Muslim students, professors weigh in on 9/11 a decade later

By MEGAN ANDERLE

It was September 2004 when Jannatur and Hazzatur Rahman, 16 and 17 at the time, were taken into a room at Newark airport in New Jersey where they were interrogated and searched thoroughly for four hours.

“They were literally harassed by officers, unlike anyone else there, just because we have a Muslim last name,” recalls their brother, Salutur Rahman, a sophomore at Ramapo who emigrated from Bangladesh in 2004 with his family.

For Sarah Shidid, a first-year student at Ramapo who prays at mosques regularly, a similar moment came when TSA searched her father en route to the Mecca to make pilgrimage in November of 2009, one of the five pillars of Islam.

It was this offensive instance that has caused her to avoid airports at all costs.

“There are certain places where you know you are going to be targeted for ‘looking’ Muslim, especially in very crowded places where security is an issue,” Akhlema Haidar, a Muslim student at Ramapo who is a sophomore, said. “I think airports are number one on that list.”

Islam, a monotheistic religion that follows the religious text the Qur’an, is based on the teachings of Muhammad, who is considered to be the last prophet of God. Islamists believe the purpose of existence is to worship God and follow five pillars; making pilgrimage to the homeland, fasting, alms-giving to the needy, praying five times a day and testifying that Muhammad is the only god of worship.

As many Muslims living in America, like Rahman and Shidid, have come to realize, strides towards a diverse and tolerant nation have regressed  in a post-9/11 world.

According to CNN, 1 in 4 people worldwide is Muslim, and there are about 1.6 billion Muslims in the world. Time Magazine estimates that by 2030, there will be 2.2 billion Muslims worldwide. In America, there are 3 million Muslims, according to a study by PEW published on Dawn.com, a news website based in Pakistan.

A poll conducted last month published by The Washington Post finds that most Muslim Americans are optimistic about the future, and two in three Muslims said their standard of living is improving.

Since 9/11, some Muslims have been stereotyped. From rigorous security searches at the airport to getting weird looks when a professor reads their foreign name aloud to classmates asking obscure questions such as, “Is it against your religion to wear deodorant?”, some Muslim students at Ramapo have seemingly heard it all.

On a national level, Muslims have seen increased scrutiny, opposition to a mosque near Ground Zero and personal attacks for praying are just a few examples.

Now that it’s been 10 years since 9/11, however, the question at hand is whether America has moved past these stereotypes that have made so many Muslims feel uncomfortable over the years.

But where do Muslim college students, who were in middle school at the time of the attacks, weigh in on these important issues that have come to light in these past 10 years – Osama Bin Laden’s death, the mosque that was considered being built near Ground Zero, how society or their campus views their religion?

The answers to such questions are complex, emotional and above all else, varied.

“I think sometimes as a society we have conditional amnesia; we forget certain events, the wars being fought and economy isn’t in the best shape,” Mohamed El Filali, an Imam at the Islamic Center of Passaic County, said. “People need to realize that it’s not just affecting Muslims, it’s affecting all of us.”

Bin Laden’s death
While some Muslim students were able to sigh of relief after Bin Laden, the notorious Al-Qaeda leader behind the 9/11 attacks, was declared dead in April, others find it hard to believe it ever happened.

Haidar said he thinks Bin Laden’s death should have been belabored and torturous.

“I honestly feel that even though his death was a victory, it was a shallow one,” Haidar said.”It would have been better to capture him and make him suffer for all that he did.”

On the other end of the spectrum, Rafayet Ahmed, a sophomore who was born in Bangladesh, said he doesn’t think Bin Laden was ever killed.

“There’s no real proof that he’s dead,” he said. “It happened at too random a moment.”

Shidid said she concluded that Bin Laden justified his actions in his own way before the terrorist attacks.

“In his mind, he might have had a good intention, but in the Islamic religion, killing humans is flat out wrong,” Shidid said.

Tahmina Ahmed, a sophomore at Ramapo who is Muslim and prays five times a day, said it did not affect her when Bin Laden was declared dead.

“While it didn’t affect me, I believe other Muslims felt relieved,” Tahmina Ahmed said.

