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Book Review
The Muslim Vote: Counts and Recounts
by Tahir Ali
Dr. Shahid Sheikh
Tahir Ali’s eminent standing in the National Republican Party as well as the Muslim community has enabled him to forge working relationships, close ties and even life-long friendships with great many local and national political leaders of all stripes and colors. These potent and intricate web of connections and friendships afford him extraordinary opportunities to be a vigilant participant/observer of innumerable behind-the-scene political activities in the Muslim community as well as watershed media events that have since become highly celebrated landmarks in the Muslim-Americans’ political history.
By leading the reader into the hearts and minds of Muslim leaders and activists, Ali in his recently released book, “The Muslim Vote: Counts and Recounts,” provides a lucid and juicy eyewitness account of the behind-the-scene community interactions, deliberations and hotly debated political strategies that culminated in the famous Boston fundraiser for U.S. Senate candidate First Lady Hillary Clinton on June 13, 2000 held by the American Muslim Alliance. It was the first time ever that such a high-profile political figure attended a Muslim public event, acknowledging the Muslim-Americans a noteworthy national political force. Later, she returned a $50,000 contribution from the fundraiser when her opponent Rick Lazio accused her in the media of accepting “blood money.” Clinton dropped the AMA money after finding passages on its Web site claiming Palestinians had the right to use armed force against Israel. (The claim is from a 1976 United Nations General Assembly resolution on self-determination.)
The lessons learned from the fundraiser and its aftermath are still being hotly debated by the Muslim-American leadership. Ali generously shares his invaluable insights in the American political process and system that he gained during the process and afterwards and sincerely hopes that they “serve as a blue print for all minorities in American that aspire to political participation in the American system.”
Ali’s close ties with American Muslim Alliance, having served in its top leadership positions, makes him almost myopic to the great direct and indirect contributions (to the Muslim bloc movement) of a great many local and national Muslim civil-- and human rights organizations—such as, American Muslim Council, Muslim Public Affairs Council, Muslim Students Association, The Council on American-Islamic Relations, Islamic Circle of North America, Islamic Society of North America—and their leaders and others, for instance, Nihad Awad, Yahya Mossa Basha, Maher Hathout, Abdurahman Alamoudi, Mehdi Bray, Dr. Sami Al-Arain, Mazen Al-Najjar and M.T. Mehdi. Without them, the Muslim bloc vote movement would not have existed, let alone snowball and gaining momentum in the Muslim communities across the nation, making the Muslim-Americans an indispensable part of the U.S. political map.
Despite all the above omissions, Ali provides an in-depth account of the processes and strategies that culminated in the endorsement of Bush for president in October 2000 by the now defunct American Muslim Political Coordinating Council Political Action Committee, a coalition of four major American Muslim organizations. Bush earned their endorsement because of his public opposition to the issues of secret evidence and racial profiling and his outreach to the Muslim community during his campaign.
After the endorsement, an estimated 78 percent of registered Muslim voters cast a Republican vote in November 2000. This came after voting three-to-one for the Democratic Clinton-Gore ticket in 1996. In Florida, an estimated 60,000 of the 100,000 eligible Muslim voters supported Bush as part of an alliance endorsed voting bloc. Declared as the "winner" in Florida by only 537 votes by the United States Supreme Court, George W. Bush thus became the 43rd president of the United States of America. What ensued for the Muslim-Americans in the post-9/11 era under the oppressive policies of the Bush Administration, have led many Muslims to question the alliance’s endorsement ability and wisdom. They feel that the alliance did not conduct a rigorous search on his background, religious beliefs and political motivations and aspirations. Ali, however, does not acknowledge this controversy and does not hint about the procedures for future endorsements.
Despite this thoroughly documented milestone, Ali leaves out another important controversy--the disenfranchisement of indigenous Muslim groups during the endorsement process. One such group representing a number of African-American Muslims, the Coalition for Good Government, was vehemently opposed to the Bush endorsement. The bitter memory of their outrage at being excluded is still a source of reflection among the Muslim leadership. Nonetheless, “Muslim Vote: Counts and Recounts” remains the only document which memorializes the American-Muslims’ search for political identity through a bloc vote movement that came into existence almost a decade ago.
One would expect a Muslim civil-rights champion like Ali to be extremely critical of the Bush Administration’s anti-Muslim policies in the post-9/11 era, but like all politicians, Ali avoids these political “hot potatoes.” He does not seriously mention or discuss the perennial issue of secret evidence and profiling of the Muslim-Americans by law-enforcements agencies, the USA Patriot Act, secret detentions and deportations of thousands of Muslims, sustained vitriolic anti-Muslim campaign in the media and Muslims’ deafening silence, rising job discrimination against Muslims, prison abuse, homeless mothers and children of the detainees and deportees, Muslim orphans being placed in non-Muslim homes, illegal closing and scrutiny of over 26 national Muslim charities, etc.
