WASHINGTON, 26 October — The nation’s capital is beginning to return to normal now that the sniper — who terrorized the area for three weeks — has been caught. School systems announced they will no longer keep children under "lockdown," and residents say they are once again feeling safe in their communities. People here say they are relieved that, after three weeks, they can stop living in fear. They now walk across parking lots without looking over their shoulders, and put gas into their cars without hiding behind the pumps.
"God, it’s so good to know they’re caught. I’m ecstatic!" Raymond Lewis, a Washington, D.C. resident, told Arab News yesterday. But Muslim Americans were greatly disturbed with the news that the sniper arrested early Thursday morning was a convert to Islam.
John Allen Muhammad, formerly known as John Allen Williams, 42, converted to Islam 17 years ago. That is, he converted to the brand of Islam associated with Minister Louis Farrakhan’s Nation of Islam, and legally changed his name to Muhammad one year ago.
[The Nation of Islam was founded in 1931 by Elijah Muhammad as a black separatist organization. The group changed direction in 1975 in an attempt to be seen a more mainstream, it renamed itself the American Muslim Mission.]
Police sources say John Allen Muhammad was connected with the Islamic Community Center in Laurel, Maryland, where he may have served as a guard.
John Esposito, professor of the Islamic studies at Georgetown University, said by choosing the same name as its founder, the sniper may have favored this strident version of Islam.
"There’s no formal connection we know of to groups like Al-Qaeda, but his last name is Muhammad," Esposito said. "I am leery as to what one can say about this. It’s the last thing Muslims need right now. This is their worst nightmare."
American Muslim groups were quick to distance themselves from any connection with John Allen Muhammad.
Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, CAIR, said the public should not stereotype Islam because of the last name of this suspect. "We are concerned that because a suspect in this case has the last name of Muhammad, American Muslims will now face scapegoating and bias," he said. "Police reports indicate the suspects acted alone, based on their own motivations. There is no indication that this case is related to Islam or Muslims.
Awad said he asking journalists and media commentators, he said, "to avoid speculation based on stereotyping or prejudice. The American Muslim community should not be held accountable for the alleged criminal actions of what appear to be troubled and deranged individuals."
"There is no doubt that these types of incidents are having a cumulative effect on anti-Muslim feelings in this community. And it certainly did not help to have a man with the last name of Mohammad involved in this incident," said Khalil Jahshan, executive vice president of the Washington-based American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.
"The challenge for us, as an Arab-American organization, is, in part, to work with those who work in the media. Emotions are very rare, tempers are very high, and any type of misstep by the media could generate a backlash that becomes an issue of life and death of our community and that’s a top concern for us.
"The other aspect of this is the issue of the substance," said Jahshan. "Who are these people who have names that are Muslim sounding or Arabic sounding? I believe that organizations in the Muslim community involved in the religious ‘dawa’ activities (missionary activities), need to reassess the nature of their activities and the venues and the target of their religious activities in this country.
"Prison ministries, in particular, need to be reassessed in a serious manner. Because, with all due respect, many of the converts and their activities, have not been good, particularly as they adopt Muslim names, and then drop out of the Muslim community. This ends up coming back to haunt us, and the net result is a defamation of Islam," said Jahshan.
"Personally, as we lived within one mile of the shootings that happened in the first and last two days, we were extremely relieved because our children were safe with no great impact on their lives. We also tried to tell them not to feel so full of anxiety, so we’re greatly relieved," said Lobna Ismail, Executive Director of Connecting Cultures, a company that develops and delivers training programs on Islam, Muslims and Arab Culture throughout the United States.
"But I must say, what is painful about the relief is that the man is named Muhammad. I refuse to say that he is a Muslim, what he is — is a criminal, and has caused great terror in our lives. One of the challenges of being a Muslim in America today is that it is as though our religious identity defines our being. This person is an American, he’s a former Gulf War vet, he’s black, he’s a criminal and he also may be mentally ill — and yet all those factors suddenly can be minimized and the Muslim name Muhammad rises above all these other realities of who he is," said Ismail.
