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Attack on the USA – A Sign of God to Reflect Upon
By:
Dr. Ahmad Shafaat
(September
23, 2001)
The attack on September 11 by a group of
hijackers on centers and symbols of American economic and military
power was a nightmarish event in that it seemed so unreal. Yet it
was real and its impact was massive. The number of victims was so
staggering that it exceeded any that Americans have ever suffered
from an attack on their country, although they suffered more
casualties outside their soil during World War II and during the
Vietnam War. And never before an operation lasting a few hours
disrupted the economic and social life of the country in a
comparable way. The impact was felt not just in the USA but
throughout the world since the event was very understandably given a
great deal of time on the television.
The American authorities have identified
the hijackers as of Muslim background. There is some truth in this
identification, but since American administration has put the USA in
a state of war, truth, which is never a beloved of humanity, might
have become the first casualty of this war. It may be long after the
Americans have done a lot of violence, espionage, and sabotage in
the Muslim world that the real truth may become known. There are
past events that amply justify this suspicion. Thus just before the
gulf war against Iraq a Kuwaiti girl was brought before the US
congress and senate to testify how brutally Iraqi soldiers
mistreated her. It was later established that the testimony was
false. The girl was simply coached for her testimony to get
increased support for the war.
While some Muslims are probably behind
the attack, most others condemned it as un-Islamic reflecting how a
vast majority of them understand and live Islam as a religion of
devotion to God and of peace with fellow human beings. Most Muslims
also felt a great deal of sorrow for those who have suffered as a
result of the attack. Human beings burnt by fire or ripped apart by
flying debris with some of them barely having time to scream, the
injured groaning on stretchers and hospitals and family members
looking or grieving for their loved ones with painful hearts touched
Muslims like everyone else. The only difference is that Muslims also
called to mind the much more massive and sustained suffering of the
Palestinians and the Iraqis. Everyone in the world saw for hours –
and will continue to see for months and years to come -- the victims
of the attack on the USA and many shed tears on them, laid wreaths,
lighted candles, and sent messages of condolences because they
belong to a rich and powerful nation. But the poor Palestinians and
Iraqis die or groan with injuries or otherwise suffer under
occupation or other forms of oppression without many shedding tears
for them or laying wreaths on their graves and without a worldwide
clamor for redress or retribution by leaders. Muslims also called to
mind how the USA and Israel can bomb Muslims at any time and at any
place (recall for example the bombing of Iraq and Lebanon by Israel
and of Libya, Afghanistan, Sudan, and Iraq by the USA) and the
Muslim world cannot do anything. It is as if one man's hands are
tied and two other men are punching him whenever and wherever they
want.
Although the attack of September 11 was
of human devising, it seems to come from above in more than one
sense. It can be considered a sign of God in the Qur`anic sense,
since in the Qur`an human actions whether good or bad can become
signs of God if their impact is far reaching and if it can teach
something valuable. The impact of the attack on the USA is certainly
far reaching and it can also teach the people the world over, both
Muslims and Americans, some valuable lessons if they are willing to
pay heed.
For the Americans the lesson is simple:
You may be powerful but you have no real
power, which belongs only to God. You cannot forever ignore how
Muslims – not the ruling elite whom you manipulate to serve your
interests but Muslim people -- feel about your policies. You
have to at least know that a very large percentage of Muslims resent
your disregard of Palestinian lives and their rights that are
trampled by your moral, economic and military support. They also
resent the way you continue to treat the people of Iraq. They are
also unhappy about the way you turn against any nation that wants to
live by the teachings of their religion as they see fit. You also
support the kings and dictators that rule the Muslim countries and
then praise and nourish Israel as “the only democracy in the Middle
East”.
If you do finally care to reflect as to
what is going on with the relationship between you and the Muslim
world, you will discover what you have been most unwilling to face
-- the highly dangerous part that a segment of the American Jewish
population has played in spoiling that relationship. In order to
continue to receive moral, economic, and military support for Israel
these Jews have found it necessary to paint the Muslims in the worst
possible light and make the American public and leaders insensitive
to the feelings of the Muslims. They have used the movie industry
and other means of mass communication plus political lobbying to
achieve this sinister end. As you move to safeguard your national
security and interests do not look only for those Muslims who may
potentially engage in terrorist acts but also look at those Jews who
have been spoiling the relationship between you and the vast Muslim
world, an enterprise that is sure to harm you. For in this age of
globalization no country, no matter how powerful and wealthy, can
afford to make a major part of humanity angry for too long, no
matter how weak and poor that part of humanity may be. .
