Column: The day my religion was hijacked
Airplanes weren’t the only things that were hijacked on 9/11. My religion was hijacked, too.
The unholy terrorism of 19 mass murderers has caused serious damage to the image of Islam and Muslims.
Just like that, the community of 6 million to 8 million American Muslims went from being virtually unnoticed by the larger society to being placed under a glaring light of suspicion.
All thanks to al-Qaida’s warped view of religion and geopolitics.
Al-Qaida was angry at our policies in the Middle East, such as our stationing of troops in Saudi Arabia and the unconditional support given to Israel. Osama bin Laden wanted to teach us a lesson, and he refused to let Islam’s moral imperatives constrain him. Instead, he distorted Islam to justify his diabolical scheme.
Al-Qaida hasn’t been the only group to hijack the image of Islam. Hatemongers in this country have also hijacked Islam. These Islamophobes have spent the past decade working to distort the image of Islam to further their own political or social agendas.
And they have been quite successful.
To this day, I still have people asking me why Muslims didn’t condemn 9/11. I have gotten so tired of this canard that whenever I have a speaking engagement, I carry with me a folder of public condemnations issued by American Muslims groups — and Muslims worldwide — on 9/11.
Muslim-bashers have seized on the views of a handful of extremists and ignored the centuries-old beliefs of the world’s 1.5 billion Muslims. They cherry-pick verses from the Quran and take them out of context, attempting to portray Islam as a religion of violence.
The instigators of Islamophobia are not obscure zealots that dwell on the margins. They are elected officials, presidential candidates, popular televangelists, radio and TV talk show hosts, and other influential people in our society.
“We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity,” said Ann Coulter in her syndicated column after 9/11…