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| Harris Zafar - Spokesperson, Ahmadiyya Muslim Community |
Source/Credit: The Oregonian
By Nancy Haught | May 3, 2011
Muslim leaders in Portland expressed relief this week that Osama bin Laden, the man they believe tarnished Islam and was responsible for killing thousands, is dead.
"We needed this news and we needed it badly," said Shahriar Ahmed, president of the Bilal Mosque Association in Beaverton and a familiar Muslim voice in Portland. In a statement released Monday night, he said that the "journey" is not over, "but we have taken a big step forward."
"When you couple this with the wind of freedom that is blowing through the Middle East, nothing could be better."
Muhammad Najieb, imam of Northeast Portland's Muslim Community Center, hoped Americans could now shift their focus: "How does a radical convince others to take the lives of innocents, no matter who or where they are, and brand it with a religious name?" he asked.
"Islam is not a religion that perpetuates violence. That sort of dialogue would be constructive for all of us."
Kambiz GhaneaBassiri, a professor of Islam at Reed College, said Tuesday he was thinking about the immediate public reaction to bin Laden's death.
"So much of the celebration involves current college students for whom Sept. 11 was a coming-of-age moment," he said. But he compared it to similar scenes from the Middle East, in which young men have raised their fists and chanted, "death to the U.S.A."
"For a generation of Americans bin Laden symbolized a world mired in an intractable conflict," he said. "His death, to them, could represent the empowering possibility of an end to a state of perpetual war."
GhaneaBassiri said bin Laden's death is mainly a symbolic victory; al-Qaida has not been very powerful since 2005. "Ultimately, we are not celebrating his death but the extent and reach of America's power."
Harris Zafar of Portland is a national spokesman for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, a movement within Islam that is often rejected by mainstream Muslims.
"We never take joy in the loss of any life," Zafar said Monday, but there is relief that justice has finally been delivered." Ahmadiyya Muslims believe their 19th-century founder, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, was a prophet, while most Muslims believe Muhammad was the last in a line of prophets.
But Zafar said all Muslims have suffered from the kind of terrorism promoted by bin Laden.
"This was not a Muslim leader who was killed," Zafar said. "He was a fugitive, a mass-murderer."
Some Christian leaders offered support for Portland's Muslim community. "Tonight the president rightly said that 'the U.S. is not -- and never will be -- at war with Islam.'" wrote the Rev. Chuck Currie, United Church of Christ minister, on his blog Sunday.
In an open letter sent Sunday to Portland Muslims, the Rev. Chuck Cooper wrote that the reaction bothered him: "As a Christian, I am embarrassed and ashamed that you must witness a great orgy of rejoicing by some that Christianity has triumphed over Islam. My heart breaks at the dehumanization of the enemy, be he Osama bin Laden or an Iraqi prisoner tortured and killed in Abu Ghraib, or a child or a wedding party killed by a drone in Afghanistan."
Cooper, a former Methodist minister and now a priest in an independent Catholic movement, has long been active in interfaith efforts in Portland. In an interview Monday, he said he wrote the letter because he believes "bigotry" against Muslims is escalating.
A few Muslims abandoned plans for a downtown gathering Monday out of safety concerns. News and online reports that said the Islamic Society of Greater Portland was a sponsor and claimed the cancellation was due to death threats were in error on both counts, said Zafar Hasan, a vice president of the society.
-- Nancy Haught
Read original post here: Portland Muslims, others react to Osama bin Laden's death and Americans' response
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