A Wave
of Conversion to Islam in the U.S. Following September 11
Excerpts from
"Muslim American Leaders: A Wave of Conversion to Islam in the U.S. Following
September 11" Middle East Media & Research Institute
Muslim American reports in the
Arab press indicate that Muslim proselytizing efforts have been unusually
successful since the September 11 attacks. 'Alaa Bayumi, Director of Arab
Affairs at the Council for American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), wrote in the
London daily Al-Hayat that "non-Muslim Americans are now interested in getting
to know Islam. There are a number of signs...: Libraries have run out of books
on Islam and the Middle East... English translations of the Koran head the
American best-seller list... The Americans are showing increasing willingness to
convert to Islam since September 11... Thousands of non-Muslim Americans have
responded to invitations to visit mosques, resembling the waves of the sea
[crashing on the shore] one after another... All this is happening in a
political atmosphere that, at least verbally, encourages non-Muslim Americans'
openness towards Muslims in America and in the Islamic world, as the American
president has said many times in his speeches..."(1)
CAIR chairman Nihad Awad told the Saudi paper 'Ukaz
that "34,000 Americans have converted to Islam following the events of September
11, and this is the highest rate reached in the U.S. since Islam arrived
there."(2)
According to Dr. Walid A. Fatihi, instructor of
medicine at Harvard Medical School, Boston has recently become a center of
Islamic proselytizing aimed at Christians. On September 22, 2001, Al-Fatihi sent
a letter to the Egyptian weekly Al-Ahram Al-Arabi, in which he described the
unfolding of events since September 11: "...From the first day, the media began
to insinuate that Muslim Arab hands were behind this incident. At noon, the
directors and administration of the Islamic Center of Boston held an emergency
meeting, and I stayed on the line with them from my clinic. We decided to hold a
blood drive, and we set up a committee to contact the Red Cross and organize it
for us. We invited the media to cover the event..."
"All of us tried to grab onto every scrap of
information that would indicate that Muslim Arab hands were not involved in the
loathsome crime. Yes, my brothers and sisters, we tried to prove our humanity on
the day we found ourselves attacked from all sides. Our hearts bled and our
spokesman said that proselytizing in the name of Allah had been set back 50
years in the U.S. and in the entire world..."
"On Saturday, September 15, I went with my wife
and children to the biggest church in Boston, [Trinity Church in] Copley Square,
by official invitation of the Islamic Society of Boston, to represent Islam by
special invitation of the senators of Boston. Present were the mayor of Boston,
his wife, and the heads of the universities. There were more than 1,000 people
there, with media coverage by one of Boston's main television stations. We were
received like ambassadors. I sat with my wife and children in the front row,
next to the mayor's wife. In his sermon, the priest defended Islam as a
monotheistic religion, telling the audience that I represented the Islamic
Society of Boston."
"After the sermon was over, he stood at my side
as I read an official statement issued by the leading Muslim clerics condemning
the incident [i.e. the attacks]. The statement explained Islam's stance and
principles, and its sublime precepts. Afterwards, I read Koran verses translated
into English... These were moments that I will never forget, because the entire
church burst into tears upon hearing the passages of the words of Allah!!"
"Emotion swept over us. One said to me: 'I do
not understand the Arabic language, but there is no doubt that the things you
said are the words of Allah.' As she left the church weeping, a woman put a
piece of paper in my hand; on the paper was written: 'Forgive us for our past
and for our present. Keep proselytizing to us.' Another man stood at the
entrance of the church, his eyes teary, and said, 'You are just like us; no, you
are better than us.'" (3)
"On Sunday, September 16, the Islamic Society
of Boston issued an open invitation to the Islamic Center in Cambridge, located
between Harvard and MIT. We did not expect more than 100 people, but to our
surprise more than 1,000 people came, among them the neighbors, the university
lecturers, members of the clergy, and even the leaders of the priests from the
nearby churches, who invited us to speak on Islam. All expressed solidarity with
Muslims. Many questions flowed to us. Everyone wanted to know about Islam and to
understand its precepts."
"Of all the questions, not a single one
attacked me; on the contrary, we saw [the people's] eyes filling with tears when
they heard about Islam and its sublime principles. Many of them had never heard
about Islam before. Well, they had heard about Islam only through the biased
media. That same day, I was invited again to participate in a meeting in the
church, and again I saw the same things. On Thursday, a delegation of 300
students and lecturers from Harvard visited the center of the Islamic Society of
Boston, accompanied by the American Ambassador to Vienna. They sat on the floor
of the mosque, which was filled to capacity. We explained to them the precepts
of Islam, and defended it from any suspicions [promulgated in the media]. I
again read to them from the verses of Allah, and [their] eyes filled with tears.
The audience was moved, and many asked to participate in the weekly lessons for
non-Muslims held by the Islamic Center..."
"On Friday, September 21, the Muslims
participated in a closed meeting with the governor of Massachusetts. In the
meeting, a discussion was held on introducing Islam into the school curriculum,
to inform the [American] people and to fight racism against Muslims arising from
the American people's ignorance regarding the religion. With the governor's
support, measures to examine implementation of this goal were agreed upon..."
"These are only some of the examples of what
happened and is happening in the city of Boston, and in many other American
cities, during these days. Proselytizing in the name of Allah has not been
undermined, and has not been set back 50 years, as we thought in the first days
after September 11. On the contrary, the 11 days that have passed are like 11
years in the history of proselytizing in the name of Allah. I write to you today
with the absolute confidence that over the next few years, Islam will spread in
America and in the entire world, Allah willing, much more quickly than it has
spread in the past, because the entire world is asking, 'What is Islam!'(4)
Fatihi's reports of American Christians' crying
upon hearing Koranic verses have an historical context. This type of narrative
is about part of the ethos of Islamic proselytizing. It comes from the tradition
of the Prophet Muhammad's invitation to the Christian community of Najran,
located in what is today North Yemen, to visit the mosque. When the Christians
of Najran were exposed to the verses of the Koran, the tradition says they burst
into tears and converted to Islam.
Fatihi also published an article in the London
daily Al-Hayat:
"...There are initial signs that the intensive
campaign of education about Islam has begun to bear fruit. For example, the rate
of converts to Islam since September 11 has doubled There is solidarity with the
Muslims on the part of many non-Muslims in American universities. For example,
dozens of non-Muslim American women students at Wayne [State] University have
put on veils as a symbol of identification with the Muslim women students at the
university and at the other universities of America."
"One of the most important topics [in an NPR
broadcast] was an interview with several young women at American universities
who recently converted to Islam through the Islamic Society of Boston. They hold
advanced degrees from universities in Boston, such as Harvard, and they spoke of
the power and the greatness of Islam, of the elevated status of women in Islam,
and of why they converted to Islam. The program was broadcast several times
across the entire U.S..." (5)
Notes and references:
(1) Al-Hayat (London), November 11, 2001
(2) Al-Ayyam (London), November 12, 2001
(3) The phenomenon of sincere Christians
shedding tears as they recognize the truth and beauty of Islam is mentioned in
the Qur'an:
And thou wilt find
the nearest of them in affection to those who believe (to be) those who say: Lo!
We are Christians. That is because there are among them priests and monks, and
because they are not proud. When they listen to that which hath been revealed
unto the messengers, thou seest their eyes overflow with tears because of their
recognition of the Truth. They say: Our Lord, we believe. Inscribe us as among
the witnesses [Qur'an 5:82-83]
(4) Al-Ahram Al-Arabi (Egypt), October 20,
2001
(5) Al-Hayat (London), November 11, 2001