Muslim American Groups Denounce Terrorist Attacks

Groups also call for blood donations to help victims

By Phillip Kurata
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- Muslim American groups quickly denounced the terrorist attacks against the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington.

The leaders of nine Muslim American groups said in a joint letter to President Bush September 11, "American Muslims, who unequivocally condemned today terrorist attacks on our nation, call on you to alert fellow citizens to the fact that now is a time for all of us to stand together in the face of this heinous crime."

"We hope that the perpetrators of these crimes will be apprehended immediately and swiftly brought to justice. Muslims stand with all other Americans who, on this sad day, feel a sense of tremendous grief and loss," the Muslim American leaders added.

The letter was signed by the leaders of the American Muslim Alliance, the American Muslim Council, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the Muslim Public Affairs Council, the Muslim American Society, the Islamic Society of North America, the Islamic Circle of North America, the Muslim Alliance in North America, and American Muslims for Jerusalem. These groups represent most of the seven million Muslims in the United States.

The Muslim American leaders in the same letter wrote to President Bush on the need to avoid "speculative accusations and stereotypical generalizations that can only serve to harm the innocent and to endanger our society and its civil liberties."

In a separate statememt, the Council on American Islamic Relations [CAIR] urged Muslim Americans to offer whatever assistance they can to the victims of the terrorist attacks.

CAIR appealed to Muslim American medical personnel to go to the scene of the attacks and offer aid to the victims, Muslim relief agencies to offer their services in the recovery efforts, and individual Muslims to donate blood to the Red Cross.

The Islamic Supreme Council of America issued a statement saying, "we join our neighbors, co-workers and friends across ethnic, cultural and religious lines in mourning the devastating loss of precious life, which Islam holds sacred." The council chairman, Shaykh Muhammad Hisham Kabbani, encouraged whoever is able to donate blood and money to the local chapters of the Red Cross.

The American Muslim Council encouraged Islamic centers to start blood drive campaigns and encouraged people in New York and Washington to donate blood.

While Muslim American groups support relief efforts, they remain sensitive to possible retaliation against Americans of Middle Eastern origin.

The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee [ADC] said while it was "shocked and angered" by the terrorist attacks, whose perpetrators have not been identified, it urged the public and media to proceed with caution and resist rushes to judgment.

In addition to condemning the terrorist attacks, several Muslim American groups warned their members to use caution about possible harassment and attacks against them.

For example, CAIR said people who wear Islamic attire should consider staying out of public areas in the immediate future and community leaders should request additional police patrols in the vicinity of mosques and post mosque members at entrances and in parking lots of mosques during prayer times. CAIR also told its members to be on the lookout for suspicious packages, people and vehicles.