Like any other American I sat shocked and horrified when I saw planes crashing into New York City's Twin Towers. I couldn't believe my eyes. I was 19 years old and serving in the Marines. Yes, you read that correctly. Serving in the Marine Corps as a Muslim American U.S. Marine prepared to give my life in a moment's notice to the nation I cherished and called home.
It had never occurred to me, at least in that period in time, that my life, and that of practically every person who called themselves a Muslim was getting ready to be forever changed. That if you were an American Muslim, you were no longer going to be seen as American enough, rather, and worse, a ticking time bomb (in the literal sense) waiting to blow up. If you happened to be an overseas Muslim, be it from Africa or Indonesia (I mean to say, not the you know, typical brown skinned, black bearded Muslim) well, you were still somehow the enemy.
Even the Marines lingo, "we all bleed green" no matter where you come from or what you look like didn't spare this 19 year old Muslim American Marine. In fact, I remember quite vividly, being called names like Bin Laden, Taliban and terrorist. Some Marines would half-jokingly even say things like, don't blow us up Shams or "boom."
Where I thought, I had already proven myself by raising my hand and swearing allegience, "I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies foreign and domestic...," and signing on the dotted line to give my life for the nation while going through one of the toughest trainings to earn the title, US Marine, I was still (according to some) not an equal. For many, I quickly became the other.
Although the Muslim Holy Quran explicitly states life's sacredness, and whoever unjustly kills a single person is as if he had killed all of mankind, and whoever saves the life of one person is as if he has saved the life of all of humanity (5:33), it took just 19 hijackers (so called Muslims) who by the way also killed Muslim Americans working in the Twin Towers on that tragic day to paint a nearly 2 billion worldwide Muslim population as blood thirsty terrorists.
Since then, and in the aftermath of 9/11, while many Americans may have moved on with their lives, most American Muslims, over two decades later still continue to feel the repercussions. From struggling to be seen on equal footing and finding acceptance, to everyday challenges, micro aggressions and stereotypes faced simply because of a last name like Ahmad or Muhammad, the wearing of hijab (Muslim head covering) by Muslim women in the spirit of preserving their modesty, and of course the Muslim man donning that scary beard – the list seems endless.
Children who weren't even alive on 9/11 (like my own kids) who attend the public school system here in Baltimore County (among the largest public school system in the country) on numerous occasions have faced the onslaught of anti-Muslim rhetoric to the extent of being called words like "9/11 bomber" and "terrorist." On one occasion my middle schooler was told, "don't bomb the school" and on another, "I miss the twin towers." Keeping it honest, sometimes things were said half-jokingly while other times in typical stereotype fashion. But joke or no joke, does it really matter? Can we imagine for a second how my son would have felt or perhaps another innocent Muslim child in today's world facing the same?
Sadly, every time we (Muslim Americans) think we're on the road to progress, a new cycle seems to start. At a campaign speech just a little over a month ago, former President Trump (a front runner for the Republican nominee) reiterated his commitment to the Muslim Ban stating, "When I return to office, the travel ban is coming back even bigger than before and much stronger."
But he didn't just stop there.
He went on further to state, "Under the Trump Administration, we imposed extreme vetting and put on a powerful travel ban to keep radical Islamic terrorists and jihadists out of our country" – purposefully and quite deceptively conflating the religion of Islam and terrorism as one in the same.
As we reflect on that tragic day and honor the three thousand innocent lives lost (which my religious community, the Ahmadiyya Muslim community does through the Muslims for Life campaign every year by holding blood drives around the country in an effort to save lives), I'm asking fellow Americans to see me, other Muslim Americans as one and without prejudgment.
I'm asking fellow Americans to break away with the elephant in the room (the association of Islam to 9/11) by making a sincere and genuine effort (no matter how difficult the temptation) to please once and for all, separate the Islamic faith I hold near and dear to my heart from those 19 hijackers who did everything but anything Islamic.
I'm done paying the price for those 19 hijackers. My Islam had nothing to do with 9/11.
Mansoor Shams is a Muslim American US Marine Veteran, the founder of MuslimMarine.org and a public speaker. He also serves as a Term Member on the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). Follow him on Twitter: @mansoortshams.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
