Ali Eteraz wrote one heck of a column for Jewcy about anti-Muslim feelings in the US – but I guess it’s the same everywhere in the West – when it comes to politicians. When a politician is a Muslim or is accused of being a Muslim that person’s career suffers.

One of the best examples of this prejudice and anti-Muslim feeling in the US is what happened to Obama: he was ‘accused’ of being a Muslim. The result? People didn’t say ‘who cares?’ he was forced to expose it (the ‘accusation’ that he attended a madrassa) as a lie. In other words: the reaction wasn’t “who cares whether he’s Muslim or not,” instead it was “no, no, he’s a good Christian!”

Another example Ali gives is the case of Keith Ellison. Ellison was blasted for putting his hand on the Koran, instead of on the Bible. Well, listen, he’s a Muslim. Of course he would use the Koran where Christians use the Bible. What’s more, each and every member of Congress – whether Muslim, Atheist, Agnostic or Christian – swears to uphold the Constitution. Not the Koran. Not the Bible. Not Darwinism. But the Constitution.

Furthermore:

According to a survey cited by the Washington Post, conducted by the Pew Center for the People and the Press, 45 percent of respondents said they would be less likely to vote for a candidate for any office who is Muslim. Compare this with the 25 percent who said the same about a Mormon candidate and 16 percent who said the same for an Evangelical Christian.

In a 2004 survey by Cornell university, almost half of the national respondents favored curtailing the civil liberties of Muslims. An astonishing 40 percent of Republicans wanted American Muslims to register their whereabouts (24 percent of Democrats).

This is a real problem: when Muslims say that they’re discriminated against, it’s hard to argue that they’re not if you look at the numbers above. Just put yourself in their position. The feeling I would get? ‘My own countrymen don’t trust me.’

After that Ali reacts to Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s column entitled “Islam’s Silent Moderates.” He writes: “[f]our days prior to the publication of the article, a Muslim writing at a reputable Left magazine condemned the injustice in Saudi Arabia, Sudan and India (among many others), calling his unjust co-religionists “dimwits.” Yet, according to the New York Times op-ed, this Muslim doesn’t exist.”

More:

Long before 2001 when Islamic reformation became in vogue, Muslims whose teachers were executed and who had to go into exile, were writing books about it.

Long before America cared about the rights of women in the Muslim world, Muslim women were launching anti-honor killing jihads.

One of the most far reaching attacks against Islamically sanctioned forced marriages has been a film from Pakistan, not a vitriolic screed written in a high-end magazine in London.

Whenever there is progress in the Muslim world, it is because of something Muslims themselves accomplish. After witnessing the insane amount of Shia-Sunni killing in Iraq, it was Muslims who were able to get together and reach an accord to stymie the violence. We should not forget that the crushing blow against Soviet Union did not come from the West, it came from inside the Soviet Union, and from behind the Iron Curtain. Even a cursory indulgence in the state of Islamic reform will reveal that the same is occurring in the Muslim world today.

Although Ali is right to point that, the criticism doesn’t – at least when I use it – mean that there are no Muslims who speak out against extremist Muslims. The problem is that many people get the impression that moderates form the minority. I’ve learned a lot, in this regard, from my girlfriend, her friends, family and relatives: at least in Turkey, the majority of Muslims most certainly are moderates. But we in the West would expect more than an occasional book from them, or an article here, an article there; we expect them to rise up and to organize mass protests.

Recently, we had a mass protest in the Netherlands from Turkish-Dutch: they protested against the PKK.

It was a good, positive protest, but why are Muslim Dutchmen not organizing mass protests against what Al Qaeda is doing?

A possible answer – I know this goes for my girlfriend and her relatives – is that they simply don’t think they have to speak out against something like that in order to ‘improve’ the image of Islam. They often don’t even consider terrorists to be Muslims. They think they’re enemies of Islam, if anything. Since we, Dutchmen, aren’t organizing mass protests in reaction to Islamic terrorism, why should they, they wonder?

“Speak out against terrorism.” They do. But in private. Just like we do. And when you ask them, they condemn it.

But we forget that, we basically want Muslims to act differently. We want them to do something we don’t do ourselves. The more I think about this issue, the more I’m beginning to think that we’re being a bit hypocritical. Why in the world would we ask our fellow citizens to publicly speak out against violence, the oppression of women, etc., if we don’t organize mass protests ourselves? And, frankly, mass protests in the West wouldn’t accomplish much anyway.

Does this mean that Muslims shouldn’t work to reform Islam, to – as a whole – break with the oppression of women, etc.? No, they do. But they should do that in a way it’s usual done: normally on a small scale, on a local level and supported by books, etc. This is already happening. The only thing we don’t see are mass protests and, frankly, I’m beginning to think it’s ludicrous for us to ask them to organize them.

O, and talking about mass protests: Iranian students have once again protested against Ahmadinejad. When we talk about Islam’s ’silent moderates’ are we saying that these courageous students are ’silent’? They, who are risking their lives and limbs? They, who openly oppose one of the most authoritarian regimes on this planet?

Back to Ali’s post: he points out that American Muslims are actually quite successful and good citizens, who pay a lot of taxes. Yet, the public doesn’t know about it. Why not? Because no one is educating the public about it.

“26 percent of American Muslim households earn more than $100,000. An astonishing 66 percent of American Muslim households earn more than $50,000,” he writes. He adds that “[f]urther, Zogby International found that while only 8.6 percent of Americans have advanced degrees, that number is 32 percent for American Muslims.”

So how to turn this around? Ali gives some advise, my advise to you is to head on over to Jewcy and to read them (I already quoted more than copyright allows I’m afraid). I think that he’s right on the money.

And yes, I’m moderating my tone on this issue a bit.