Gratitude and decency demand it.

I’m grateful to Matthew Wheeler for calling this very interesting site to my attention:

The Muslim Experience in World War I:  The most comprehensive story of the global allied Muslim contribution

For several reasons, it reminds me of this story, about which I first heard just today:

“Special Forces soldiers fight to grant last wish of Iraqi interpreter killed in action”

In my judgment, there should be no doubt or hesitation in any American mind about taking care of Barakat Ali Bashar’s wife and son — including bringing them to the United States if that’s what they desire.

It’s shameful that, eleven years after his death, this should still be any kind of an issue.

If you feel as I do, I encourage you to contact your senator and your representative in Congress in order to express your feelings.  As a convenience, I provide here the contact information for the Utah congressional delegation:

Senator Orrin Hatch

Senator Mike Lee

Representative Rob Bishop, of Utah’s First Congressional District

Representative Chris Stewart, of Utah’s Second Congressional District

Representative John Curtis, of Utah’s Third Congressional District

Representative Mia Love, of Utah’s Fourth Congressional District

Addresses for senators and representatives are easily found online, so I’ll leave it to nonresidents of Utah to find the contact information for their own delegates to Washington DC.

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Many of us are inclined to view Muslims as ever the aggressors, ever the oppressors.  There are many places around the world, though, where Muslims are the objects of oppression and injustice:

“China Has Detained Up to a Million Muslims. Here’s What You Need to Know”

And, in parallel news, here’s a story with roots in Myanmar, the former Burma:

“Rohingya refugees celebrate holiday amid memories of home”

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An interesting article from one of the most interesting Muslim thinkers and writers in America (although, as he himself says, he is more of a “social Muslim” than a “traditional Muslim”):

“Who gets to define American Muslim identity?  Muslims have become a totem in the culture war. But we have our own ideas.”

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“Malaysian PM says caning of lesbians counter to ‘compassion of Islam'”

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Here’s a sad story from the Coptic monastery of St. Makarios in the area of Wadi Natrun, to the northwest of Cairo — a place to which I made a number of visits while I was living in Egypt and of which I was quite fond:

“Coptic abbot’s murder points to strains over ecumenism in Egypt”