One may make a distinction between
extremist Muslims and moderate Muslims. But while this distinction
is important, it can also be easily used to hide reality. One such
way to hide reality is to name those that are not friendly to you as
extremists and others as moderate. Another way to hide reality is to
pretend that the resentment against your policies is felt by only
extremist Muslims. The truth is that this resentment is very
widespread among Muslims. The difference between extremist Muslims
and others is NOT that the former resent many of your policies while
the latter do not. The difference is that the resentment among the
extremists is much more intense and takes a militant form while
others simply keep it in check or give it a peaceful expression
because of a more enlightened or a more convenient understanding of
their religion.
Yet another way the attention is
diverted from the real reasons behind anti-American sentiments among
Muslims and many non-Muslims is to attribute it to envy. But this is
like saying about an unpopular dictator that people resent him
because they are envious of his power and wealth. The USA is like a
self-appointed ruler of the world aggressively pursuing its own
interests and executing policies that many in the world do not like.
Envy has very little to do with it.
It is also important to keep in mind
that there is no conscious and deliberate policy on the part of the
Muslim world or any Muslim country to use “terrorism” as a means of
changing American policies. What is at work is a very natural human
process. American aggression against the Muslim world and its
support of the Israeli aggression naturally produces resentment.
Since the aggression is continuous and sustained, the resentment is
also continuous and sustained. This sustained resentment produces
militant extremists and then their acts of violence. These acts are
usually described as “terrorist” but this term is not always
entirely appropriate. For the term suggests that the primary purpose
of these acts is to strike terror in a population and thus force a
change in their policy. This can hide the possibility that some of
these acts may be a last resort desperate response to a policy of
real aggression and oppression that one group of people may be
following against another group. In this way the aggressors and
oppressors can focus on the victims produced by the “terrorist” acts
and deflect attention away from their own policy of aggression and
oppression.
If by your policies only 0.1% of Muslims
become extremists while the remaining 99.99% stay moderate, you have
about a million Muslims scattered around the world and willing to
engage in militant acts. Even if you kill or jail half of them as
retaliation for the attack in New York and Washington, you will
still have half a million. Clearly, there is no military solution to
this problem. You and the Muslim world will both be better off if
you change your policies. Even the Israelis will be in the long run
better off, since they will enjoy more peace and security.
One sign that the USA may be showing
greater sensitivity towards the feelings of the Muslims is that
American leaders, including President Bush, who visited a mosque on
September 17, have made a clear distinction between Islam and a
particular interpretation that might have produced the attack. They
have also advised the population not to make American residents of
Muslim or Arab background as targets. But this does not seem to go
far enough. For American leaders are also making misleading
statements about the motivation behind the attack. They describe it
as hatred for the democratic and civilized values for which America
stands! What a massive deception! Will people overcome their fear of
death the way the middle class hijackers with families did because
America has democratic values?
This explanation of the motivation of
the hijackers shows that the USA administration does not want to
face the real reasons behind the attack. Its primary response to the
attack therefore is to go to war with the terrorists and some Muslim
nations. Not surprisingly the same response is shown by the American
public. In a poll, taken on September 15, 85% of Americans want to
go to war to retaliate the attack and 75% would not mind if it means
loss of innocent lives, which, incidentally is an attitude not
substantially different from that of the hijackers although it may
look different at first sight.
The USA is building a coalition to fight terrorists, which will
maintain essentially the present policies. Cooperation of Muslim
kings and dictators is being sought and is being readily provided,
no doubt for some rewards that will further strengthen their rules.
As a rule American “war on terrorism” will become a “war on
opponents”. George Bush has told nations to be either with America
or against her, no doubt with the implied threat that nations who do
not come on board will be punished. The choice leaves no room for a
nation to say, for example, “we will join you if you stop your
unjust use of your might to pursue your self-interest at the expense
of interest of other nations and civilizations.” By not allowing any
room for such opposition the USA is playing the role of “dictator
nation”, no doubt self-appointed. A similar effect will probably be
seen within countries. In Muslim countries, most of which are ruled
by dictators and kings the war on terrorism will further remove or
weaken groups opposed to the rulers, thus pushing democratic reforms
and hence economic and technological development still further into
the future. In countries like China Muslim minorities and democratic
movements will face further repression. Even in democratic countries
like Britain it appears that Muslim groups that oppose the Western
culture in strong language may be banned.
