DAR AL HARB - U.S.A. - TEXAS: MOST MOSLEM IMMIGRANTS HAVE NO DESIRE TO ASSIMILATE IN AMERICA, THEY WANT TO ISLAMIZE IT

Muslim call to prayer an alarm
Americans had best heed

Muslim muezzins (pronounced myoo ez-ins) are a unique fraternity. They call the faithful to prayer five times a day.

The first time I heard one, I was in northern Galilee, trying to study. The man in the minaret had a bullhorn.

The student next to me whispered, "What is he saying?"

"He's welcoming me to his country," I whispered back.

Since then, I've learned to take Muslims and their muezzins more seriously. In his book "America Alone," author Mark Steyn writes, "Someday soon, you might wake up to the call to prayer from a muezzin. Europeans already are."

A few years ago, I would have scoffed at the idea of muezzins plying their trade on the High Plains. Not now. Not after witnessing Islamic anger firsthand. I'm convinced more than ever that it's just a matter of time before we're waking up to their shrill call to prayer.

After four years of direct contact with Middle Eastern Muslim immigrants, I've concluded that most of them are committed to transforming American culture. Most of the ones I've interacted with are not interested in assimilation into American culture.

I came to this opinion slowly, gradually. The first time I considered the idea was in 2001, shortly after Sept. 11. I was speaking to an English as a Second Language class, explaining that there were still people trapped beneath the rubble of the Twin Towers. When I told the group that these people were using their cell phones to say goodbye to their families, the Muslims laughed. They thought it was funny.

I suggested it was inappropriate to laugh at such things. One of them sneered and said something in Arabic to the others.

Again, my opinions about Muslims have been shaped by direct experience, firsthand knowledge. I've had Muslims into my home on several occasions. I've been in their homes. I've helped them with numerous tasks outside the classroom.

What I've seen and heard has convinced me that Middle Eastern Muslim immigrants don't want to be part of our culture - they want to transform it.

Once, during school, a roar ricocheted through the building and into the room I was in. I rushed to my door, looked out and saw a Muslim student with eyes bulging, looming over my small, quaking colleague. His chest heaved like bellows. Spittle lined the sides of his mouth. His teeth were clenched, his jaws rippling.

My frightened coworker refused to look at him, so he screamed again in an attempt to resolve his problem. She was silent. He muttered something in an unknown tongue and roared.

This wasn't the first time this man had done this. Apparently, he believes women deserve to be verbally abused when his needs aren't met. Regrettably, my colleague and I placated the apoplectic student instead of calling the campus police.

Some may say these are mere anecdotes, fodder for a political tract. But this is the consistent behavior of the Muslims I have come into contact with during the past five years. Recently, I had to catch a flight out of Amarillo. While standing in line to have my boarding pass and identification checked, I noticed that the security clerk behind the podium was of Middle Eastern descent. He had the black hair, dark skin and familiar accent of my students.
I smiled and asked, "Where are you from?"

He stared and said, "Where are you from?"

"Sacramento," I replied.

He smirked. "That is where I am from then."

Part of my problem is that I want to think the best of Middle Easterners. And that makes me kind of na�ve. I wasn't certain whether this guy was being a smart aleck until I looked at my boarding pass. He had written something in Arabic on it.

"What is this?" I asked.

He smiled and said, "English," then turned to help another customer.

I went through security and notified the supervisor. I'm uncertain if anything was done.
Are my numerous unpleasant encounters unrelated flukes or part of a consistent pattern of behavior characteristic to a particular group - Middle Eastern Muslim men?

My experience lends itself to another question: Can America insist that Muslims homogenize?
What if they refuse, as they have already done in Ontario, Canada? The Islamic community there demanded that sharia be recognized as a legitimate form of civil law, and the provincial government acquiesced.

Still unconvinced?

Reference the recent story about the basins installed at Kansas City International Airport so Muslims can wash their feet before prayer. Whatever happened to so-called separation of church and state?

Our commitment to multiculturalism and tolerance is giving an Islamic republic the opportunity to establish itself on American soil.

It already has happened in Europe - because Europeans slept through the muezzins' call to prayer.


Pertinent Links:

1) Muslim call to prayer an alarm