U.S. Muslims are said to be `blessed'

Past year brings new challenges

Even in a nation that prides itself on equal opportunity and the liberty to pursue one's own happiness, the world's freest air can be fouled with pungent prejudice, ignorance and the plain old tyranny of the majority.

But for American Muslims - the vast majority of whom are as law-abiding, patriotic and community-minded as any other group in the national mosaic - the year since the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, has been fraught with unusual challenges.

And opportunities.

"We have been very blessed," reflected Kamal M. Al-Khatib, leader of the American Islamic Institute of Antelope Valley. "We are hoping and praying it's going to continue."

American Muslims were outraged at the homicidal assaults on the United States by Muslim extremists believed to be under the direction of the multimillionaire Saudi warlord Osama bin Laden. The attacks sparked a massive American war on world terrorism - and, sometimes, acts of discrimination and even violence against fellow citizens simply because they were Muslim, or were believed to be.

A survey by the Council on American-Islamic Relations released last month showed that 57% of American Muslims said they experienced bias or discrimination after the 9-11 outrage. A whopping 87% said they knew of a fellow Muslim who experienced discrimination.

But the same poll of 945 individuals indicated that nearly four in five American Muslims - 79% - also experienced kindness or support from friends or colleagues of other faiths. That kindness often took the form of verbal reassurances, support during the immediate anti-Muslim backlash that followed the attacks and even offers to help guard local mosques.

"The results of this survey show that while we have all gone through a traumatic year in our nation's history, there is hope for the future if Americans who support and practice tolerance challenge the vocal minority who seek to divide our nation," CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad said.

"The events of 9-11 marked a turning point for the American Muslim community," said Mohamed Nimer, author of a report asserting that American Muslims took a strong stand against terrorism during the past year.

"It is not yet clear whether the voices of interfaith tolerance will win out over those preaching antiMuslim prejudice," Nimer wrote.

"The tension is still there," the Valley's Al-Khatib noted.
`9-11 a wake-up call'

"9-11 was a wake-up call for Muslims as it was for the rest of the country," said Sabiha Khan, media relations coordinator for CAIR's Southern California office. "Particularly for Muslims, we realized that the majority of Americans don't know who we are and what we're about. As a result, Muslims started to reach out more to their friends, co-workers and neighbors. Dialogues between Muslims, Jews, Christians and other faiths started springing up all over the country.

"There is still a thirst for knowledge about Islam in our country that Muslims are trying to meet."
Commemorations set

Nationally, Muslim groups have called on all faith communities to participate in a "National Day of Unity and Prayer" on Wednesday, Sept. 11, by opening houses of worship for interfaith visits, prayers, congregational exchanges and other activities intended to foster national unity and religious tolerance.

In all, almost 100 such events are already scheduled across the United States, including numerous prayer vigils at venues throughout Southern California. (For information on locations and times of these services, contact Sabiha Khan of CAIR-LA at (714) 776-1847 or email her at sabiha@cair-california.org.)

In the Antelope Valley, the Islamic Center of North Valley will play host to a 9-11 interfaith memorial, unity service and community meal. Spiritual leaders from a broad spectrum of religious organizations will share thoughts; the Antelope Valley Interfaith Council Choir will perform; local publicsafety officials will be honored; and food will be provided by the mosque.

For more information on the event, which begins at 6 p.m., call (661) 946-2389.
Involvement need seen

In the days immediately following the attacks, Antelope Valley Muslims recognized the need to become more involved in their adopted U.S. communities to help erase misconceptions held by other Americans.

"Being quiet and hiding in a corner hurts your community," said Abdul-Wahab Omeira, chaplain for Muslims at California State Prison Los Angeles County in Lancaster.

Omeira acknowledged the supportive responses from many in the Valley community after anti-Muslim reactions grabbed headlines across the nation.

"People in the streets are going out of their way to wave to us," Omeira said.

For Suhel Qawasmeh, a member of the board and administrator of the Islamic Center of North Valley, the Valley religious community's response to Muslims in particular stood out.

