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ewsday – Sept. 10, 2007
Muslims parade in New York, condemn 9/11 terror attacks
By KAREN MATTHEWS
NEW YORK - Hundreds of Muslims chanted and waved flags from around the globe as they marched Sunday (9/9/2007) in the 22nd annual American Muslim Day Parade.
About 20 protesters shouted anti-Muslim slogans from behind police barricades along Manhattan's Madison Avenue and sought to link the marchers to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
A member of the parade organizing committee, Dr. Hafiz Ur Rehman, a pediatrician from Bay Shore, said the marchers condemned the 2001 attacks. "We are law-abiding citizens, and we want the people of New York to know that Muslims are part and parcel of the landscape," he said. "The motto of this parade is that Islam holds human dignity high. And that is what we want to demonstrate."
Before setting off, marchers laid down blue plastic ground coverings and prayed, the women behind the men. Facing east, they alternately stood, knelt and touched foreheads to the ground.
Marching behind banners representing Afghan, Bangladeshi and Indonesian community groups, they chanted more Muslim prayers along the 16-block parade route.
Police kept the marchers separate from the protesters, who shouted "God bless America" and "No more 9/11s!" Protest leader Joe Kaufman, of Coral Springs, Fla., said parade organizers included groups that support Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that the U.S. government considers a terrorist organization. "We believe that this parade is a threat to New York City and a danger to national security," he said.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg did not attend the parade, but a statement of support from him was read from a podium….
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--muslimparade0909sep09,0,2845905,print.story
Gilroy Dispatch Letter to Editor – Sept. 6, 2007
U.S. Muslims do condemn terror
While reading Andrew Serrano's letter regarding building more Muslim mosques, I was surprised to read the inaccurate statement which claims that Muslims in America don't condemn terrorism.
Several American Muslim organizations, such as American Muslim Alliance, the American Muslim Council, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the Muslim Public Affairs Council, the Muslim American Society, the Islamic Society of North America, the Islamic Circle of North America, and the Muslim Alliance in North America have openly condemned terrorism.
The organizations that I listed represent millions of Muslims (approximately 7 million) in the U.S., which support these condemnations to the fullest.
Additionally, several Muslim communities in the U.S. are putting in great efforts to cooperate with law enforcement in order to ensure a safe environment for their families and the surrounding communities.
To say that Muslims in the U.S. don't condemn terrorism is promoting just another myth about Muslims and Islam, and I am offended to see someone make false claims about the whole Muslim community and sow fear and panic among people. I suggest Mr. Serrano have an open mind and learn about his Muslim neighbors.
Mariam Moustafa, Irvine
http://www.gilroydispatch.com/opinion/contentview.asp?c=224782
Arizona Republic – Sept. 11, 2007
Reflection on life 6 years after 9/11
Initially, Fawzia Tung didn't think the attacks on Sept. 11 really affected her life. She was wrong. She soon realized it had a big impact on the way she viewed her religion.
Tung, 50, is a Chinese Muslim living in Phoenix and working for the Council on American-Islamic Relations. But it was only after the attacks that Tung unconsciously took her life down a more politically active path.
At the time of the attacks, Tung was a stay-at-home mom to seven children. She felt very free living in the U.S., able to practice her faith openly. She had no qualms about wearing her scarf in public because nobody paid any notice. But things changed the day the four planes crashed.
"Right after it happened, I was terribly conscious I was wearing a scarf," she said. "I felt like everybody was looking at me."
Her husband urged her to stay home if she could. He would do the grocery shopping, a monumental offer. For Tung, it was stay home or heed her husband's advice to go out without her scarf, an option she had never until that moment considered.
"I know a number of friends who took it (the scarf) off right after 9/11," she said.
Tung was conflicted. She always considered her relationship with Allah a private one. But her scarf became a symbol in the wake of the attacks. "It was never a social thing before. All of a sudden it became something different," Tung said.
A woman at a garage sale told Tung she supported her and held no ill will toward Muslims.
She decided to stand tall for her religion. Tung went to work at an Islamic school and later joined the staff at CAIR.
Looking back, Tung believes the social effects of the attacks had a positive influence on her.
"I didn't do anything particularly Islamic before that," she said. "I was just living my life."
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/arizonaliving/articles/0911911reflections.html
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