Posted on 10/10/2001 8:05:44 AM PDT by Dirk McQuickly
As I ran through my neighborhood on the morning of September 11th, in search of my son, who had gone to the park with his baby sitter, I wasn't just afraid of another hijacked plane crashing into us. I was also afraid that someone else would get to my son first, someone wanting revenge against anyone who looks like they're from "that part of the world." Even if he is just one and a half years old.
I know I wasn't just afraid that the building where my husband works, a D.C. landmark, might fall on him. I was also afraid that another American might stop him on the street and harass him, or hurt him, demanding to know why "you people" did this. As soon as we heard the news, 7 million American Muslims wondered in terror, "Will America blame me?"
When our country is terrorized, American Muslims are victimized twice. First, as Americans, by the madmen who strike at our nation, at our physical, mental and emotional core. Then we're victimized again, as Muslims, by those Americans who believe that all Muslims are somehow accountable for the acts of some madmen, that our faith - that our God, the same peace-loving God worshipped by Jews and Christians - sanctions it.
It didn't matter when the federal building in Oklahoma City blew up that a Muslim didn't do it. That a Christian man was responsible for the devastation in Oklahoma City certainly didn't matter to the thugs who terrorized a Muslim woman there, nearly seven months pregnant, by attacking her home, breaking her windows, screaming religious slurs. It didn't matter to them that Sahar Al-Muwsawi, 26, would, as a result, miscarry her baby. That she would bury him in the cold ground, alongside other victims of the Oklahoma City bombing, after naming him Salaam, the Arabic word for "peace."
But that travesty and hundreds like it certainly were on my mind that Tuesday morning. And they were reinforced every time a friend called to check on my family and to sadly remind me, "It's over for us. Muslims are done for."
Even as we buckled under the same grief that every American was feeling that day, American Muslims had to endure the additional burden of worrying for our own safety, in our own hometowns, far from hijackers and skyscrapers. Shots would be fired into the Islamic Center of Irving, Texas; an Islamic bookstore in Virginia would have bricks thrown through its windows; a bag of pig's blood would be left on the doorstep of an Islamic community center in San Francisco; a mosque near Chicago would be marched on by 300 people shouting racist epithets. A Muslim of Pakistani origin would be gunned down in Dallas; a Sikh man would be shot and killed in Mesa, Arizona (possibly by the same assailant who would go on to spray bullets into the home of a local Afghani family).
And those were just the cases that were reported. I know I didn't report it when a ten-year-old neighborhood boy walked by and muttered, "Terrorist," as I got into my car. My neurosurgeon friend didn't report that a nurse at the prominent Washington hospital where they both work had announced in front of him that all Muslims and Arabs should be rounded up and put into camps, as Japanese were in World War II. My family didn't report that we're sick with worry about my mother-in-law, another sister-in-law and my niece, who are visiting Pakistan, with their return uncertain.
In the days to come, in the midst of the darkness, there is some light. A neighbor stops by to tell me that he doesn't think Muslims are responsible for the acts of madmen. Strangers in Starbucks are unusually friendly to me and my son, reaching out as if to say, "We know it's not your fault." The head of a church told me his congregation wants to come and put its arms around us, and to help in any way possible - by cleaning graffiti off a mosque, by hosting our Friday prayers, whatever we needed. President Bush warns Americans not to scapegoat Muslims and Arabs. He even visits a mosque, in a show of solidarity. Congress swiftly passes a resolution to uphold the civil rights of Muslims and Arabs, urging Americans to remain united. Jewish and Christian leaders publicly decry the violence against Muslims. At a mosque in Seattle, Muslim worshippers are greeted by members of other faiths bringing them flowers.
There's something America needs to understand about Islam. Like Judaism, like Christianity, Islam doesn't condone terrorism. It doesn't allow it. It doesn't accept it. Yet, somehow, the labels jihad, holy war and suicide martyrs are still thrown around. In fact, jihad doesn't even mean holy war. It's an Arabic word that means "struggle" - struggle to please God. And suicide itself is a forbidden act in Islam. How could anyone believe that Muslims consider it martyrdom when practiced in combination with killing thousands of innocents? Anyone who claims to commit a politically motivated violent act in the name of Islam has committed a hate crime against the world's 1.2 billion Muslims.
It is not jihad to hijack a plane and fly it into a building. But in fact there was jihad done that Tuesday. It was jihad when firemen ran into imploding buildings to rescue people they didn't know. It was jihad when Americans lined up and waited to donate the blood of their own bodies. It was jihad when strangers held and comforted one another in the streets. It was jihad when rescue workers struggled to put America back together, piece by piece. Yes, there were martyrs made that Tuesday. But there were no terrorists among them. There were only Americans, of every race and religion, who, that Tuesday, took death for us.
Typical islamist bullsh*t. Blame the victim. You don't like my f'n attitude, so it's OK to kill me?
Bring a lunch, schmata-kopf.
That is an awesome comment! I'll give the American Muslims credit when they come out strong like this. Hell, even Farrakan came out very strongly against the actions, way stronger and way before Sharpton or Jackson did.
While I dont like the whining, I'll give credit where credit is due, and this author deserves credit, especially for that last paragraph...
But I would say this to American Muslims: although you are not the problem, YOUR RELIGION IS THE PROBLEM. Islam is a violent cult whose aim is to convert the world against their will and often at the threat of death. Spare me the peace sermons, it's far too late for that. Either renounce Islam, or suffer the intolerance. I realize that this goes against the American way of freedom of religion, but this is not religion, it's a cult, and a dangerous one. Forgive me but I do not trust any one of you that embraces Islam. There are any number of medieval countries where you can live in your version of peace. As long as Muslims live among us, we will be in danger and will never have peace. May God forgive me for my intolerance but this is how I feel.
I must make a couple of comments though:
Yet, somehow, the labels jihad, holy war and suicide martyrs are still thrown around.
This is because these are the exact words that the terrorists use to describe their own actions. Osama bin Laden and his followers use these very terms to describe what they are doing and what they plan on doing to the USA and her citizens. What other "labels" should we use other than what the terrorists themselves call it?
In fact, jihad doesn't even mean holy war.
Maybe not to you but to the terrorists and "extremists" it does...again, what "labels" would she have us use besides what those whom we are fighting use?
Every terrorist on our shore needs to fear that the next Arab-American they talk to is from the government. They need to fear that the cab driver they try to enlist will write down their address and turn them in. They need to be perfectly afraid that they are failing in every respect -- that someone will report their first suspicious move. That their own brothers by nationality will carve them into pieces without thinking twice.
Emotions are getting a little out of hand here. Then again, who can forget that poignant moment during President Bush's address to Congress, when he diverted from the Tele-Prompter and said,
"New border policy: welcome to America. Have a ham sandwich."
This "screw 'em all" attitude plays DIRECTLY into the hands of the terrorists. Want chaos? They do. Want us to fear every Arab in America? They do. Want us to turn neighbor-on neighbor? They do.
Memorize it: United we stand, divided we fall.
I guess he didn't hear about the Pakistani guy in New York City whose gas station was burned to the ground, either.
Turns out the guy set the fire himself, and was arrested a couple of days later.
Geesh...it's all about her isn't it? This kind of garbage makes me sick.
Of course, the difference between Gerry Adams and Osama bin Laden is that Adams would be killed within 24 hours by outraged Irish people who resent the hostility against them that WOULD BE DIRECTLY ATTRIBUTABLE TO HIS WORDS.
You misunderstood. You were called a "Commie" all of the time because you were born in Manhattan, not because you are of Russian descent.
There aren't any because they believe as OBL does and support him!
You equate the two??????
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