The Hidden Facts of September 11th

0:00this audio is brought to you by Muslim Central. On that day, it wasn't just planes that were hijacked. It was our religion. It was our Quran. It was our Shariah. It was the name and memory of our Prophet, Allahu alaihi wa sallam that was also misused and abused. 25 years ago today, we all have our stories. Those of us that were alive when this happened. I had just returned from visiting my parents in Texas and I was resuming graduate studies at the University of Medina. And I was praying Salat al-Azir, 3.45 pm Medina time, which is around 8.9 am in New York. And when I exited a masjid, an American friend who lived a few houses down, I saw him rushing towards me. And he said, yes, you know what happened. I said, what? He said, the World Trade Center is under attack. We don't know what's happening.

1:01It's been bombed. It looks like there's a plane crash. Go see what's happening. I rushed back home. I didn't have a TV back then. I told my wife I had my newborn. I'm not even a year old. We rushed to our neighbor's house. We heard something happening. I said, we need to see what's happening on TV. And as soon as the TV was turned on, the second towers fell as we were watching. I will never forget holding my baby in my hand so far away and yet feeling so close, realizing that whatever and however and whoever did this, the America that I would return to would not be the America that I had left. And that today would mark the beginning of a new era. Let us be clear. We begin today's khutbah by stating plainly,

2:03unequivocally, without any caveats that no faith, especially the religion of Islam, allows the wanton destruction and the killing of innocent people. Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says, we have dignified the children of Adam. Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala says, when the very first tragedy happened of Canaan Abel, Allah says that we decree upon all of mankind, that whoever saves one life, it is as if he has saved all of humanity and whoever takes one life, it is as if he has taken all of humanity. Whatever justifications the people who perpetrated that deed had, whatever anger fueled them, whatever their political grievances, nothing justified the tragedy of that day. On that day, it wasn't just planes that were hijacked, it was our religion, it was our Quran, it was our Shariah,

3:08it was the name and memory of our Prophet, Allahu alaihi wa sallam, that was also misused and abused. And we, the American Muslim community, were thrust into a spotlight, a limelight that we never had before. I remember clearly growing up in a pre-911 world, nobody knew Islam, nobody cared about our faith, you could be whoever you are, but post-911, that would never be a reality. People didn't understand who we were. For many Americans, they had never heard of the religion of Islam as something that they are dealing with. And the fear that was generated, the shock and awe that overtook all of us, if you weren't there, you will never understand that reality. So many of our youngsters, they will never understand what it was like living through that era. I was supposed to return to show my young child to my whole family. We had a ticket book for January that year,

4:09and I remember my father almost trembling saying, don't come back, you don't understand what's happening. Stay there for now. And I'm like, what do you mean? This is my country, I was born here. And my father was worried about the safety of his own son and his newborn grandson. Just stay there for a while, don't come back. And we actually ended up not coming back in January until the very next June. Some of that fear, some of that misunderstanding, was indeed understandable because they had never heard of our religion. But it is our duty to remind them and all of us that you cannot burden an innocent person with the guilt of somebody else. Guilt does not transfer based upon skin color, based upon ethnicity, based upon religion. The people who did 9-11 are the people who are responsible for 9-11. Not their relatives, not their ethnicity, not the people of their same nationality,

5:09and especially not two billion Muslims on the face of this earth. You cannot transfer the crimes of the perpetrators of 9-11 onto a child in Texas who bears the same faith as theirs. Any more than you can transfer the crimes of Hitler onto all of Germany or onto all of Europeans or onto all Christians or onto all people of his ethnicity. The evil of the people who did evil will be ascribed to those who did evil. This is the Quran, this is common sense. Wa la ta'ziru wa ziratun wizaruqra no one shall bear the sin of anyone else. Only the one who does it shall bear that sin. Sadly, some people, some of them intentionally, took the fear that was created, took the hostility that was created, and they misused it and abused it for political gains. Some politicians had an agenda, and when they saw this reality, the tragedy of 9-11,

6:11they acted in the highest unethical manner, and they utilized the fear that was generated for unconstitutional and unethical means. The tragedy of 9-11 caused some people, some politicians, to lose sight of reality, and they decided to go to war with the wrong people. Millions of lies were lost, trillions of dollars were wasted, entire countries were left to suffer and are still suffering. Today is not the day to talk about the reality of that post-9-11 world, but it is the day to remind us of what happens when we act out of irrational fear. Hindsight's always 2020. Let us learn that we cannot act out of blind rage, or else we will cause more harm than good. Let us learn to not act in haste.

7:11Let us learn to not act with our emotions clouded. Let us learn to never act out of fear. That is not the way of a superior civilization. That is not the way of a people that want to truly, truly impact the world in a positive manner. The same fear that caused so much chaos back then is unfortunately being resurrected now. In some ways more perniciously than it was even 25 years ago. Now we have politicians, we have social media commentators claiming that our religion shouldn't even be called a religion. It should be called a political ideology, claiming that the religion practiced by 2 billion people, one of the largest religions on earth, they are claiming, doesn't constitute a religion. Hence the rights that this country gives religions should not apply to it. They claim that the very presence of a Muslim in this land is an existential threat.

