Good Afternoon. As Salam ale kum, Salam means peace in Arabic. Whenever we meet each other, we exchange this greeting. So As Salam ale kum.

Thank you Kansas City Kansas Community College for asking me to speak today on the topic of “What 9/11 Meant to Me as An American Muslim Woman”.

As a first-generation American Muslim, as a mother of two Eagle Scouts, as a woman and as a child of immigrants, I revel in the words ``One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all”.

These words brought my parents from India looking for the American dream. A dream of opportunity in a country where if one worked hard, one could be successful. A dream of practicing faith without persecution. A dream of justice without regard to appearance, religion or origin.

However, from our history books, we know that minorities in America have often experienced injustice, bias, bigotry and racism. The terrorist attacks on 9/11 sickened and shocked me as they did other Americans. Muslims around the world grieved with others for the lives that were loss. For many of us, one of the most disturbing images after 9/11 was that of the celebration of a few Palestinian youths after the tragedy. This image was played over and over again on CNN and other television stations, thus reinforcing the myth that somehow the whole of the Arab and Muslim world rejoices at our pain.

Closer examination has revealed that that celebration was in fact a very limited phenomenon, limited to a few people. Almost every single head of state in the Muslim world has expressed grief and outrage over this tragedy, fully expressing sympathy with the Americans who have lost loved ones in this tragedy. By the way, did you know there were 358 Muslims who died from the 9/11 attacks? (Note: click here for worldwide Muslim condemnation of the 9/11 attacks)

After 9-11, I felt that Muslims were being represented unfairly.  Subtle things like the media using certain words to describe extremists. Like "jidhadist". Jihad in Islam predominantly means innter struggle or conflict.  After 9-11, the media used "jihad" to describe a holy war.

There was Franklin Graham calling Islam an evil religion. All the time, you heard Muslim extremists or Islamic facists.  It was a way to demonize us.

Before 9/11, I was living my life like any other person—-raising my 4 sons, living in Southern Johnson County, and being a health care executive. After 9/11/2001, American Muslims, along with everyone else, were hanging the American Flag on their cars and homes and wearing it on their clothing as a sign of support for this country. We were also hoping to ward off those who were seeking revenge by targeting Muslims.

The day after the 9/11 attack, my then 14-year-old son Adil. who was featured in yesterday’s KC Star, a happy-go-lucky child was accused by two of his classmates of being a terrorist and was actually blamed for the attacks on the World Trade Center. Why did two boys from middle-class homes in Kansas say these hateful things?

Because they knew, my son was a Muslim.

My eldest son, Ali was going to college at St. Louis University at the time, he told me that a man came up to him off campus and said we should lock up all the Muslims and then asked Ali, what his name was, he responded his name was Al. I felt horror and pain knowing that my sons was verbally attacked and felt threatened.

It took me a year to fly again on an airplane after 9/11. It was Thanksgiving 2002. My family and I had no problems flying from here to Philadelphia, but on our return flight, I was the only one issued a boarding pass. I couldn’t understand why my husband and four sons were not issued a boarding pass on a confirmed return flight. They told me they will handle it at the gate. The plane began to board and my family still was not issued their boarding passes. The gate agent said that our names were on a “list” and will be taken care of. The door of the gate was closed and we were still not on the airplane. I want to the agent and said, you said that we will be taken care of and that I was traveling with two small children who needs to seated with two adults. After some time, he handed the boarding passes for each of my male family members. As we boarded the plane, I cannot describe to you how I felt as the eyes of the passengers were glaring at us. They knew why were not given boarding passes. We knew why were not given boarding passes.

In October of 2002, I wrote an article called I Am an American Muslim for a writing class. After I read it aloud, there was not a dry eye in the classroom. I wrote about the pain I was feeling being an American Muslim Woman. I wrote about the discrimination that my family faced. This article was published in the KC Star in January 2003 and was syndicated around the country.

Over the last five years, I became known and have been asked to speak on a local, regional, national and international basis about being an American Muslim Woman.

