Terrific article here by Kamron Memon of Muslims for a Safe America. I'll be inviting Kamron on my radio show. -KB
Can American Muslims Talk About 9/11?
While
many Americans of various faiths have opposed the U.S. government’s
domestic and international “War on Terror,” American Muslims who have
expressed their criticisms and doubts about these policies have often
had their loyalty questioned.
Many Americans wonder why a large
number of American Muslims oppose monitoring mosques and Muslim
charities, phone wiretapping and airport profiling. Is it because
American Muslims are unwilling to tolerate any personal inconvenience
or intrusion on their privacy, even if it makes the country safer? Is
it because American Muslims sympathize with terrorists, and they don’t
want terror plots disrupted?
And many Americans wonder why many
American Muslims opposed the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. Is it
because American Muslims put the safety of their fellow Muslims in
Afghanistan and Iraq over the safety of their fellow Americans here at
home? Is it because American Muslims want al-Qaeda to have bases it can
use to strike America again?
It’s
true that American Muslims care about their privacy and about Muslims
overseas. But it’s also true that they don’t want to see America
attacked, because America has given them freedom of speech, religious
freedom, and the opportunity to make a living and take care of their
families. In addition, the safety of American Muslims is intertwined
with the safety of their American neighbors; American Muslims don’t want
their families and friends to be blown up, which would happen if there
are future attacks in the US. Furthermore, they don’t want to be
victims of a backlash (discrimination, hate crimes, and restrictions on
civil liberties), which would certainly follow future attacks in the
US.
So why do so many American Muslims oppose U.S. government
policies described as preventive measures against attacks on the US by
perpretators portrayed as Muslims?
It’s simple. Many Muslims in America don’t believe that any Muslims were involved in the 9/11 attacks. A 2007 Pew Research Center study
found that 60 percent of Muslims in America are not convinced that
Arabs were involved in 9/11; 40 percent do believe Arabs were involved.
Pew confirmed the findings of a poll, conducted on the fifth anniversary of 9/11, at the Islamic Society of North America’s (ISNA) annual convention,
which found that 62 percent of American Muslims are not convinced that
Muslims were involved in 9/11; 38 percent do believe Muslims were
involved. A 2002 Hamilton College/Zogby International poll
of Muslims (citizens and non-citizens) living in America found that
66% are not convinced that Al Qaeda carried out the 9/11 attacks; 34%
said Al Qaeda carried out the 9/11 attacks.
The poll at the ISNA
convention also showed that most American Muslims are unconvinced that
al-Qaeda is a real organization, operated by Muslims who are trying to
attack America. (And the poll showed that most American Muslims are
unconvinced that Muslims committed the July 2005 train and bus bombings
in London.)
Many also believe that alleged plots discovered
since 9/11 were set-ups by government informants, entrapping Muslims
who posed no real threat to America. For example, skeptical Muslims
cite the case of Shahawar Matin Siraj, who was found guilty of
conspiring to blow up a NY subway station. Siraj claimed that he was
entrapped by a Muslim informant, Osama Eldawoody, who was being paid by
the NYPD. Siraj said the informant suggested the plot and incited him
to act by showing him pictures of Muslims overseas being mistreated and
by saying he had received a fatwa allowing Muslims to kill American
troops. Wary Muslims also cite the case of Hamid Hayat, who was
convicted of providing material support to terrorists by attending a
terrorist training camp in Pakistan. Hayat claimed he was entrapped by a
Muslim informant, Naseem Khan, who was being paid by the federal
government. The informant encouraged Hayat to talk about fighting
America, encouraged Hayat to attend a terrorist training camp, and
cursed at Hayat when Hayat said he hadn’t yet attended the camp.
If
Muslims weren’t involved in 9/11 or other plots, many American Muslims
argue, there’s no need for the government to watch mosques, wiretap
Muslim calls, or profile Muslims at airports. There’s no need for the
government to torture alleged Muslim terrorists. And there was no need
to invade Afghanistan and Iraq.
