Since 9/11, Islamic tentacles have steadily spread into American civic, educational and corporate arenas. Contrary to the fraudulent accusation of American Islamophobia, our public and private spheres are racing to accede to the demands of the Islamic lobby, affording special rights to a group that slyly claims discrimination while benefiting from unprecedented favors.

In the business world, banks, insurance companies and meat packing plants have committed to creating prayer facilities and recognizing Muslim holidays as paid vacation days. Distinguished universities such as Harvard and Michigan have set aside separate hours for Muslim gym use and installed ritual foot baths respectively. Columbia University dignified Ahmadinejad by inviting him to address its polity as if his state sponsored terrorism and declared intention to destroy a fellow member of the UN were just innocuous opinions to be honored by our First Amendment. New York has established the Kahlil Gibran School for Arabic language and culture; it remains unclear how separate this can be from religion in content or pedagogic personnel. Prisons have been sued to provide services for individual sects of Islam as well as communal rooms for worship. All this while the Arab American community and its religious leadership have remained largely silent in the face of radical jihadist terrorism and threats, domestically and around the world.

Contrast this with the fervent, outspoken protests, boycotts, editorials and media assaults against our own country or its ally, Israel. And compare this with the scrutiny of organizations such as the ACLU in their determination to rid the public sector of any trace of God or organized western religions. Christianity and Judaism are routinely challenged for intruding their religious symbols into school or community space, and as we watch the Ten Commandments jettisoned from courthouse lobbies, we see the increased presence of Islamic symbolism gain its foothold. In New York, the veiled woman has now become a familiar sight in employment and on the urban canvas. Prior to 9/11, the only veiled women one might have seen were in Brooklyn or New Jersey, areas with large Muslim populations. Today, the ticket seller at a popular art theater in Manhattan wears a headscarf, as does the receptionist at my local gym - both unexpected venues for religious Muslims.

While Random House pre-emptively withdraws publication of a romantic novel that might be offensive to Muslims, and newspapers cravenly refuse to print the cartoons that satirized Mohammed, our museums and media delight in featuring anti-Christian and anti-Jewish dogma whenver they choose. Feminist and gay lobbies have tackled the orthodoxy of western religions but refrained from attacking the homophobic and sexist foudations of Islam, keeping a safe distance from the repercussions of jihadists. Civil Rights groups demand reparations for slavery in America while doing nothing to protest the current ongoing Muslim enslavement of blacks in Africa.

Perhaps most cynical is the interface between Islam and American financial institutions. There are now sharia consultants hired by Citibank, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs and many other banks and investment houses to ensure compliance with Islamic law. The notion that sophisticated brokerage houses are hypocritically finding loopholes to comply with archaic standards of behavior can only be understood as cognitive dissonance in the 21rst century. Americans who have traditionally prided themselves on their independence from the European continent are sadly emulating their British cousins in choosing the path of least resistance when it comes to Islamic pressure.

Mayor Giuliani understood what was involved in accepting money from a sheikh who sposored terrorism while hoping to clean that bloodstained slate with some philanthropic contributions - he had the guts to refuse the offer. What a far cry that was from current attitudes, epitomized by last week’s stunning exchange between Judge Keith Allred and the defendant Salim Hamdan at the conclusion of Bin Laden’s driver’s military trial:

“Mr. Hamdan, I hope the day comes that you are able to return to your wife and daughter and your country.”

“Inshallah,” Mr. Hamdan said in Arabic, before an interpreter gave the English translation of “God Willing.”

“Inshallah,” Judge Allred responded.”

Sic transit Gloria Americani

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