Walking While Moslem

In Beijing this morning, President Bush attended Church and said upon leaving "My hope is that the government of China will not fear Christians who gather to worship openly" An admirable message, especially when considering where it was delivered.

I thought about the rights of ordinary law abiding US Moslem citizens. As it has become increasingly difficult for US Moslem to do exactly, what Mr. Bush is advocating for Christians in the China.

Consider Zakat, giving alms to the poor, one of the five fundamental pillars of Islam, and a duty for every Moslem. Regardless of State, Federal, City or other earthly taxes, Moslems are required to pay 2.5% of their liquid assets to the poor, every year.

Giving to charity is a way of life in the US. People give freely to any cause they champion. Citizens do it freely and without second thoughts. Status of Moslem Charity organizations is now questionable, due to the draconian aspects of parts of the "Patriot Act" And for the future, what will be the status of any given Moslem Charity, long after Zakat has been donated? And how will donors be considered then?

This may sound paranoid, but paranoia is a constant state of mind of any ordinary law abiding Moslems living in the US. Consider the case of Shaheen, an Afghan American, who was caught in the twisted mentality of ethnic profiling.

His story was told on National Public Radio's program "This American Life", episode 288 , Act One, which aired on May 6, 2005. I urge you to listen to this bizarre and compelling story. He was suspected of "loitering" in a neighborhood, where the daughter of Defense Secretary's Rumsfeld lives or lived at the time of his arrest. All he did was walk, walk while being a Moslem.