JOAN - thanks very much for your invitation to join this discussion. Wish I'd known about it when it began. There is so much for all of us to consider about Zeitoun's behavior and the manner in which he set out to explore after the catastrophe. Why he was suspicious to officials?
Why did he have cash in his pockets, when so many folks carry little if any cash these days? Was his personal manner (or skin color or tone of voice) considered suspicious? If so, why. Perhaps because he did NOT have that well-known New Orleans style of speaking?
ELLA - it's good to read your very detailed comments about the Muslims in the USA. Surely, you (and others) should be suspicious if an event like what Zeitoun experienced happened in your area. I was in the metropolitan Washington DC area on the day of 9/11. I had many friends working at the Pentagon. Boy, did I go into "controlled panic mode" as my son (who was in another area of the USA on that day) stayed on our cell phones most of the day with each other.
The misunderstanding, suspicions and/or absolute lack of knowledge about Muslims in the USA affects folks in a range of ways. Some want to learn more about the faith and culture from which these folks come - Islam is NOT practiced the same world-wide, although that is generally NOT well known to non-Muslims.
Personal behavior - a sense of quietness (verbally and/or body movement), unwillingness to make direct eye contact while interacting with folks, the idea of a woman wearing a scarf on her head, when others do not, or behavior in any way noticeably different from one's own can always be a bit off-setting. Your comments n the above posts are important in that they outline many of the areas in which Muslims in the USA (and other Western countries, France included most recently) are NOT well understood. Or in some cases NOT understood at all.
CAROLYN - your comments about customs in your country are equally important as they lend an excellent opportunity to learn about issues, people and behavior by a range of folks outside the West. And through the years you have had an excellent opportunity to learn first-hand about Muslim culture as have I.
Some posters may recall that my husband is an Egyptian Muslim (currently in the USA on a leave of absence from his home university outside Cairo). And although I am a native Californian, a Christian and the mother of a Christian U.S. Army Chaplain (currently deployed in Iraq), I've spent a number of years focused professionally on the Middle East, Central Asia and the Muslim communities world-wide.
When JOAN invited me to participate in this discussion and offer some comments, I was happy to do so. Taken to the basics, Zeitoun is one Muslim; his own cultural and family background in his native country must be factored into his behavior. NOT ONLY the fact that he is a Muslim.
ELLA - back to some of your comments, which make perfect sense to me as I have encountered many folks in the USA and abroad who pose the same (or similar thoughts) about Islam and its believers, whether pertaining to religious, family, dress or the modesty encouraged for women, they are ALL important thoughts to share with others.
An example: I wonder how many Western women realize that there is an ENORMOUS sector of business WOMEN in Saudi Arabia - THE most conservative Islamic country in the world - yet many of these women, who are NOT permitted by Saudi law to hold a driver's license, are multi-millionaires (perhaps a few billionaires) and hold regular jobs. They just are NOT visible in public in the way that our female business executives are! They have enormous business powers, but again NOT IN PUBLIC, thus adhering to the custom that Muslimas (female Muslims) are NOT to be "viewed" publicly.
The idea of some of our female government representatives (Hilary Clinton comes readily to mind) wear headscarves when meeting with conservative MALE representatives should NOT be construed as "bending" to the males, but simply as a sign of courtesy AND recognition of the conservative female culture in the male representative's culture. It's simply polite to do so. I've worn head scarves worldwide when I was working for exactly the same reason. And I took off my shoes several times when I entered the Women's sector of an Islamic mosque.
Simply out of courtesy for the tradition!
Being respectful of others does NOT mean "giving in" or "bending" to customs that are not our own.
Perhaps as the discussion continues about this one book, some of the posters here might like to glance at the list of titles I posted earlier today in the SeniorLearn site where I inquired if there would be any discussions on various aspects of Islam and Muslims. Sure wish I had known about THIS discussion earlier, but it's a pleasure to have been invited to do so tonight.
And the insightful comments here remind of the classes I used to teach at my former home University in Maryland. After retirement, I continued many of those classes for the Egyptian Cultural Bureau in Washington DC and as seminars for other diplomatic sites in the area as their staff welcomed new colleagues to Washington who needed to know about their Muslim colleagues.
It's good to be back among posters with whom I've interacted for many years (in the former SN site as well as the new ones) and to share your enjoyment of continued learning of world issues.
Mahlia
