Since the frightening and shocking morning of September 11, 2001, a few things have become clear for American Muslims. Through the haze of collective sadness at the tragedy, American Muslims now look down a rocky path towards reconciliation with the broader American communities.

Difficult as it is to find positive aspects of 9/11, American Muslims have now been given the imperative and the opportunity to present themselves to the rest of their country, a country suddenly hungry for information on what is sometimes seen as a strange and foreign practice, not as a legitimate faith and ethical framework for modern life.

Muslims in America have moved from not being seen at all, to being scrutinized by the public and the press. Over time most Muslims have pushed aside fears of persecution in favor of taking advantage of the current platform to present Islam as the peaceful and dynamic faith that it is.

The Muslim Student Association (MSA) of Madison, Wisconsin, a medium sized Midwestern college town, hosted a Mosque open house at the beginning of 2001. The goal was to educate and introduce Islam to the surrounding community to help dispel any misconceptions that might be held about Muslims in general. This noble pre-9/11 undertaking attracted less than a dozen people. The same event held in the months after the 9/11 tragedy attracted an estimated 600 guests displaying a generous willingness on the part of the community as a whole to ignore, for the time being, the loud voices of those like Franklin Graham and his anti-Muslim rhetoric.

This new interest in Islam was also echoed in the amount of telephone calls received by the Madison MSA in the weeks and days immediately following 9/11. Then MSA president Asif Sheik recalls only one call asking Muslims to “go back where you came from.” At the same time hundreds of calls were received seeking unbiased information on the religion that supposedly drove the exclusively Muslim and exclusively Middle Eastern men to take their own lives in a misguided attack on American civilians.

The Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), which ended its yearly conference just this week, unavoidably noted the different roles Muslims must play in the post 9/11 nationwide discourse. Different speakers and discussion groups touched on such themes as Islam in the media, positive interaction with non-Muslim neighbors and broad community and global activism. Rather than a community on the defensive, as many predicted the post 9/11 fate of American Muslims would be, America is witnessing a community on the rise, defining itself and tentatively reaching out towards the rest of the country.

Perhaps most telling is mainstream American media sources noting with increasing frequency the words and actions coming from ISNA and other Islamic and Arab advocacy groups. The Associated Press filed a story picked up by The New York Times on September 2 wondering what American Muslims will do on the upcoming anniversary of the attacks against their country. Asking the Muslim leadership in America what Muslims will do with their newfound platform.

Much like the Muslim community itself in America, efforts at memorializing September 11 seem to be scattered and mostly decentralized. Major organizations such as the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) are urging believers to join the nationwide day of prayer and reflection. Events include a Day of Unity, organized by CAIR, and including over seventy organizations ranging from the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Waco, to The Islamic Center of New England, to The First Congregational Church of Escondito. The CAIR website includes a toolkit for planning the day including a sample press release, a media event checklist and a “welcome to our Mosque” frequently asked questions list.

ISNA too is joining in a more general call for prayer and unity on this coming September 11. Dr. Sayyid Muhammad Syeed, the Secretary General of ISNA, uses the organization’s official web page to state his belief that “a unified message of healing and harmony by major Muslim American organizations will motivate all people of goodwill to turn the memory of 9/11 into a pledge for peace, mutual acceptance and harmony.” 

There is growing sentiment that as difficult a time as it may seem to be for Muslims to pursue a track toward integration, though not assimilation, into American society, this is exactly what is needed.

However collective self-examination since 9/11 has led many American Muslims to wonder how this process of assuming a role in America will proceed. Exact numbers being impossible to pin down, many Muslims in America are first generation immigrants or their children, complicating the matter of national identity considerably. Ever-present issues of separating cultural life from religious life have lately come to the fore for many second generation American Muslims. These questions do not limit themselves however to immigrants and their children but instead have pushed all Muslims to consider what it means to be an American and a Muslim.

Like Americans from all walks of life, Muslims will struggle with many disturbing emotions this coming September 11, just as all Americans did last September 11 and during the intervening year. Foremost on the minds of all people will be grief for the victims of the September 11 attacks and sympathy for their bereaved families. Also on the minds of many will be the indirect victims of events sparked by the terrorist attacks and the world’s occasionally misdirected anger and retaliation.

Whether or not it is fair, reasonable or desired for American Muslims to be prodded in the direction of acting as emissaries of both the religion of Islam and the cultures of the Middle East and South Asia, this task is none-the-less expected of them. This burden can be ignored to the detriment of Islam or embraced as a small conciliation for the suffering the nation has endured during and since September 11. Unique to the Muslim pantheon of emotions over the attacks is the overwhelming need to separate themselves from terrorism and reclaim Islam as a religion of peace in the eyes of an injured America.

Sam Highsmith is an American freelance writer and student of Anthropology at the American University in Cairo, Egypt. You can reach him at aquaboy@islam-online.net

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