New Trend Magazine

(Analysis and Commentary)

Backlash against Muslims Mounting
Leaderless Community Indulges in Conspiracy Theories
America Looks for Retaliation as it reels from Massive Blow

"From Allah we come and unto him we return." (The Qur'an)


Ahmed Abdel Sattar, the reknowned human rights activist, lives in Staten Island, New York. He went downstairs from his apartment to stop a fight between two 15-year olds. Minutes later, after he had come upstairs, the police entered his apartment without a search warrant claiming he had beaten up one of the young people. They had been keeping an eye on his apartment and used this opportunity to carry out a search without a warrant, messing up his home and disturbing his family.

A Puerto Rican Muslim who owns an Islamic bookstore in Albany, New York, was harrassed by some persons. When he called the police, they didn't show up.

In Colorado Springs, Colorado, red necks necks entered the mosque and created a nuisance.

In Greensboro, North Carolina, two hijab-wearing Muslim women were searched when they visited a hospital.

In Winston-Salem, North Carolina, at a public school, Muslim students were put in a separate room all by themselves (a form of segregation).

Imam Badi Ali reports that the Quad City Islamic Center in Greensborough has been receiving abusive phone calls, using dirty language for the Prophet (pbuh).

A TV report says that a shot was fired through the plate glass window of a mosque in the Dallas, Texas area.
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Owing to lack of leadership, many Muslims don't know what to do. Muslim 'leaders' appear to be confused and out of focus. They are busy issuing condemnations of terrorism which the government is ignoring. A lot of email has appeared on Muslim lists propounding conspiracy theories about the attacks on September 11. Observers say that the distribution of these 'ivory tower' theories is confusing the communities of Muslims even further. If these theorists have any evidence about their conspiracy theories, they should send them to the U.S. government instead of distributing them among Muslims.
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Meanwhile the U.S. is preparing massive retaliation which will probably aim at the destruction of Afghanistan and Iraq. Afghanistan's Taliban have requested America not to attack and have pleaded that Osama bin Laden is incapable of mounting an attack on the scale of September 11. Rulers of Muslim countries have sent sincere condolences to the U.S. The only exception seems to have been President Saddam Hussain who is reported to have said that 'you reap what you sow.' King Abdullah of Jordan spoke at some length on U.S. TV. Israel has declared a day of mourning and Israeli tanks are attacking the Palestinians, killing 10 people in the last few hours.
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Muslims in America are offering help to the victims of the September 11 onslaught. Some of the dead might be Muslims. The massive attacks have hurt the U.S., with dead and wounded said to be in the thousands. The economic damage is incalculable at this point with all air traffic at a stand still and tunnels/bridges in and out of New York closed. Many other cities have had closures.

U.S. commentators are assessing the committment and abilities of the attackers who seemed to be prepared to give their lives and were efficient and organized to the extreme. A pall of fear descended on Washington and for the first time the U.S. government behaved like governments in many Muslim countries: fearful that it might be attacked in its citadel.

The tragedy of innocent victims is unfolding. We have received calls from people who could not believe that something so horrific could happen so quickly to America's center of trade and its military hub. The nation is in a state of shock. Some of the people we interviewed seemed to be undergoing post-traumatic stress.
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The UNITY JUMA and RALLY in Atlanta for Imam Jamil al-Amin (on September 14 and 15) have been postponed.
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Allah hu. Allah hu. La illaha illah hu.
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2001-10-27 Sat 15:23ct