Muslims in the military: US Muslim soldiers put their lives on the line - but for what?

My country tis of thee

Few people noticed the military funeral at Arlington National Cemetary outside Washington, DC on June 15th. Perhaps it is because there have been so many of them, but this one was different that the rest. A Muslim Army chaplain led several of the mourners in the janazah (funeral) prayers for Captain Humayun Khan, who lured a suicide car bomb away from the men in his charge, joining other Muslim soldiers in giving their life for a country that increasingly bases its opinion of Islam on the sensational and horrific beheading videos that have clogged the Net recently. Dozens of condemnations or terror from Muslim groups across America and support for their fellow Muslims in the service seem to have made no difference.

“I do often feel like I am viewed with suspicion, but that is always from soldiers who don’t know me,” said PFC Mirza Bashir Ahmed, a medic currently serving in Iraq. “There are always jokes about me helping the terrorists and being a spy, but I shrug it off as humor in bad taste.” While there have undoubtedly been Muslims who disgraced their oath of service, the vast majority of Muslims in the armed forces serve with honor, even after enduring indignities such as those faced by Chaplain James Yee. Now Corporal Wassef Ali Hassoun, a US Marine from Utah captured over the weekend, faces a possible beheading similar to the murders of Kim Sun-il and Nicholas Berg as his hometown mosque prays for his safety.

Will the same people who raged on the talk shows show the same outrage if a Muslim soldier is killed? Will they still take the actions of these thugs as representative of Islam, even if they kill other Muslims? The answer will reveal what hope American Muslims have left to defining themselves on their own terms.

Shahed Amanullah is editor-in-chief of altmuslim.com.