Muslims look to 2000: although few in number and new to the political game, American Muslims are organizing with the intent of influencing the next election — and gaining what they believe is long-overdue respect

0 Comments | Insight on the News, June 21, 1999 | by Larry Witham

Muslims will show their voting power and policy concerns in 2000, according to the American Muslim Political Coordinating Council, which announced its formation at a recent Washington conference of the American Muslim Council.

"There wasn't a single large mosque in California that did not participate in voter registration in 1998," says Agha Saeed, president of the American Muslim Alliance. "There has been a tremendous institutional change."

According to Saeed, the council is working to develop a coherent strategy for 2000 that will appeal to the estimated 6 million Muslims and 2 million Arabs who are U.S. citizens. The council also is lobbying for more government policy positions for Muslims and Arabs.

During the American Muslim Council's four-day meeting in the nation's capital, Muslim leaders met with notables such as National Security Adviser Samuel R. Berger and the Rev. Jesse Jackson. Iran's ambassador to the United Nations, Hadi Nejad Hosseinian, was slated to appear at a forum on U.S.-Iran relations, but the State Department rescinded his permission to travel to the Sheraton Crystal City Hotel in Northern Virginia, venue of the convention. The Clinton administration changed its mind under pressure from U.S. groups that believe normalized relations with Iran threatens Israel, according to Anisa Abdel Fattah, host for the canceled forum. "It's not American for one group to shut down the event of another group," she says.

But James Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute, suggests that American Muslims who press an international agenda only slow their domestic goals. "I don't think a Muslim agenda for 2000 should include any foreign-policy issues," he says. Muslims should stick to "overarching themes" such as human rights, rather than enter divisive specifics in one country or another.

And among domestic issues "worth fighting for," according to Zogby, is a "special facility" at public schools for students who fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan while others eat lunch in the cafeteria. Muslims also should urge Congress to make Islam's two holiest days -- Eid al-Fitr that ends Ramadan and Eid al-Adha that ends the hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca -- school holidays.

Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform, who addressed the council, says Muslims are "very entrepreneurial" and should be concerned about overtaxation and the rights of business owners. He also touts the pro-immigration center of the Republican Party, as well as the reports among industry leaders that immigration is one of the few solutions to future labor shortages.

Muslim activists have organized 20 council chapters in the United States, but the Islamic Society of North America, a mosque-based association, is larger. The council draws about 500 leaders to its annual meeting, compared with 5,000 participants at the society's yearly gathering.