Hijrah to Greenland

One can choose to live in reality or not. There is one America in which there is a belief that walls can be built, technology allowing for rapid globalization can be reversed, and the nation can be demographically and culturally returned to the 1950s. Once that vision is entertained ideas like taking Greenland, annexing Canada, denaturalization, ending birthright citizenship, and blanket country bans are a logical extension.

There is another America that is more metropolitan, and increasingly suburban, that embraces the present and potential of a diverse society. When a Korea Town emerges in a place like suburban Carrollton, Texas they are excited and frequent the businesses. They take their friend to places like Eden Center in Northern Virginia to eat Vietnamese food when they visit from out of town. Excitedly try West Indian food in Crown Heights when they're in Brooklyn. Explore the literary traditions and emerging young writers and film from different cultures.

In one of these Americas if you seek to open a mosque there is seldom an issue. If there is an issue, it may be due to Muslim antisocial behavior, most notably, a complete refusal to adhere to parking and safety laws on Jummah and during Ramadan and Eid. In the other America, a proposed mosque will be met with protests, legal challenges, and bureaucratic opposition. Anyone who has studied American history, and is even vaguely conscious of the current political and social climate, could easily tell you that attempting to build a mosque in Hoover, Alabama or to construct a Muslim town in rural Texas is a recipe for disaster. Because STEM dominated Muslim leadership in the US is in possession of no such political and social intelligence or general awareness of the society they're living in, these mistakes continue to happen. After all, who is there to advise them? Overseas Madrassa grads who are only marginally aware of their local surroundings and student and progressive activists who worked very hard to help Donald Trump win the presidential election?

Blanket country bans on immigration will have a long-term very negative impact on the Muslim community. Do this experiment. Go a non Black American mosque, and then ask yourself this question, if everyone with an accent were to disappear, how many people would be here for prayers? For volunteering? Halal consumers to keep businesses afloat? In order to maintain current levels in the future, minus the steady waves of immigration over the past several decades, majority retention would be needed with the younger generations. Not retention in name, but retention in practice, in order for things to function, and that simply won't happen. Doors will be closed. People will drive by and say that building used to be a mosque. That boarded up storefront used to sell food from Bangladesh. Mosques won't disappear no more than the Thai and Cambodian communities will cease to exist, but the vibrancy created by new waves of fresh immigrants will blunt the energy and growth, intermarrying will increase, and eventually they'll look like the once vibrant German community of New York City.

Elections have consequences and political decisions have consequences. For those like me, with non-citizens in the family, who like traveling internationally and learning about the world, and are connected to the world religiously and socially, closing off from the world is a very bad development. Not just in terms of recognizing this is bad for society- it's also bad for us as individuals and families. I would imagine many of the loud and profane Muslim activists convinced of their own intelligence, despite no evidence to support this position, may now have family negatively impacted by recent immigration changes. Of course, those my age, saw this film in 2000 as well. No lessons were learned and no lessons will ever be learned. At some point, an individual is who they are, and a community is what it is. Political engagement only results in headaches. Medicine exists, of course, such as self-imposed boycotts on any Muslim event where there is even a hint of political discussion and learning what masjids not to attend.

In the America living in reality real questions are being asked. Who will protect our social security? Medicare? Medicaid? General health care access? Create jobs? Invest in our lagging infrastructure? Modernize our decaying airports? Address issues of housing? Fight discrimination in the workplace? Expand public education? Embrace a diverse society and our immigrant populations? Invest in public safety?

They aren't sitting around bullshiting about long gone religious empires (of which few read the academic history and have any real understanding), hopped up on revolutionary violence that they'll never participate in or receive the negative consequences from, or entertaining ideologies that died with the Cold War. They also aren't weighed down by the neurotic quackery of the Great Awokening and the moronic liberal prestige books of the era, social media hysteria, and weird theories that have been popularized in the past decade by nonprofits, academics, and others.

To be rooted in reality means you're seeking solutions in your everyday life, your family, your workplace, and your politics. How is politics different? It isn't marriage. Unless you're running, you will never agree with a candidate on everything. If you do agree with any candidate on everything it probably means you aren't very smart and lack the ability to analyze anything for yourself. Or you're just a joiner and like belonging. A follower. Perhaps your personal politics gives you an identity or you see it as giving you status. Not a lot of thinking needed in that case. Fox News and MSNBC caters to such brain dead Americans. Full agreement isn't needed for support. The only question needed to be asked is if candidate A will do less harm than candidate B. Not that they'll do no harm, because all humans will do harm. Will they do less harm? That's it. Muslims claiming that they are morally and spiritually so elevated that they cannot bring themselves to think on such a utilitarian level need to get over themselves. The same people, normally based on fake histories and the misreading of history, idolize past Muslim rulers who were capable of the kind of violence and repression that absolutely no one in American politics is capable of today. Many also gladly support authoritarians in Muslim-majority societies who are not supportive of minority rights there. This is ignorance combined with hypocrisy and narcissistic impulses.

You can have a narrow vision in life or a broader vision. Muslims are a very small percentage of the American population and really not that relevant outside of a handful of metropolitan areas. It would be foolish to think of only this small population when organizing and voting. In fact, looking at last behavior, the most wise course of action is to ignore this community as a collective when organizing while embracing individuals. When you see things broadly you're looking at the Black community, Hispanics, Asian Americans, working-class white Americans, the indigenous, and others.

The question you have to ask yourself is who can do the most good and the least harm? Not who you love. Not who you can't disagree with or fight with. In this sense, politics may be like a marriage, because, on the day of your marriage, you have signed an pact with an opponent you will argue with for the rest of your life. These arguments shouldn't end in divorce. Only positioning, repositioning, negotiation, and compromise. These are things you can do when you're on the same team.

For the others, Hijrah to Greenland is an option. Pack your winter coats. As for me, I don't like cold weather. I recognized this about myself a long time ago and didn't forget last November.

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