JEDDAH, 18 November — There is good scope for spreading the message of Islam in America now, more than ever before, says Ibrahim Hussein Malabari, director general of the Toronto Islamic Center and a senior official of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA).

"People in America are now eager to learn about Islam, especially after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. As a result of this overwhelming response, there was big demand for Islamic books and Qur’an cassettes. More and more people are coming to the fold of Islam," he pointed out.

The number of non-Muslims visiting mosques and Islamic centers these days has increased considerably, Malabari said. Muslim scholars are invited to give lectures on Islam at churches, campuses and companies. Muslim leaders and intellectuals appear on television channels to clarify their position on major issues, especially terrorism.

Malabari has embarked on a project in association with the Riyadh-based Al-Haramain Charitable Foundation to distribute pamphlets on Islam to every American home. (For more information contact [email protected]).

Quoting a report of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Malabari said the number of people who have embraced Islam after the Sept. 11 attacks was four times higher than before the horrific incident. Many American intellectuals like John Esposito of the Georgetown University have spoken highly about Islam. Dr. Murad Hoffman, a German who embraced Islam, considers the US a fertile land for Islam to flourish.

According to Malabari, many of the reports on anti-Muslim hate crimes in America and Canada were exaggerated. He said the murder of two Muslim students in Mississauga, 25 km west of Toronto, were not related to hate crimes. "My information is that it is the result of a family dispute."

However, Malabari pointed out that there were some incidents of threats and attacks in different parts of the United States and Canada. "There were also some serious incidents; mosques were burned and three or four people were killed. But compared to other countries, the hate crimes were far less in the US and Canada. If the Sept. 11 attacks had taken place in some other country, thousands would have been killed in the backlash," he said.

Malabari said the majority of non-Muslims had shown sympathy toward Muslims after the Sept. 11 attacks and offered help to protect Islamic centers and mosques. "But there was no need for such help as the hate crimes quickly subsided. At some campuses, non-Muslim girl students wore hijab as a show of solidarity with their Muslim friends," he pointed out.

In many cities Christian-Muslim dialogues were organized, generating strong cooperation and understanding between the two communities. This prompted Jews to hold similar dialogues with Muslims.

Companies like General Motors arranged lectures about Islam. Dr. Sayyed Muhammad Saeed, secretary-general of ISNA, delivered a lecture on Islam for GM executives. Lilly company in Indiana also arranged a lecture by Saeed, drawing thousands of company employees.

Malabari described Americans as a tolerant and open society. "They are ready to learn. Common people of the country are, however, ignorant about Islam. They don’t know much about the people in other countries. American media has a big role in creating a bad impression about Islam and Muslims as they often present a distorted picture of them. All they know about Islam and Muslims is through the media and Hollywood films which portray Muslims, especially Arab Muslims, negatively.

Malabari visited New York last month after the attacks. He said he had expected a tough time at the airport, especially as his passport showed his recent visits to Algeria, Turkey and Egypt and a visit to Pakistan sometime ago. "But a young, white officer at the airport allowed me to move on without questioning," he explained.

At the London airport also Malabari did not face any trouble. He visited the Islamiya Primary School established by Yusuf Islam in London. "The director of the school, who is originally a New Yorker, said they had closed the school for three days as a precautionary measure after the Sept. 11 attacks. Now the school is functioning smoothly."

The school director pointed out that they had received threatening calls. "At the same time we received more than 200 letters from non-Muslim individuals and organizations offering help and protection," Malabari quoted the director as saying.

He said in the streets of London he saw Muslim women walking freely, wearing hijab as if nothing had happened.

According to a recent Los Angeles Times report, several Muslims interviewed by the paper said their employers had issued statements about how they expected their employees to respond to the Sept. 11 attacks. Kent Kresa, chairman of Northrop Grumman, released a statement to the company’s 80,000 employees saying there is a zero-tolerance policy against racial, ethnic or religious hate.

Other bosses made their wishes known by seeking out Muslim employees directly. "My region and district supervisors called me and took me out to lunch," said Fawzia Asmatey, a World Bank branch manager. "They said they wanted to find out whether I was OK, whether my family was OK," the Times reported.