by Serwan Zangana
Seemingly, the conflict and hate of the far right and the far left is never ending and each side is waiting for a comment from the other side to respond and jump to the conclusion and generalize its attack on the majority of people. Congressman Randy Fine (R.FL) did not hesitate to respond harshly to the nonsense comment of Nerdeen Kiswani, an activist Palestinian-American Muslim from New York City. Between the two of Rep. Fine and Kiswani, Muslims are caught to be the subject of an irrelevant matter.
Obviously, after Zohran Mamdani, a Muslim Ugandan-American, was elected to New York City Mayor, Kiswani has crossed her boundaries and wrote a comment on X, which stated, “Finally, NYC is coming to Islam. Dogs definitely have a place in society, just not as indoor pets. Like we’ve said all along, they are unclean.”
Kiswani’s remark sparked backlash, which can be understood because, first, neither New York City nor any other city in America must become a place to be ruled by one religion or belief, including Islam, and second, as dogs are a significant animals and friendly pets in American society, such a practice of keeping dogs as indoor pets by Americans must be respected.
Kiswani’s remark can be offensive to many Americans, as the majority of the American families perceive dogs as members of their families. Also for Muslims, dogs are not issues as in fact in the book of Quran, in the verse of Al-Kahf (the Cave) a dog was mentioned as it was accompanying and guarding a group of righteous men who fled the prosecution and slept in the cave for countries.
However, such a remark of Kiswani does not represent Muslims across the nation, and Kiswani should realize that what she considers (unclean) perhaps others perceive it differently.
On the other hand, Rep, Fine bluntly responded to Kiswani and posted on X, “If they force us to choose, the choice between dogs and Muslims is not a difficult one.” And also posted “ I choose my dog” Rep. Fine by such comments distanced himself from many Americans and was not able to be a true Representative to everyone, including many Muslims, who contributed to America, and indeed, sacrificed their lives as the rest of the people in this country.
Apparently, American people are still under the pressure of economic hardship, justice is not in place with the crippled Criminal Justice System as dominated by the political community. The U.S fund for foreign policy is increasing while the fund for the American people, education, and the services that mostly assist the middle, lower middle, and lower class people is shrinking.
The preposterous remarks from both Kiswani and Rep. Fine should be condemned and pushed aside to prevent distraction from focusing on the ongoing issues in American society. American lives are not depending on a Muslim person’s perspective on dogs, and also Rep. Fine’s obligation is to represent all Americans without discrimination.
After all, if Kiswani prefers a dog free home, it is completely her choice, and if Rep. Fine chooses dogs over Muslims, it is his right, but hate and discrimination should not be tolerated.
