Islam Times - The Situation of Muslims in America

Islam Times - There are two groups within the Muslim Ummah living in America. I'll talk about both groups

Islam Times sat down for an interview with a major international figure and leader of Muslims in the U.S. Imam Abdul Aleem (h.a.) Musa has been at the forefront of defending Muslims in the U.S. and standing up to the Zionists and the F.B.I. and the U.S. government in general. He is world renowned and is the leader of the Islamic movement “As Sabiqun.” He has been in the political arena close to 40 years now, and his involvement in the attempts to liberate the U.S. from its corrupt capitalistic/materialistic system go back all the way to the civil rights era.

For details about who Imam Musa (h.a.) and his (h.a.) life story as well as information about the Islamic Movement As Sabiqun, please visit

http://www.sabiqun.org/wp/?page_id=9

Questions for Imam Musa (h.a.):

Islam Times: Where do you think the U.S. is headed? What's in store for the future?

Imam Musa (h.a.):

Allah knows best about all of that. But, we can see from all the political and social and military state of affairs of the U.S. in recent years; it’s been bad news for the U.S. The U.S. economy is already finished. It seems there is no way back. There's no way back because they refuse to take the remedy. They’re like a patient that refuses to take any treatment because it's too bitter or distasteful. It seems there is no cure. So this is the way we look at the U.S.
In the economy you can see the constant decline of American production.
American debt has increased to the point of no return. It’s in the same state as the other debtor nations.
Military adventures all around the world has ended in disaster. It’s stuck in Iraq it’s stuck in Afghanistan. With no prospect for the future
So on every level the U.S. economy has gone into a serious decline. We feel that the U.S. policy in foreign affairs is in decline.
We feel like its economy is a decline and we can see it has no more strength socially or abroad. So it’s bad in the U.S.

Islam Times: What role should Muslims living in America play in all of this?

Imam Musa (h.a.):

Muslims in America and Canada we should work on strengthening our community and strengthening our cooperation amongst each other. We must consolidate our community development and try to make our communities very relevant to societies in which we live.
As I give this interview, I’m standing in a solid black neighborhood in Washington D.C. We have an association with community and we feel very comfortable with the community and they with us. And we feel that we should build a society from a decadent western model to an Islamic not only face saving but life saving way of life. We should consolidate our unity with other Muslim first and then we should build relations in the community itself. As western society goes into decline we should play a part in rescuing it, not play a part in its decline. That the role of Islam. That's the role of Islam to rescue people from this world and the next. To rescue society from Americanism and everything else.

Islam Times: What is the state of Muslims in the U.S. today?

Imam Musa (h.a.): There are two groups within the Muslim Ummah living in America. I'll talk about both groups- the immigrant community and the indigenous community.
The immigrant community has done well inside the U.S. With cathedral like masajid, big shiny centers etc. Most of them are at least middle class if not upper middle class or higher.
But they are suffering from pure doses of fear. It's very serious post 9/11. So Muslims exist in a state of fear especially the immigrant community. I think they may have reached rock bottom where they are tired of being afraid. They're now on the defensive whereas in the past we used to be on the offensive. I don’t mean that in a military way. In the past we used to have fliers that promoted Islam. But post 9/11 put Muslims on the defensive. Where they are apologizing for things they had nothing to do with like terrorism 9/11 etc. Whereas in the past they would promote Islam, now they are defending themselves and constantly trying t prove that they are not terrorists etc. So when you look at the two communities, i.e. the immigrant community and the indigenous community or African community you see that people in the immigrant community are afraid while people in the indigenous or African American community are not afraid. A few maybe, but most are not.

There are a number of reasons for this. Number one we've been oppressed by the west so long we're not afraid of the system. For example people in our community support us and we feel very comfortable here. But the problem is that the immigrant community (due to its wealth and its prominence) became the spokespeople for the Islamic community in the U .S. What this means is that in TVs and talk shows they talk to immigrant community on Islam. Now the spokesperson for Islam is the immigrant community. This is a problem for Islam. Because before the African Americans spoke for Islam. When we spoke to the public they saw Islam as America because we are part and parcel of America. They thought of us as part of America. When we presented Islam it was not foreign. We spoke about Islam as transformational. For example when I talk about Islam I say "well I was a big drug dealer, I was a big crime boss in Cali (for background on Imam Musa (h.a.) and his (h.a.) life, please visit the link at the top of this interview) and then Islam transformed me from someone who was hurting society to someone who wants to help society. So, we do what the immigrant community can't do: we present Islam as an American experience. We present it as something that can transform America. This is a very compelling message.

