Washington Post columnist argues Muslims shouldn’t have to assimilate in America
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Washington Post columnist Shadi Hamid argues that Muslims do not need to assimilate in America.
“Assimilation defense… Look how well integrated we are – is satisfying to do. But it accepts a proposition that I no longer accept: A minority community’s right to be in the United States depends on its willingness to engage with the cultural mainstream. It shouldn’t depend on that. It shouldn’t depend on anything.” Hamid wrote Wednesday.
Hamid, who is Muslim, responded to rhetoric from GOP lawmakers such as Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., who wrote about
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Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., made headlines last month when he said “Muslims do not belong in American society.” (Heather Diehl/Getty Images)
“Research conducted over the last decade has shown that American Muslims is patriotic, civically engaged And more likely It’s more than just the US public saying that political violence can never be justified. You’d think that would be enough. But it doesn’t have to be that way. “This is where it gets disturbing, at least for me,” Hamid told readers, citing various data.
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“Muslims like that is different in certain respects. How could they not?” he later wrote: “Islam shapes its adherents’ ideas about family, sexuality, and what it means to live a good life. Simply put, Islam is also a more public religion than Christianity. Muslim prayer is visually striking and often communal. “If a Muslim does not drink alcohol or fast during Ramadan, this will be more noticed by others.”
Hamid continued: “Moreover, practicing Muslims cannot reject ‘sharia’ even if they wanted to – despite being repeatedly asked to do so. Sharia, roughly translated as Islamic law, includes rules on how to pray, fast, and what it means to surrender to God in daily practice.”
Washington Post columnist Shadi Hamid argued that Muslims should not have to assimilate in America. (Serhat Çağdaş/Anadolu Agency, via Getty Images)
The Post columnist insisted that Muslims are “increasingly integrated into American civic life” while maintaining religious allegiances to other minority groups, prompting the question “Why do Muslims have to be like everyone else?” He said it brought the question to mind. He went on to cite data showing that Catholic rates within the Latino community have dropped dramatically and that “American acceptance” has led to a decline in the Jewish population in the United States and increased intermarriage rates.
“What strikes me about these stories is how similar they are to each other,” Hamid wrote. “The deal is always the same: You can stay, but you must be less yourself. Less obviously Muslim, less traditionally Jewish, less well-known Latino. Aspects of your faith and culture (the things that make your society a community rather than a collection of individuals) are seen as obstacles to true Americanness. Left and right reinforce this expectation. The right says: Assimilate or get out. The left, more gently: Assimilate and we will celebrate you. But the bottom line is this: the same.”
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Hamid called Islam “a more public religion than Christianity” and said Muslim prayer was “visually striking and often communal.” (Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images)
Hamid argued that Muslim Americans are “more resistant to the secular pull of American culture” and that their defense “should not be based on how ‘mainstream’ they are.”
“A Muslim who prays five times a day and believes homosexuality is a sin is no less American than a Muslim who drinks alcohol and hasn’t been to a mosque in years. An evangelical Christian who believes marriage is between a man and a woman and homeschools his children is no less American than a mainline Protestant who marches in Pride parades. These are deep disagreements about how to live, and a country serious about pluralism should not treat them as problems to be solved.” he wrote.
He added: “America was not founded on the assumption that its citizens would eventually agree on fundamental questions. It was founded on the more radical premise that they would not: People who disagree about God, religion, and the good life might already share a country. Not because they would unite over time, but because convergence is beside the point. The question is not whether Muslims, Jews, or Latinos will change. They will. The question is whether America will let them do it on their own terms.”
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