WASHINGTON, Aug 31: Thousands of Muslims from across North America have gathered in Washington this week to find ways to reach out to other Americans and tell them the events of Sept 11 have hurt them as much as they hurt others — and to heal their own pain.
“Those who took a human life, they killed the whole of humanity,” said Muhammad Noor Abdullah, president of the Islamic Society of North America while demanding justice for those responsible for the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
ISNA is an umbrella organization representing about two dozen Muslim groups in the United States.
He also emphasized that the Muslim community had nothing to do with the conspiracy behind Sept 11 even if the perpetrators belonged to the same faith.
Among those in the audience was Talat Hamdani, the mother of a 23-year old New York youth, Salman Hamdani, who died while trying to help the victims of the twin towers. Her son was mentioned in the national proclamation issued by President Bush after Sept 11.
“Last year was a very hard year for all of us, Muslims or others,” she said when asked to comment on the tragedy. “My son’s sacrifice will not go in vain if it helps convince other Americans that we Muslims are as much against terrorism as other Americans.”
The area around Washington’s Convention Center took on a multicultural look Friday as traditionally dressed Muslim men and women walked to the center to attend ISNA’s 39th annual gathering, which is their first in Washington.
With an estimated 30,000 participants, it is also the largest gathering of Muslims in the nation’s capital since Sept 11.
“O God, we seek strength from you for healing the wounds of 9-11, and we thank you for giving us the courage to bear this tragedy,” prayed Khadija Abdullah, a second-generation Muslim American.
“We seek your help to protect us against scapegoating and vengeance. Please guide us to compassion and understanding.”
Rahat Hussain, 32, travelled from California to attend the convention.
“Today ours is the most misunderstood religion in North America, and we are the most misunderstood community,” said Hussain in explaining why he made the trip. “It is important that we tell other Americans we share their grief and suffering.”
His feelings were echoed in the inaugural speech by ISNA’s president Abdullah, who said: “In Islam there is no room for taking innocent lives.”
The need to communicate with other Americans through the media and share their grief was not confined to the speakers in the main hall. In the Muslim bazaar downstairs — where stalls of exotic Middle Eastern goods shared space with books and videos on Islam — many shared these feelings.
“We should be ashamed of ourselves that we were not more involved with the community over the past 20 years. Had we been more involved, people would not have been so quick to jump to conclusions about us as their neighbours,” said Dawud Wharnsby of Waterloo, Canada.
In keeping with the day’s spirit, Washington’s mayor Anthony Williams declared Aug 31 “a day of peace and justice in the nation’s capital.”