That’s the difference between the indigenous community and the immigrant community: transformational versus a mentality of trying to fit in, of trying to integrate, of trying to take as much advantage from the system as possible. Whereas for us Islam is something that would change us and it would change the us for the better. The immigrant community didn’t come to change society or anything like that. They came to be a part of society and to be accepted.

This distinction is a very important one. We want to change this society, we want to fix it. The immigrant community, their focus was and is still now on acceptance and assimilation. I call it "practicing Islam light.” They would have an Islamic center, they would have their Eid, their juma prayers, maybe a wedding or two, but Islam wouldn't be the guiding principle of their life. They would be reasonable Muslims, they love Allah but it wouldn’t be their big identity. It would be more of an attitude of assimilate into the system and get the best out of what the system has to offer. But the African American community, the indigenous community always looked upon Islam as transformational. Islam would change us as individuals and it would change the whole society. We are not happy with the U.S. and never have been. We always wanted it to get better and we feel our job is not to rush society downhill but to rescue the people from these criminals. In other words, we want to help society by transforming it.

Islam Times: Can you expound a little further on why Muslims in the U.S. are afraid and don’t speak out against Zionist policies that have a direct impact in places like Palestine, and an indirect impact in places like Kashmir etc.

Imam Musa (h.a.): Until 9/11 we would have many protests. But infiltration by the intelligence agencies such as the buying of Imams of masajid here in the U.S. and turning the Imams into informants created an atmosphere of fear and mistrust amongst the Muslims. Fear of government is always a big factor. Muslims living in America are afraid to speak their mind because they don’t know who the informer is.
So, the masjid has a different aura or environment post 9/11. The feeling of trust and security is shattered and Muslims don’t feel comfortable with each other because they don’t know who is a government spy, who is a government informer. Of course, these Muslims aren’t doing anything wrong and they never have. All the charges are trumped up. That’s what makes it even scarier for them. The U.S. government makes up stuff and plants stuff and frames people. Any charge they can think of, all the charges they initiated were trumped up.

Islam Times: So what’s the solution? Is there any hope? Is there any light at the end of this dark tunnel?

Imam Musa (h.a.): I think right this minute we're beginning to move out of the fear. In other words, we have entered an era where Muslims living in America are sick of being afraid. They see that they are bending over backwards to prove that they are not terrorists, they are not bad people, but the Zionists in the U.S. don't let up. The Zionists keep harassing them, the Zionist elements in the government and media keep attacking them. And they're fed up. They've hit rock bottom. They are at the point of speaking out and defending themselves. We’re at the embryonic stage of Muslims getting back their confidence and their confidence in Islam and believing that Islam can adapt to the environment. The Zionists keep lying about them, and the more they try to accommodate people the more they get beaten up. What I’ve been telling them for 30 years is finally starting to make sense to them. The only way to beat a bully is to stand up to him. The more you stand up to a bully, the safer you are. I think we’re entering a period of optimism.

All the major Muslim groups in the U.S. have worked against us in the past. Whether they got their money from Saudi Arabia or somewhere else, they were always negative about us. They said we Shia supporters or that we actually Shia and practicing taqiyyah. All the major groups worked against us the past 30 years. But now things are easing up and we are in a period of reconciliation. We’re definitely in a period of forgiveness. Our attitude is: you worked against us, forget it, we can work together now. We’re not going to let the U.S. government use our past differences to create strife amongst us; to use us as cannon fodder and all the time let the Zionists go free. As an organization our vision is fear of Allah and forgiveness. It is the system that is criminal. It is Muslims who used to be incompetent and slow and have allowed the government to sabotage Muslims movements in the U.S. in the past. If we want Allah to forgive us, we have to forgive our brothers and sisters. Our organizational mentality is one of fear of Allah and forgiveness. We consider ourselves “enemy less.” We’re not into retribution.

Islam Times: So has anything practical occurred because of this reconciliation? Has something solid happened on the ground that would indicate this new phase in intra-Muslim-American relations?

