Daily Times

Whether they voice it in public or just whisper behind closed doors, Muslims in America, regardless of their financial or educational background, live under constant fear. It is the fear of being monitored, of being followed, and of being investigated. They reckon that even their casual conversations are being recorded somewhere. And once the anti-Muslim rhetoric reaches a certain threshold, these recordings would be used against them as evidence, with words taken out of context and phrases presented without a background, resulting in their extradition or incarceration.

Call it paranoia, which it may very well be, but they cannot stop thinking about the worst case scenario after the presidential elections, a scenario in which the whole Muslim community would receive the same treatment in the US as Jews received in Nazi Germany, or if not that bad, the treatment Japanese Americans received after the Pearl Harbour. The sceptics disregard their concerns contending they are blown out of proportion. To be fearful is one thing, they say, and it is quite another to draw a parallel between Nazi Germany and the modern day America. They want them to look at the convention of the Democratic Party in which Muslim parents spoke about the sacrifice of their son in Iraq.

They may be right, but you still ask yourself: why did Barack Obama take eight years to visit a mosque and tell American Muslims for the first time in his presidency that their faith does not make them un-American? He waited that long because he did not want to sound sympathetic towards a minority at the peak of his career. Getting associated with them could have been fatal to his bid for the White House. Now in the last few months of his presidency, he can cuddle them however he wants as it does not threaten his future prospects anymore, nor does it jeopardise
his party interests.

Irrespective of these reassurances, the recent events both in America and Europe have put Muslims in the spotlight once again. First the Paris attacks perturbed the West; that was followed by the California massacre, the suicide bombings in Brussels and the attack in Orlando, each one igniting more fear. Anxious, they now wonder at what point the majority would start judging them not on the basis of their service to the nation or commitment to the profession but on the basis of how different they looked, how they prayed to a different God, how they celebrated a different holiday, and how they shared their faith with terrorists who
attacked America.

For cynics, the clock is ticking, the floor slipping under their feet. And, it is not a question of “if” anymore; it is a question of “when” Muslims would be stripped completely of their civil rights, some of which they believe have already been taken away.

The reality is that long before the current events and the emergence of ISIS fear ran deep in the community, so deep that some Muslims opted to stay away from mosques, avoiding collective prayers and gatherings, since they knew their place for worship was most likely kept under surveillance. Not only that, they understand that their sermons are monitored, the response of the listeners being noted down.

Travelling outside the United States to the Middle East or to South Asia poses danger too as it raises suspicions. US authorities are concerned about the activities of young Muslims in not-so-well monitored areas of the world. So folks under pressure to prove their innocence record their own activities and post it on social media websites. For instance, a 36-year-old computer engineer, father of two, told me he checks in on Facebook every time he visits a restaurant in Islamabad as an evidence of his “normal life.” He said that he wanted to show the authorities that all his movements were digitally documented. Last summer, he had to visit Pakistan quite a few times when his father got ill and later on passed away. He was worried his trips would alert the respective agencies.

Another friend posts a selfie in every restaurant he dines in, making sure that he includes people in the background confirming his location. Some folks use credit cards every single day in order to keep a log of their activities. Here I must add that using a credit card is not very common in Pakistan, and by swiping an American Express credit card in Lahore, they reassure themselves that they would be, somehow, able to satisfy their future investigators about their innocence.

But you do not hear about these concerns very often. Not many among Muslims write or express them beyond closed doors, which is a shame. Why don’t they speak up? First, they want to avoid attention. Second, they are afraid that their opposition to government policies can be interpreted as their enmity with the state, which is not true. Third, they are worried that their disapproval of the Afghan war, the invasion of Iraq, the Israel-Palestine conflict — matters of American foreign policy — can raise concerns for the national security. And if a concern for national security is raised for anyone, it can be detrimental for him and his family, as for all practical purposes national security issues for Muslims in the US are as dreadful as the blasphemy law is for non-Muslims in Pakistan, if not worse.

The writer is a US-based freelance columnist. He tweets at @KaamranHashmi and can be reached at skamranhashmi@gmail.com