On a calm September morning in 2001, the scene was set for one of the most horrific atrocities in American history. At Boston’s Logan International Airport, two Boeing 767s were fueled for transcontinental flights to California: American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175. Meanwhile, two Boeing 757s prepared for departure from Washington’s Dulles International Airport and Newark International Airport. These aircraft were American Airlines Flight 77 and United Airlines Flight 93. Beginning at 8:14 AM on Tuesday, September 11, 2001, these ill-fated flights were hijacked and deliberately crashed into the World Trade Center towers in New York City and the Pentagon near Washington D.C., killing nearly 3000 people. Almost everybody knows this story. Many, however, do not know or do not recognize the aftermath.
In this week’s reading, we take a look at Mohsin Hamid’s The Reluctant Fundamentalist. A key element of this book is Changez’s feelings of the 9/11 attacks and his general treatment in western society thereafter. Like Changez, there were Muslims who were not necessarily distraught and, in some cases, even pleased at the events of 9/11. After decades of suffering at the hands of American influence and their pursuit of commodities in their homelands, these people felt that America had finally gotten what it deserved. Many were led to this conclusion by their authoritative governmental regimes. Daniel Pipes notes that some Egyptians commented “‘Bulls-eye’ as they watched reruns of the World Trade Center collapse. “It’s payback time,” said a Cairene” (Pipes, 46). These people, however, did not carry out the atrocities.
There were many positive outcomes that rose from the rubble of Ground Zero including hope and national unity. Unfortunately, there were also many negative outcomes including the political usage of the event for various opportunistic engagements and the societal ways in which many Muslims were viewed and treated after 9/11. The attacks were organized and carried out by a group of militant Islamic extremists known as al-Qaeda and their notorious leader, Osama bin Laden. Despite the actions of a few fringe radicals, it became common in the United States and other western nations after 9/11 to generally resent all Muslims due to their misidentified similarities to the terrorist groups. These mistreatments and misunderstandings were fueled by media reports and a volatile hawkish White House Administration. To this day, almost 20 years after 9/11, many Muslims still face injustices and mistreatment in the western world as a result of large-scale misinformation after the attacks.
Works Cited:
The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States: Official Government Edition, U.S. G.P.O., 2004.
“Al-Qaeda’s Origins and Links.” BBC News, 20 July 2004, news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/1670089.stm.
Pipes, Daniel. “A New Round of Anger and Humiliation: Islam After 9/11.” The Hoover Press at Stanford University, 11 June 2002.
Hi thanks for all the information in this post. I agree that when looking at 9/11 it’s important to recognize both the tragedy of the attack itself as well as the far-reaching effects it has had on the America and the world even to this day. The racism and hatred towards Muslims and anyone who looked remotely Middle Eastern still continues now in 2021. Extra background/security checks at airports, comments/looks from others, and many more large and small displays of injustice still occur. Ultimately, the actions by a group of militant Islamic extremists have negatively impacted a large population. In addition, you can also see how this issue and how some view 9/11 has been shaped by American influence/interference in world affairs for decades before the event.
This is a very intriguing discussion post. As a Muslim, I appreciate the fact that you discussed the details of the actual event and the negative impacts the event had on Muslims across the globe. You’re right, statistics show that reports of xenophobia and Islamophobia grew exponentially in America. This is because of the rhetoric around the 9/11 attacks, and the way media outlets began to portray all Muslims as suspects and terrorists due to the attacks that were carried out by only a few individuals who identify as Muslims. When you state that some Muslims were “pleased” by the 9/11 events, I think you also must add that many other Muslims (and likely the majority) were also heartbroken and in utter shock. These Muslims shared the same feelings as non-Muslim Americans, because despite the fact that they don’t share the same religion, their American identities are identical. I will say that as a Muslim, I don’t feel comfortable referring to the terrorists who are responsible for the 9/11 attacks as ‘Muslims.’ Islam does not tolerate an ounce of terrorism, and our holy book, the Qur’an even states that if one were to kill one soul, they will be punished as if they killed all souls. Despite the fact that the terrorists acted in the name of Islam, their acts in no way represent our religion. We must recognize that these acts can’t be used to make generalizations about an entire population.
Manar, I really liked your response to this, and I appreciated the insider point of view as you have identified as Muslim. It was very brave and insightful for you to be willing to share your feelings, so thank you. After reading the presentation and your response, I was thinking more about how Muslims would feel personally following this crisis. I am trying to look at it as if maybe a feeling of betrayal, not necessarily from people who participated in this act of terrorism, but from Americans who turned their backs on Muslims. This seems very wrong to me because like I mentioned in another post, when someone is responsible for a mass shooting, we do not fear all individuals with the same status or stature as them, so why was this the case following 9/11? It was very interesting to me to see not only the full details of the attacks of 9/11, but also gain the background from your response about Islam culture. Thank you for being willing to share and thank you weber.916 for the great presentation!
Hi Manar, thank you for sharing your thoughts and insights. I really found it very insightful and meaningful to read your perspective and I applaud you for sharing your thoughts and feelings on this difficult topic. I sought out in this post to simply state facts, whether positive or negative, and let the reader come to conclusions on their own on how they feel about the discussion I presented. The few Muslims who were pleased at the attacks, even just initially, as I discussed, were mainly led to such a response by suffering in their homelands at the opportunistic hands of western resource exploitation and the actions or words of some authoritative government regimes. My point in mentioning these people was to present an anomalous example to the majority of the world, including Muslims, and to connect to this weeks reading since Changez was startled by his initial response to the attacks.
This discussion reminds me of The Danger of a Single Story by Adichie. Americans have their own story of what happened and their reaction to it. However, Americans do not see the other effects that were stimulated from the attacks on 9/11. Americans do not have an understanding of how they discriminated against people from Muslim heritage during this time and the book this week shows the other side of the story that is sometimes looked over.
Great job, very informative and detailed. The day 9/11 was a day of tragedy and a day we should never forget. For the many lives lost, but also how America changed because of the attack. There was discrimination and hatred towards Muslims. Ongoing war with the invade of Afghanistan. Stricter security in airports. For example, my mom would always tell me on the anniversary that America changed that day. My mom used to travel a lot for work and she remembers the long lines and pat downs the days after the attack happened.
Good post this week! Very informative and had a lot of context to it, there is definitely a discrimination factor when it comes to muslims and also hatred and anger due to 9/11 when the hate shouldn’t be directed at a certain race or religion. 9/11 will also be a ay that changed many lives and people will always speak about ow it made them feel, America has and always will be affected after that day.
I very much agree with the author’s views on the September 11 terrorist attacks. I think 9 / 11 is a warning to the fight against extreme terrorism. Once the terrorists are indulged, they will carry out terrorist attacks or sabotage in different parts of the world. But 9 / 11 also reminds us that we can’t unilaterally think that all Muslims are extremists.
Great job providing a lot of information, it provides the context necessary to understand this weeks materials. I agree with your comments about the security measures. The post reminds me that the narrative that all Muslims are extremists is a single story that needs to prevented from spreading.