But as the war on terrorism sets the
world backward in terms of its democratization, it will not solve
the problem that it is meant to solve. Strengthening of American
alliances with the dictators and kings and military strikes on
Muslim countries and groups will definitely cause further resentment
among the people (as distinguished from the rulers) and the
extremists killed will be replaced by an equal or larger number of
new volunteers.
The most enlightened thing the USA can
do is to enter Afghanistan and try to establish a truly democratic
government – which implies that the election results would be
accepted even if Islamic groups win the elections, not like Algeria
where cancellation of elections by the military was supported when
it became clear that an Islamic party was about to win.
But unless there is a radical departure
from the past, such action does not seem likely. The past suggests
that the USA will engage in an entirely self-serving military
violence against Afghanistan. Even in normal times an American
President must beat up at least one weak country during his term, be
it Nicaragua or Gautemala, or Grenada or Sudan. Such attacks on
other countries are almost always popular among the American people
except in the rare event they cause heavy American casualties, as in
the Vietnam war. George Bush has special need for a strike against
Afghanistan His presidency had a weak mandate and was barely
legitimate. His invasion of Afghanistan is sure to be popular unless
something goes terribly wrong.
Before and during any war many Americans
do raise voices against violence but in the end these voices almost
never prevail. Only voices of retaliation and war prevail. In one
newsgroup on the internet people were discussing about the invasion
of Afghanistan. Some were against the war. Here is one contribution:
“ What I don't understand is we
[Americans] have no clearly defined goals. 1) If we go in to stop
terrorism altogether we probably won't succeed and get more
servicemen and civilians killed at the same time. 2) How will we
know if we do succeed? 3) We are entering a civil and religious war
and looking like some imperialist regime. This is a textbook version
of what not to do or get involved with a 10 or even 20 ft. pole,
very much like Vietnam. 4) It's half a world away, terrible
logistically and culturally.. 5) Economics: you are using a 1
million dollar missile to blow up a $14.95 TENT. 6) Blow them back
to the stone age?? hell, they pretty much are already there.7)
Immoral and not a defensive war but offensive war very much like
Hitler or the crusades. 8) Squandering away our youth, wealth,
prosperity and once a fragile peace is destroyed almost impossible
to put back together, just look at Lebanon. 9). Destroying nations;
look what happened to Cambodia during Vietnam. 10) This is utterly
STUPID!!!”
But most contributors were for war. One
honest contributor expressed the sentiment:
“We may say all we want but when the
bombs will fall on Afghanistan we will all feel good.”
In the past this sentiment has almost
always won in America. It remains to be seen whether this time it
will be different.
The lesson taught by the attack to the
Muslims is also simple:
Each one of us has to find a peaceful way to defend Islam and
Muslims. It is because for the past couple of centuries not enough
of us have done enough to defend Islam and Muslims that oppression
on Muslims has increased to such a degree that some Muslims opt for
suicidal militant missions. In a sense the extremists die for our
lack of concern or lack of determination to do something, or lack of
imagination to conceive of peaceful ways to help ourselves against
mistreatment and oppression.
Some action in defense of Islam and Muslims is obligatory for
believers as the following words of God teach us:
(Believers are) those who
when a wrong is done to them they help themselves (yantasirun)
(by some action in self-defense)(42:39).
Action in self-defense mentioned here is
not necessarily fighting back in a physical sense. It could be any
action that is effective. It may sometimes be forgiveness
that results in reform, as is stated in the next verse:
“whoever forgives and amends (aslaha),
he shall have his reward from God”.
But what believers are not supposed to do is neither forgive and
amend nor take some other effective action in defending themselves
against wrong.
A striking feature of the attack on
America was its efficiency. In terms of the resources spent on the
attack and the results achieved the efficiency of the attack matches
any operation that technologically advanced USA can ever launch.
