Netflix’s ‘Ghosts of Sugar Land’ explores friendship, Islam, and religious extremism

The emboldening of bigotry and hatred is just one of the toxic facets that the current president of the United States campaigns upon. One of the targets of this hate is the Muslim community. From his earlier days of attempting to “slander” Barack Obama by claiming he was secretly Muslim, to his “Muslim ban” of 2017, Donald Trump has used this community to play upon fear and xenophobia. The new Netflix documentary Ghosts of Sugar Land briefly attempts to explore the ramifications of an anti-Muslim atmosphere through an intimate lens of friendship, personal faith, and extremism in the town of Sugar Land, Texas. The results are mixed, but provide impactful moments to inspire conversation.

Directed and co-written by independent filmmaker Bassam Tariq (These Birds Walk), with co-writer Thomas Niles (Phantom Cowboys) the short documentary provides testimony of a group of suburban Muslims from the town of Sugar Land as they attempt to reconcile the disappearance of a close friend and the consequences of his actions. Their friend, given the codename Mark in the film, is Warren Christopher Clark. Clark is a young Black man and childhood friend of the group who, in 2018, would go on to travel to Syria to join the extremist organization Islamic State (ISIS). Clark would eventually be captured by U.S.-backed forces in Syria and forced to face charges of terrorism. The film was produced shortly before Clark’s capture.

FULL ARTICLE FROM PEOPLES’ WORLD 

In Ethiopia, religious extremism fans the flames of ethnic division

Ethiopian Christians took to the streets after morning mass on Sunday to protest multiple attacks on Ethiopian Orthodox churches in the country.

The protests were mainly centered in the Amhara region and parts of Addis Ababa, and follow a year-long spate of attacks on both Orthodox and Protestant churches in the country. Protestors are demanding an end to what they view as “a planned and orchestrated attack on the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church”, according to a report on Borkena.com.

• Thousands protested despite church organisations announcing on Friday that the action was postponed in favour of dialogue.
• Diaspora communities are also planning a similar protest on 19 September in four North American cities.

Like many such issues in Ethiopia, the attacks on houses of worship have taken an increasingly ethno-nationalist form. The growing religious violence has raised fears of politically-instigated extremism pitting the largely Christian population (60%) and Muslim populations (35%) against each other.

• Since July 2018, over 30 churches have been destroyed, most of them in Jijiga, the capital of the Somali region.
• In August 2018, BBC Amharic reported that seven priests had been killed and seven churches burnt in Jijiga, according to a report by BBC Amharic.
• Two attacks in March and April 2019 in Jijiga left 12 people dead, while five churches were attacked in Sidama in July, resulting in three deaths.

Political interests and fake news

On 9 February, 10 churches belonging to eight different Christian denominations were destroyed in Southern Ethiopia after fake reports that mosques had been attacked in Durame, a town in south-east Ethiopia.

• The next day, two mosques were attacked in Amhara after unconfirmed reports indicated that scrap paper from a Muslim wedding’s decorations included desecrated images of St. Mary. A third mosque was burnt a few days later.
• “The act is a deliberate move by those who want to use religion to wreak havoc in the country,” the Amhara Media Agency quoted Islamic Council secretary general Sheikh Mohammed Hassan after the attacks.

FULL ARTICLE FROM THE AFRICA REPORT 

Want to understand Islamic extremism? The answer isn’t in Islam — it’s in the Cold War.

Recent years have witnessed a surge of interest in political Islam and jihadist violence. An array of commentators have sought to link contemporary groups such as al-Qaeda and the Islamic State to classical Islam — drawing a straight line from the prophet Muhammad to Osama bin Laden and Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

This sentiment animates much of the rhetoric on the right. President Trump, along with members of his administration, has been far more willing than his predecessors to conflate violent jihadist groups with more moderate elements within the Muslim world, both past and present.

In reality, however, the roots of contemporary jihadist movements don’t come from the ideas of an ancient religion but rather from the reality of the recent Cold War. For half a century, U.S. leaders and their allies consistently worked to undermine secular progressive forces around the world, fearing that they might side with the Soviets. In the process, the United States unwittingly empowered the very forces of religious servatism that Washington iing today.Containment of Soviet-backed communism formed the cornerstone of U.S. foreign policy from 1947 until 1990. Central to this strategy was an effort by the U.S. government to undermine secular revolutionary forces in the so-called Third World through diplomatic opposition, economic warfare, covert operations and military interventions. American officials worried that these progressive groups — nationalists, socialists and communists — were vulnerable to Soviet influence.

Study links anti-Muslim discrimination with radicalization

Every time a domestic terrorist kills innocent bystanders or heads abroad to join the Islamic State group, experts and pundits try to explain the inexplicable: Why would a person do that?

A new study takes a novel approach to studying radicalization. The findings suggest that it may be the outgrowth of ethnic, racial or religious discrimination.

The study, published in Science Advances, finds an association between anti-Muslim hate and susceptibility to Muslim radicalization in regions of the United States that are poorest and most homogeneous. And it suggests the ethnic diversity of the U.S. may protect against radicalization because people are less prone to pit one group against the other.

