It’s 9:37 a.m. on September 11, 2001 and the third plane has just crashed into the Pentagon which is 9 miles from where I live. I hear the TV anchor announce that all air traffic has been suspended due to the earlier attacks but that there is one plane unaccounted for still in the air. Immediately after this announcement a plane flies low over my house and it’s all I can do not to throw myself on the floor in panic, even as my rational mind identifies it as a military jet from nearby Andrews Air Force Base. Nothing happens and with relief, I realize that the plane I heard was a military jet. At 10:03 a.m., I hear the announcement that the unaccounted for plane has just crashed into a field in Pennsylvania. They believe it was intended for the White House which is 6 miles from my house. For the first time in more than 35 years I taste what it’s like to live at Ground Zero.
“Islamic extremists have declared war on America,” a newscaster announces. Although Muslim leaders across the globe were quick to repudiate the actions of the fringe group that carried out the attacks, September 11th created a powerful shift in the U.S. It not only brought the chaos of war to our own soil, but it planted the poison of Islamophobia, which seems to be spreading with each passing year.
According to a leading Race Equality think tank, some of the distorted perceptions that feed Islamophobia include the view that Islam is a monolithic religion that preaches Holy War on non-Muslims; that it shares none of our values and is barbaric, aggressive, primitive and sexist; that it supports terrorism, and wants to destroy our Western way of life.
I have to admit that I was guilty of holding some of these perceptions myself despite knowing next to nothing about Islam. With the media acting as a complicit agent in promoting islamophobia by daily equating extremists with all Muslims, how do we even begin to counter our own Islamophobia?
I discovered a good antidote was to learn more about the Islamic religion. Religious scholar Karen Armstrong’s books gave me a newfound respect for this world faith. I was struck by the powerful social reformation that Muhammed inspired.
As Karen Armstrong describes in “Islam: A Short History”, a Muslim’s first duty is to “build community (ummah)” in which wealth is fairly distributed. She explains, “Prostrations during prayer were designed to counter… hard arrogance … teaching [Muslims] to lay aside their pride and selfishness” Muslims are required to give zakat---alms to the poor. The Ramadan fast is meant to remind them of what life is like for the poor, who can’t eat or drink whenever they choose.
I recently attended Tucson’s annual ethnic festival, “Tucson Meet Yourself” and was delighted to see something new – the “Ask a Muslim a Question” booth. It was staffed by 5 young women and men. I stopped to ask my question, “Who knew Muhammed was such a social reformer?”
One woman beamed at me while nodding vigorously, and one of the young men said, “Ah, you understand.” I replied, “I’m only beginning to.”
We have a choice. We can cling to our fear and ignorance of Islam, or we can move past the rhetoric of us/them and find our shared values of kindness and generosity. As the Sufi poet Rumi tells us: “Look for the soul---you become the soul. Hunt for the bread---you become the bread. Whatever you look for---you are.”
Let us look for peace.
Salam.