Using some knives, a few hundred thousand dollars for training and
traveling etc, air planes of the enemy himself, and a loss of 19
lives, the attack inflicted thirteen thousand casualties, tens of
billions of dollars of loss, and tremendous psychological wounds on
the nation. Muslims have never before shown such efficiency and
competence. I pray that some Muslims will learn similar efficiency
in more constructive endeavors, such as building their businesses,
hospitals, schools, and universities, promoting education and
research in all fields of knowledge, and democratizing and
Islamizing their countries and organizations according to the
principles of shura and accountability.
Overcoming fear without throwing
caution to the winds
Fear of being racially targeted started
to grip many Muslims in North America immediately after the attack.
And there was basis for fear. Despite the distinction being made
between the extremists and other Muslims and pleas for not blaming
all Muslims and Arabs for the attack, Muslims living in North
America are being harassed in various ways by both the government
and some segments of the public. The American authorities are
interrogating people with the flimsiest of connections. Witnesses
are coming forward claiming to see this or that hijacker visiting
this or that Arab. Some times these witnesses saw an hijacker in the
week of September 18, days after the hijacking which is possible
only if the hijacker resurrected from the dead. Some members of the
public are harassing Muslims by verbal or physical abuse. Muslim
schools and mosques have been vandalized in many North American
cities. In Cleveland, Ohio, a driver smashed his car
through a wall about 3 feet
high, knocked over three pillars, and landed atop a built-in
fountain in the mosque rotunda, severely damaging it. Many
Muslim schools throughout North America had to close for days after
the attack. In the USA an Arab passenger was forced to disembark an
airplane at the insistence of other passengers.
In Montreal Muslim women
with hijab have been harassed in elevators, including one in the
Royal Victoria Hospital. A woman after being harassed in an elevator
went to police and the police men started to laugh at her. One woman
told me that she was waiting for a bus when a man came and started
to go around her in circles, yelling and spitting. Reports of Muslim
women having their hijabs pulled off and having guns pointed at them
have surfaced. A Christian employee of a Muslim organization
received a call telling her to leave "the terrorist Muslims". One of
my own Muslim students called me to say that he could not come to
the class because he cannot leave his mother alone. She was afraid
because of threatening calls. Muslims who work in businesses and
jobs where they have to have a close contact with people of varied
sort, such as Muslim taxi drivers, felt the pressure in a sustained
way. In some cases people targeted non-Muslim individuals and places
simply because they looked Muslim to the attackers. There are
reports that non-Muslim men with beards have been killed or
physically attacked, including some Sikhs and Christians, because
they looked like Muslims. At least one Hindu temple has been burnt,
apparently because it looked like a mosque to the arsonist. Callers
to radio talk shows have been heard as saying that all the Arabs
should be deported.
Some Muslim women have stopped wearing
hijab, a result that is sure to delight and encourage the haters of
Islam and Muslims, since they desire that Muslims stop taking the
commandments of their religion seriously.
But those Muslims who carry on peaceful
struggle to defend Islam and Muslims should not be diverted from
their efforts by what has happened. We should know and follow the
law of the land as far as is possible and then continue to serve
Islam and Muslims in all possible peaceful ways.
Let not fear stop us, for the book of
God says that the believers’ ideal is to fear none but God. Fear of
God strengthens us while the fear of other than God debilitates and
weakens us. It is because we have not fought enough against this
latter fear that today we are ruled by tyrannical dictators, against
whom even most of Islamic scholars cannot dare raise their voice in
the light of the Qur`an.
In North America let fear not stop us
from speaking up for the rights of the oppressed Palestinians or of
the Iraqis or asserting our own rights here in the West. One of our
rights is to be able to criticize American or Canadian policies if
we do not agree with them, especially if we believe that those
policies are not in the interest of the people of these countries
and/or the rest of humanity.
Let us not stop practicing our religion
out of fear. A Saudi scholar has given the fatwa that Muslim
women who feel threatened because of hijab may take it off
until such time as they feel more secure. A better approach would
have been for all the Muslim women to start wearing hijab and
all the Muslim men to start growing beards, even those who
previously did not practice such these traditions. This would
frustrate those who want to create fear in our hearts (which
qualifies them as terrorists of sort). Their purpose is to drive us
away from religion and when they will see that their methods only
drive us closer to Islam many of them may abandon their tactics.
Finally, let us not
stop working for a just Islamic order in Muslim countries. In
particular, we should not let whatever efforts may be going on for
the democratization of those countries be abandoned now that the
American response to the September 11 attack will further strengthen
the dictators and kings that rule the Muslim world. |