8:12The practicing of Muslim personal law, the very term Sharia has been hijacked by that very segment of politicians to criminalize, to demonize, to stereotype, to caricature. The faith that we all hold so near and so dear. And we now see a new spewing of anti-Muslim bigotry once again in the name of 9-11. But we must preach against this to use the tragedies of 9-11 as some politicians are doing to take the horrific videos of the people fleeing or falling or the chaos or the panic and to superimpose them onto Muslims living their lives in America. Muslim politicians that have nothing to do with 9-11 as if to link every single Muslim with the tragedies of that day to justify hatred, to open up the box of xenophobia and fear is to betray the very memories of the people that we are told to commemorate and to respect.

9:15How dare you use the pain of that tragedy to form and hatred against innocent people? This is the highest betrayal of the tragedy of 9-11 and we need to speak out against this. The creation of fear and xenophobia, the division of our lands is not something that we or any sane-minded person can tolerate. Let us be clear here. We as American Muslims don't need anybody's permission to be here or to belong. This is our land. We work here. We pray here. We play here. We pay taxes here. We are doctors. We are engineers. We are parents. We are business owners. We are first responders. We are public servants. We are neighbors. We are mothers. We are fathers. We represent this society and this society represents us. We don't need anybody's permission to belong. And if segments of this country claim otherwise, the reality is they are betraying the very

10:19foundations upon which this nation and this country was built. I quote you, Ronald Reagan, a president that is universally admired by large segments of both parties. Ronald Reagan, in his final speech from the White House in 1989 before he handed over to the next president, Ronald Reagan said, and I quote from his speech, since this is the last speech I will give as president. This is one Reagan saying, since this is the last speech that I will give as president, I think it is fitting to leave you all with one final thought. You can live in France, he said, but you can never become a Frenchman. You can live in Germany or Turkey or Japan, but you can never become a German or a Turk or Japanese. But anybody from any corner of the earth who comes to live in America can and will become an American end quote. This is not some radical preacher preaching. This is the president

11:24of the United States, a Republican mind you. If only members of his own party learned from his own words. While we cannot control the xenophobia and hatred, while we cannot control the sheer anti-Muslim bigotry that is spewing forth, we can control how we react to it. We can control our emotions. We can control our actions and our actions will decide whether that misinformation, whether that hatred will grow or whether it will curb. O Muslims, the best way to fight ignorance is through education. The best way to combat fear is through wisdom. The best way to combat hate is by actions of love and mercy. Repel the worst with the best in you. Repel the worst of others with the best in you.

12:29Allah says in the Quran, if you do so, you will find your worst enemy will become your closest friend. We have to rise up above that hatred. Some of that hatred is coming out of ignorance. How else will that hatred be vanquished unless we educate with empathy? Some of that hatred is coming out of fear. Some of it is coming out of the unknown and some of it. A small percentage of it is sinister. Regardless of its origin, we have only one option, the Quranic option, the prophetic option, and that is to rise up above that bigotry and hatred. This is where our faith will be tested. This is where our commitment to our ideals will be demonstrated. And the fact of the matter is that eventually truth always vanquishes over falsehood. Today we heard there's going to be protests outside of our mischief. Look outside. How many people are protesting? Three, four, five at max. Without us reaching out to anybody,

13:35without us making a single phone call, more than 10 times that amount. From ministers, rabbis, preachers, community leaders, the police, they all came and said, we are here for you. Our counter-protest on our side of the street. And the counter-protest doesn't have any of us because we told our members to protect themselves and stay here. The counter-protest that has ministers and rabbis in it, protesting against the protesters, has 10 times the amount of people than the actual protesters. What does that show you? Don't lose the forest for the trees. Don't allow the voices of hate to get to you. Don't allow the negativity to bog you down. Let us be very honest with ourselves. I speak as somebody who's lived through the entire last decades in this country. Yes, indeed, right after 9-11. Certain things happened that weren't nice for our community. I was pulled aside. God knows how many times in the airport. Extra security.

14:38I had to undergo multiple things here and there. Our community was a little bit more policed, a little bit more surveillance. Yes, it was not the best of times. But let us also be clear. We weren't rounded up, mass detained, thrown in internment camps. There was no mass elimination of us as Muslim Americans. On the contrary, here are our mosques growing and thriving. There are Islamic schools exponentially growing. Alhamdulillah. By and large, not only do our community survive, but it came back bigger, better, stronger, more equipped and understanding of the reality of the world. 9-11 matured us like nothing else could ever have done. I speak from my own experience. It allowed me to come out of my own bubble. It allowed me to start thinking differently. I realized after 9-11 that America was my land. I wanted to come back. The reason I came back after 10 years overseas was because of 9-11. When people were tearing the walls down,

