Muslim American Leader Condemns Terrorism

The president of the American Muslim Council, Yahia Basha, has praised President Bush for his swift, decisive steps to declare war on terrorism and simultaneously protect the Muslim American and Arab American communities from ethnic backlash following the September 11 terrorist attacks.

In a recent interview with Washington File writer/editor Mofid Deak, Basha said the terrorist attacks came as a "violation" of Muslim Americans.

"When the United States got attacked, we Muslim Americans felt we ourselves had been violated. We lost many people in those attacks. We are American. We are here as part of this nation," Basha said.

Basha praised the Bush administration for making clear that the war on terrorism "is not directed against any Muslim or any Arab." He said actions and statements from the Bush administration resulted in an 80 percent decline in incidents of bigotry and discrimination against the Muslim and Arab communities in the United States.

"We support his effort to make the American Muslim population feel safer in America," Basha said. President Bush personally met with Basha and other leaders of American Muslim and Arab organizations several times immediately after the September 11 attacks.

Basha said members of the Muslim and Arab communities in the United States have stepped forward with offers to help U.S. law enforcement agencies combat the terrorist threat.

"Muslim Americans and Arab Americans have volunteered their knowledge of languages and other things to American law enforcement agencies to help them catch terrorists and fight terrorism. We support in any way we can the campaign against terrorism. I don't think any human being or religion could justify those crimes," Basha said.

He said the true teachings of Islam have nothing to do with violence and terrorism.

"The teachers of the true Islamic faith have to take the leadership away from those misguided religious leaders in the mountains of Afghanistan. I know there are a lot of Islamic scholars throughout the world who have condemned these terrorist acts and called on their people to condemn them," Basha said.

Following is the transcript of the Basha interview:

Question: Let me start by asking you about the recent meetings that you and other Muslim American leaders have had with President Bush.

BASHA: There was a series of meetings that we have had with the president and other high administration officials since the tragedy on September the 11th. The first time we were scheduled to meet with the President at the White House was actually on the 11th of September, the day of the attacks. Of course, that meeting was postponed. Immediately after the attacks, we publicly communicated our anger and condemnation against the perpetrators of those heinous acts.

At the same time, we urged President Bush to take any and all measures to make the American people feel safe and secure.

On the Friday following the attacks, we were invited to the National Cathedral where we met with the president on the National Day of Mourning. The following Monday, September 17, the president honored us with a visit to the Washington D.C. mosque. A few days after that, President Bush met with the Muslim American leaders when he attended an interfaith prayer session. The president was very positive, but he also described the people who committed the attacks not as mere criminals, but as mass murderers.

Question: What issues did you discuss with the president?

BASHA: We started out by telling him that we are with him and that he's the president of all Americans, including Muslim Americans, and that we support his effort to make the American Muslim population feel safer in America. Then, we told him of the concerns of our community over the acts of prejudice and discrimination that have been committed against some Muslim Americans or Arab Americans just because of their physical appearance or their names, or their religion.

Question: Did the president draw a clear distinction between Muslims and terrorists?

BASHA: Yes, he made quite a clear distinction between peace-loving, honest Arabs and Muslims on one hand and terrorists who were evil and betray Islam on the other. He said the terrorists have perverted the Islamic teachings of peace and love.

Question: Did you express your strong support for the president's efforts to protect all Americans in the face of the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington last month?

BASHA: Yes, absolutely.

Question: What do you say to the groups who have been trying to portray the U.S. campaign against terrorism as an American war against Muslims or Arabs?

BASHA: First, the president had to declare war against terrorism and he has made it clear that this is not directed against any Muslim or any Arab. The president made that distinction from the beginning. And day after day, he has shown a great deal of support for the Arab and Muslim communities in America. The United States has many allies among Arab and Muslim countries who also want to fight terrorism. Even countries that have had deep differences with the United States, such as Syria, Iran, and Sudan and Pakistan have declared their support for to the United States on the terrorism issue. They are supporting the president's effort to catch those people who did that.

Question: Tell us how the Muslim American and Arab American communities reacted to the September 11 attacks?

BASHA: The leaders of the national organizations immediately condemned the attacks in the strongest possible language. It so happened that we were all gathered here in Washington because of our planned meeting with the president the day of the attacks. We immediately issued a statement condemning those horrific acts. Immediately afterwards, we started receiving a lot of letters, e-mails, phone calls from members of our community across the nation. There was a groundswell of condemnation from the grass roots level. Muslim Americans wasted no time in denouncing those horrible acts in the strongest language possible.

Question: Why did you feel the need to speak out so forcefully, to make such unequivocal statements?

BASHA: Because it was our country that was attacked. When the United States got attacked, we Muslim Americans felt we ourselves had been violated. We lost many people in those attacks. We are American. We are here as part of this nation.

Question: So you felt a compelling need to affirm your identity as Americans?

BASHA: Absolutely. We felt this was the time to identify with America, purely and simply. We needed to send that message loud and clear and often.

Question: What messages have the national Muslim American and Arab American leaders been sending to their local communities?

BASHA: We tell our local communities that Muslim Americans and Arab Americans must keep emphasizing the fact the we are loyal Americans and we are strongly, unequivocally against terrorism.

This is not a time when we can allow anyone to make a mistake about where our true loyalties lie. We are very clear that we have no sympathy for anybody who does something like that.

I would like to say that we feel intensely about this because Muslim Americans and Arab Americans have been doubly victimized by this tragedy. When I talk to my American friends, I tell them you have been victimized once, but we are victimized more than once.

Question: Could you explain that?

