being Muslim...

More than 1,100 Muslim-Americans from across
the state attended a forum yesterday at the
Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center on
ways to cope with discrimination. Governor
Deval Patrick promised his support.
(Matthew J. Lee/ Globe Staff)


Citizen Alioune

The second study, conducted by a research team from Duke University and the University of North Carolina, found similarly small numbers of domestic terror plots and incidents since 9/11. The report identifies 139 Muslim Americans who have been prosecuted for planning or executing acts of terrorist violence since Sept. 11, 2001, an average of 17 a year. (Again, most of these attempted acts of terror, as in the Shahzad case, were ineptly planned, if planned at all.) Like the Rand report, the Duke-UNC study highlights the meager numbers: “This level of 17 individuals a year is small compared to other violent crime in America but not insignificant. Homegrown terrorism is a serious but limited problem.”

The Duke-UNC researchers conducted 120 in-depth interviews with Muslims in four American cities to gain insight into the problem of homegrown Islamic terrorism and the response of Muslim Americans to it. Why so few cases? Why so little radicalization? Not surprisingly, what the researchers found was widespread hostility to extremist ideologies and strong Muslim community efforts to quash them – efforts partially driven by a desire for self-protection, but more significantly by moral, ethical, and theological hostility to violent fundamentalist ideologies.

Both of these reports underscore the importance of what the researchers call “self-policing” within Muslim communities. They consider it a critical and underutilized factor in combating terrorism in the U.S. Far from being secretive breeding grounds for radicalism, the Duke-UNC report argues, mosques and other Muslim community institutions build ties to the nation and larger world while working to root out extremist political fundamentalism. It was not for nothing that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed instructed his 9/11 hijackers to steer clear of Muslim Americans, their mosques, and their institutions.

“We want to create a platform by which the voices of the mainstream and silent majority of Muslims will be amplified. A centre of this scale and magnitude will do that,” said Daisy Khan, director of the American Society for Muslim Advancement, which is behind the project.

The financial district committee of New York Community Board 1, representing local residents, gave the proposed Islamic centre a vote of confidence at a meeting on May 5.

The $100 million (£69 million) project would include a swimming pool, a basketball court, a 500-seat theatre and possibly a daycare centre. About 2,000 Muslims are expected to attend Friday prayers there.

Speaking at what Muslim activists described as the first such forum with a Massachusetts governor, the 53-year-old Democrat pledged to take seven steps to help Muslims in the state.

The measures ranged from urging businesses and governments to allow Muslims to take time off to attend Friday afternoon prayers to publicly denouncing discrimination and racial profiling against believers of Islam....

“Yours is a peaceful faith, and I know that, and I know you are worried [about whether] others know that,’’ Patrick said after several Muslims joined him on the platform at the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center to recount stories of epithets hurled at them on Boston streets and FBI agents visiting their houses.

“I know that people have been afraid and angry, and sometimes that fear and anger is randomly directed at you,’’ he said.

The audience, which comprised Muslims from across the state, including many women who wore hijab head coverings and men who wore kufi caps, frequently interrupted Patrick with cheers and chants of “Allahu Akbar!’’ which means “God is great!’’

Patrick, who noted that he has lived in Sudan and northern Nigeria and spent considerable time with Muslims, greeted the gathering upon his arrival with “Assalamu alaikum,’’ meaning “peace be upon you.’’ He drew loud cheers when he spoke a bit of Arabic.