USA: The effects of 9/11 -- Dalton Muslims discuss True Islam

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The Humayun family moved to Dalton about a year after the 9/11 attacks, where they say they received a warm welcome.

Times of Ahmad | News Watch | US Desk
Source/Credit: The Daily Citizen
By Charles Oliver | September 9, 2016

DALTON, Ga. — On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, Dr. Naseer Humayun had just begun a new job at St. Luke's Medical Center in Bethlehem, Pa.

“I was doing rounds in the ICU (intensive care unit). And there was a TV on. I looked up and there was smoke coming from one of the World Trade Center towers. They were saying a plane had hit the tower, but at that point no one knew what had happened. It later became clear that it was a terrorist attack. And after that, it became clear that the people who committed the attacks were Muslims. It was very disturbing. I still cannot come to terms with how those people who committed that attack could call themselves Muslims,” said Humayun, a member of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community.

During the next several days, as more details about the attack came out, Humayun says he became even more saddened by the number of innocent deaths and more disturbed that the perpetrators of the attack had done so in the name of Islam. But he says he was comforted by the reaction of those around him.

“There was fear. Everyone was justifiably concerned about what would happen next. But my patients and my peers and colleagues knew me well. They knew me personally. So they did not in any way blame me. They realized that you cannot generalize from just a very few people. The vast majority of Muslims were terrified just like everyone else. They were horrified just like everyone else,” he said.

Humayun's daughter Najia, the oldest of his three children, was just 4 at the time.

“I don't have any memory of 9/11 itself because I was so young,” said Najia, who is currently in her second year at Georgia Tech studying international affairs.

One of her classes showed the documentary “102 Minutes That Changed America,” which depicts the attack in real time by the use of video shot by people on the scene.

“After that, I was terrified by the magnitude of what happened. To me, it was horrific in two ways. The first way was as an American. Those were average Americans going to work and going about their lives. And their lives were taken unjustly. And it horrified me to think that some people will link that attack to Islam, a religion which brings me peace. It horrified me to think that the people who committed that attack misused Islam that way,” she said.

The Humayun family moved to Dalton about a year after the 9/11 attacks, where they say they received a warm welcome.

"I've never had any truly negative experience living here in Dalton,” said Najia. “Everyone here has been so nice. There are some people who don't know a lot about Islam, so maybe they ask a question out of ignorance. But I've never had anyone ask me a question that was blatantly offensive. I'm thankful for that. People, when they know you personally, don't generalize you into what the media has come to portray as Islam.”

But they say they are still forced to contend with negative stereotypes, especially when another terrorist attack is perpetrated by a Muslim.

“They happen way too often for me. And every time my heart just sinks,” said Naseer. “When is this going to stop? We (the Ahmadiyya community) always release a statement condemning it. We know we need to do that. We know we cannot allow anyone to say, 'Why are Muslims not standing up?' We cannot allow anyone to say, “Where are the moderate Muslims?' I don't think it's fair that she (Najia), a girl in school, should have to speak up. But I think it is something I have to do.”

The Ahmadiyya community also organizes blood drives around the anniversary of 9/11.

“It's called Muslims for Life. We have collected more than 30,000 pints of blood over the last six years,” Naseer said.

Najia has participated in and helped organize some of those blood drives.

“Rather than feeling self-pity, I just ask myself what can I do to help change this perception and also to help stop this extremism,” she said.

The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community has also organized the True Islam Campaign and a website, trueislam.com. The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community is an international revival movement within Islam founded in India in 1889 by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, according to its website, believes that Ahmad “divested Islam of fanatical beliefs and practices by vigorously championing Islam’s true and essential teachings."

“It's an effort to unite both non-Muslim Americans and Muslim Americans and to present the correct teaching of Islam as the Prophet Mohammad and the Holy Quran teach. It consists of 11 points, each of which clarify a common misconception about Islam,” said Najia.

One of those points is love for and loyalty to one's homeland.

“If you are a true Muslim, you have to love your homeland. That's one of the tenets of Islam, love for your homeland. The Prophet Mohammad says love for your homeland is part of your faith. And America is my home. I'm an American citizen. My children were born here,” said Nasser.

Naseer says Islam also teaches the sanctity of life.

“The Quran says that if you take even one life it is like killing all of humanity. Islam is peace,” he said.

And he says those who have committed violence in the name of Islam teach a corrupted form of the religion.

“If you look at what has happened in Belgium and France, the Paris attacks and the attacks in Nice, most of those were young people who committed the attacks," he said. "They grew up secular and knew nothing of Islam. They were involved in drugs. They were involved in crime. Some of them had mental problems. Something happened and they were recruited by ISIS and filled with a corrupt form of Islam. But if you look at their entire lives, there is nothing Islamic about the way they lived including their final attacks."



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