A Wave of Conversation to Islam In U.S. Following September 11
Excerpts from "Muslim American Leaders: A Wave of Conversion to Islam in the U.S. Following September 11" © Middle East Media & Research Institute
Muslim American reports in the Arab press indicate
that Muslim proselytizing efforts have been
unusually successful since the September 11 attacks.
'Alaa Bayumi, Director of Arab Affairs at the
Council for American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), wrote
in the London daily Al-Hayat that "non-Muslim
Americans are now interested in getting to know
Islam. There are a number of signs...: Libraries
have run out of books on Islam and the Middle
East... English translations of the Koran head the
American best-seller list... The Americans are
showing increasing willingness to convert to Islam
since September 11... Thousands of non-Muslim
Americans have responded to invitations to visit
mosques, resembling the waves of the sea [crashing
on the shore] one after another... All this is
happening in a political atmosphere that, at least
verbally, encourages non-Muslim Americans' openness
towards Muslims in America and in the Islamic world,
as the American president has said many times in his
speeches..."(1)
CAIR chairman Nihad Awad told the Saudi paper 'Ukaz
that "34,000
Americans have converted to Islam following the
events of September 11,
and this is the highest rate reached in the U.S.
since Islam arrived there."(2)
According to Dr. Walid A. Fatihi, instructor of
medicine at Harvard Medical School, Boston has
recently become a center of Islamic proselytizing
aimed at Christians. On September 22, 2001, Al-Fatihi
sent a letter to the Egyptian weekly Al-Ahram Al-Arabi,
in which he described the unfolding of events since
September 11: "...From the first day, the media
began to insinuate that Muslim Arab hands were
behind this incident. At noon, the directors and
administration of the Islamic Center of Boston held
an emergency meeting, and I stayed on the line with
them from my clinic. We decided to hold a blood
drive, and we set up a committee to contact the Red
Cross and organize it for us. We invited the media
to cover the event..."
"All of us tried to grab onto every scrap of
information that would indicate that Muslim Arab
hands were not involved in the loathsome crime. Yes,
my brothers and sisters, we tried to prove our
humanity on the day we found ourselves attacked from
all sides. Our hearts bled and our spokesman said
that proselytizing in the name of Allah had been set
back 50 years in the U.S. and in the entire
world..."
"On
Saturday, September 15, I went with my wife and
children to the biggest church in Boston, [Trinity
Church in] Copley Square, by official invitation of
the Islamic Society of Boston, to represent Islam by
special invitation of the senators of Boston.
Present were the mayor of Boston, his wife, and the
heads of the universities. There were more than
1,000 people there, with media coverage by one of
Boston's main television stations. We were received
like ambassadors. I sat with my wife and children in
the front row, next to the mayor's wife. In his
sermon, the priest defended Islam as a monotheistic
religion, telling the audience that I represented
the Islamic Society of Boston."
"After the sermon was over, he stood at my side as I
read an official statement issued by the leading
Muslim clerics condemning the incident [i.e. the
attacks]. The statement explained Islam's stance and
principles, and its sublime precepts. Afterwards, I
read Koran verses translated into English... These
were moments that I will never forget, because the
entire church burst into tears upon hearing the
passages of the words of Allah!!"
"Emotion swept over us. One said to me: 'I do not
understand the Arabic language, but there is no
doubt that the things you said are the words of
Allah.' As she left the church weeping, a woman put
a piece of paper in my hand; on the paper was
written: 'Forgive us for our past and for our
present. Keep proselytizing to us.' Another man
stood at the entrance of the church, his eyes teary,
and said, 'You are just like us; no, you are better
than us.'" (3)
"On
Sunday, September 16, the Islamic Society of Boston
issued an open invitation to the Islamic Center in
Cambridge, located between Harvard and MIT. We did
not expect more than 100 people, but to our surprise
more than 1,000 people came, among them the
neighbors, the university lecturers, members of the
clergy, and even the leaders of the priests from the
nearby churches, who invited us to speak on Islam.
All expressed solidarity with Muslims. Many
questions flowed to us. Everyone wanted to know
about Islam and to understand its precepts."