Imam Musa (h.a.): Yes, most definitely. I went to a big Shia mosque in South Bay and was offered the position of leadership of the whole Muslim ummah in the U.S. around December 8th 2007. All the second in commands of all the Muslim leaders, both Shia and Sunni were there. At the time, I felt like it was a diversionary tactic by the U.S. government to try to stop the progress we were making in other areas (he’s talking about the As Sabiqun movement of which is in charge.) so we declined. I rejected it. The meeting was supposed to be at a big Sunni center in South Bay, but then they moved it to a Shia center in South Bay. Make sure you get that down. It was in South Bay. But now our attitude is that it is time to move on. We are open to working with them, and we are ready to listen to what they might propose to help Muslims around the world. Muslims are now realizing is that it is not about Shia or Sunni anymore. We have to get together and confront this monster. (Zionism/Western materialism). In the western hemisphere we have to do things based on our deen and not based on emotionalism or what happened in the past. We know we are in this all together. It doesn’t matter if we are Shia, Sunni, Pakistani, Arab, or Iranian. It makes no difference. We are all in this together. And we are going to come out together. And I believe we are at a historical apex in history. Where we are evolving into a state where we have to produce a global non predatory system of global interconnectedness. We’ve lived in this caveman mentality (Western culture) long enough. We are the end of what we call homo erectus technocratus. What this term means, and I made it up is that this human being walks upright but he's a caveman in every aspect of his life. But we believe we are at the end of this era. To illustrate my point, there’s no group of birds that spend all their time trying to figure out how to kill other birds. The human being is the only animal that all of its progress was made during war. It uses all its energy, material, great thinkers into the attack industry. All of this technology: we don’t get to use it till 10 years after it has already zapped someone else in the world. All the science technology an industry is used to kill. I think the globe is at a period where people are saying we can do better than this. We don’t have to live in a world with a camera at every corner and where the government wants my DNA and everything. We don’t have to live like that.

Even the elites are looking to redesign the system so that they can continue to dominate. Capitalism has failed. We too are thinking about how we can fashion a new society with our skills.

Islam Times: Obama is considering signing a bill proposed by Senator Joseph Lieberman, an avid Zionist Jew that would give the President the sole authority to shut down the internet and for 90 days or more. The internet has become a big source of resistance to Zionist global hegemony. What are you thoughts on that.

Imam Musa (h.a.): The internet is so far advanced that they cannot cut us off. The internet has definitely been a strong force for good and spreading the message. If they try to cut us off, someone, somewhere will reroute the internet on some island and things will continue as normal. Now, they can interfere with postings on websites. A lot of these extremist websites that they say are Muslim are in fact U.S. government inventions to give them an excuse to attack everyone. They will use these made up websites to activate something that equates to an internet 9/11 to give them an excuse to shut it down.

The U.S. and their friends are at the end of the line. All indications are it is almost a guaranteed decline. We are moving towards a society that is more human friendly, animal friendly and environment friendly, and they can’t stop it no matter what they do. This Islamophobia has been a blessing in many ways. There are now probably thousands of web sites that blame U.S./Israel for 9/11 right?

Islam Times: How did your meeting with Ahmadinejad go? (He was in the U.S. to address the 65th United Nations General Assembly Session).

Imam Musa (h.a.): You know what’s true about Iran. Of all the people the people that addressed the U.N. only two presidents were shown on C-SPAN- Obama and Ahmadinejad. By trying to crush Iran, the global media has made Iran the number two force in the world. Everyday its stature grows. President Ahmadinejad said that one south American leader said to him that of the ten things that they do to you, if they did even one to us they would have broken us. So, the point is, everyone is watching Iran and learning from Iran. Iran has become the leader in setting examples for people around the world on how to resist and stand up to the bullying, arrogant, hegemonic powers.

They talk about Islamophobia, I think they have Iranophobia. Think about it. Why are they so worried about Iran? People like Ahmadinejad are saying what I’ve said all along. He and I agree. So does Chavez who talks about a new socialism, not the old socialism. Everyone wants a new system. I think we’re living in a great time in history.

Islam times: Do you have any message for the people of Iran?

Imam Musa (h.a.):

First of all: I thank the people of Iran for their diligence over the last thirty years. In the face of the most extreme sanctions, isolation, and boycotts ever, in the face of every political and military maneuver known to man that has been used against them. But they have survived and thrived. We thank the people of Iran for sticking so close to Rahbar (h.a.) If only they knew how much we appreciated the Rahbar (h.a.)’s khutba on Friday June 19th 2009, and how it put him on the global stage as the Leader of all Muslims.

Just as the 15th of Khordad (the attack by the Shah on people in the city of Qom following the arrest of Imam Khomeini (r.a.)) is what made Imam Khomeini (r.a.) Imam Khomeini (r.a.), so too did the khutbah in 2000 make Rahbar (h.a.) What I mean by that is this: The Aytollah Khamenei (h.a.) has been Wali e Faqih for over 20 years now, but the khutbah of June 19th 2009 was a reenactment of the 15th of Khordad in the sense that it elevated him to the position of Wali e Faqih in an absolute sense. The enemy really thought they had won following the June 2009 elections. They all the cowards and hypocrites gathered. The media was so happy, they could barely contain themselves. They lied so bad, everything they said was a lie. They thought they could destabilize Iran. But then came the khutbah. And at the end of the khutbah Rahbar (h.a.) (r.a.) said that I turn to you O Imam Mahdi (a.s.). I only have my broken body to offer you. Now, I never cry. But I was crying as I was watching that because I knew exactly what was occurring and the historical importance of it. My children were asking why you crying daddy? And I said “don’t you mind me. Just go on out.” That day he officially ascended the office with his stamp on it that “I’ve earned this office.”

