Muslim psychotherapist works to increase awareness about his faith

BELLEVILLE, Ill. -- You've never heard of prejudice based on first names? That's because your name isn't Mohammed.

After Sept. 11, 2001, Belleville psychotherapist Mohammed Kibria noticed people began treating him as "stupid" or "dangerous" or both. He faced intense security checks at airports and eventually was asked to leave his job at a mental-health facility.

Kibria partly understood. Egyptian Mohamed Atta acted as lead hijacker on American Airlines Flight 11, which crashed into the World Trade Center. The media coverage linked the common Muslim name to mass murder.

"Would you like to come in for counseling with a man named Mohammed who is killing people?" Kibria asked.

On the other hand, Kibria doesn't believe Americans should blame all Muslims for the radical views of a relatively small number of terrorists.

"When Timothy McVeigh [blew up the federal building in Oklahoma City], people didn't say, 'Christians did that,"' he said. "... Nobody can show me it's in the Quran to kill people."

Today, Kibria operates his own business, the Psychiatric Hypnosis Healing & Mind-Body-Spirit Center.

In his free time, Kibria, 59, works to increase understanding of the Muslim faith as a founding board member for Metro-East Interfaith Partnership, a group of local ministers and lay leaders who sponsor workshops and other activities.

One of his goals is finding common ground between people of Muslim, Christian, Jewish and other faiths.

Kibria also wants to dispel myths about the Muslim faith.

"The Quran probably is the most-read book in the world, but it is probably the most misunderstood book in the world," Kibria said. "When you try to translate something that's in a divine language, there will always be some distortion."

Kibria describes most devout Muslims as loving, kind, gentle, pious and extremely clean people who are taught to respect others, including women and people of all races.

"My wife doesn't walk five feet behind me," said Kibria, speaking of Marlene Kibria, a Fairview Heights native and former Catholic who converted to Islam. "She walks in front of me, and I open the door for her."

Kibria grew up in East Pakistan, now Bangladesh. He earned a bachelor's degree in economics and political science and a master's degree in anthropology before his brother was killed in a violent civil war that prompted him to leave the country.

Kibria made his way to the United States in 1969, earning a master's degree in sociology at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. He was an active fraternity brother and co-founder of the university's International Student Association.

Today, Kibria has dual citizenship in the United States and Bangladesh. He praises his adopted country as being full of good people, vast opportunities and fair laws.

"Religion is the mother of morals and definer of justice," Kibria said. "That's what I believe, and racial profiling is not a justice."