The study, done by sociologists at Duke University and a statistician from the University of California, Berkeley, examined internet search data provided by Google in 3,099 counties across the U.S. Specifically, the researchers looked at average monthly search data to see if people in the same geographical areas searched for phrases such as “Muslims are violent” and “How to join ISIS.”

The findings, collected between August 2014 and July 2016, suggest pro-ISIS sympathy is most prevalent in communities with high levels of anti-Muslim sentiment.

“One interpretation of this finding is that violent extremism results from the failure of ethnic integration,” said Chris Bail, a sociologist at Duke and the study’s lead researcher. “People of immigrant background experience a disconnect between their family heritage and their receiving society’s culture and thus become vulnerable to extremist narratives.”

FULL ARTICLE FROM RELIGION NEWS SERVICE 

Extremists have not only hijacked Islam and its symbols, but also American sensibility

Six-year-old Mohammad says “Allah” and “boom”. The substitute teacher calls the police who question the child and then launch a terrorism investigation against the family. Child protection services also intervene for good measure.

This sounds like a sick joke on Saturday Night Live. Except it is not. This is exactly what happened in the Texan city of Pearland, about 20 miles south of Houston, last November.

Now anti-Islam attitudes are being normalised

The parents of Mohammad Suleiman told Fox 26 that he could not have uttered these words because “he doesn’t speak at all” and has “the mental capacity of a one-year-old”. He was born with Down’s Syndrome.

Fear of Islamic symbols

The rash phone call turned the family’s life upside down. We will never understand the full impact of the trauma on the child or family. Suleiman’s father said: “They claim that he’s a terrorist. This is so stupid, this is discrimination. It’s not implied discrimination, it’s 100 percent discrimination.”

Either the teacher was a bigot and acted on his bias or he was genuinely afraid and freaked out. Both scenarios don’t bode well.

Islamophobia and the fear of Islamic symbols and phrases has now become as American as apple pie. It is so insidious that the best defence Suleiman’s father could come up with was that his son does not even speak.

What if he did say those words? Would a six-year-old with a mental disability saying “Allah” and “boom” be enough to call the police? Taking it seriously and thoroughly vetting it would be understandable (and necessary), but escalating it to a full police response and investigation reveals how entrenched fear of Islam and Muslims is in American culture. It may be latent, but it’s there for sure.

Years ago, when a woman said she did not trust Obama because he was a Muslim, senator John McCain was praised when he responded, “No, ma’am, he’s a decent family man…” When the correct answer, as General Colin Powell pointed out, should have been, so what if he was? That was well before there was a US president re-tweeting hate videos about Muslims.

Now anti-Islam attitudes are being normalised.

Unfortunately, some of those opposed to Muslim extremists are driven by ignorance or in some cases even prejudice and bigotry which extends to all Muslims

Yes, “Allahu Akbar” is what New York terrorist Sayfullo Saipov reportedly uttered after ploughing down innocents on the streets of New York a couple of months ago. Many other killers have done the same.

FULL ARTICLE FROM MIDDLE EAST EYE

Christian, Muslim leaders sign declaration agreeing to stand against religious extremism

Religious leadership, both Christian and Muslim, needs to be more courageous than it has been, says Dr. Agnes Abuom, moderator of the World Council of Churches main governing body.

“Without directly supporting attacks on the other religion, there have been some occasions when religious leaders have given a sort of silent approval to what their followers are saying and doing,” Abuom said .

She spoke during two-day discussions between the Muslim Council of Elders and the World Council of Churches in Geneva, Switzerland from Sept. 30 to Oct. 1 after which they issues a joint declaration.

Two historic sessions of talks, hosted by the WCC, involved discussions on key aspects of peacebuilding and interreligious dialogue, paying special attention to combating religious extremism leading to violence in many parts of the world.

“The WCC is to be commended for inviting us to this important meeting,” said Ahmed al-Tayyeb, Grand Imam of Al-Azhar in a speech Oct. 1 at the Ecumenical Institute in Bossey near Geneva.

ASSUMING RESPONSIBILITIES

He said the meetings had taken place “with the presence of eminent scholars and religious leaders representing the monotheistic religions, meeting in the heart of Europe, in the beautiful and peaceful city of Geneva, so that we may assume our responsibilities both to our conscience and to the message of Allah the Almighty.

FULL ARTICLE FROM ECUMENICAL NEWS 

Whose extremism? Using the phrase ‘Islamic extremism’ — or not.

Donald Trump is very clear on the subject: If President Barack Obama doesn’t use the words “radical Islamic terrorism” to discuss the brutal killings in Orlando, “he should immediately resign in disgrace!”

Most Republicans seem to agree that it’s essential to link Islam to the tactics and goals of extremists and terrorists. Nebraska’s Republican Sen. Benjamin Sasse (no fan of Trump) to Obama: “You’re wrong. Telling the truth about violent Islam is a prerequisite to a strategy.” South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham tweeted that Obama “shows a total disconnect from the problems we face in confronting/defeating radical Islam.” GOP strategist Ed Rogers wrote that the president’s refusal to refer to “radical Islam” was “a remarkable display of arrogance and tone-deaf rhetoric.”

