Muslim Reactions to
September 11th
Sheila
Musaji
Since
September 11th there has been an alarming increase in anti-Muslim rhetoric
and an attempt to connect this crime to the tenets of the religion of
Islam. These voices want a monologue and not a dialogue that can lead to
mutual understanding and awareness of our common humanity. The attempt to connect criminal activity with the
religion of Islam has become the norm.
Islamophobic
statements harm America's image and interests worldwide and will serve to
divide Americans at this time of national crisis. It is disconcerting to think about the effect of such
statements in forming the views of our government leaders towards Islam
and Muslims.
How
can we argue against religious pluralism in a country that was originally
founded by people who were fleeing religious persecution, whose
descendants guaranteed religious freedom as one of the fundamental
principles of the Constitution of the United States, and whose new country
was first officially recognized by the Muslim country of Morocco.
Islam
is a faith practiced by one out of five human beings on this planet, and
it is the fastest growing religion in the United States. Most of the
countries in which Islam is the majority religion are still recovering
from the legacy of centuries of colonial and/or communist rule, and what
was once a great civilization has become part of the third world - poor,
uneducated, fragmented and powerless. Muslims believe and hope that they
will recover and once again be a vibrant power. The current sad state of
the Muslim world is not a result of the population being Muslim any more
than the dark ages in Europe or the development of Communism, Nazism,
Colonialism or Fascism in predominately Christian countries was the result
of the population being Christian.
Fanatics
and extremists exist in every nation and religion - and fanaticism is
usually the result of other factors than the teachings of any of the
religious traditions. Nazism and Fascism grew in the heart of Christian
Europe - but to judge the entire Western civilization or Christianity as
responsible for those aberrations because of which tens of millions died
would be wrong. There is too often a difference between the ideals of our
faiths and the actions of individuals, groups or even governments.
The scriptures of all religions contain passages that can be taken
out of context and misinterpreted to justify or claim almost anything. In
America there are individuals who use the same Bible to justify and to
condemn slavery, to require and absolutely reject capital punishment, to
allow and forbid abortion, to promote segregation and to speak for civil
rights.
There
are many injustices in the world - there have been many crimes against
humanity. There have been many injustices right here in the U.S. carried
out by individuals who attempt to explain the unexplainable by claiming a
religious basis for them. There
are a billion and a half Muslims in the world living on every continent in
numerous countries with different political systems, social problems and
cultures. When we begin to
stereotype each other and take the worst examples of the behavior of the
"other" to exemplify what "all of them are like" we
are going backwards in time to an age of barbarism.
May God guide us all to show tolerance and respect for all faiths
as the Constitution guarantees, and the courage to speak for what is right
especially against those who are divisive and deliberately distorting the
truth for their own personal agenda.
Any acts of violence, injustice, harassment or prejudice carried
out by any individual or group calling themselves followers of a religious
tradition is wrong. No matter what religion they claim.
Muslims
who are citizens of countries in the first world are minorities in those
countries. However, they are a growing minority who are productive members
of society. The Muslim community in the United States is one of the newer
waves of immigrants and the second largest religious minority in the
country. What is needed now is for all of us within our own faith
communities to speak out loudly and drown out the voices of extremism.
Muslim
Americans
Muslims
have been part of America since the 1500's, and it is estimated that 14 to
25% of the 10 million slaves brought to the U.S. were Muslims. In 1776
Morocco was the first country to officially recognize the newly
independent U.S. In 1893 the First Parliament of the World's Religion's in
Chicago (which began the interfaith movement) had an American Muslim
representative - Muhammad Alexander Russell Webb who was one of the early
American converts to Islam. In 1911, the first official mosque in America
opened in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, followed in a few years by mosques in Maine,
Connecticut, and Brooklyn, N.Y. In 1920 The Red Crescent (modeled after
the Red Cross) was established in Detroit. The first American Muslim
periodical, the Muslim Sunrise began publishing in 1939.
There were difficulties to overcome from the beginning. For
example, as late as 1952 Muslims in the Armed Services had to sue the
federal government in order to gain the right to identify themselves as
Muslims because up until then, Islam was not recognized as a legitimate
religion. There have also been achievements. In 1991, Imam Siraj Wahhaj
became the first Muslim to offer an invocation in the United States House
of Representatives. In 1992 Imam Warith Deen Mohammad was the first Muslim
to give the invocation in the Senate and Charles Bilal of Kountze, Texas
became the first mayor of an American city. In 2001 the first U.S. postage
stamp for the Eid Holiday was created by calligrapher Mohammed Zakariya.
Today, there are between 6 and 10 million Muslims in the U.S., over
9,000 Muslims in uniform on active duty in the military, over 3,000
mosques and 200 full-time Islamic day schools.
Contempt
for September 11th Terrorist Attacks by Muslims
American
Muslim organizations, individual scholars as well as International Muslim
organizations, scholars and representatives of countries with a Muslim
majority jointly and individually condemned the 9/11 attacks.
In
a Joint Statement by American Muslim Alliance, American Muslim Council,
Association of Muslim Scientists and Engineers, Association of Muslim
Social Scientists, Council on American-Islamic Relations, Islamic Medical
Association of North America, Islamic Circle of North America, Islamic
Society of North America, Ministry of Imam W. Deen Mohammed, Muslim
American Society, Muslim Public Affairs Council, stated:
"American Muslims utterly condemn the vicious and cowardly acts of
terrorism against innocent civilians. We join with all Americans in
calling for the swift apprehension and punishment of the perpetrators. No
political cause could ever be assisted by such immoral acts."
Muslims
Against Terrorism (MAT):
“As Muslims, we condemn terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.
