We were sleeping in. The night before was the last night of the State Fair. That's when everybody goes because there's no entrance charge. We were exhausted from all the walking around and eating fried foods on sticks. Neither me nor my wife had to work till the afternoon that day so we were taking full advantage of the r and r. The phone rang. Still groggy, I answered it. It was Moms, frantic and practically yelling in my ear, "We're under attack! We're under attack!! 

Somebody done 'bumed' the World Trade Center! Turn on your T.V.!" and hangs up. Now Moms has been fooled by television shows before. The updated TV mini series War of the Worlds had her thinking we were under attack too. Needless to say, I was doubtful it was anything other than a replay of news reel from the previous bombing of '93. Plus, I'm still groggy and hoping It's nothing so I can go back to sleep. I indulge her in hopes that I can call her back and explain ever so kindly that she had been duped again. As my non-digital T.V. picture slowly came into focus, there it was. The newscaster speaking in that way. The way that let's you know something life altering has just happened. I realized to my dismay, Moms had been dead right.

 

Me and my wife sat and watched in horror as we saw the events unfold. When the two towers collapsed we just turned and looked at each other, both our eyes filled with the same shock and unspoken worry. After this, how will our lives here in America as Muslims ever be the same? In fact, how will anybody's life ever be the same? 

 

10 years latter, I still find myself asking that same question. For so many, 9/11 was a turning point and milestone by which they divide their lives. The impact of that fateful day on both those within and outside of our community can never fully be comprehended. Those of us Muslims who are concerned about the Islamic message have seen every spectrum of good and evil within it's aftereffects. On the positive side, some Muslims woke up to the reality that we have an enemy within. With every passing day the death tolls of innocent Muslims began to far surpass the nearly 3000 who died on 9/11. Compounds filled with Muslims were raised to the ground. Caches of weapons were found in Makkah in a possible plot to attack the holiest of our sites! With every bomb that went off in a masjid filled with people praying saying "Allahu Akbar", we began to realize some of our killers were shouting "Allahu Akbar" too; stealing and perverting that beautiful phrase. Our scholars started to expose teachers and Imams who were spreading extremism and relieved them of duty. When people began to charge Islam itself as being the problem, common Muslims began a deeper examination of their own doctrine, causing them to rediscover all the beauty and goodness that lies within their faith. To the surprise of many, out of the events of 9/11 came a good number of non-Muslims, who out of curiosity looked into the Quran and found it and Islam to their liking. 

 

But with the good there was also the bad and the ugly. I never made a big deal of all the subsequent flight and travel woes. Although I'd be lying if I said I enjoyed being given such sweet attention and tender loving care at the airport, I'd be pissed if something bad happened because they failed to do some level of checking. That was bearable, other outcomes were not. An army of so-called reformers started to raise their heads and call for a replacement Islam that sought a divorce from its original tradition. They championed a new faith that was not really a faith at all, but more of a secular humanist charter; at it's core calling for the rejection of the age-old Islamic idea that Allah and His Messenger (صلى الله عليه وسلم) knows best. Along with this came the rise of the Islamophobes. Atheists joined hands with fundamentalist Christians and other factions in an all out assault against Islam and Muslims. Some individuals became prominent, building entire careers around the promotion of anti-Muslim sentiment under the guise of National Security and the protection of Western Civilization from an impending Islamic Caliphate. And let's not forget the endless military adventures in the Muslim world where soldiers use simulated combat video games to assist their training. I'm doubtful this kind of training adds value to human life. 

 

Perhaps ugliest of all to me is the languishing extremism and stagnation that still remains in our own community. Chatting with one of my Muslim friends recently in the parking lot of the masjid, 9/11 and Usamah bin Laden comes up. " You know brother, I don't think he did it. There's a lot of misinformation out there and we don't know. You know what else? I heard from some brothers that they didn't really kill him. He might still be alive!!!" I shook my bowed head in sadness. Islam is a religion that carries within it the proud history of precision Quran memorization and recitation, the most sophisticated science of religious tradition (hadith) nomenclature and reliability, and an utmost concern for accuracy in regards to knowledge. How could a people with such a tradition still fall victim to such demagoguery, baseless folklore, and outright ignorance? It was a wake up call to me that we still have a long way to go to become the great nation of the middle way that Allah described in the Quran. (2:143) I've often thought that we as Muslims needed our own 9/11 report. (similar to the one created by the 9/11 commission) Like it or not, we've got problems in our ranks that need solving. The number of attacks that have been perpetrated by like minded extremists since 9/11 is proof enough that hard internal work within our own house is long overdue. 

 

Still with all this as a backdrop I have many reasons for hope. Since that fateful day 10 years ago, Bin Laden is gone and with him much of the mystique and respect some secretly had for him. I sincerely believe that extremism among indigenous Muslims here is on the wane. Adherence to knowledge-based authentic Sunni Islam is spreading and ignorant firebrands are becoming passe. More of us are trying to do our part to exemplify that middle path that is Islam. Building free medical clinics next to mosques, becoming congressmen, advising our leaders including the president, seeking knowledge and becoming compassionate educators who call to Allah. In the ashes of 9/11, American Muslims are striving to find ways to refind our beautiful way.