The Legacy of 9/11
By Deanna Othman
Children growing up in America in the 21st century will never know what the nation was like before 9/11.
They will never recall the days when you could take a full-size bottle of bottle of shampoo on an airplane, or travel without fear of being flagged on a no-fly list. They will never remember the New York skyline with the Twin Towers peaking into the clouds.
They will always remember the day Osama Bin Laden was captured and killed.
Much has changed in our world since those fatefully heinous attacks struck at the hearts of all Americans—Muslim and Christian, black and white, immigrant and native-born, young and old, New Yorker and Chicagoan. Islam in America took a brutal blow, with the emergence of Islamophobic zealots, hate-mongerers and ignorant “pundits” claiming to have inside knowledge on the inner workings of the Muslim psyche.
The media post-9/11 became rife with pejorative “-ists,” such as “terrorist,” “extremist,” “jihadist,” “fundamentalist” and “Islamist.” We witnessed the rise of the shariah scare, Quran-burning and the controversies over building mosques nationwide. Many feared the image of Islam in America would never recover.
But Muslim Americans have made great strides.
Perhaps it was these very attacks that propelled Muslims to take a more proactive role in their local communities, focusing not only on developing themselves, but their local political, social and educational structures. Perhaps it was these very attacks that led to the creation of interfaith collaborations nationwide, among youth and adults, at the local and nation levels. Perhaps it was these very attacks that illustrated to Muslims they needed to branch out into new professions, to brave the frontiers in the entertainment and media industries.
Yes, Muslims have undergone much turmoil, suffered expressions of hate and endured bouts of ignorance in the 10 years since Sept. 11, 2001. However, they have received expressions of love and support, witnessed movements of solidarity and joint patriotism.
Though Sept. 11 brought the Pamela Geller’s and Peter King’s of the world to the forefront, Muslims have also become a part of the discourse in civil society. Our post-9/11 world has witnessed Muslims such as Keith Ellison and Andre Carson as part of our Congress, Dalia Mogahed, Farah Pandith and Rashad Hussain appointed to various posts by President Obama, and non-terrorist Muslim characters have even popped up on numerous sitcoms. Pop culture icons like Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert have come to the defense of Muslims, never failing to incisively expose the defective logic of virulent Islamophobes, as Colbert once quipped that Islam was facing “a P.R. nightmare.”
A national poll recently conducted by Ohio State University found that in the weeks following the U.S. military campaign that killed bin Laden, “American attitudes toward Muslim Americans took a significant negative shift.” Muslim Americans were viewed as more threatening after bin Laden's death, favorable opinions of Muslims diminished, and survey respondents said they probably would not be against restrictions on Muslim Americans’ civil liberties.
Erik Nisbet, assistant professor of communication at Ohio State University, and one of the leaders of the survey project, attributed the shift in views to “the fact that bin Laden's death reminded some Americans of why they may fear Muslims in the first place.”
Unfortunately, every time an event such as this, or even an attack not perpetrated by a Muslim, such as the bombing in the Norway, occurs, Muslim Americans face a setback. As we remember the victims of the attacks, and the victims of the hate crimes following the attacks, we can only move forward through education, through civic engagement and through local outreach. May God divert the evil that the architects of Sept. 11 sought to inflict into good; may the memory of those killed live on in the virtuous works of their families and communities; may all setbacks that the community faces ultimately lead toward progression.
Published in Sep/Oct 2011 issue of Islamic Horizons.