I think Muslims occasionally face discrimination in the West but I think, at least in America, there is as much or more discrimination directed against black Americans and Mexican-Americans as against Muslim-Americans (and Muslim-Americans are more successful, on average, economically than either of these groups). Importantly, in the US, if you are harassed or otherwise victimized for religious or racial reasons by anyone, including police officers, it is possible for you, if you are rich or poor, to redress your grievances through the legal system (if you know how) and have a realistic hope that justice will be done and that your rights will be protected in court and the police officer, or whoever, will be punished. In Egypt I think police officers and military at highway checkpoints and elsewhere are more free to abuse their power and usually take some cash, especially with poor or powerless people (like taxi drivers I have been riding with), without fear of a legal system punishing them. I don't think these poor Egyptian people, Muslim or Christian, are treated fairly and I think they would be treated more fairly in the West.
Because many Middle Eastern governments feel threatened by political Islamic groups (like the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt), many Muslims in the Middle East are not completely free to worship and organize despite being in Muslim-majority countries. Many Muslims who have lived in both the Middle East and the West assert that they are much more free to practice Islam and are treated more fairly in the US than in most "Muslim" countries.
I think Muslims occasionally face discrimination in the West but I think, at least in America, there is as much or more discrimination directed against black Americans and Mexican-Americans as against Muslim-Americans (and Muslim-Americans are more successful, on average, economically than either of these groups). Importantly, in the US, if you are harassed or otherwise victimized for religious or racial reasons by anyone, including police officers, it is possible for you, if you are rich or poor, to redress your grievances through the legal system (if you know how) and have a realistic hope that justice will be done and that your rights will be protected in court and the police officer, or whoever, will be punished.
ReplyDeleteIn Egypt I think police officers and military at highway checkpoints and elsewhere are more free to abuse their power and usually take some cash, especially with poor or powerless people (like taxi drivers I have been riding with), without fear of a legal system punishing them. I don't think these poor Egyptian people, Muslim or Christian, are treated fairly and I think they would be treated more fairly in the West.
Because many Middle Eastern governments feel threatened by political Islamic groups (like the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt), many Muslims in the Middle East are not completely free to worship and organize despite being in Muslim-majority countries.
Many Muslims who have lived in both the Middle East and the West assert that they are much more free to practice Islam and are treated more fairly in the US than in most "Muslim" countries.