The Pew study found that 74
percent of Muslims in America don’t believe America’s “War on Terror”
is a sincere effort to reduce international terrorism. The poll at the
ISNA convention showed that 68 percent of American Muslims believe the
American government is at war with the religion of Islam.
American
Muslims hesitate to publicly discuss their views regarding what really
happened on 9/11, because they fear being further isolated and
marginalized; after all, mainstream media and political leaders tend to
mock anyone who questions the official 9/11 story. American Muslims
also fear the government will investigate them if they speak out. (Pew
found most Muslims in America say life has become more difficult for
their community since 9/11, and most believe the government singles out
Muslims for scrutiny.)
In private discussions in mosques and
Muslim homes, American Muslims often argue that no “real Muslim” would
have carried out such attacks against civilians. Furthermore, they say,
the 19 young Muslims accused of being the hijackers could not have
pulled it off. They could not have snuck knives onto four planes,
successfully hijacked four planes using just those knives, and then
flown three of the planes — unchallenged by US air defenses — into
three buildings including the military headquarters of the US. Many
American Muslims believe someone else, someone better connected,
hijacked the planes, or that the planes were crashed into buildings by
remote control. They also believe the World Trade Center was ultimately
brought down by explosives.
The poll at the ISNA convention
showed that most American Muslims believe the US government had advance
knowledge of the 9/11 attacks and allowed the attacks to occur. The
poll also found American Muslims almost evenly divided about whether
the US government actually organized the 9/11 attacks, and also about
whether the tapes of Osama bin Laden — claiming responsibility for the
9/11 attacks and threatening future attacks — are real or fake.
Angered
by the American government’s perceived political and religious
hostility towards Islam and Muslims before and after 9/11, skeptical
American Muslims believe the government allowed 9/11 (or orchestrated
9/11) to justify greater domestic control over Muslims and invasions of
Muslim countries.
This belief that the US government framed
Muslims on 9/11 in order to justify further oppression of Muslims
(including shutting down major American Muslim charities which used to
benefit the poor in the Muslim world, and high-profile prosecutions of
Muslims like Captain James Yusuf Yee who was wrongly accused of
spying), creates significant tension and depression in the American
Muslim community at the grassroots.
While the general public has
never been polled about whether Muslims were involved in the attacks,
many Americans have questions about 9/11. A 2004 Zogby International poll
showed that 49 percent of New York City residents (whose city was
attacked on 9/11) and 49 percent of New York State residents believe the
US government had advance knowledge of the 9/11 attacks and allowed
the attacks to occur.
A 2006 Zogby International poll
showed that 42 percent of Americans believe that the US government and
the 9/11 Commission concealed or refused to investigate critical
evidence about 9/11, and 45 percent of Americans want Congress to
re-investigate the attacks and whether any US government officials
allowed the attacks. Ironically, few American Muslims are actively
involved in the growing, self-proclaimed “9/11 Truth Movement.”
A 2006 Scripps Howard/Ohio University poll
showed that thirty-six percent of Americans believe it is “very
likely” or “somewhat likely” that federal officials either participated
in the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon or took no
action to stop them “because they wanted the United States to go to war
in the Middle East.”
Does it matter that so many American
Muslims, and other Americans, have such basic questions about such a
significant event? Should the rest of the country care?
Our
country generally marginalizes conspiracy theorists who reject the
official story about any national tragedy, like the assassination of
JFK.
So should America just write most American Muslims off as a bunch of kooks?
That would be risky.
After
all, American Muslims are an important community when it comes to the
“War on Terror.” Government officials often speak about the need for
American Muslims to monitor their community and mosques for suspicious
activity. And American Muslims can serve as an important bridge between
America and the Muslim world, where anti-Americanism is growing. So
it’s in America’s interest for American Muslims to feel like they are
part of the American family, rather than outsiders.
But is there
any common ground between American Muslims and other Americans on
security issues? Is there any reason to think that American Muslims
might be inclined to help protect America? Or are American Muslims
innately hostile to America for religious and political reasons? Pew
found that 61 percent of Muslims in America are very concerned or
somewhat concerned about the possible rise of Islamic extremism in the
US, and 76 percent are very concerned or somewhat concerned about the
possible rise of Islamic extremism around the world. In addition, the
poll at the ISNA convention found that the vast majority of American
Muslims oppose attacks within the US, and they would report plots if
they learned about them.
