As the tenth anniversary of 9/11 approaches, Muslims and non-Muslims alike are reflecting on what we, as Americans, have achieved since that fateful day -- and all that is still left for us to do. For Muslims, this conversation is happening at multiple levels, as we struggle to make sense of not just the socio-political issues facing our faith community, but also the deeply personal, spiritual questions 9/11 has posed for us as individuals.
At the community level, there is a growing understanding of the sophistication and resolve of our enemy. A recent report released by the Center for American Progress, "Fear, Inc.: The Roots of the Islamophobia Network in America," highlights the source of over $42 million dollars of funding for Islamophobic initiatives since 9/11/01, as well as the multiple media enablers and political players involved in growing and amplifying such messages of hate against the Muslim community. And it's not just hateful messages without any on-the-ground ramifications -- as the report mentions, the Norwegian terrorist, Anders Breivik, who in July shot and killed 68 people at a youth camp in Oslo, was motivated by the need to protect his country from "Muslimization." Meanwhile, here in America, the fear-mongering has led to many states considering anti-Sharia bills and ballot measures. The citizens of some of these states have taken matters into their own hands, protesting the building of mosques and vandalizing Muslim religious property.
Given this well-oiled and highly active Islamophobia hate machine, many Muslim Americans feel a sense of urgency to take control of their narrative -- to fight back against caricatures of Sharia as a "legal-political-military" doctrine that threatens the fundamental rights of Americans, and explain its true meaning both academically and through personal action.
My personal attempt at translating this urgency into action is reflected through my work at altmuslimah.com, a web magazine I founded over two years ago to explore the inherent complexity of gender-and-Islam. The question of gender and, more particularly, Muslim women's rights, is a predominant one in the non-Muslim understanding -- or misunderstanding -- of Muslims. Well-known anti-Muslim activists, such as Ayaan Hirsi Ali, use it to portray Islam as backward and dangerous. "Women's rights" is used to limit the religious freedom of precisely the women such rhetoric purports to protect -- whether in the form of burqa bans across Europe or the push against sharia arbitration in the U.S. While there are some Muslim women who are subject to coercion, the general thrust of such measures is to tell Muslim women what is good for them; to rob them of their right to make that choice for themselves -- to speak for them, and not let them speak for themselves.
In my work at altmuslimah.com, I have fought against precisely this tendency to speak about Muslim women as passive objects needing external advocates. I have sought to create a forum that allows these women -- and the men who support them -- to speak up and tell their own stories. Whether they're about interracial and interfaith marriages, personal decisions to wear, not wear, or stop wearing the headscarf, or political commentaries on gender rights in America and abroad, each of these stories stems from a unique thought process and spiritual experience. The variety of views reflects the tremendous diversity and intellectual nuance of not just our writers but of all American Muslims.
These stories also reflect the very organic process of spiritual evolution. The individual spiritual experiences of American Muslims since 9/11/01 have, in many ways, been rich. In defending our community from external allegations, we've been forced to think through hard questions instead of sweeping them under the rug. We're beginning to come to terms with ugly truths about some members of our community, such as those who have fallen prey to radicalization or are vulnerable to it because of the failings of their family and the community as a whole.
The media frenzy has kept us on our toes, even while we sometimes feel that our spiritual connection to Islam is being replaced by socio-political soundbytes. And yet, there is an understanding that it is precisely that spiritual connection that will keep us moving forward, plugging away for change in the years ahead.
The tenth anniversary of 9/11 comes at the heels of Ramadan, a month when Muslims strive to reflect on their individual and collective weaknesses and turn to God in sincerity for guidance. It has given us renewed strength to continue to face our challenges -- and to rise above them.
Muslim 9/11 Reflections: Islam In America 10 Years Later
Follow Asma Uddin on Twitter: www.twitter.com/altmuslimah
Amin G. Aaser: I Am a Muslim Because of 9/11
Bin Laden felt that bigots and hateful Christians dominate America, and so all they had to do was get in front of video cameras and create a major terrorist event in the US in order to generate persecution of Muslims in the West, thereby pressuring modern Muslims to become disloyal to American, but more importantly, making America's professed commitment to the First Amendment an open farce on the world stage, and that farce a new powerful recruiting tool to their cause. In the case of the American mainstream of both political parties the terrorists have failed
The terrorists’ biggest defeat was in in November 2008, when Barack Hussein Obama was elected President of the United States of America. His outreach has created the Arab Spring. People saw the possibilities this country holds and they wanted it in Tunisia, Egypt and now Libya. The impact of his election can be seen in the fact that he won the Nobel Peace Prize right after he got into office, because it was a moment where Americans displayed the best of what America is about.
On that day, we were not low-life racist and bigots, clinging onto our old hates and unable to embrace change. On that day, we were not dominated by hateful whites who obsess on the good old days “when TV was in black and white and so was everything else," (Gil Scott Heron). Muslim haters are the terrorists’ best friends. Those who spend their time and money generating hate for Muslims are enemies of the Constitution and work for the terrorist's goal of dividing the world into a simplistic Muslim/ non-Muslim divide.
=============
Yusuf Qaradawi:
"‘Alamiyyat al-Islam, the principle in fiqh al-aqalliyyat that declares Islam to be a global religion meant to encompass the entire world, provides the basis for answering these questions.
The world is divided into two parts, separated only by time: the lands under Muslim rule and those which will eventually receive the Islamic dawa and come under Muslim rule." page 4
http://www.currenttrends.org/docLib/20061018_MonographFishman2.pdf”
To people like Frank Gaffney--and me--this Islamist agenda is the equivalent of waving a red cloak in the face of a fighting bull. Mr. Gaffney and I do not share much else, but we do share that response--along with a majority of non Muslim America.
You get to define your enemies and thereby define yourself. You have chosen Mr. Gaffney and his group rather than Qaradawi and his associates as your enemies.
I believe that is a serious error with far reaching consequences.
Join Muslims like Zuhdi Jasser, Tarek Fatah and Manda Zand Ervin in pushing for reform of Sharia law where it conflicts with American law. Reject Qaradawi’s view of American Islam as an Islamist colony.
Others have tried to colonize America for an anti-democratic ideology and failed. Qaradawi and his Islamist dreams of political power for Islam will fail, too. American Muslims who choose to live here as Islamist colonists will fail with him.
Should not strong, well educated and free Muslimas (in New York) give up the practice to cover their face for the sake of their sisters in faith (in Kabul) who are less privileged? Are not those who at present bury their daughters in veils, the same as those who in the "Days of Ignorance" buried their daughters in sand (Q 81:8)? -- Women should have the right to cover their faces, and the wisdom not to do so.
Wonderful article, Ms. Uddin. Thank you.