CAIR chairman Nihad Awad told the Saudi paper 'Ukaz that "34,000
Americans have converted to Islam following the events of September
11, and this is the highest rate reached in the U.S. since Islam
arrived there."
According to Dr. Walid A. Fatihi, instructor of medicine at Harvard
Medical School, Boston has recently become a center of Islamic
proselytizing aimed at Christians. On September 22, 2001, Al-Fatihi
sent a letter to the Egyptian weekly Al-Ahram Al-Arabi, in which he
described the unfolding of events since September 11: "...From the
first day, the media began to insinuate that Muslim Arab hands were
behind this incident. At noon, the directors and administration of the
Islamic Center of Boston held an emergency meeting, and I stayed on
the line with them from my clinic. We decided to hold a blood drive,
and we set up a committee to contact the Red Cross and organize it for
us. We invited the media to cover the event..."
"All of us tried to grab onto every scrap of information that would
indicate that Muslim Arab hands were not involved in the loathsome
crime. Yes, my brothers and sisters, we tried to prove our humanity on
the day we found ourselves attacked from all sides. Our hearts bled
and our spokesman said that proselytizing in the name of Allah had
been set back 50 years in the U.S. and in the entire world..."
"On Saturday, September 15, I went with my wife and children to the
biggest church in Boston, [Trinity Church in] Copley Square, by
official invitation of the Islamic Society of Boston, to represent
Islam by special invitation of the senators of Boston. Present were
the mayor of Boston, his wife, and the heads of the universities.
There were more than 1,000 people there, with media coverage by one of
Boston's main television stations. We were received like ambassadors.
I sat with my wife and children in the front row, next to the mayor's
wife. In his sermon, the priest defended Islam as a monotheistic
religion, telling the audience that I represented the Islamic Society
of Boston."
"After the sermon was over, he stood at my side as I read an official
statement issued by the leading Muslim clerics condemning the incident
[i.e. the attacks]. The statement explained Islam's stance and
principles, and its sublime precepts. Afterwards, I read Koran verses
translated into English... These were moments that I will never
forget, because the entire church burst into tears upon hearing the
passages of the words of Allah!!"
"Emotion swept over us. One said to me: 'I do not understand the
Arabic language, but there is no doubt that the things you said are
the words of Allah.' As she left the church weeping, a woman put a
piece of paper in my hand; on the paper was written: 'Forgive us for
our past and for our present. Keep proselytizing to us.' Another man
stood at the entrance of the church, his eyes teary, and said, 'You
are just like us; no, you are better than us.'"*
"On Sunday, September 16, the Islamic Society of Boston issued an open
invitation to the Islamic Center in Cambridge, located between Harvard
and MIT. We did not expect more than 100 people, but to our surprise
more than 1,000 people came, among them the neighbors, the university
lecturers, members of the clergy, and even the leaders of the priests
from the nearby churches, who invited us to speak on Islam. All
expressed solidarity with Muslims. Many questions flowed to us.
Everyone wanted to know about Islam and to understand its precepts."
"Of all the questions, not a single one attacked me; on the contrary,
we saw [the people's] eyes filling with tears when they heard about
Islam and its sublime principles. Many of them had never heard about
Islam before. Well, they had heard about Islam only through the biased
media. That same day, I was invited again to participate in a meeting
in the church, and again I saw the same things. On Thursday, a
delegation of 300 students and lecturers from Harvard visited the
center of the Islamic Society of Boston, accompanied by the American
Ambassador to Vienna. They sat on the floor of the mosque, which was
filled to capacity. We explained to them the precepts of Islam, and
defended it from any suspicions [promulgated in the media]. I again
read to them from the verses of Allah, and [their] eyes filled with
tears. The audience was moved, and many asked to participate in the
weekly lessons for non-Muslims held by the Islamic Center..."
"On Friday, September 21, the Muslims participated in a closed meeting
with the governor of Massachusetts. In the meeting, a discussion was
held on introducing Islam into the school curriculum, to inform the
[American] people and to fight racism against Muslims arising from the
American people's ignorance regarding the religion. With the
governor's sup****t, measures to examine implementation of this goal
were agreed upon..."
"These are only some of the examples of what happened and is happening
in the city of Boston, and in many other American cities, during these
days. Proselytizing in the name of Allah has not been undermined, and
has not been set back 50 years, as we thought in the first days after
September 11. On the contrary, the 11 days that have passed are like
11 years in the history of proselytizing in the name of Allah. I write
to you today with the absolute confidence that over the next few
years, Islam will spread in America and in the entire world, Allah
willing, much more quickly than it has spread in the past, because the
entire world is asking, 'What is Islam!'
Fatihi's re****ts of American Christians' crying upon hearing Koranic
verses have an historical context. This type of narrative is about
part of the ethos of Islamic proselytizing. It comes from the
tradition of the Prophet Muhammad's invitation to the Christian
community of Najran, located in what is today North Yemen, to visit
the mosque. When the Christians of Najran were exposed to the verses
of the Koran, the tradition says they burst into tears and converted
to Islam.
Fatihi also published an article in the London daily Al-Hayat:
"...There are initial signs that the intensive campaign of education
about Islam has begun to bear fruit. For example, the rate of converts
to Islam since September 11 has doubled... There is solidarity with the
Muslims on the part of many non-Muslims in American universities. For
example, dozens of non-Muslim American women students at Wayne [State]
University... have put on veils as a symbol of identification with the
Muslim women students at the university and at the other universities
of America."
"One of the most im****tant topics [in an NPR broadcast] was an
interview with several young women at American universities who
recently converted to Islam through the Islamic Society of Boston.
They hold advanced degrees from universities in Boston, such as
Harvard, and they spoke of the power and the greatness of Islam, of
the elevated status of women in Islam, and of why they converted to
Islam. The program was broadcast several times across the entire
U.S..."
Note:
*The phenomenon of sincere Christians shedding tears as they recognize
the truth and beauty of Islam is mentioned in the Qur'an:
And thou wilt find the nearest of them in affection to those who
believe (to be) those who say: Lo! We are Christians. That is because
there are among them priests and monks, and because they are not
proud. When they listen to that which hath been revealed unto the
messengers, thou seest their eyes overflow with tears because of their
recognition of the Truth. They say: Our Lord, we believe. Inscribe us
as among the witnesses [Qur'an 5:82-83]
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