"All religions came to our aid, offering help and sympathy," Qawasmeh said. Other believers offered to provide security for Valley Muslims while they prayed, and offered to accompany Muslim families while they did their shopping.

It seemed fitting, Qawasmeh said, that Ramadan, Hannukah and Christmas fell so close together on the calendar in 2001. Their synchronicity became a symbolic celebration of unity and togetherness among the children of multiple faiths.

By contrast, Gaber Mohamed, president of the American Islamic Institute of Antelope Valley, recalled his experience in a doctor's office: Whenever TV news coverage showed photos of suspected terrorist mastermind bin Laden, people in the crowded office turned to look at him. The looks turned to stares when the nurse pronounced his name.

Tracy Maadarani said her son faced a barrage of mean-spirited comments from his high school classmates - "Let's slaughter them," "Send them back to where they came from" and "Nuke them off the face of the earth."

"We have a common enemy and that is terrorism," said Ali Hassan, vice president of the institute, after the attacks. "Now, it is to either point the finger or be united and take action and console each other.

"Whoever did this, God did not tell him to do this," Al-Khatib said, explaining that Islamic law allows jihad, or holy war, but "that is when you are defending your land - it's not jihad when you're the aggressor."

The use of Islam to justify terrorist attacks infuriates mainstream Muslims, Valley Muslims agreed.
Prejudice still present

"In terms of prejudice, it's still out there," CAIR's Khan said. "There are people out there, even famous personalities, who are exploiting our national pain to divide our country along religious lines.

"However, as CAIR's recent survey indicates, three out of four Muslims experienced acts of kindness after 9-11. American Muslims believe that this statistic accurately describes Americans and our values of tolerance and plurality," she said.

Al-Khatib, who recently vacationed with his family in Jordan and Egypt, noted the double-edged sword American Muslims commonly face when traveling abroad.

"On occasion we were treated badly in Egypt because we're Americans. But sometimes we're treated badly in America because we're Muslims," he said.

Al-Khatib found little problem passing through airports on his trip, however. "We didn't feel discriminated against at any airport going or coming. It took no more than five minutes to roll through each time, and we received a hearty `welcome back' when we returned to the United States."

Omeira, the prison chaplain, said his daughter, who attended Quartz Hill High School, received a great deal of support after the 9-11 infamy. But he speculated the reasons for the mostly positive response he and his family experienced could be because he makes himself accessible to non-Muslim members of the community.

Many Middle Eastern-born Muslims have not done that, Omeira observed. Sometimes they're embarrassed by a lack of English skills, or they are afraid many Americans already have misconceptions about their culture and religion.

Those factors will never change if Muslim immigrants don't become more active in their communities, Omeira said.
Goal: Create trust

To be sure, challenges remain for Muslims in securing equal treatment and trust from the public in general.

"A big challenge that faces Muslims is the biased, incorrect information against Muslims and Islam," said Sabiha Khan of CAIR. "The constant daily attacks from media against Muslims and irresponsible statements on the part of public personalities and officials makes our job of educating Americans about Islam and Muslims more difficult."

CAIR's survey brought out other obstacles and opportunities facing American Muslims:

forty-eight percent of respondents said their lives have changed for the worse in the year since the attacks;

those who said their lives have changed for the better - 16% - often cited a deepened knowledge of Islam that was made necessary by requests from friends and associates to explain their faith;

respondents most frequently experienced bias in the form of verbal abuse, religious or ethnic profiling and workplace discrimination;

sixty-seven percent said the media have grown more biased against Islam and Muslims;

seventy percent were registered to vote or will register before the next election, with 77% of respondents being eligible to vote;

sixteen percent of respondents said the Democratic Party best represents the interests of the American Muslim community; 5% named the Green Party; and 3% named the GOP (yet 36% of Muslim respondents said they voted for George W. Bush in the last presidential election); and

an overwhelming majority - 66% - rated the Bush administration's post-9-11 interaction with the American Muslim community as 3 or lower on a scale of 1 to 10, where 1 was poor and 10 was excellent.

Uploaded September 9, 2002