"Of
all the questions, not a single one attacked me; on
the contrary, we saw [the people's] eyes filling
with tears when they heard about Islam and its
sublime principles. Many of them had never heard
about Islam before. Well, they had heard about Islam
only through the biased media. That same day, I was
invited again to participate in a meeting in the
church, and again I saw the same things. On
Thursday, a delegation of 300 students and lecturers
from Harvard visited the center of the Islamic
Society of Boston, accompanied by the American
Ambassador to Vienna. They sat on the floor of the
mosque, which was filled to capacity. We explained
to them the precepts of Islam, and defended it from
any suspicions [promulgated in the media]. I again
read to them from the verses of Allah, and [their]
eyes filled with tears. The audience was moved, and
many asked to participate in the weekly lessons for
non-Muslims held by the Islamic Center..."
"On
Friday, September 21, the Muslims participated in a
closed meeting with the governor of Massachusetts.
In the meeting, a discussion was held on introducing
Islam into the school curriculum, to inform the
[American] people and to fight racism against
Muslims arising from the American people's ignorance
regarding the religion. With the governor's support,
measures to examine implementation of this goal were
agreed upon..."
"These are only some of the examples of what
happened and is happening in the city of Boston, and
in many other American cities, during these days.
Proselytizing in the name of Allah has not been
undermined, and has not been set back 50 years, as
we thought in the first days after September 11. On
the contrary, the 11 days that have passed are like
11 years in the history of proselytizing in the name
of Allah. I write to you today with the absolute
confidence that over the next few years, Islam will
spread in America and in the entire world, Allah
willing, much more quickly than it has spread in the
past, because the entire world is asking, 'What is
Islam!'(4)
Fatihi's reports of American Christians' crying upon
hearing Koranic verses have an historical context.
This type of narrative is about part of the ethos of
Islamic proselytizing. It comes from the tradition
of the Prophet Muhammad's invitation to the
Christian community of Najran, located in what is
today North Yemen, to visit the mosque. When the
Christians of Najran were exposed to the verses of
the Koran, the tradition says they burst into tears
and converted to Islam.
Fatihi also published an article in the London daily
Al-Hayat:
"...There are initial signs that the intensive
campaign of education about Islam has begun to bear
fruit. For example, the rate of converts to Islam
since September 11 has doubled… There is solidarity
with the Muslims on the part of many non-Muslims in
American universities. For example, dozens of
non-Muslim American women students at Wayne [State]
University… have put on veils as a symbol of
identification with the Muslim women students at the
university and at the other universities of
America."
"One of the most important topics [in an NPR
broadcast] was an interview with several young women
at American universities who recently converted to
Islam through the Islamic Society of Boston. They
hold advanced degrees from universities in Boston,
such as Harvard, and they spoke of the power and the
greatness of Islam, of the elevated status of women
in Islam, and of why they converted to Islam. The
program was broadcast several times across the
entire U.S..." (5)
Notes and references:
(1)
Al-Hayat (London), November 11, 2001
(2)
Al-Ayyam (London), November 12, 2001
(3)
The phenomenon of sincere Christians shedding tears
as they recognize the truth and beauty of Islam is
mentioned in the Qur'an:
And
thou wilt find the nearest of them in affection to
those who believe (to be) those who say: Lo! We are
Christians. That is because there are among them
priests and monks, and because they are not proud.
When they listen to that which hath been revealed
unto the messengers, thou seest their eyes overflow
with tears because of their recognition of the
Truth. They say: Our Lord, we believe. Inscribe us
as among the witnesses
[Qur'an 5:82-83]
(4) Al-Ahram
Al-Arabi (Egypt), October 20, 2001
(5) Al-Hayat
(London), November 11, 2001
Also see :
A NATION CHALLENGED: AMERICAN MUSLIMS; Islam Attracts Converts By the Thousand, Drawn Before and After Attacks By JODI WILGOREN
Source: The New York Times : October 22, 2001, Monday
Section: National Desk
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/22/national/22CONV.html
or :
http://www.alhewar.com/nyt_islam_attracts.htm
A NATION CHALLENGED: AMERICAN MUSLIMS; Islam Attracts Converts By the Thousand, Drawn Before and After Attacks By JODI WILGOREN
Source: The New York Times : October 22, 2001, Monday
Section: National Desk
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/10/22/national/22CONV.html
or :
http://www.alhewar.com/nyt_islam_attracts.htm
By Tara Dooley, Star-Telegram (Fort Worth, Texas)
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