BULLSHIT! They are a bigger threat than the Warsaw Pact EVER was!
*American Muslims are spreading a message: We are not a threat * - By Joanne Kimberlin The Virginian-Pilot <https://pilotonline-dot-com.bloxcms-ny1.com/users/profile/joanne%20kimberlin> Other than ugly phone messages left at the Norfolk mosque (*“You want a war? We’ll give you a war!”*), local Islamic worship houses say they’re faring OK in these days of anti-Muslim backlash. But the people are still spooked. Terrorist attacks in Paris and California have ratcheted suspicion and resentment to levels not seen since 9/11. Things were so bad then, recalls Rajeeb Islam, a paramedic in Virginia Beach, that his last name and brown skin prompted a man who was having a heart attack to refuse Islam’s help. “So I stayed with him until someone else came,” Islam said. “I couldn’t leave my patient.” The flames died down in time. People started looking at each other like simple neighbors again. Christians, Muslims, Jews, whatever. But now, local Muslims – about 4,000 live in Hampton Roads – say the hard looks and sidelong glances have returned. National headlines tell of virulent anti-Muslim protests, calls for a registry and an immigration ban, and mosques being defaced. Two weeks ago, a gun-toting college president in Lynchburg made threatening remarks before a cheering crowd. Ordinary Muslims are tempted to keep their heads down. Leaders of the faith say the vast majority of the world’s 1.6 billion Muslims follow a moderate form of Islam. They say fanatics have hijacked their religion, murdering innocents in its name. “What they’re doing is so terrible we *have* to come out of our shells,” said Rachid Khould, the imam – or pastor – of the Crescent Community Center on Lynnhaven Parkway in Virginia Beach. “Many Muslims,” Khould said, “have been speaking out, but not enough. Not loud enough. We don’t even know who these terrorists are, but they’re twisted in the head. Islam is a religion of the middle. There are 6 million Muslims in the U.S. If they all believed in killing people, can you imagine the murders?” *Khould, 53, hails* from Morocco but has lived in the U.S for nearly 30 years, most of it in Virginia Beach. Lately, he’s become part of an American Muslim movement to get the word out: We are not a threat. Khould goes to churches, synagogues, civic groups – just about anywhere he's invited. He gives a "Muslim 101" speech, then answers questions. At a recent meeting of the Virginia Beach Human Rights Commission, Khould reported that members of his flock have twice called authorities on men who visited the mosque spouting an “aggressive” brand of Islam. “We are all citizens here,” he said. “Our children go to school with your children. We ride the same buses. Shop at the same stores. We are on your side. Whatever hurts you, hurts us.” Every time a mass shooting unfolds: “I’m watching the news and thinking, ‘Please, *please* don’t let it be a Muslim.’ When it is, I’m so angry. I don’t want to believe anyone from my faith could do such a thing. No prophet ever came to create havoc and slaughter people. But here we go again.” To combat radicalism in its own ranks, the mosque in Hampton has put its young people to work building an interactive website that teaches “true Islam” and keeps them connected with rational minds. “As we know, groups like ISIS are recruiting through social media networking,” said Ahmed Noor, a trustee of the Mosque and Islamic Center of Hampton Roads, near Langley Air Force Base. “So we have to do something that older people might not find traditional.” Lessons at the mosque emphasize community service, optimism, hope and critical thinking. “We don’t just teach you to pray, but why you pray,” Noor said. “Faith does not mean blind faith. Question everything. If ISIS says to blow yourself up, remember that your life is worth something. And the Holy Book is very explicit against such things.” The Hampton mosque, opened in 1984, invites non-Muslims to drop in any time and hosts regular get-to-know-us sessions. Words like “jihad” and “radical Muslim” are too easy “for people to just repeat without thinking,” Noor said. “That doesn’t help any of us.” *Fear and hysteria* feed on the unknown, says Andrew Arroyo, an associate professor at Norfolk State University with a specialty in religion. “It’s easy for that to be exploited – fear-mongering – for some political or other gain,” Arroyo said. As for terrorists, they’re more like gang members – “the power-hungry corrupting a religion in order to gain more power,” Arroyo said. “They equally go after their so-called own people. That’s who's bearing the true brunt of all this: Middle Easterners and Muslims.” American Muslims, in particular, are called “coconuts” by the extremists. “Brown on the outside, but white on the inside,” said Islam, the Virginia Beach paramedic. Islam, 35, has roots in Bangladesh but has lived in Hampton Roads since he was 2. A captain with Virginia Beach’s Emergency Medical Services Department, he serves on a national disaster response team and has two master’s degrees – one in homeland security and preparedness. After 9/11, he remembers rushing up to the Pentagon, where he was placed in charge of a detachment of ambulances: “I’ll never forget the silence when they said ‘Commander Islam.’ You could have heard a pin drop in that room.” Now: “It does feel like post-9/11 times again.” One of his daughters – he’s a father of four – had her first brush with anti-Muslim sentiment at middle school the other day. “Another student told her, 'I don’t like your religion.’ She told him he’s entitled to his opinion and she’s entitled to hers.” Islam said he does believe the moderates must mobilize, or “the word ‘extremist’ will be synonymous with ‘Islam’ and ‘Muslim’ for generations to come. “We need to pipe up and stop being the quiet person. I’ve seen quiet. All it does is give substance to the fringe groups who are doing all these acts.” *At the Norfolk* mosque on 49th Street near Old Dominion University, the man who answered the phone didn't want his name used in this story. "I have a family," he said. "I worry about them." After the latest terrorist attacks, someone threw a cup of soda out a truck window as he and his wife were locking up the mosque's front door one evening. It landed just a few feet away from them. Accident or intentional? "Who knows?" he said. A half-dozen or so nasty messages have been left on the mosque's answering machine. Mostly profanity-laced rants: "*Go back to your 7th-century country where you belong."* But an equal number have been "messages of goodwill. Non-Muslims who called to offer support. To ask if there's anything they can do." One was from a serviceman. "He said a lot of people in military are disgusted by the anti-Muslim stuff being circulated." Another was from a woman who wants to get a solidarity campaign rolling. She hopes to persuade non-Muslim women to wear the traditional headscarves of Muslim woman in a show of support. "I can't imagine she'll have much luck," said the man at the mosque. 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