It is Ramadan. Muslims all over the world are fasting from sunrise to sunset. At the end of the month they will celebrate with one of the two most important holidays in Islam: Eid Al Fitr. Because the Islamic calendar is lunar it is possible that this holiday will land on September 11. No one reading this needs to be reminded of the significance of that day.
Unfortunately, Muslims who had nothing to do with 9/11 have had to contend with lots of backlash from that day and no doubt it will be even louder if the holiday lands on 9/11.
I was moved with compassion as I read Haroon Moghul’s thoughtful article about this convergence. I encourage you to read it and see that American Muslims endured loss on 9/11 as well.
It was worrying enough to think about how some people might misinterpret such a convergence, and that was before the rise in Islamophobic rhetoric. Every other day, I’m greeted with someone arguing that Muslims are all evil, that we shouldn’t have any more mosques in America, that we are a dastardly fifth column. The assumption here is always that Muslims are foreigners and intruders, that we are strangers in our own lands, unwelcome in our own homes.
It is easy for us to forget that there were also Muslim victims on 9/11. Moghul lives in New York and was there when the towers came down. Two fears came over him, “How do I explain that I was scared because my city was attacked, but I was also scared because people might blame me?” Not sure of what to do he went to the Muslim prayer room they had on campus and found a Jewish student. When Haroon asked him what he was doing he replied:
“I figured that some Muslims might feel uncomfortable walking home”—people had already begun to blame any number of extremist Muslim groups, and of course the subways had been shut down—“and that, if I walked home with them, maybe people would think twice before trying anything.” (He wore a yarmulke).
This reminds me of when America invaded Iraq in 2003. We were living in Syria at the time and the day of the invasion a Syrian friend called to check on us. She wanted to go to the store and get some groceries so that we wouldn’t have to go out in case we were afraid of any backlash.
The Ground Zero Mosque
I have sought to stay away from politics on this blog. I am stunned to see that what one thinks about whether there should be a mosque built near Ground Zero (not on it) has become political. It shouldn’t be. It seems appropriate at the end of this post to say that I support the building of the mosque and I am saddened to think that Americans who enjoy the greatest religious freedom in the world would be opposed.
Thank you for speaking out about the Ground Zero Mosque. I too have tried to stay about from public debate of the issue. If I were to post something, it would go like this:
Either everyone in our nation has religious freedom, or someday, no one will have it.
I was just going to write about the Mosque on my blog. It makes me so sad and frustrated that it’s an issue. I really hope it gets built. Thanks for talking about it,
Ibtisam
salam
althought there was a hot debate about this issue, this Mosque(or pray center)will be built and in my idea this show that no country in the world even Europian countries(sorry Europa!!) can practice such freedom.this is possible only and only in United State.
mariam-Iran
Mariam,
I’m happy to read your comment. I live in the UK and I am a Muslim. Religious freedom is just as ripe here as it appears in the US. Living in the UK, there are Mosques (Masjid – my preferred choice of word) being built all the time but we have not had any people or groups of people oppose them as they have in New York.
The British government has also allowed for the Azaan to be said over loud speakers for the neighbouring Muslims in the neighbourhood. Admittedly due to noise level restrictions during the day the only Namaz azaan that can be preformed is Zuhur, Asar and Magrib, that also goes for ringing of bells for churches and Music, etc This is nothing new since this has been happening for over a decade or more.
Now that is what I call ‘practice such freedom’ in Europe.