I also tell the Iranian people that they have the best President (Ahmadinejad) that they have ever had. We’ve had so many underhanded Ulema tying to undermine the Wilayat e Faqih. You know what I mean, trying to kiss America’s behind and what not. The President bought back the real concept of the line of the Imam (Khomeini). And we’re proud of him. Tell the Iranian people that we’re proud of them for their ability to stick and hold and their resilience during this thirty two year period. It has never happened in history. You can’t find any group of people that have had to fight so many people with no help from anyone. The world loves and respects them. Their constant support for the Islamic system when the West though it could destroy it and the Iranian people stuck to it like glue. There’s nothing like it in history so far. I love you, and I respect you.

Islam Times: Do you have any messages for the people of Pakistan?

Imam Musa (h.a.): Tell the people of Pakistan that I know the country from top to bottom I’ve been to every area of the country before and I know the extent of the devastation (from the flooding) very well. We made dua for them every ramadhan. We apologize to them for not having any resources, but we have our community and we are in daily contact with the brothers in Pakistan. We stay in touch and have all the details. All of our love and sympathy goes out to them. We believe in the final analysis that God will help them in this situation. And we just apologize for not having helicopters, machinery etc. We apologize for that. Hopefully in the near future we will have more strength and ability to help, not only spiritually, but materially too. We believe that the future of Pakistan is a bright one. Did you know that all of our literature in the early days used to come out of Pakistan? For instance in the U.K. the Pakistani immigrants that grew up there, in the seventies and eighties they translated a lot of books in Pakistan and India for their family and expatriates who were living in the U.K. Most of the literature from the sixties to the eighties came from Pakistan. You notice how I’m always wearing shalwar kameez? We studied the clothes all over the Islamic world, and we like the clothes of Pakistan more than any where else. We have a very close emotional tie to Pakistan. We know the country so well. We go there all the time. In fact, we used to think that the Islamic revolution would come out of Pakistan because of Jamat e Islami and Maulana Moudoodi. Even the food in our masjid, one of the dishes is from Pakistan, its hot and spicy and we love it. I think Pakistani food is some of the best in the world. We try the stuff we like and we pick it.

Islam times: Do you have message for the people of the Middle East in particular Palestine?

Imam Musa (h.a.):

We have immense respect for the people of Palestine. We have to apologize to them for not having the strength to help them against out mutual natural enemy the Zionist who are causing all this trouble in the U.S. Our message is the message of appreciation for keeping us strong. If they can survive all the hardship and return to Islam in great numbers then that gives us hope too. You know that the people of Palestine have come back to Islam and have rejected all other forms of political systems. They know that only Islam can save them from the Zionists.

Kashmir:

Same for the people of Kashmir who have had to put up with that Hindustani government and all the killings and rapes and assassinations. We are just overwhelmed by their ability to have Sabr (patience). That’s we are optimistic about Muslims and the Muslim world. We’ve gone through a long period of suffering and now thought its uphill we’re on our way. Because we had gone away from Islam and now we’re back.

They think they’re doing us wrong. They’re actually doing us a favor. They’re making Muslims work together. Whether in Iraq, Afghanistan or anywhere else, we respect and love all the brothers and all that they’ve had to put up with and have been able to survive.

Islam Times: would you say anything to President Barak Obama?

Imam Musa (h.a.):

I would say nothing. He’s their fool doing their job. He accepted the job because no one else would. He’s a damn fool. But, now, they’re beating up on him so bad that we feel sorry for him. The world hated America and Bush. He’s (Obama) is not a bad person. I don’t think he’s a natural killer like Bush. But, they made a fool out of him. They blame the whole world’s problems on him like he did it.
My advice to him is don’t run for office again in 2012. Let them have their Presidency. The system in the West is in decline. There is now way that you can cause it to help itself. Obama should go back to community organization. (Obama was a community activist before becoming involved in politics). The media is controlled by Zionists. Therefore, no politician can say that we have to do away with the air force, and close the military bases because we don’t have money to pay for it. The system won’t allow it. That’s why Obama should stay away. He should walk away and get back to helping his community.

If you would like to contact Imam Musa (h.a.) for speaking arrangements, lectures in your city or if you would like to contact him in general, you can email him at:

imammusa2009@hotmail.com