US Muslim activism faces 9/11 stereotyping

California, NU Online
Sensing a rising hostility against their religious minority in the United States since the 9/11 attacks, California Muslims are using arts and activism to show a better image of their faith to their neighbors.


"There was a lot of hate," Junaid Shaikh, a Santa Clara software engineer and chairman of the Northern California Islamic Council, formed two years ago, told the Mercury News website.

"We had to repel it. Sept. 11 just sped up things for us. It created a climate for us to do this kind of work."

Since the 9/11 attacks, US Muslims, estimated between 6-8 million, have complained of discrimination and stereotypes because of their Islamic attires or identities.

Despite the frenzy, California's Bay Area Muslims seized the opportunity to introduce a true message of Islam, through art and activism.

Opening a window on Islamic rules and traditions, a San Jose State student established a radio station called MeccaOne, discussing ideas such as Islamic art and rules of marriage.  

Another group of young Muslims founded a group called "Muslim Unity Day" with Muslim hip hop artists and comedians at Great America amusement park.

In Oakland, an "Islam and Authors" series sprouted as others established the Islamic Scholarship Fund in Alamo to help fund Muslim writers.

"Muslims themselves really didn't engage civil society in the manner we should have," said Wajahat Ali, a Fremont lawyer and playwright.

Ali said Muslims, who often came to the US as doctors, engineers or business professionals, urgently needed civic leaders and "storytellers telling the authentic Muslim American story, through education, through service. That wasn't there."

Javed Ali also began publishing a magazine titled ILLUME to tell the stories of Afghan women in Fremont who were changing the Muslim image.

"I felt a duty to myself and my family to try to change the narrative," said Ali, a Fiji-born IT expert who started his project in 2006.

"I wanted to show who we are."

Activism Too

California Muslims also worked on publicizing their activities in helping the less fortunate in their community, such as feeding the homeless.

"After 9/11, the Muslim community realized that we had to come out of our cocoons," said Habibe Husain, founder of the Rahima Foundation, which has fed Silicon Valley's homeless for 19 years.

"We were all brushed with the same stroke as those terrorists. That doesn't represent my faith. It made me so angry."

Activism was not limited to charity works.

New groups were also established, such as American Muslim Voice, founded by Samina Sundas of Palo Alto, and the Council on American-Islamic Relations, to urge Muslims to engage with their neighbors in civic life.

Others were encouraged to join the political life, including Omar Ahmad, who was elected in 2007 to the San Carlos City Council and later became the Bay Area's first Muslim mayor.

Several Muslims earned seats on the Santa Clara and Contra Costa County Human Relations commissions, though Muslims acknowledge they don't have an ample representation yet on elected city posts.

Muslims also kept their Islamic identity inside the society, building mosques and Islamic centers for their growing numbers at Bay Area from San Ramon to San Martin.

Moreover, Hayward's Zaytuna Institute, a prominent center of Islamic scholarship, was moved to Berkeley to become the country's first accredited American Muslim college.

A decade after 9/11, many Bar Area Muslims feel now at home.

They agree with a recent  Pew Research Center Survey which found that 82 percent of Muslims in the US are "satisfied" with their lives.

"I've always felt welcome here," said Imam Tahir Anwar, a popular religious leader at the South Bay Islamic Association in San Jose. (iol/dar)