Nasir, Asma and a Beautiful Message of Hope

Today, I found a post on my Facebook wall from my friend, Nasir. Along with the link to this video, which is entitled, How Muslims Are Treated In America, he left me a message: "Is This True?" 

Nasir's current profile pic. He's the one in front. Hello, brother!

Nasir is a Malaysian Muslim and a dear friend - he already knows my feelings of acceptance towards Islam in general. But he is also understandably suspicious about American attitudes toward Islam. I wondered what I might find in the video. 

If you don't feel like watching the seven-minute video, I'll give you a quick synopsis.

One of the major American television news companies, ABC News, sent an undercover team to a bakery in an undisclosed American town. 


An actor pretends to be working at the bakery. Another actor pretendsto be a Muslim woman who comes in to the bakery and attempts to buy something. Hidden cameras capture the pretend employee's vicious outburst against her; he insults her clothing, accuses her of being a terrorist, refuses to sell to her, and generally behaves like a hateful fool.


After acting out this horrible scene in front of real customers, the woman actor leaves the store and the man continues to engage with the customers, attempting to provoke a reaction from them. Over the course of a full day, they repeat this scenario again and again, to capture the various reactions of the customers.


The first minutes of the video capture two men, real-life customers, who reveal despicably racist attitudes, remarking that the Muslim woman "wasn't dressed right" and that the actor/employee deserves a thumbs- up for his outrageous attack on her. 

Now let me pause here. I make no excuses for those two men and their disgusting behavior. None. There is no excuse for being hateful, and that's what they were, plain and simple. I'm ashamed to call them my countrymen.


Back to the video. Now we see other customers who speak out against the employee: a number of them leave the bakery without buying anything, in response to his offensive behavior; several stay for prolonged debates with the employee, defending the woman's rights and treating her with utmost respect. An expert in the studio talks about these people's sense of justice and their desire to protect the woman's rights as an integral part of American society.

These Americans make me proud. They remind us that in America, we accept people of all religions, races, colors and countries of origin as equally valid and deserving of respect. In an emotionally charged environment, they step up and speak their minds, defending a stranger just because it is the right thing to do.

Born in the U.S.A. {source}

By the end of the video, I find myself feeling confused and upset. I accept the undeniable truth that some  Americans hold outrageously bigoted attitudes. Some manage to keep their mouths shut but still, there are plenty who make ignorant, hurtful, even deeply discriminating statements every day. If they aren't insulting Muslims, they are going after blacks, Mexicans. women, gays, vegetarians, left-handed tennis players, and anyone else the slightest bit different from them.

Differences don't have to push us apart; they can bring us together in surprising and interesting ways. {source}

Of course, there are haters like this in any country, not just America...but are things really this bad? How much of this video is a blatant effort on the part of ABC News to stir up drama and boost ratings? I don't want to think that Muslims are subjected to this kind of disrespectful treatment on a regular basis, and I don't see evidence of discrimination playing out in my own little corner of the world. But how do I know what it's like to be a Muslim in America?

Oh, the interesting challenges of being a modern Muslim woman. {source}

Obviously, I don't know much. But I know women who are Muslim Americans. Let me tell you about my friend, Asma. Born to a white American family and raised as a Christian, she converted to Islam as a college student and has lived as a faithful Muslima ever since. Now married to a native Indonesian who came to the States for college and decided to stay, she has three children who attend my school. Despite our obvious differences, Asma and I have become trusting friends and often talk with great openness about our faiths.

Asma uses a photo of an orchid as her profile pic. I't's a perfect symbol for her kind and gentle spirit. {source}

When I told her about my friend Nasir sharing this video with me, and asked her to watch it and share her thoughts, she kindly obliged me. I think that her words capture the truth of Islam in America, and she makes me hopeful for the future. Thank you, Nasir, for stirring up this conversation, and thank you, Asma, for your insights and beautiful message of hope.

Found this in my Facebook feed. Source unknown. 

 Hello, Diane.

It's good to hear from you!  I hope all is well with you and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I'll be able to spend some time with everyone before the year wraps up.  It's getting close, isn't it?

I appreciate you sharing this segment with me.  It's been a long time since I've seen it.  Unfortunately, these things do happen to Muslim women in particular but it is mainly side comments, not a refusal of service.  I experienced a lot of verbal harassment in my early years of being Muslim but our area is so diverse now that I don't hear much anymore.  It did get quite scary right after 9-11 but things have settled down significantly.  A couple of Muslim women in the Seattle community where I lived were attacked at the grocery store.  In two separate incidences their clothing was slashed.  Some men believed to be Muslim were even killed.    My husband was stuck in Indonesia at the time so my children and I went to stay with my mom for a couple of weeks until things cooled off a little.  

People are just afraid after being bombarded with images, the news, and what is becoming of service men and women overseas.  They just don't know what to think anymore.  Some messages going around about Muslims are quite disturbing which heightens this fear and the actions of a few sure don't help matters.  However, I think that more and more people are now able to separate the true essence of Islam from the distorted views of a small minority.

I can't imagine what messages you friend is receiving but things are changing.  It seems that we're collectively coming to a place where we can see things for how they are.  Your friend reaching out to you is the perfect example.  You and I are showing another side of the story; me as I live as a Muslim and you showing the best of us in America.  We are connecting with each other in a way we've never been able to before and, as a result, there are only positive changes ahead.

Look forward to seeing you soon.  :)

Asma ~