Ali vehemently denies the validity of the above-mentioned criticism by stating for the record that the bulk of this book was written prior to 9/11, and his busy schedule prevented him from updating it. Had he had the time, says Ali in earnest, he would have discussed in detail all these matters, issues and concerns now facing the Muslim-American communities. The book was officially published in 2004.
Despite all its flaws and delimitations, avoidance and suppression of issues, concerns and sometimes outright omission of facts, “The Muslim Vote: Counts and Recounts,” is still a major breakthrough among books written about Muslim-Americans because it is a serious attempt to document the political history of Muslim-Americans.
The writer is executive director of the New York City-based American Educational Research Institute and the moderator of http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Muslim-Americans. He can be reached at aeriusa@hotmail.com.
Product Details:
ISBN: 1556053533
Format: Paperback, 302pp
Pub. Date: January 2004
Publisher: Wyndham Hall Press
Price: Hard cover $ 42, paperback $28.00 - price includes shipping and handling.
September 27, 2004
The Muslim Vote: Counts and Recounts
Summary of the book:
To have any influence on Capitol Hill, it is imperative for those communities entering into the political arena to be armed with a basic understanding of politics. They need to know how the system works. They need to know, for example, that the U.S Congress is the vital center of policy-making. The outcome of the battles on the Floor affects the lives of people living in and outside U.S. borders.
In the past, to put them on the U.S. political map, many communities in America struggled to climb up the "Hill". Hardly, any one made it lickety-split to the top, and even today it continues to be an uphill battle.
The American Muslims, a vibrant community, started their journey more than a decade ago. A significant milestone in that journey was the Boston fund raiser held on June 13, 2000 for the former First Lady, Hillary Rodham Clinton. This was the first time ever, such a high-profile political figure attended a Muslim public event. Hillary's presence at the event was a clear indication that astute politicians were beginning to recognize the emergence of the American Muslims as a new political constituency. But a few months later under intense pressures from her opponent Hillary Clinton decided to return contributions made by some of her Muslim donors. This was a moment of truth for America as an open society and Hillary as a main stream politician. At stake was the freedom of speech, on one hand, and equal access on the other. This episode is better understood in terms of the unintended rather than the intended consequences. If the intention was to stigmatize some Muslim organizations and to seek their exclusion from the political process, the unintended consequences led to 1) further isolation and ultimate defeat of Rick Lazio, 2) brought national attention to Muslim voters and organizations which showed them to be quite modern, moderate and mainstream, and 3) refocused the question of equal access to politics.
Even today, most people do not recognize the implicit connection between the Muslim Bloc Vote and the electoral controversy in Hillary Clinton's senate election in New York.
American Muslims decided to fight back. The 800,000 Muslim New Yorkers succeeded in help defeat the all-weather bigot Rick Lazio by helping to elect the fair-weather liberal Hillary Clinton. Despite intense pressure candidate George W. Bush did not return the Muslim endorsement and ultimately richly benefited from this decision. Consequently, in the year 2000 the Muslim bloc vote caused Governor George W. Bush to become the President of United States. The American Muslims thus succeeded putting themselves on the political map. Then came the USA Patriot Act; which caused a major obstacle for Muslim voters who once again decided to fight back by forming civil rights coalition all over the United States.
This book, while exposing superficial images and stereotypes, gives a detailed account of the community life and political activities of the American Muslims, with focus on the 2000 bloc vote, post 9/11 for healing and harmony and new strategy for 2004 elections.
About the author:
Born in Pakistan in 1949, Mr. Tahir Ali came to America in 1974. He obtained a Master’s degree in engineering from McGill University in Montreal, Canada in 1977. He is married with a daughter and two sons, all born and raised in America. The younger of the two sons died of leukemia at the age of nine.
Mr. Ali has affiliations with the American Muslim Alliance, having served as the Massachusetts chairman and as media and PR chairman on the national level.
As a former trustee chairman of the Islamic Society of Greater Worcester, he has been instrumental in renovating the Islamic center from an abandoned church to a lively Mosque.
He is the author of many articles published in various Muslim magazines, newspapers and websites. He is often called upon as a guest speaker at Muslim national and local conventions and conferences, including MIT and Harvard.
His political activities include fundraising for Hillary Clinton, former First Lady and U.S. Senator from New York; Michigan Congressman David Bonoir; hosting meetings among Muslim and political figures; and 1992 Republican National Delegate/Alternate-at-large from Massachusetts. He has received key-to-the-city from the Mayor of Worcester in recognition of his exhaustive community service. His name is engraved on the founder’s wall honoring President Ronald Reagan at the Republican center.
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