Sept. 11 also had lasting impact on area Muslims

A handful of Muslims are facing Mecca.

Shoulder to shoulder, they are standing behind an imam, or prayer leader. The group -- all men and one wearing a prayer cap -- are shoeless and still.

As those of their faith do five times daily, they are about to talk to God.

They kneel, nearly in unison, and touch their foreheads to the floor, which is seen as an act of humility before Allah. After several long seconds, the group stands to raise their hands.

"Allahu akbar," the imam intones, which in Arabic means God is most great.

The simple service lasts less than half an hour. When it's over, the men say they were praying to a God of love and peace -- not one that would sanction or condone the terrorist attacks that took place 10 years ago today.

"What happened was a crime by all measures," said Musa Wadi, a 50-year-old physician at Southeast Hospital from Jordan. "It is in no way what the Quran teaches and the people who did this twisted our faith."

The last decade hasn't been easy for the country's 2.75 million Muslims. After the terrorist attacks, some area Muslims -- estimates place the local number in 2001 anywhere from 50 to 100 -- say they feared retribution, worried about their children at school and even today have to face a sometimes suspicious public.

"But overall, people from Cape Girardeau are very understanding," said Shafiq Malik, 54, a Pakistan native who owns a local health care business. "The community here seems to be very well-versed and integrated. It didn't get nearly as bad as some of us feared it would."

A new survey from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life suggests the same is true elsewhere in the U.S. The survey's findings, released Aug. 30, showed no indication of increased alienation or anger among Muslim Americans in response to concerns about Islamic terrorists. Nor does the new polling provide any evidence of rising support for Islamic extremism among Muslim Americans.

The survey of 1,033 Muslim Americans, conducted from April to July in English, Arabic, Farsi and Urdu, finds that 82 percent continued to rate their communities very positively as places to live. In fact, the poll found that Muslim Americans are far more satisfied with the way things are going in the U.S. (56 percent) than the general public (23 percent).

And nearly half of Muslim Americans think that Muslim leaders have not done enough to speak out against Islamic extremists. At the Islamic Center, leaders say they have worked for years to keep an open dialogue with the community.

Just last month, the center worked with the Islamic Circle of North America Relief program to hand out 700 backpacks and school supplies to local families. They started an outreach program to help alleviate hunger, preparing and delivering meals. They have held interfaith services with other area churches to help non-Muslims better understand Islam.

But Wadi said they need to work harder.

"It's our job to help understand what Islam is all about," he said. "We can always be doing more. We want people to visit us and see what we are doing. There is nothing secret going on here. But there needs to be more understanding. But we have to give more effort to make you understand."

But in the days immediately following Sept. 11, the Muslim community was rife with anguish about a potentially misunderstanding public that could be seeking revenge against anyone who looked, or believed, as they did.

Malik was living in Cape Girardeau and his children were in class at Central High School. When he saw the planes hit the towers, he was left speechless. His first thought was to offer up a prayer for the victims. Then, his wife went to console a friend who was devastated by the attacks.

"We were all so shocked in seeing the devastation," Malik said. "I thought it was the day of judgment. Everything was blowing up. We were scared to death. It seemed like the end of the world."

He noted that 300 of the 3,000 who died that day were Muslims. All were victims of religious extremists, he said.

But he was also concerned for his family. They did not attend prayers that day. In the days that followed, he constantly asked his children if they were having any problems at school.

"I was very concerned," he said. "We did not know what the reaction of people was going to be. I was very worried, concerned and scared for several days."

Wadi, who was a doctor in Sikeston, Mo., at the time, said he had a similar reaction but that it turned out to be for nothing. Wadi did note that for two years he was pulled out of lines to be searched at airports nearly every time he took a trip.

"Oh my God, that happened all the time," he said. "They said, 'The computer has chosen you.' OK, I get it."

Area Muslims were even dismissive of what happened in May 2009, when a Cape Girardeau man was convicted of a hate crime for vandalizing the Islamic Center. He was later sentenced to three years in prison. The man, Nicholas T. Proffit, pleaded guilty in court to two counts of property damage motivated by discrimination, which is a felony, and a third count of driving while intoxicated.

"But I don't think he was targeting us," Wadi said. "I think he would have thrown rocks at any window he had come to."

Still, the attacks have tainted all Muslims to some people, Wadi said, creating an immediate distrust that he's not sure will ever dissipate.

"Most people are innocent until proven otherwise," he said. "For us, it seems that we are criminal until we can show people we are not."

They still want to live in this country in peace, practicing a religion that teaches peace in a country that they consider as much their home as their places of birth, they said.

The lasting impact of Sept 11 has had negative effect on their lives, but it has helped non-Muslims have a better understanding of their religion.

"It smeared us all as terrorists," Wadi said. "But Americans are smart. They don't take things for granted. People are starting to investigate what we believe."

smoyers@semissourian.com

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Pertinent address:

298 N. West End Blvd., Cape Girardeau, MO