BASHA: Because some people make a mistake, you know. They ask us, "Are you American or not?" They question our loyalty. We are victimized first because terrorists killed Muslim Americans and Arab Americans. We are victimized second because our fellow Americans suspect us of not being loyal to our country. There have been acts of discrimination and hatred against us because of that.

That is why we say it's time to identify with the American people, the American public, with the administration and with the whole society here. We are part of them. We cannot allow anybody to make the mistake that we somehow sympathize with terrorists.

Question: What other steps have the Muslim and Arab American communities taken to fight the war on terrorism?

BASHA: We asked the members of our communities to go and find the local Red Cross chapters to donate blood and money for the victims of the attacks. Here in Washington, the heads of the national Muslim and Arab American organizations went to the national Red Cross headquarters and stood in line with the rest of the people to donate blood. And the president of the Red Cross, Dr. Healy, came and received us very nicely. It was a positive moment.

Of course, there are Muslim Americans and Arab Americans serving in the U.S. armed forces. In addition, Muslim Americans and Arab Americans have volunteered their knowledge of languages and other things to American law enforcement agencies to help them catch terrorists and fight terrorism. We support in any way we can the campaign against terrorism. I don't think any human being or religion could justify those crimes.

Question: Some groups and individuals associated with al Qaida have issued fatwas or edicts that Muslims have a duty to wage holy war or Jihad against the West. How do the American Muslim and Arab communities feel about that?

BASHA: That is a perversion of Islam. We reject those ideas totally.

In that connection, I must add that we Muslim and Arab Americans have deep sympathy for the people of Afghanistan and Pakistan, who have been victimized by violence. Afghanistan has been caught in civil violence and tribal wars then in the Soviet invasion. We feel sad for the Afghan people because they are now living under the stupidity of the Taliban regime, which harbors terrorists.

Question: Why do you think some people, such as some people in Pakistan, support terrorism?

BASHA: First of all, I must say that Pakistani Americans are 100 percent in support of the war against terrorism. Make no mistake about that.

As for some people in Afghanistan and Pakistan who may support the Taliban or al-Qaida, I believe they have been confused by the rhetoric of the terrorist criminals. In contrast, the Pakistani government has understood very well what needs to be done and is cooperating closely with the United States.

Question: What steps do you think Muslim Imams here and in the Middle East could take to change the misunderstanding of Islam?

BASHA: You know, I think they have to change.

Question: How?

BASHA: The teachers of the true Islamic faith have to take the leadership away from those misguided religious leaders in the mountains of Afghanistan. I know there are a lot of Islamic scholars throughout the world who have condemned these terrorist acts and called on their people to condemn them.

I think the masses have to hear and follow the teachings of the capable religious leaders who are connected to the world.

Question: How can the Muslims in America help the people of Afghanistan?

BASHA: People live under extreme poverty in Afghanistan and other areas in the Muslim world. The primitiveness and poor economic conditions make it harder to bring those people to the 21st century. We Muslims in America have to work together to help them. The Bush administration has been making great efforts to help the people of Afghanistan. All of us together need to make efforts to help them.

Question: The terrorist attacks were followed by some acts of prejudice and hatred against Muslim Americans and Arab Americans. Have you been satisfied by the reaction of President Bush and the U.S. government?

BASHA: Yes, I was happy to see the Bush administration take a very strong stand against any attacks on any American of Arab, South Asian descent and to emphasize that this is a time for unity, not division in America. The president and the attorney general said many times that any retaliatory act, or any act to harm an individual civilian because of bigotry will be punished to the fullest extent of the law. I think the president displayed quite a bit of leadership. President Bush repeated that again in his meeting with Jordan's King Abdullah when he came to Washington. As a result of government actions, crimes against Muslim Americans and Arab Americans have gone down very quickly.

The incidents of bigotry and discrimination against Arabs and Muslims in the United States declined by about 80 percent as a result of the strong statements by the president and other leaders.

Question: Eighty percent decline? Is that documented?

BASHA: Yes, that's documented by the American Muslim Council and the Council on American-Islamic Relations. In addition, these two Muslim groups have reported that the phone calls and e-mails supporting our communities increased by about 80 percent after President Bush and other spoke out on our behalf. Furthermore, during our meeting with President Bush, some heads of law enforcement agencies were present, and they promised their cooperation to protect our communities from discrimination.

Question: Tell me about what happened on the local level.

BASHA: The authorities matched their words with deeds. So the system got better day after day in responding to our concerns and needs. And I know I was in Washington. The police came to the office of AMC offering the support. Police went to many Islamic Centers offering any protection from any misguided or deranged person motivated by blind hate. Hate crimes don't not know any color or any religion. Some of the victims of those hate crimes were not Muslim or Arab, like the Sikh who was killed in Texas or an Egyptian American who was killed in California. He was a Coptic Christian.

Question: What is your long-term vision for the Muslim and Arab communities in the United States?

BASHA: Well, I think that things are definitely going to improve because this system is not static. It's very dynamic. Either you grow or you go. The challenge for Muslim Americans is to start explaining Islam to their fellow Americans. President Bush said that not many people know a lot about Islam in this country, and he urged us to double our efforts to educate our fellow Americans about our religion, which is based on peace and friendship.

Question: Do you see the media opening up more for you to do these kinds of things?

BASHA: No question about that. The media has showed in this crisis a serious interest in having us around the table. This is the first time, every five seconds you hear on the radio or television something about Islam. We started seeing a lot of the people in the media now explaining to America what Islam really is, and what it is not.

This is very gratifying to us. We are identifying more as Americans, we are growing up as a community, and we are being looked at more and more as part of this society and this country. Acting positively and responsibly will definitely help our community achieve that goal.