Posted on 09/19/2001 9:39:07 AM PDT by kaylar
Mohamed Aissaoui, a son of New York City, wants to be a politician when he grows up; whatever else he lacks, the rhetoric is there already.
"The only take you can have on it is as a Muslim," says the 14-year-old outside Al Qaraween Islamic bookstore on Atlantic Avenue, Brooklyn, several blocks of which is a heavily Islamic neighbourhood.
"You're Muslim first and American second. We can only do as our religion says: we should fight back."
The boy's father is Algerian, his mother Palestinian and he was born in the United States.
"For a long time in my country they've been killing innocent children and nothing happens," he says on the opposite side of the East River to where over 5,000 people were killed in Lower Manhattan by the World Trade Centre suicide pilots.
"Who? The Israelis and the United States. It's about time something happened."
He is talking in front of a sign, appended to the divide between the shop and the Majid Al-Farooq mosque, that says: "In the name of Allah, the most beneficent, the most merciful: Koran, chapter six, verse 151: 'And kill not life that Allah has made sacred.'"
The boy rolls up the sleeve of his grey sweatshirt and says:
"The Americans should know one thing. If these people took two years to prepare for this attack, they took two years to prepare for the defence.
"When people are fighting for the cause of Allah, they're not easily defeated. If they were doing it for a good cause, then God bless them."
In the wake of the attacks, Muslims have been attacked in Texas, Ilinois and New York. Their religious leaders counsel tolerance.
"We see common people assigning guilt by association of religion or ethnicity to others, and expresssing their understandable grief and rage by attacking those who are themselves innocent," says Iman al-Haji Talib 'Abdur-Rashid, spiritual leader of the Mosque of Islamic Brotherhood in Harlem. "This must stop."
The Muslims of Atlantic Avenue are torn by President George Bush's promises of retaliation, torn by their twin allegiances.
"If somebody is involved, they deserve punishment," says 40-year-old Nasir Nisham, who moved to the US from Pakistan five years ago, talking from behind the counter of the Noo As-Sunnah bookstore, which also sells clothes, oils, newspapers, videos and "I love Allah" bookmarks.
"This is not a little thing. This is a very, very big upset. If Bin Laden is involved in this then he deserves it."
But he is not convinced that Bin Laden should be the target: "He has a problem, not with the USA. He has a problem with Russia."
Jaezah Ahmed, a friend, says: "America doesn't have a good history. America has bombed almost every country. Now they get bombed, they can't accept it. Going after Afghanistan is not going to solve any problem."
Omar Mohmed, a 23-year-old taxi driver standing outside the mosque before going in to prayers, notes that there were many Muslims working inside the two towers of the World Trade Centre when the planes struck.
"America doesn't know who did it. They can't just say that if a Muslim did it then all Muslims did it," he says, cradling a cup of coffee.
"We're not going to judge it because he [the pilot] already died. Maybe he did it from anger, maybe he saw his brother die and he wanted revenge.
"If the Americans bomb another country, it just makes matters worse. This is just the start. Who knows what is the truth? They tell us who did it, then they have the investigation. That's not the way you do it. If Bin Laden can do this, why didn't he go for Israel?"
Omar Mohmed, who came to the US from Egypt five years ago, has another question: " Why didn't you listen to us before? Why does it take this for you to come here to listen to us, to find out what we want?"
Police officers are on the corners of most of the blocks in the neighbourhood and lurking surreptitiously also in the doorways between.
Moon Ahmad, a 36-year-old from Pakistan staffing the counter at the Moon Palace Deli where a television station is broadcasting under the title "Day of Destruction", says that he is both American and proud to be a Muslim.
"Everything should be peace, that's the main thing. Love can change a lot of things. Not hate."
The Americans should attack, he says. He is 100% in favour of doing so. No question, the Muslim countries should support the US.
On the other hand, the US was not blameless; had it acceded to Bin Laden's demand and removed its troops from Saudi Arabia, this might not have happened.
"If you don't do anything to me, you don't think that I will hit you, do you? You send a bullet, you get a bullet back."
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Encourage his parents to move back from whence they came and take the little piece of crap with them.
We can only do as our religion says: we should fight back."
"You're Muslim first and American second. We can only do as our religion says: we should fight back."
Then get the F@#K out or get run out on a rail, HEY BROOKLYN! YOU GONNA PUT UP WITH THIS?!?! THE BROOKLYN BOYS I"VE KNOWN SURE WOULDN"T!
I did not do so this time because if I start writing , I am going to type something that will get me banned for life from FR.
The Guardian is virulently antiAmerican. It is the home of Polly Toynbee and Will Hutton, and other lesser known but just as hate filled columnists and reporters. It is possible that the reporter carefully ignored many more moderate or proUS remarks from patriotic American Muslims.
Those immigrants , and their children, who refer to the countries believed to have particiated in the attacks on the US as "MY country" need to be deported, for their and our safety.
That is, we are to be tolerant of them, but they are under no obligation to be tolerant of us. Well, personally, I'm American first, second, and third, and anyone who isn't needs to leave.
He is talking in front of a sign, appended to the divide between the shop and the Majid Al-Farooq mosque, that says: "In the name of Allah, the most beneficent, the most merciful: Koran, chapter six, verse 151: 'And kill not life that Allah has made sacred.'"
The boy rolls up the sleeve of his grey sweatshirt and says:
"The Americans should know one thing. If these people took two years to prepare for this attack, they took two years to prepare for the defence.
"When people are fighting for the cause of Allah, they're not easily defeated. If they were doing it for a good cause, then God bless them."
This kid seriously needs to be deported. Just think who taught him this rhetoric,because he obviously didn't think of this himself? If these people don't like this country they should leave as soon as possible! We don't need them. The should be considered security risks. Its almost like some of these people are glad that the WTC was attacked.
Okay, we're listening, so just what the f&%# DO you want?? You come to take advantage of our freedom and opportunities, and then have the audacity to WANT something? [/rant]
This same behavior also exists in California, with illegals from Mexico. While many of them DO integrate, there is a very scary bunch who don't.
Perhaps it's just a matter of affect. Maybe most American Muslims just aren't as emotionally demonstrative as some other ethnic groups.
Yet we see plenty of affect, most often virulent anti-Western hatred, from certain Muslims abroad, don't we? This suggests that American Muslims are capable of showing their pro-American patriotism after all. But so far, that patriotism, assuming it exists, has not been convincingly displayed.
Words without feelings are unpersuasive. At this dark moment in the history of our beloved republic, patriotism is infinitely more than a merely verbalized intellectual response to barbarism.
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