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Muslims torn: civil liberties or social concerns?

By Jeff Mosier
The Dallas Morning News
Posted on Sunday November 6, 2005

Many like GOP stance on gay marriage but not wide terrorism sweeps

ARLINGTON – At a festival celebrating the end of Ramadan, a few thousand Muslims were greeted last week by a bounce house, sandwich and hot tea stands and a sign proclaiming “1 Man + 1 Woman = Marriage.”

The table promoting this week’s vote on an anti-gay marriage amendment to the state constitution was the latest effort by Tarrant County Republicans to reach out to disaffected Muslim voters. GOP activists said Proposition 2 was a good opportunity to emphasize how much conservative Christians and Muslims have in common.

“We have the same views and the same family values,” said Jamal Qaddura, a Muslim and a Republican precinct chairman.

He was one of several conservative Muslim community leaders who encouraged the party to reach out to other Muslims and attend the Eid al-Fitr festival Thursday in an Arlington strip mall parking lot.

Rabiah Ahmed, a spokeswoman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said support for President Bush has bottomed out among Muslim voters because of civil-liberties abuses. He cited a roundup of more than 1,000 Muslim and Arab men in terrorism sweeps that yielded only immigration violations.

“After 9-11, there has been such a focus on civil-liberties issues that this has taken the forefront in how people vote,” Ms. Ahmed said. “That’s more crucial to them.”

Mr. Bush received about 55 percent of the Muslim vote during his first race for the White House, according to CAIR polling. Four years later, that number dropped to less than 20 percent – possibly much less, depending on the polls.

Ms. Ahmed said that civil liberties are likely to be a major concern as long as persecution of Muslims continues. She cited the cases of Capt. James Yee, a Muslim army chaplain accused and later cleared of espionage, and Oregon lawyer Brandon Mayfield, who was detained after being mistakenly connected to the Madrid train bombing.

CAIR is planning a new poll to determine whether civil liberties are still the top political issue among Muslims.

State Rep. Lon Burnam, a Fort Worth Democrat, said abortion and gay marriage can be effective wedge issues when courting minority communities – such as Hispanics and Muslims – that have more conservative social views. But the Democratic Party, he said, needs to counter by showing the civil-liberties side of the argument.

“These minority populations have been the target of civil rights discrimination,” Mr. Burnam said. “If you don’t like homosexuality, don’t do it. But don’t institutionalize discrimination.”

He said that Democrats haven’t been aggressive enough in pursuing the Muslim vote. Meanwhile, a statewide Muslim Republican club is being formed by Mr. Qaddura and other local conservatives, and the Tarrant County GOP is also pursuing the vote of Hispanic and Asian-American voters, who have in general leaned Democratic.

Mir Barethz of Arlington strolled around the festival Thursday talking with friends and looking at the Republican bumper stickers and campaign literature on display. Unlike many other Muslims, he said he supports Mr. Bush and the Republican Party’s conservative platform.

“Gay marriage is against my religion,” he said. “God made men for women and women for men.”

He also said that the president’s policies overseas – which are unpopular with some Muslims – have been for the “good of the country.”

Nawal Suleiman, a substitute English teacher from Arlington, said that she voted for Mr. Bush in 2000 but that then he “turned 180 degrees against Muslims and Arabs.”

Foreign policy is one of her biggest concerns.

“If one Israeli dies, it’s a tragedy,” she said. “If 100 Muslims are killed, it’s not a big deal.”

Jamal Obied of Grand Prairie said that while he doesn’t always agree with Mr. Bush’s foreign policy, the conservative stance on social issues is a winner with Muslims.

“We love what the Republican Party stands for,” he said.

Ms. Ahmed, the CAIR spokeswoman, said she could see the GOP having some luck with Muslims by appealing to their opposition of abortion and gay rights, but eventually, the party and White House will have to address civil liberties.