MUSLIM WORLD

"A man's country is not a certain area of land, of mountains, rivers, and woods, but it is a principle and patriotism is loyalty to that principle." - George William Curtis

Everyday, thousands of Muslims in North America are faced with the same question and predicament that they wish to address: "Am I an American Muslim? Or am I a Muslim American?". This identity crisis has plagued Muslim communities all over North America, leading to confusion amongst young Muslims to whom do they owe their loyalty; Do they owe their loyalty to America first or is it owed to the lands that their parents came from? It is very important for Muslim communities to establish that one should owe his own loyalty to multiple different principles, as Tariq Ramadan states in many of his speeches, include a hyphen between one's two identities rather than having one replace one identity within the other. It is important to establish this distinction between the two types of identities one can take on, as the identity that Ramadan suggest is very essential in order to secure the future as the loyalties that constitutes within provide the necessary items needed for Islam's future in the West.

Muslim communities in the West need to pave the road for the conversion of the identities of the many young and older Muslims that live within their communities with little contact with other non-Muslim communities identity. In Ramadan's book, Ramadan heavily scrutinizes the level of isolation currently held in Muslim communities in the West, in where the loyalties of those Western Muslims are heavily focused on loyalty to solely Islam. This can be seen when he writes that it is necessary for Muslim communities in the western world to prevent isolation and be involved in the societies in which they live in, in order to address the many issues these communities face. Ramadan deems that this may be dangerous, as the lack of loyalty towards where a Western Muslim resides in can lead to the isolation. The isolation that is derived from this lack of loyalty towards a country can prevent Muslim communities from allowing their problems from being seriously taken and addressed. Furthermore, this lack of loyalty can lead to a lack of necessary interactions between Muslim and non-Muslim communities, which can be signified to prevent social, economic, and cultural benefits to Muslim communities. Ramadan states that Muslim communities in the west should establish interactions with the others around them, as this can lead to political, social, and cultural gains. Thus, it is important for Muslim Americans in the West to establish loyalties towards their respective countries, and take pride and take complete advantage of the rights that they are able to exercise. By establishing such loyalty within Muslim communities within the United States, Muslims of all ages shall feel compelled to contribute to the very intricate political system, allowing them to address the issues, which they wish to improve upon. Lastly, Ramadan mentions that establishing a loyalty towards a Muslim's country in the West can also contribute to the betterment of the Muslim community, as doing so can help establish an identity amongst non-Muslim communities. Muslim communities fail to establish an identity amongst non-Muslim communities, which contributes to the reality which addresses why Muslims have been recognized as un-American in the United States recently. The reality presents the fact that Muslims have failed in properly illustrating that there true exhibition of loyalty to America. As a result, a population of Americans believes that Muslims are indeed, un-American. As a result, they fail to find the willingness to address the problems and issues currently faced in Muslim communities. As a result, it is necessary for Muslim communities to establish loyalties towards their respective countries in order to secure Muslims' futures and provide the betterment of Muslims in the West.

There still lies another facet and perspective of loyalty, in where Ramadan fails to examine which is necessary for the building of the future of not only Western Muslims, but Muslims all over the world. Ramadan fails to examine the diminishing extent of loyalty to which young Muslims are currently losing. The reality points to the fact that young Muslims in the West currently fail to illustrate that they are truly loyal to the West. Ramadan addresses this to some extent, where he states that the loss of a Muslim identity can lead to the loss of future resources that may be beneficial to solving problems within Muslim communities in the future. This can be taken to a farther extent, where the loss of loyalty of young Muslims to the countries in which they came from can lead to the loss of bright think tanks can accelerate the path to solving problems in the Muslim world. Therefore, it is important for Muslim communities in the West to ensure the loyalty of young Muslims, which in turn can be used to be converted to a longing, wish, and desire for these young Muslims to strive to solve the problems currently evident in the Muslim world. This can be very distinctly seen within a portion of the Muslim community in Detroit, where according to Yahoo! News, communities of young Muslims have been staging protests to condemn the deadly retaliation of the Syrian Security Forces against peaceful protestors. This can be depicted as an example of how one's loyalty can be further converted to longing to solve problems in the Muslim world. Thus, one can truly see how a Western Muslim's loyalty to the country where he comes from is important to solving the problems currently held in the Muslim world.

Examining the implications of using Western Muslim's loyalty, one can truly see how these loyalties are essential for the future of not only Western Muslim's, but for Muslims around the world. As a result, it is necessary for a call to action to be thrust upon establishing the loyalties discussed in this essay, importantly distinguishing between what Ramadan calls as a "hyphenated-identity rather than an identity which replaces the other. This can be achieved by providing education seminars and lectures illustrating the importance of such loyalties and identities for securing the future of Muslims in the West and around the world. In doing so, Muslim communities in the West will be successful in compelling Muslims to work to establish these loyalties and identities within their communities.