Amal Abusumayah, a 28-year-old American mother of four young girls, was going about her usual shopping when she was randomly treated to a dose of derogatory comments about her faith and ethnic heritage; the offending woman, later identified as 54-year-old Valerie Kenney, referenced Fort Hood. Amal tried to ignore the comments and proceeded to check out at the counter when she felt a sharp pull on her hijab — or headscarf.

Daniel Pipes is as much a scholar on Islam and Muslims as David Duke is a scholar on Judaism and Jews. He does not seem to know where scholarship ends and where political advocacy begins. He does not initiate his research by asking questions for which he seeks answers, but by providing answers for which he cherry-picks evidence.

Is it possible for Muslim Americans to criticize our administration’s neoconservative foreign policies, our government’s complicit role in Israel’s illegal occupation of the Palestinian territories, or our domestic breaches of civil liberties, and not be branded as “apologists for terror?” Since 9/11, anti-Muslim hysteria has evolved from a collective knee-jerk reaction to a premeditated and coordinated cottage industry, patronized by an agenda-driven elite seeking political - sometimes financial - gain.

Can Steven Emerson and his ilk be trusted as credible sources of information on Islam and Muslims? Who is Steven Emerson? A self-anointed “terrorism expert” whose rhetoric is characterized by charged terminology and a dislike for open debate, Emerson harbors a longstanding track record of anti-Muslim and anti-Arab bigotry.

A hateful posting directed at Muslims is found on an online forum for the Chicago White Sox. [Video]

Criticizing the problematic elements within the Muslim world is fair game. I personally do it all the time as do many forward-looking Muslim leaders. However, looking at the worst possible case scenarios within the Muslim world in order to insinuate a general point about all Muslims or about Islam itself is as scholastically disingenuous as it is disrespectful to readers. It also constitutes classic Islamophobia.

While renowned bridge-builder, Dr. Maher Hathout, has been a leading advocate for tolerance and pluralism both in the United States and the Muslim-majority world, Steven Emerson has made a name for himself in the ignoble but profitable trade of rabble-rousing and hatemongering against anybody who is a somebody in Muslim leadership.

One must ask, what motivates the likes of Ms.Charen to level blatantly false accusations against Muslim-American leadership? What motivates her to laundry list random acts of violence committed by 7 deranged Muslims – whom she admits are doubtless “mentally borderline types” - as if they were representative of the “Muslim spirit of the day?”

Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) believes peace activists from Egypt should be greeted at O’Hare Airport with a hefty dose of institutionalized discrimination. Their offense? Being of the same age group and national origin as Mohamed Atta. “I’m OK with discrimination against young Arab males from terrorist-producing states,” says Kirk.

Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) believes peace activists from Egypt should be greeted at O’Hare Airport with a hefty dose of institutionalized discrimination. Their offense? Being of the same age group and national origin as Mohamed Atta. “I’m OK with discrimination against young Arab males from terrorist-producing states,” says Kirk.

There is no evidence that the Muslim world is in anyway accepting of, or even indifferent to, the tragedy in Beslan, Russia. All indications coming from all corners of the Muslim world clearly point to a strong condemnation of the heinous act.

In his article, “Either You Are a Believer or an Infidel” (Washington Post, 10/21/2001), Skube is disgruntled at everyone “from President Bush to imams at American mosques” for taking issue only with the terrorists who act in Islam’s name, rather than with Islam itself and all its adherents.