Twenty years have passed since the terrorist attack on 11 September 2001, the date two planes were flown into the Twin Towers in New York City. The individual terrorists who perpetrated the 9/11 attacks identified themselves as Muslims. They were part of al-Qaeda an international Islamist extremist network. Four planes were hijacked by 19 militants affiliated with this Islamic extremist group. Two of the planes collided with the Twin Towers and nearly 3000 people were killed. As a result, the United States initiated the war on terrorism.
After the attacks, the political environment in the Muslim world was altered dramatically. According to some testimonials, Americans spray-painted houses of Muslims and took hijabs or headscarves from Muslim women. Islamophobia in the United States remains a problem twenty years after the attacks. Since 9/11, Muslims have been “othered,” which has had a long-term impact on the lives of Muslim Americans and their feeling of belonging and inclusion in the fabric of American society. Although now there is a greater understanding of Islam, Muslim Americans say they continue to face discrimination and questions about their national loyalty. This could be a consequence of American nationalism.
Eman Abdelhadi, a sociologist at The University of Chicago says there is “this sense of being Muslim as a kind of important identity marker, regardless of your relationship with Islam as a faith”. In addition, Hanif an American Muslim says Your sense of who you were, not just Muslim, but American Muslim was becoming more developed. What set you apart as an American Muslim? Were you able to be totally both, or did you have to choose? There was a lot of deliberation about what that meant.
If someone takes a deep look at the Islamic religion, he will realize that only a very small subset of Muslims are Islamist extremists. These acts we perceive as “terrorism” are conducted by a tiny minority of Muslim people seeking power primarily in their own regions of operation, with other Muslims as their primary victims. The overwhelming majority of Muslims are opposed to violent extremism and terrorism. In conclusion, it is unfair for Muslims as a whole, to be subjected to this treatment by Americans.
Citation:
- Islam and the Patterns in Terrorism and Violent Extremism. (2021). from https://www.csis.org/analysis/islam-and-patterns-terrorism-and-violent-extremism
- Muslims in America after 9/11, Part I | National September 11 Memorial & Museum. (2021), from https://www.911memorial.org/learn/students-and-teachers/lesson-plans/muslims-america-after-911-part-i
- Muslims in America after 9/11, Part III | National September 11 Memorial & Museum. (2021). Retrieved 13 November 2021, from https://www.911memorial.org/learn/students-and-teachers/lesson-plans/muslims-america-after-911-part-iii
- Two decades after 9/11, Muslim Americans still fighting bias. (2021), from https://apnews.com/article/September-11-Muslim-Americans-93f97dd9219c25371428f4268a2b33b4
Hello! This is a really great context presentation. I really appreciated how you gave possible reasons as to why Muslims face harsh discrimination in America. American nationalism definitely plays a big role in this. Hanif’s question also had got me thinking, but I don’t think I was able to play as an “American Muslim”. I think most Muslims in America don’t even identify themselves as American.
Thank you for your post! I think that this shows how impactful a loud minority can be and how it doesn’t always share the same views as the majority.
This is a great context presentation that exemplifies Islamophobia in America post-9/11. I think it is interesting you touched on the significance of identifying as a Muslim-American. I do not think many Americans grasp the idea of how difficult it is for those living in the U.S. as Muslims to understand why other people hold such strong prejudices against them.
Thank you for your context presentation! You truly did a great job highlighting how Muslim Americans have been treated as the “Other”. I also think you brought up a great point by explaining that a very small group of people within the Muslim community would even be considered Islamist extremists, whereas the majority of Muslims are actually opposed to extreme violence. This is such an important topic and it is vital that we work towards changing those wrongful stereotypes and assumptions.
Thank you for sharing this information. I really appreciated that you mentioned that people would take a deep look at the Islamic religion, they will realize that there is only a small portion of Muslims are Islamist extremists. The equivalent to hating Islamic Muslims for the small amount of extremist, would be hating white people because of the portion of them that are apart of the KKK. KKK members belong to Christian religion… obviously they are extremist also and do not represent the entire white or Christian population… but that easier for people to digest in that context for some reason even those its basically the same situation. Islam religion is a religion of peace, extremist do not represent them as a whole.
Hi!
Thank you for talking about this topic. I feel like it’s a topic many people don’t want to talk a lot about since it involves the death of thousands of people. As someone stated above, it definitely gives them a feeling of “othering”. Even if they weren’t associated at all with 9/11, they are looked at as associated since it is there religion as well. It’s awful that people of the muslim religion have to deal with these thoughts towards them.