If these American Muslims had believed
that some Muslims were involved in 9/11, and if they had believed that
there are some Muslims who continue to pose a genuine threat to
everyone in America (including a threat to American Muslims), they may
have actively supported some domestic and international security
efforts after 9/11.
To bridge the gap between American Muslims
and other Americans, Muslim organizations (local mosques as well as
national organizations) around the country can provide public forums
encouraging American Muslims to openly discuss 9/11. Thus far, these
organizations — concerned about political correctness and fearful of
government investigations of those who take unpopular views — haven’t
facilitated such discussions.
Why would American Muslim groups
benefit from hosting such discussions? Depending on these Muslim
organizations’ perspectives, such discussions would either help
American Muslims understand the truth about what really happened on
9/11, or such discussions would help the rest of America understand the
truth about what really happened on 9/11. Such discussions would also
be good for the mental health of many American Muslims, who keep their
tensions hidden.
Of course, fearful American Muslim organizations
will not take these steps unless the mainstream media and political
leaders permit a safe space for discussion about these issues without
marginalizing doubters as “kooks” or investigating them. The mainstream
needs to “legitimize” the discussion for it to occur.
So what
would these discussions, facilitated by Muslim institutions, involve?
The same thing that segments of the country have already been
discussing since 9/11.
For one thing, American Muslims (like many
other Americans) need a history lesson. Many American Muslims are not
well informed about the history of al-Qaeda and various attacks and
plots around the world before 9/11. They don’t know about statements
issued by al-Qaeda listing its grievances regarding American foreign
policy. Nor are they familiar with the violent history of “jihadis”
like Ayman al-Zawahiri. Many American Muslims had never heard of
al-Qaeda, Osama bin Ladin, or Zawahiri before 9/11. So it looked to
many American Muslims like 9/11 came out of the blue, and it looked to
many American Muslims like the US government had simply created a
Muslim bogeyman. Second, American Muslims need forums where they can
raise all their technical and logistical concerns about 9/11, and get
their questions answered. How did fires high above the ground cause the
massive World Trade Center Towers to collapse? Why was the hole in the
Pentagon wall apparently so small, and why is there no clear video
footage of a plane hitting the building? Why didn’t fighter jets
intercept any of the hijacked planes? Of course, many Americans have
been publicly discussing these issues since 9/11, but American Muslims
and their institutions have stayed out of these public discussions thus
far.
Bringing these discussions into mosques and Muslim
conventions will not erase all doubts. But it’s certainly much
healthier for all doubts to be expressed openly rather than for them to
be hidden, so that American Muslims can be exposed to various
perspectives and new information. Regardless of how many minds are
ultimately changed, American Muslims will feel more comfortable knowing
their country is willing to hear them out. These discussions will be a
useful outlet for letting out steam. And American Muslims may become
more willing to go to bat for America, here and in the Muslim world.
And
questions raised by American Muslims may encourage the country to
further investigate nagging questions about 9/11, to help get the
country on the same page.
Many other Americans may dislike the
idea of letting unpopular American Muslims air their concerns about an
issue as emotion-laden as 9/11. But it’s in America’s interest to
bridge the gap between American Muslims and the rest of the country.
NOTE: Most Muslims living in the Muslim world are not convinced that Arabs were involved in the 9/11 attacks.
_____________________
_____________________
KAMRAN MEMON, a Chicago-based civil rights lawyer, is the founder of Muslims For A Safe America.
Muslims For A Safe America encourages honest and informed discussion
about how to make Muslims and America safer. He can be reached at
kamran@muslimsforasafeamerica.org
This article was originally published by Islamica Magazine in 2007.
1 Comments
Here is the working link so you can replace it - https://selectra.co.uk/sites/selectra.co.uk/files/pdf/pew-muslim-americans.pdf