For US Muslims, a 9/11 anniversary like no other
Rep. Charles Rangel, Democrat-New York, center, joins Imam Al-Amin A. Latif, left, and Imam Al-Hajj Talib Abdur-Rashid during a news conference on the step of New York's City Hall on Sept. 1, 2010. (AP)
Published: Sep 6, 2010 00:52 Updated: Sep 6, 2010 01:04
NEW YORK: American Muslims are boosting security at mosques, seeking help from leaders of other faiths and airing ads underscoring their loyalty to the United States — all ahead of a 9/11 anniversary they fear could bring more trouble for their communities.
Their goal is not only to protect Muslims, but also to prevent them from retaliating if provoked. One Sept. 11 protest in New York against the proposed mosque near ground zero is expected to feature Geert Wilders, the aggressively anti-Islam Dutch lawmaker.
"We can expect crazy people out there will do things, but we don't want to create a hysteria," among Muslims, said Victor Begg of the Council of Islamic Organizations of Michigan. "Americans, in general, they support pluralism. It's just that there's a lot of misinformation out there that has created confusion."
On Tuesday, the Islamic Society of North America will hold a summit of Christian, Muslim and Jewish leaders in Washington "to address the growing tide of fear and intolerance" in the furor over the planned New York mosque.
Islamic centers in many cities are intensifying surveillance and keeping closer contact with law enforcement. Adding to Muslim concern is a fluke of the lunar calendar: Eid Al-Fitr will fall around Sept. 11 this year. Muslim leaders fear festivities could be misinterpreted as celebrating the 2001 terror strikes.
"We're telling everyone to keep their eyes open and report anything suspicious to authorities and call us," said Ramzy Kilic of the Tampa, Fla., chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations.
Other efforts around 9/11 aim to fight bigotry. Muslims will clean parks, feed the homeless, and give toys to sick children as part of Muslim Serve, a national campaign to demonstrate Islamic commitment to serving humanity.
Separately, groups are distributing ads to combat persistent suspicions about Islam. One spot, called "My Faith, My Voice," features American Muslims saying, "I don't want to take over this country."
Sept. 11 anniversaries have always been challenging for US Muslims, who have been under scrutiny since the attacks. This year, the commemoration follows a stunning summer in which opposition to a planned Islamic community center near the World Trade Center site escalated into a national uproar over Islam, extremism and religious freedom.
Islamic centers as far away as Tennessee and California faced protests and vandalism. In western New York, police said a group of teenagers recently yelled obscenities, set off a car alarm and fired a shotgun during two nights of drive-by harassment at a small-town mosque near Lake Ontario.
Usama Shami, board chairman for the Islamic Community Center of Phoenix, said a new mosque the congregation has been building for years drew little attention until recently, when some resistance emerged in the neighborhood and from some in city government. Recently, vandals broke into the new building, spilled paint on the floor and broke expensive windows.
Shami believes the ground zero dispute is partly to blame for the trouble, along with passions unleashed by Arizona's strict new law that would require police to question people about their immigration status if there is reason to suspect they are in the country illegally.
"All of these issues came at the same time," Shami said. "When things like that happen, I think they bring out the worst in some people."
On Sept. 11 in Chicago, Zeenat Rahman, a 34-year-old native of the city, will visit a local nursing home with Muslim and non-Muslim friends to spend time with residents and help serve a meal.
"This is when people are going to look at our community, and when they do, what are they going to see?" said Rahman, a policy director for the Interfaith Youth Core, which promotes pluralism. "Sometimes, saying ‘Islam means peace,' feels a little defensive and apologetic, whereas service is really core to our faith."
Unity Productions Foundation, a Washington-area group that specializes in films about Islam and Muslim Americans, will hold an interfaith talk on Sept. 11 at the Washington Jewish Community Center. Speakers include Monem Salam, the subject of a Unity Productions film titled, "On a Wing and a Prayer: An American Muslim Learns to Fly." Unity recently launched groundzerodialogue.org, where visitors can view films and use them for community discussion about Islam in the US.
Salam, 38, of Bellingham, Wash., usually spends the Eid weekend with his wife and three young children, but said he persuaded his wife he had to participate in the event.
"I have to leave them and go across the country to answer questions about Islam," said Salam, a portfolio manager who was 4 years old when his family left Pakistan for the US "It's unfortunate. It's the time that we live in."
Comments
ALAWI FRANCIS
Sep 6, 2010 22:25
Report abuse911 is an insult to all Muslims. Don't let the mosque make it permanent. That is a choice for Muslim leaders, to build or not to build. Everything that is legal is not necessarily right.
CONVERT
Sep 7, 2010 01:34
Report abusestand for.The muslims in USA are their own worst enemies and unable to integrate. They are the traitors of USA
KIRANA
Sep 8, 2010 00:19
Report abusemy impression is that american muslims are well integrated - so much that before 9/11 they were hardly noticeable as a group, being generally well educated, unlike in europe. i don't see how it is their fault for having died with other new yorkers in the attack, and then having died among other rescue workers responding to it, and then being held collectively to blame for something a few people did who are not even american muslims but foreigners - something not equally true for any other group in the US. perhaps the question of who is the provocator should be directed to the party whose rhetoric consists almost entirely of untrue and malicious things - in this case, that would not be the american muslims. so much so that even non-muslims in far east asia knows it to be so ridiculously false they make joke videos of these right-wing 'activists' and their insanity.
KRISHNEE
Sep 9, 2010 19:32
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