Hillary Clinton has decided to do an end run around the issue. “Radical jihadist, radical Islamism, I think they mean the same thing. I’m happy to say either, but that’s not the point.” For her, the challenge is to go after the perpetrators of hateful crimes without tarring an entire religion — or being distracted by a rhetorical sideshow.

Let’s say Trump and his allies are right — that it’s important to label the religious underpinnings of those who seek to kill innocents; that when a killer calls on religion to justify his actions, let’s identify that religion for all to see.

But can we really stop with Islam?

Take Robert Dear, the deranged man who in November took a semiautomatic rifle into a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs, Colo. He killed three and wounded nine. His motivation? To be “a warrior for the babies.”

Dear is not just an extremist: He is a “Christian extremist.” He called his anti-abortion activism “God’s work.” He dreamed that “(w)hen he died and went to heaven, he would be met by all the aborted fetuses at the gates of heaven and they would thank him …” He sprinkled his confession to the police with Bible phrases.

To understand Dear, don’t we have to understand the Christian teachings this Christian extremist believed he was upholding?

FULL ARTICLE FROM THE WASHINGTON POST 

Moderates are losing the fight to save Islam from racists and extremists

The alarming exploitation of the Brussels attacks for political purposes shows how urgent it is to take back the discourse around Islam and Muslims from racists and extremist populists like Donald Trump and Marine Le Pen.

Instead of leaving the field wide open for the big-mouthed bigots and xenophobes surfing the murderous wave of global Islamist terror to stigmatize refugees and all peoples of Muslim confession, let’s recognize and tackle the important religious dimension to jihadist violence—in order to better overcome it.

Muslim modernizers, reformers, and secularists, intellectuals, theologians, writers, artists, academics, political figures, and ordinary believers, have long been engaged in an intense ideological war with the Islamic fundamentalists—the same fanatics who helped create the breeding ground for today’s terrorists committing atrocities against civilian populations in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and the US.

They are currently losing the winner-takes-all battle to stop the “confiscation” of Islam, dating back to the 19th century when contemporary Islamism first emerged as a neo-reactionary force in response to modernization. And they need the West’s support, fast, if it is to make any inroads in winning the fight against terrorism.

FULL ARTICLE FROM QUARTZ 

Real Muslims don’t terrorize

By Huma Munir

Nearly 150 people were killed in Kenya in a brutal attack on a university by a terrorist organization called al-Shabab. Reports claim that the militants specifically singled out Christian students.

Al-Shabab and other extremist groups, who claim to be working for Islam, fail to recognize the very meaning of being a Muslim. Not only is this act of barbarity a complete departure from the Islamic teachings, it is against the very nature of humans to be so violent and barbaric. Such lack of empathy suggests extreme abnormalities in the minds of those who willingly carry out these atrocities. To refer to these people as “religious” would be a mistake. To call them psychopaths would be appropriate. In fact, the Islamic scripture, the Quran, refers to such people as “diseased” (chapter 2: verse 10).

In the last couple of months, extremist groups in the Middle East, Pakistan and even Africa have increasingly targeted Christian populations in the name of Islam. As a Muslim, I can tell you that nothing is further from the teachings of Islam than taking innocent lives. The Quran says killing one person is like killing the entire mankind (5:32). In this verse, the Quran does not address a single faith or race. In fact, if you study the rhetoric, the verse clearly suggests that all life is sacred — regardless of faith, ethnicity or race.

As Muslims, Islam commands us to show love and respect to people of all faiths — including Christians. Jesus is mentioned by name in the Quran five times more often than the Prophet Muhammad. In fact, there is an entire chapter in the Quran named after Jesus’ mother, Mary.

FULL ARTICLE FROM THE BALTIMORE SUN 

Obama: Terror, Not Islam, Is the Enemy

After months of delays and weeks of internal and external discord surrounding the White House’s Summit on Countering Violent Extremism, President Barack Obama finally got to tell officials from more than 60 countries that terrorism, not Islam, is the enemy.

“We are not at war with Islam. We are at war with people who have perverted Islam,” Obama said Wednesday, the second day of the summit. He later called on Muslim leaders “to do more to discredit the notion that our nations are determined to suppress Islam.”

Obama’s sentiments were welcomed by the audience, which politely applauded throughout his speech. But they did little to overshadow the controversy surrounding the buildup to the summit or the fact that not much is expected from the three-day event.

The White House has taken heat from all sides in the run-up to the summit. Within the administration there was discord because the White House waited until Jan. 11 to tell the State Department it would be participating. Muslim leaders criticized the White House for focusing narrowly on threats from Islamists. Meanwhile, Republicans blasted the administration for approaching the threat too broadly and called on it to focus on threats from Muslim extremists.

FULL ARTICLE FROM FOREIGN POLICY