A single thought went through the minds of many Iowa Muslims as they learned that U.S. forces had killed a man they say represented a perversion of their religion: We can finally take our religion back.
Several leading Iowa Muslims said that the four airplanes that flew into the Twin Towers, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania weren’t the only things hijacked on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001. So was their religion.
“It was the antithesis of my faith,” said Miriam Amer of Cedar Rapids, executive director of the Iowa chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. “They never represented Islam or Muslims.”
Yet over the past decade, Iowa Muslims watched with sadness as Osama bin Laden and others of his al-Qaida ilk continued to exert an outsized force on the public perception of their religion.
So when news came that bin Laden was dead, several Iowa Muslims expressed unequivocally excited and patriotic thoughts about the American military operation. Some said they hope losing the charismatic leader fatally cripples worldwide terrorist operations, but some also expressed caution that the death of one man won’t end terrorism.
“We have given his ideology too much strength,” said Mirza Baig, a neurosurgeon at Mercy Medical Center and president of the Islamic Center of Des Moines. “They’re on false ground, inhumane, unjustified grounds. To get rid of the person in charge will change that baseless ideology.”
“He’s been a shadow that’s plagued our society and our community,” Baig continued. “I think he unfortunately took advantage of people in bad situations with poor education and socioeconomic background. ... Now, there’s a closure of some sort. We’re at a juncture in history, and we can move beyond him and his ideology.”
The timing of bin Laden’s death could not come at a more symbolic time for the Middle East, where activists in countries like Egypt, Tunisia and now Libya have rebelled against dictatorships, one Drake University scholar said.
“Now is not the moment of radicalization in the Middle East - it’s the moment of democratization,” said Mahmoud Hamad, a Drake assistant professor of politics and international relations, who is taking a group of 29 students on a trip to Egypt in a couple of weeks. “Part of the bad feelings toward the U.S. is partly because of U.S. support toward dictators in the Middle East. Now we as Americans are less of a target in the Middle East because we finally decided to be on the right side of history and support freedom and democracy.”
That said, Hamad’s own reaction to bin Laden’s death was muted. He was pleased that the most prominent perversion of his religion was gone, but he could only hope that bin Laden’s death means an easing in the tensions between Islam and the West.
“Bin Laden doesn’t represent much to many Muslims, either in America or outside America,” Hamad said. “He is recognized as a leader by only a few zealots who’re part of his group. He’s a faded symbol, I would say.”