Ahmed Ferwana, a professor at Ramapo who teaches Arabic, echoed that sentiment. He is from the Ghaza Strip and came to the United States in August. Some in Ghaza, which is a notorious hotbed for Muslim extremists, celebrated Bin Laden’s death at the time, Ferwana said.

Mosque near Ground Zero

Some Muslims are understanding of why many Americans oppose the mosque, while others are in favor of it. The building of worship was proposed two blocks away from the ruins of the World Trade Center last summer, and caused controversy across the country.

Rafayet Ahmed, a practicing Muslim, said he doesn’t think a mosque should be built near Ground Zero.

“It just kind of looks like a mockery,” Ahmed said.

Shidid agrees with Rafayet Ahmed; she said it’s “asking for” controversy between Muslims and Americans.

“There are lots of other places for mosques to be built,” she said.

In contrast, Rahman said the distance of the proposed mosque is far enough from the original site of the towers, as the location would be two blocks away.

Shadi Fathy El-Sayed Elzahy, a Ramapo alumni who is Muslim, agrees the mosque should be built, but for different reasons.

“I don’t know why people are more upset with a mosque being built, when there are 10 Starbucks and a strip club nearby too,” El-Sayed Elzahy said.

Pinar Kayaalp, a Ramapo professor who teaches Islamic and Middle Eastern History, said “money should talk” when it comes to the construction of the mosque.

“In a capitalist society like the United States’, whoever buys that property should be able to do whatever they want, as long as it’s legal,” she said.

How others view the Muslim religion today

Shidid said she feels that people are still the same today as they were 10 years ago with stereotyping Muslims.

“We are portrayed badly in the American media, always looking dirty and unhappy,” she said. “I remember a teacher asking me if Muslims were allowed to wear deodorant.”

Rahman said he feels Americans have become more and more tolerant.

“A lot of people became curious about the religion of Islam and have educated themselves about it,” Rahman said.

El-Sayed Elzahy said he has come to accept that certain peoples’ views will always be unchangeable about the way they feel towards Muslims.

“I’ve come to the realization that you’re not gonna change everyone’s mind,” he said.

Ramapo’s reaction to Muslims

Because some Muslim students feel that the community has a lack of understanding of what Islam stands for and how it is practiced, they felt education was necessary to bridge the gap.

Rahman said he felt Ramapo students didn’t know enough about Muslims, so he created a Muslim Student Association last semester and is in the process of recruiting members, to spread accurate information about the religion and create a safehaven for other Muslims.

Shidid, who went to an affluent public high school in upstate New York where there were few minorities, said Ramapo is a more tolerant environment than that of her high school.

“I am only a freshman at Ramapo, so I can’t speak from much experience, but I think Ramapo is open to diversity – I can walk into a class and see all sorts of different people,” Shidid said.

Shidid said she has already connected with a few Muslim students who wear hijabs, which has made her feel comfortable in a new environment.

Kayaalp said she has found Ramapo students to be “a breath of fresh air” when it comes to being tolerant to Muslims.

“They’re very open-minded and inquisitive,” Kayaalp said. “They do not feel comfortable with making sweeping generalizations and like to learn. I’ve found that Muslim students feel that way too. It’s actually one of the reasons why I chose to work at Ramapo.”

Are we safer?

Since 9/11, officials and security have taken steps to create a safer nation, realizing that terrorism is a threat and the need for constant preparedness. Taking such steps has shown that these officials have recognized that anyone could be a threat, rather than a particular religion or race.

Clifford Peterson, a professor at Ramapo who is a specialist in terrorism, said that as a whole, America is safer now than it was before 9/11. He also said that Al-Qaeda is not as powerful as it was years ago.

“There is some evidence that Al-Qaeda has had greater problems recruiting since 9/11, because the violence was against other Muslims too,” Peterson said. “They’ve metastasized.”

Muslims like Ferwana want to get across the message that the religion propagates peace and compassion, and he is eager to shed the incorrect, terroristic notions many Americans have about Muslims.

“Terror has no religion,” Ferwana said.

Print this entry