Campaign Highlights Muslims’ Quandary

Ask Baltimore’s Earl El-Amin about his choice for president and he’s quick to say that party labels have little to do with his selection process.

“I’m not a Democrat or a Republican. I’m a Muslim. That means if the candidate is aligned with my religious beliefs, I vote for them,” said El-Amin, who works on juvenile justice issues for Maryland Gov. Parris Glendening, a Democrat.

Because Muslim religious beliefs cut across party lines and the liberal-conservative divide, this year’s presidential race highlights the political predicament faced by El-Amin and millions of Islamic voters across the nation.

American Muslims are members of a fast-growing faith that is struggling for mainstream acceptance and a place on the national political stage. Their political concerns are so varied that neither of the two leading candidates--President Bill Clinton and former Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole--is a clear favorite among Muslim voters.

“There is absolutely no such thing as a monolithic Muslim voting bloc,” said Salam Al-Marayati, director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council in Los Angeles.

“With the Jewish community, there’s a consensus of agreement on the need to support Israel. Muslims may have an emotional feeling about Bosnia or Palestine because Muslims are involved, but there’s no real consensus. The community’s just too diverse,” he said.

About 40% of the nation’s 3 million to 6 million Muslims are African Americans. Most of the rest are relatively recent immigrants.

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One-quarter of the Muslim population is of South Asian descent--mostly Indian and Pakistani--and about 12% trace their roots to Arab nations. The remainder are Iranians, black Africans, Afghanis, Indonesians, Malaysians, Turks, Albanians and others. This mix of ethnic, racial and cultural backgrounds is reflected in the broad range of Muslim political viewpoints.

“Muslims can be compared to Catholics,” said Sulayman Nyang, a professor of African studies at Washington’s Howard University and a close observer of American Muslims. “They are as different as Mexican American Catholics in Southern California are from Polish and Italian Catholics in Chicago or Philadelphia.”

Muslims from the Middle East, for example, follow closely what Clinton and Dole have to say about the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians--and are generally disappointed by both candidates, who they say show favoritism toward Israel to attract the votes of American Jews.

But for South Asian Muslims, the more important foreign policy issue is Kashmir, the Muslim state that Hindu India and Muslim Pakistan have fought over repeatedly. On this issue, Nyang said, the Republicans’ Cold War tilt toward Pakistan plays well among Pakistani-born American Muslims, but Muslims from India view the Republicans with suspicion for the same reason.

African American Muslims, on the other hand, tend to focus on domestic issues, particularly those that affect inner-city communities.

“My heart goes out to Muslims in Lebanon, but that’s not the main issue for me,” said Melvin Bilal, an African American Muslim who ran as a Republican for lieutenant governor of Maryland in 1986 and lost. “We’re from here.”

Domestic issues can also divide the Muslim community.

African American Muslims tend to support increased aid to public schools, for example, because most send their children to public schools. That position puts them in conflict with many suburban, white-collar South Asian immigrants who want Washington to approve a school voucher plan that would help pay their children’s private school tuition.

However, two common threads tend to bind American Muslims together politically.

The first is their deep conservatism on matters of personal morality, a reflection of Islam’s traditional teachings. Muslims generally oppose abortion and homosexual rights and support positions that they feel will strengthen families.

“Middle-class Muslims in particular see themselves as defenders of morality,” Nyang said.

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The second is a desire to see Islam accepted as a major American faith. Through conversions and immigration, Islam--often called the fastest-growing religion in America--is expected soon to surpass Judaism as the nation’s largest non-Christian faith.

Still, Los Angeles Muslim leader Al-Marayati said, “all this talk about how fast we’re growing hasn’t translated into political influence yet. Muslim political development in the United States is still embryonic. We’re still the new kid on the block.”

Muslim social conservatism works in favor of Republican candidate Dole because Muslims perceive his party to have a corner on family values.

Working against Dole, however, is the feeling of some Muslims that the GOP is taking too harsh an approach to cutting welfare and other public-assistance programs. While Islam teaches self-reliance, it also stresses compassion and social justice.

“Muslims are Republicans on family values,” Nyang said, “but Democrats on social welfare.”

Muslims--particularly the nearly 60% who hail from immigrant families--are also put off by Republican efforts to reduce immigration and limit immigrants’ participation in American benefit programs.

In addition, many Muslims are concerned about the influence they feel conservative Christians exert over the Republican Party. Muslims fear that evangelical Christians regard their growing numbers as a threat.

In February, the White House hosted its first-ever reception to mark the Muslim feast of Eid al-Fitr, which signals the end of the holy month of Ramadan. First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton called the Eid celebration “an American event.”

Her words spoke directly to the Muslim community’s desire for full acceptance. Even Republican Bilal said he was impressed by the Eid reception.

“Regardless of whether you agree with Clinton or not, you have to admit he’s given Muslims more respect than they have ever received from a president,” said Khaled Saffuri, deputy director of the American Muslim Council.

Still, Clinton has plenty of negatives for Muslims, said Saffuri, an acknowledged Clinton supporter.

Clinton has not appointed a Muslim to his administration and “still doesn’t include mosques along with churches and synagogues” in his pronouncements, Saffuri said. Clinton also is perceived by Muslims as too liberal on abortion and other moral issues.

But the issues over which Muslims find the greatest fault with Clinton are in the area of foreign policy--particularly what they regard as his overwhelming bias toward Israel in its struggle with the overwhelmingly Muslim Arab world.

However, Dole also holds no great attraction for Muslims on this issue. Last year, the Kansas Republican pushed legislation to move the American embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Muslims looked upon the measure--which was approved--as a bid by Dole for Jewish political support that undercut Palestinian and Muslim claims to Jerusalem.

For Los Angeles’ Al-Marayati, the Jerusalem issue is proof that neither of the 1996 presidential candidates is a strong supporter of Muslim interests.

Yet he will be a Clinton delegate, representing California, at this summer’s Democratic national convention. “The American lesson is you have to earn your way into the political process,” said Al-Marayati. “You can’t expect change overnight.”