What do I tell my audiences? I tell them that as a Muslim know that I am your neighbor, your co-worker, your physician, your nurse, your business leader, your professor, your schoolmate, and your friend. Accept me as your equal. Understand my religion. Do not believe everything you read in the newspaper and watch on television. My religion has been misrepresented for hundreds of years in the western world. Know that Allah is the Arabic word for God. Like Dios is in Spanish. Know that I believe in the Old Testament, the Torah and the last revelation, our Holy book, The Qu’ran. Know that Jews, Christians and Muslims are referred to as people of the Book. These books.

I believe in the same prophets from Adam to Prophet Mohammed peace be upon them. If some of my fellow Muslim sisters cover their head with a hijab, do not discriminate against them. I too wear a hijab when I pray. These women wear it in public where the chance of bigotry and hatred escalates because of their public identification as being Muslims. Know that hate crimes towards Muslims nationally are in triple digits.

Know that there are 1.3 billion Muslims in the world. The majority of us come from Indonesia, Pakistan and India.  The Arab population is about 20 percent. Not all Arabs are Muslims--There are many who are Christians. In the US, there are 7 million Muslims. About 38 percent are African Americans. The largest growth of Muslims in the United States is coming from Caucasian women and Latin Americans.

Know that my religion is a religion of peace. Know that my religion states that all men and women are equal in the eyes of God. The only thing that puts one above another is on how pious one is. Know, understand and accept my religion before you make judgments. My religion deserves the same rights as yours.

Since, September 11th, I’ve been working hard to dispel the misconceptions of Muslims and of my religion Islam. It isn’t easy to do when the federal government singles out people from my religious community, when the media wants to sensationalize a story before it gets all the facts or even communicates all the facts and when my president calls my faith fascist.

As an American Muslim Woman, I am concerned with issues relating to social justice, inclusion, compassion, and responsible stewardship of America's economic and military power.
I am alarmed with the degradation of our civil liberties that Americans have fought for over 200 years. I want the Patriotic Act to be repealed. I am a citizen who is concerned about the foreign policies affecting the Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon and the Middle East. I feel these policies have made America weaker, not stronger.

Know that Islam condemns terrorism and the killing of innocent lives. The word terrorism and Islam are contradictory.  One cannot be a true Muslim and terrorist at the same time. The Qur’an states, “Who so ever kills a human being…it shall be as if he has killed all mankind and who so ever saves the life of one, it shall be as if he had saved the life of all mankind” (The Qur’an 5:32).

I condemn terrorist attacks all over the world. I refuse to allow my faith to be held hostage by the criminal actions of tiny minority acting outside the teachings of both the Qur’an and the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him.  

Since 9/11, I have given over 150 talks. Educating people about Islam and sometimes I get discouraged. A recent article in the KC Star described a poll that was conducted by USA Today/Gallop poll stating almost 40 percent of Americans acknowledge having some prejudice against Muslims, but those with Muslim acquaintances are more likely to show favorable attitudes. 39 percent of Americans favor more strict security measures for Muslims than other US citizens such as requiring Muslims to carry a special ID.   The only way we are going to prevent hate is to educate.

In 2002, I organized the “Community Praying for Peace”. The event was to mark the six-month anniversary of 9/11. I was compelled to do this after Daniel Pearl; the Wall Street reporter was killed. People from various faiths came together and prayed. We prayed in silence in our own faith for peace. We put aside our opinions, assessments, and conclusions and ask ourselves, “What can we do for our Community?

What can we create that is EXTRAORDINARY?” We knew the place to begin was with prayer. We prayed for all who suffer from injustice and oppression, so that revenge will give way to compassion, that fear and hatred will be replaced by friendship and peace.

What does 9/11 mean to me? It changed my life. It changed all of our lives.  I grew up in NJ and while visiting my parents, I visited ground zero two years ago. The magnitude of destruction is incredible. The tragic events of 9/11 have made me create a vision of hope for a global Community, a global Community that wants people to demand the extraordinary of themselves and of others. For every life that was taken that day on 9/11, we remember those lives and say we want this global Community to participate fully with each other so that the conversation shifts in this world from one of punishment, revenge and hatred to one of inventive thinking, bold leadership and a world transformed through Peace.