15:39I wanted to build bridges of understanding. When people had misunderstandings on both sides, I wanted to educate people the reality of my faith. That's why I returned back to this land after having been gone for 10 years studying overseas. The good far outweighs the bad. That is the reality we see at every single stage of our existence over here. So let not the evil overwhelm you. Let not the negativity hurt you. In Shah Allah, the future is bright. And we all have a role to play here. 25 years on after the tragedy of 9-11, our responsibility as American Muslims has become even more renewed. Our responsibility is that we don't just live through permanently under the shadow of suspicion, under the shadow of hate, under the shadow of xenophobia. No, our responsibility is that through our actions, not just our words, through our manners, not just our speech, we demonstrate

16:41the beauty of our faith. We demonstrate the reality of who we are. We show people what it means to be believers in the God of Abraham. We show people what it means to be loving fathers, loving mothers, raising pious children, raising children that contribute back to society. We show the rest of the world that we can be the best in the world because we are followers of the God of Abraham, because we're walking in the footsteps of their very prophets. They admire because we are Muslims. We will show them we can be and we will be the best Americans. That is what our message is. That is what our responsibility is by our faith. Through our religion, we will demonstrate the beauty of submitting to Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala and we will show them. We will show them exactly as FDR, another famous president said in words echoed by JFK yet another famous president that everybody admires. We will show the rest of the world that really they have nothing to fear. They have nothing to fear. Not from us

17:44as American Muslims, not from Latino Americans, not from Sikh Americans, not from this American or that American. We have nothing to fear from any other race, any other faith, any other background. We are all equally human. In fact, our greatest fear is the manufacturing of fear out of nothing. We have nothing to fear but fear itself and we will not let that happen together in Shah Allah. We will unite in spite of our differences and we will show people as our faith demonstrates us that we can live together and we will live together in peace and we will be the best of their neighbors. We will be the best of their doctors. We will be the best of their engineers. We the best of their people in their society and we will demonstrate for them the reality of ultimate, ultimate following in the footsteps of the prophets of Allah and that we'll take advantage of our faith and of what beautiful rights that this country has to offer so that in Shah Allah ta'ala the Muslims of this land will become a beacon for the rest of this land. We will demonstrate

18:46the goodness that is found here and the goodness that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has given us and we will combine the both of these so that in Shah Allah ta'ala slowly but surely we will overcome the negativity. We will silence the voices of hate. We will silence the voices of fear. We will silence the voices of intimidation and in Shah Allah we shall live in peace and harmony with everybody around us as our Lord wanted us. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala bless me and you with an athoo the Quran and may make us of those who is versus they understand and applies halal and haram throughout our last span. Ask Allah's forgiveness. You as well ask him for his the gafur and the Rahman. Alhamdulillah our praise is due to Allah the one and the unique. It is he whom we worship and it is his blessings that we seek. He is the Lord of the oppressed and he hears the prayer of the weak as to what follows. It is at times like this where our knowledge is put to the test.

19:50Where our theory must result in proper practice. For years we have studied the Syirah of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. Since we were children we were taught episodes and anecdotes snippets of his life and times. Now is the time when those stories that we learned as children are demonstrated in our akhlaq with the people around us. Have we forgotten the incident of ta'if? Have we forgotten the incident of ta'if when the crudest of the crud did what they did? When the mocking and ridicule was one of the worst if not the worst in the entire prophetic Syirah and what was the response of our Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam? Can we not demonstrate that reality? Have we not forgotten the conquest of makkah when the very people who betrayed him the very people who ridiculed him? You want to talk about Islamophobia? Makkah was the height of Islamophobia. You want to talk about fear and persecution? Makkah was the height of fear and persecution. Have we

20:50all forgotten when he entered Makkah and everybody is gathered worried, scared because he has the right to do to them anything he can? What did he do when he had ultimate power? When no one could question him and even history, even history would have judged him as being fair no matter what he did? What did he do? Go all of you. You are all free in the eyes of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Where then is our absorbing of those values? My dear brothers and sisters, there's a big responsibility on us now. We are few in this country. No question about it. We are less than 1.5 percent. But if all of us understood that we have a role to play, if all of us understood that Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will judge us not based upon the whole globe, based upon our sphere of influence. How did you treat your neighbor? How did you treat your coworker? What do the people around you think of our faith? If we all began acting prophetic, speaking in the prophetic language, demonstrating the prophetic

21:55Ahrakh without a doubt we would conquer the voices of hate. We would conquer the voices of fear. We would demonstrate the reality of our faith. So I say to you today, as I've said to you for so many times, O Muslims, do not be ashamed of your identity. Do not be ashamed of your name. Do not be ashamed of your background. Allah has blessed you. Allah has chosen you to be worshippers of him. Allah has given you the legacy, the greatest legacy of the Quran and the Sunnah and the Syirah of the Prophet, Salallahu Alaihi Wasallam. Study that legacy, absorb it and then demonstrate its reality in your lives. And if you do so, if all of us did so without a doubt, our actions would speak louder than all of the negative stereotypes and the love that we demonstrate and the positivity that we generate, will insha'Allahu ta'ala allow our children and grandchildren to live in the beauty of this faith, to absorb the values we teach to them and to grow up to be proud,

22:57and to be proud members of this society. May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala protect us and all of them and the people around us.