US muslims braced for bombing backlash
Muslims across the US are denouncing the bombing of London’s transport system and bracing themselves for a renewed wave of harassment that has continued since the September 11 attacks.
As Muslims gathered for Friday prayers, some New Jersey mosques planned to boost security by posting guards at entrances, checking bags and making sure that there were no suspicious packages nearby.
The stepped-up measures come as the bombings in London, which killed at least 50 and injured more than 700 in attacks that authorities say bear the signature of the al Qaida terror network, rekindle fears in the US’s Arab and Muslim community that they could be the target of retaliation.
Describing the attacks as “vile and cowardly acts,” Aref Assaf, president of the Paterson-based Arab American Forum, said “our condemnations are universal and unequivocal.”
But Assaf urged people to refrain from blaming an entire community for the acts of a few, saying: “The vast majority of our people are law-abiding and they are good citizens who desire no harm or ill against anyone.”
Muslim community leaders in New Jersey are taking no chances. Instead of seeking police help like they did in 2001, they’re taking on the security burden themselves, said Sohail Mohammed, a Clifton lawyer who has tracked civil rights and security issues for the community since September 11.
“We’re putting people at doors, checking bags,” Mohammed said. “We’ll go around the building for security purposes, we’ll see that the garbage cans are checked out. At night, we’ll have security people patrolling the buildings.”
In the nearly four years since September 11 attacks, mosques and Islamic centres across the country have had their windows broken, their walls covered with graffiti and, in some instances, been damaged by arsonists.
The Islamic Centre of Passaic County in Paterson did a security sweep Friday morning as it prepared for worshippers to arrive at about 1pm, said Mohamed El-Filali, a mosque official.
“We don’t want to be a sitting duck for someone who is crazy,” he said.
Osama Siblani, publisher of the Arab American News in Dearborn, Michigan, home to the nation’s largest Arab-American community, said such precautions are justified.
“You can’t blame them; there have been attacks on Islamic centres and mosques all over the country even before this,” said Siblani.
The Majlis Ash-Shura of New Jersey, the state’s council of mosques, said the bombers not only killed innocent people, but disrupted efforts by the leaders of major world powers meeting in Scotland to address poverty and hunge in Africa, where millions of Muslims live.
“No matter what twisted logic the perpetrators may use as justification, such acts can never be legitimised,” the council said.
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