NYTimes

NYTimes.com Article: Keeping Faith With Islam in a New World

September 3, 2002

By MONA ELTAHAWY

I am dreading the anniversary of Sept. 11. I am an

Egyptian-born Muslim who recently became a permanent

resident of the United States, and I brace myself for a

renewal of blame.

Muslims across the United States have condemned those

attacks and have visited schools, churches and synagogues

to explain how different is the faith they hold dear from

the hate-filled zealotry that took control of those planes.

Countless Muslim commentators, on television and radio and

in newspapers and magazines, have distanced themselves from

the evil perpetrated on Sept. 11. But if Muslims are

continually called upon to apologize, a defensiveness will

set in that will distract from the questions we need to ask

to move beyond Sept. 11 and reclaim the stage from the

maniacs who want to take over the mosques.

All Muslims cannot be held accountable for the murderous

actions of 19 men. But we must hold ourselves accountable

for examining how those men were able to distort the

teachings of Islam to such an extreme end.

When the World Trade Center towers crumbled to the ground,

they brought down with them the denial of many Muslims.

Many at first could not believe that Muslims had committed

such an act. But over the past year, moderate Muslims,

realizing that they had been silent for too long, have

spoken out against the extremist element in the religion.

As a Muslim living in America, I have had to work hard at

my identity in a way I did not when I lived in the Middle

East. Miles away from the calls to prayer that blare five

times a day from the thousand minarets of Cairo, and that

give an ebb and flow to the day in a way a watch never can,

I strive to locate and preserve what I value in Islam.

I first visited New York in the summer of 1982. I was back

this summer, my 20th anniversary visit. As always - this

was my fourth trip - the city had my heart racing. But I

did not know where to put my eyes. How do you deal with the

gaping wound in Manhattan, so strangely juxtaposed with the

serene Battery Park City promenade, with its stream of

roller-bladers and joggers? How do I reconcile myself to

the thought that the awful attacks of last year were

carried out by fellow worshippers of a religion I cherish

and which has provided such constancy in my life?

Mohamed Atta and I were both born in Egypt, a year apart,

and called ourselves Muslim. Why did his identity fill him

with so much hate and lead to his murderous end, while mine

gives me a much-needed core of solace?

We both lived abroad for several years. Why did his

expatriate experience lead to Osama bin Laden's

chauvinistic Islam while my years abroad injected my faith

with tolerance and an acceptance of others?

On the most basic level, Mr. Atta and I represent the two

forces tugging at Muslims today. His backward-looking

faith, austere to the bone and stripped of compassion,

sought to recreate an era that exists mostly in the

imaginations of fundamentalists.

Perhaps because women have rarely fared well in these

imaginary bygone eras, I struggle to keep my Islam strictly

in the here and now. Islam's emphasis on social justice and

egalitarianism is my springboard into a faith that refuses

to separate people into us and them, Muslims and others.

How could I separate the two when they share the same

concerns? The "Why do they hate us?" asked by my American

friends is echoed in the "Why do they hate us?" from

Egyptian relatives and friends, hurt that Muslims have been

collectively blamed for Sept. 11.

As the anniversary nears, Muslims too are reflecting and

taking stock of what the past year has taught. What have we

learned?

>From Internet chat rooms to mosques across the country, we

have worked hard to understand the meaning of that

hyphenated existence, Muslim-American. This quest has taken

many forms.

One example is the multifaith Web site beliefnet.com. On

its Islam page, Muslim Americans have tackled questions as

varied as interfaith marriages and proper attire for the

beach. The theme of many postings is simple - we are

Muslims in America, not Egypt or Saudi Arabia, and as such,

that identity must be firmly rooted in Michigan or New

York, not Cairo or Riyadh. This has allowed us to tackle

subjects (like homosexuality) that are taboo in many

Islamic countries around the world.

Another example is the determination of American Muslims to

resist foreign influences in their mosques. They are paying

more attention to their prayer leaders, the messages they

preach in Friday sermons and, most important, the source of

the money that pays the imams' salaries. Many are fighting

Saudi financing and the attempt to impose the puritanical

Wahhabi school of thought on Muslims here.

I am saddened that such a debate has not taken off with

much vigor in other parts of the world. While there are

individual Muslims who speak out against the regressive

pull of the fundamentalists in countries as far afield as

Egypt and Malaysia, often earning themselves a place on a

death list in the process, the clerics who should lead

Muslims away from the hatred of Mr. Atta and his

conspirators are disappointingly silent.

In some Muslim countries, clerics have chosen to toe the

government line; in others, the government has silenced

them. Here in the United States, Muslims do not have to

worry about negotiating these political minefields. We are

free to debate the kind of Islam we want. We do not have to

apologize but we must question, criticize and speak out.

Only by reclaiming our own voice can we silence the

zealots.

Mona Eltahawy writes frequently about Egypt and the Middle

East.

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/09/03/opinion/03ELTA.html?ex=1032081827&ei=1&en=e3574ae36327d4ec

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