Newark Muslims Reflect on Sept. 11

For Fateen Ziyad, Newark fire director, the 9/11 attacks cut both ways.

in the smoldering wreckage of the World Trade Center 10 years ago. And as a Muslim, Ziyad felt he was under attack by people who conflated his religion with the horrific acts done by extremists.

He said he didn't feel like he got the cold shoulder from firefighters within the department who know and respect him. But he encountered questions like, "How could you be part of that?" from outsiders, he said.

For Newark Muslims like Ziyad, who have been interviewed for this article, their experiences after 9/11 have been a mixed bag. Some negative, some positive - but many of them colored by the large impact and rich history Islam has had in the city's black community.

That is because Islam has been indigenized in African-American urban communities, said Abdus-Saboor Shakir-Ullah, a Newark resident.

"We are born here, raised here," he said.

One of the first Muslim organizations in the city was the Moorish Science Temple of America, which was founded in the early part of the 20th century in Newark, according to the organization's website. Starting from there, Nation of Islam, Malcom X, and traditional Muslim leaders have held sway in the city along with churches.

That influence is felt in the halal eateries that dot the city, the landmarks named after Malcolm X and his wife Betty Shabazz, and the many Muslims who serve among the ranks of firefighters and police officers, the latter who can wear beards due to a 1999 U.S. Supreme Court case.

According to Imam Mustafa El-Amin, leader of Masjid Ibrahim in the South Ward and a Newark school teacher, many black families in Newark have at least one Muslim relative and some Christians have bestowed Muslim names on their children.

As an example to how black people and Islam are so deeply intertwined in Newark, El-Amin said a student told him the 9/11 hijackers couldn't be Muslim because they did not look African-American like him.

Though Newark as a whole is accepting of Muslims, questions remained after 9/11, El-Amin said. He felt some tension at work, but the overwhelming feeling he felt after 9/11 was fear for the safety of his daughter and wife, who wears the hijab, and the rest of the Muslim community.

National Muslim leaders like Warith Deen Mohammed suggested to women to wear their veil "Aunt Jemima-style," and give out free Korans to combat ignorance, said El-Amin.

"I could understand," he said about any blowback.

Members of the mosque did receive outright discrimination at work, he said. But he also heard through stories that people living in the suburbs got the most heat.

"At least in Newark, you didn't get much of that," said El-Amin, who noticed that South East Asian Muslims from the suburbs started showing up at predominantly black mosques, where they felt safer after 9/11.

For the ignorance he encountered after the terrorists attacks, El-Amin said he took part in interfaith activities, wrote a book highlighting similarities between Christianity and Islam, and agreed to be shadowed by a film crew from the Netherlands for a documentary on Islam.

That curiosity for the religion yielded dividends with more people understanding Islam, he said.

El-Amin points to the election of President Barack Obama, who has the middle name of Hussein, as an example.

"That shows something very positive," he said. "It must say something about the American people."

Abdul Haleem Ali, who goes to Masjid Ibrahim in Newark and is the Irvington recreation supervisor, said when the attacks happened, he received many questions about Islam from curious kids and parents.

He said he felt the questions brought out a sense of goodwill and community between Muslims and non-Muslims.

"It brought people together," he said.

Despite the greater awareness of the religion, there are still flare ups of bad feelings among non-Muslims in Newark - particularly when the debate over the community center near Ground Zero exploded, said some Muslims.

"I don't let it bother me. Allah knows best," said Asada Shabazz, Newark resident who wears a hijab. "Only Allah judges me."