Suicide missions leave Alabama Muslims grieving, scared

The Homewood Police car parked outside the Islamic Academy of Alabama Sept. 14 indicates the fear Alabama Muslims felt following the attacks three days earlier on New York City and Washington, D.C.
   
But while Muslims living in Alabama said they are fearful of retaliation against them, they stress they are Americans also and dealing with the same grief other citizens in the United States are experiencing.
   
“On one hand, there is a feeling of fear,” said Ashfaq Taufique, president of the Birmingham Islamic Society. “As Americans, we are feeling the grieving of all Americans.”
   
Taufique said America is home for many Muslims. He points out he has been in this country 27 years, longer than he spent in his native Pakistan, and that his children were born in the United States.
   
Following the attacks, Taufique said his 19-year-old son received an e-mail telling him to go home.
“This is his home,” Taufique said. “This is my home.”
   
Nationwide, Muslims are showing their support for their fellow countrymen. Yahya Basha, chairman of the board of the American Muslim Council, said the sight of Muslims donating blood should “soften  the hearts” of Americans.
   
“I hope people will realize that we’re part of the fabric of America — we are your neighbors, your customers, your clients,” he said.
   
Taufique said Muslims do not hate others. “Muslims don’t hate anybody,” he said. “Muslims hate oppression.”
   
Addressing the attacks, Taufique said a distinction has to be made between criminal acts that may have been committed by Muslims and law-abiding citizens of the Muslim faith. Fahmi Abdein of the Birmingham Islamic Society said he and others do not support terrorist activities.
   
“American Muslims in Birmingham and elsewhere utterly condemn what are apparently vicious and cowardly acts of terrorism against innocent civilians,” Abdein said in a statement issued to the media. “We join with all Americans in calling for the swift apprehension and punishment of the perpetrators. No political cause could ever be assisted by such immoral acts.”
   
Echoing Abdein’s remarks, Taufique said there is no rationale — religious, political or otherwise — for the attacks.
   
“We don’t believe in violence to achieve our goals,” Taufique said. “Violence and terrorism, there’s no justification for them.”
   
“You have to realize the Muslim world is huge, and there is diversity within the Muslim world,” said Robert Douglas, professor of intercultural studies at Lincoln (Ill.) Christian Seminary. “My sense is that, yes, Islam does have a few extremists, and so does Christianity. We ought not to stereotype.”
   
A missionary familiar with Egyptain Muslims noted that extremist factions within the Muslim community focus on the teachings of an Egyptian writer, Sayyid Qutb, and the translation of particular words. Qutb wrote that non-Islamic forces had compromised the Koran. According to Allah, Muslims were to rule over non-Islamic people, and the Koran makes provisions for jihads, or holy wars, for the cause of Allah and the defense of Islam, he said.
   
Qutb’s views freed ‘true’ Muslims to attack others — even societal Muslims who in their view had corrupted the Koran. Such teachings have led to attacks on Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Algeria — all Muslim nations, he noted.
   
“So it isn’t that America is being singled out or that Western culture is being singled out,” the missionary said. “Anything that the fundamentalist Muslim interprets as not being true to their ideal of Islam is subject to attack by this very small minority.”
   
Many Jews and Christians have already contacted Muslim organizations to lend their support, said Ibrahim Hooper, communications director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
   
Noting reports of anti-Muslim threats and attacks have already surfaced across the country, he said the show of support was “an encouraging sign.”
   
Similarly, Taufique said the Birmingham Islamic Society has received telephone calls from individuals offering their assistance.
  
“They’ve asked if they can come and help protect the property,” he said. (RNS, BP contributed)