault people who don’t understand something, for being concerned?

Muslim : No, I understand that there is a conception, but I am saying, you, knowing that we are just Muslims here praying…

Police: But I don’t know that

Muslim: Well we are praying, you know there is a Muslim prayer, is that enough for you to say this is a suspicious activity?

Police: Well that’s why I am checkin’ it out. Do I think that it is? I think that somebody out there called us and said hey, check this out. Did I see you guys praying? No, Do I know what you were saying?  I mean, I don’t know if you guys repeat the same thing or, you were actually out there goin’, “I hope that I kill a Police officer today”, I don’t know that you are not sayin’ that…

Full story: Muslim group says police detained 7 praying men

The nation’s largest Muslim advocacy organization filed a complaint with police in a Las Vegas suburb, saying seven Muslim men from southern California were detained and told they were acting suspiciously while praying in a shopping center parking lot.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations said Friday it filed the complaint this week against the Henderson Police Department because it did not understand what was suspicious about the men.

“Our main concern is the police department looking at praying and the way they looked as probable cause for investigating those men,” said CAIR spokeswoman Munira Syeda. “They did nothing illegal.”

Henderson police spokesman Todd Rasmussen said the complaint was received and internal affairs would investigate, but he declined comment on the incident.

Rasmussen said the department would inform the group of the outcome of its complaint, but said it did not have a timeline for an investigation.

The group said the men, whom it identified as being of various ethnic backgrounds including Middle Eastern and south Asian, were performing one of five required Muslim daily prayers in the lot while stopped to buy gas and food Dec. 20 during a road trip.

Two police cars arrived as the men returned to their car and they were held for 40 minutes while three officers questioned them, checked their backgrounds and searched their car, Syeda said.

Syeda said the men were not blocking traffic or preventing other cars from parking. Afterward, the men were let go.

CAIR attorney Ameena Qazi said in a letter to Henderson police that during the incident, one of the officers commented that the men hypothetically might have been saying “I hope that I kill a police officer today” during their prayer.

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