Ours is a religion of peace. We are sick and tired of extremists dictating
the public face of Islam.”
Muslim
Brotherhood, Egypt:
“We strongly condemn such activities that are against all humanist and
Islamic morals. We condemn
and oppose all aggression on human life, freedom and dignity anywhere in
the world.” (Al-Ahram Weekly Online, 13 - 19 September 2001)
Shaykh
Muhammed Sayyid al-Tantawi, imam of al-Azhar mosque in Cairo, Egypt:
“Attacking innocent people is not courageous; it is stupid and will be
punished on the Day of Judgment.... It is not courageous to attack
innocent children, women and civilians. It is courageous to protect
freedom; it is courageous to defend oneself and not to attack.” (Agence
France Presse, September 14, 2001)
Mehmet
Nuri Yilmaz, Head of the Directorate of Religious Affairs of Turkey:
“Any
human being, regardless of his ethnic and religious origin, will never
think of carrying out such a violent, evil attack. Whatever its purpose
is, this action cannot be justified and tolerated.” (September 21, 2001)
Ayatollah
Ali Khamene'i, Supreme
jurist-ruler of Iran:
“Killing
of people, in any place and with any kind of weapons…. carried out by
any organization, country or individual is condemned. ... It makes no
difference whether such massacres happen in Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Qana,
Sabra, Shatila, Deir Yassin, Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq or in New York and
Washington. (Islamic Republic News Agency, September 16, 2001.
Harun
Yahya (Adnan Oktar), Turkey:
“Islam
does not encourage any kind of terrorism; in fact, it denounces it. Those
who use terrorism in the name of Islam, in fact, have no other faculty
except ignorance and hatred.”
Shaikh
Muhammad Yusuf Islahi, U.S:
The
sudden barbaric attack on innocent citizens living in peace is extremely
distressing and deplorable. Every gentle human heart goes out to the
victims of this attack and as humans we are ashamed at the barbarism
perpetrated by a few people. Islam, which is a religion of peace and
tolerance, condemns this act and sees this is as a wounding scar on the
face of humanity. I appeal to Muslims to strongly condemn this act,
express unity with the victims' relatives, donate blood, money and do
whatever it takes to help the affected people.
Abdal-Hakim
Murad, Britain:
Targeting civilians is a negation of every possible school of Sunni Islam.
Suicide bombing is so foreign to the Qur'anic ethos that the Prophet
Samson is entirely absent from our scriptures. ("The Hijackers Were
Not Muslims After All: Recapturing Islam From the Terrorists,"
Hamza
Yusuf, U.S:
Religious
zealots of any creed are defeated people who lash out in desperation, and
they often do horrific things. And if these people [who committed murder
on September 11] indeed are Arabs or Muslims, they're obviously very sick
people and I can't even look at it in religious terms. It's politics,
tragic politics. There's no Islamic justification for any of it. ... You
can't kill innocent people. There's no Islamic declaration of war against
the United States. I think every Muslim country except Afghanistan has an
embassy in this country. And in Islam, a country where you have embassies
is not considered a belligerent country. In Islam, the only wars that are
permitted are between armies and they should engage on battlefields and
engage nobly. The Prophet Muhammad said, "Do not kill women or
children or non-combatants and do not kill old people or religious
people,'' and he mentioned priests, nuns and rabbis. And he said, "Do
not cut down fruit-bearing trees and do not poison the wells of your
enemies.'' The Hadith, the sayings of the Prophet, say that no one can
punish with fire except the lord of fire. It's prohibited to burn anyone
in Islam as a punishment. No one can grant these attackers any legitimacy.
It was evil. (San Jose Mercury News, September 15, 2001.
)
Mufti
Nizamuddin Shamzai, Pakistan:
It
is wrong to kill innocent people. It is also wrong to praise those who
kill innocent people. (Cited in the New York Times, September 28, 2001.)
King
Abdullah II, Jordan:
What these people stand for is completely against all the principles that
Arab Muslims believe in. (cited in the Middle East Times, September 28,
2001.)
Shaykh
Muhammad Hisham Kabbani, U.S.:ISCA
We categorically condemn yesterday's hijackings and attacks against
the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and all other targets. From coast to
coast, we join our neighbors, co-workers and friends across ethnic,
cultural and religious lines in mourning the devastating loss of precious
life, which Islam holds as sacred. We pray for the thousands of innocent
victims, for their families, for law enforcement and emergency workers,
for stranded travelers, and for all whose confidence and security have
been shaken. We pray that God's Infinite Mercy reaches us all. We join the
US Congress in declaring today a day of mourning and also call on the
entire faith community of America to spend the day in prayer for the
victims and their families who so tragically died. All of our centers
across the world will observe three minutes of silence tonight at our
sunset prayer. We stand with the administration and law enforcement
agencies in support of discovering the persons responsible and bringing
them to justice. We encourage whoever is able to donate generously both
blood and money to local chapters of the Red Cross...ISCA has many times
warned the nation to guard against the possibility of such actions and
reiterates its condemnation of all terrorism, whether ideological,
geographical, cultural or religious."
In
July, the American Muslim Political Coordination Council (AMPCC), made up
of the nation's four most prominent Muslim political advocacy groups -
American Muslim Alliance (AMA), American Muslim Council (AMC), Council on
American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), and Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC)
- called on all faith communities to participate in a national "Day
of Unity" by opening houses of worship on September 11, 2002, for
interfaith visits, prayers, congregational exchanges, and other activities
intended to foster national unity and religious tolerance.
Excerpt
from 'The American Muslim' e-zine
http://www.theamericanmuslim.org
Published
in the September issue of 'Islâmic Reflections 2002' |
