American Muslim reformer Asra Nomani criticized actress Susan Sarandon’s comments at a pro-Palestinian rally in New York, where Sarandon suggested that American Jews experiencing anti-Semitism were getting a taste of what it’s like to be Muslim in the US.
Nomani shared her family’s experiences as Muslims in America, highlighting their opportunities and freedoms, contrasting them with the lack of rights and freedoms for Muslims in many Muslim countries.
“Let me tell you what it means to be Muslim in America,” Muslim Asra Nomani stated.
Hi there @SusanSarandon, this is my mom, my dad and me on the rail trail in Morgantown, West by God Virginia. Let me tell you what it means to be Muslim in America.
First, your backstory: At an anti-Israel protest in NYC, you just said, "There are a lot of people that are… pic.twitter.com/zAyUjpTxkY
— Asra Nomani (@AsraNomani) November 20, 2023
“Let me give you ‘a taste’ of what it ‘feels like” to be a Muslim in America: My dad didn’t have to become a second-class indentured servant to one of the many tyrants of Muslim countries that use immigrants from India, like my family, as essential slaves.”
“In 1975, after getting his PhD at Rutgers, he was about to go to Libya — a Muslim country — led by a Muslim, Moammar Qhadafi, to work like a servant with a PhD for a wealthy dictator…but then the phone rang one day and I picked it up,” she said.
“It was West Virginia University calling, and my dad got a job as an assistant professor of nutrition. He got rejected first for tenure but being Muslim in America meant he got a right like everybody got — his right to appeal and guess what? He won and he became a full professor.”
“That’s what it means to be Muslim in America,” she said.
“You get your full rights, like [Dr. Zuhdi Jasser] has wished for his family in the Muslim nation of Syria, where a Muslim dictator destroys the lives of Muslims.”
“My mom? Being Muslim in America meant she got to live FREE with the wind in her hair, like [Alinejad Masih] fights for women in the Muslim nation of Iran to be able to enjoy. And what did living free mean for my mom as a Muslim in America? It meant in 1981 she got to start a business on High Street in downtown Morgantown, called Ain’s International. That is something that [Ensaf Haidar] wished women could have had the right to do in the Muslim nation of Saudi Arabia.”
She urged against minimizing the experiences of Jewish Americans and vilifying America, emphasizing the freedoms and opportunities it offers to Muslim families.
“Please don’t minimize the experience of Jewish Americans by sanitizing the hell that it is for Muslims living in Muslim countries and vilifying America for the life — and freedoms — she offers Muslims like my family,” she said.
“Go, live like a Muslim woman in a Muslim country. You will come back to America and kiss the land beneath your feet.”
