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Muslims in the West, they maintain, have long avoided confronting the
problem of Islam's extremist fringe, in part because of shared grievances
over U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East.
In the Bay Area and across the nation, they are engaged in a politically
sensitive debate over what some are calling ``the discourse of rage''
in the Islamic world. But other Muslims say there is no need for such
a debate because they are in no way responsible for the actions of extremists.
East Bay cleric Hamza Yusuf argues, however, that he and other Muslim
leaders were, in a sense, ``complicit'' in the attacks because they had
too often failed to condemn violence. Their own intemperate talk, he said,
may have contributed to a climate in which extremism can flourish.
His own recent experience illustrates the point.
On Sept. 9, Yusuf told a Southern California audience that the United
States faces ``a great, great tribulation.'' The country ``stands condemned,''
he said.
His remarks went unnoticed at the time but drew national attention after
Yusuf prayed at the White House with President George W. Bush following
the Sept. 11 attacks.
Yusuf, who runs an Islamic institute, later said his off-the-cuff oratory
on American injustices had been overheated and ill-timed.
Hamid Mavani, an Oakland cleric, said Muslims need to root out intolerant
preaching at local mosques. ``We've underestimated the rhetoric. I think
we need to give these people an ultimatum.''
Lead by example
``We have never engaged in those discussions,'' said Agha Saeed, president
of the Newark-based American Muslim Alliance. ``Our work has been a clear
indication of where we've stood.''
Saeed, who teaches ethnic studies at the University of California-Berkeley,
says he repudiates Osama bin Laden. But simply condemning him is ``simplistic,''
Saeed said. ``Who trained him? Who taught him how to make these bombs?''
Saeed was alluding to the United States' proxy war with the Soviet Union
in Afghanistan in the 1980s. The United States -- with substantial Saudi
funding -- armed the anti-Soviet mujahedeen in Afghanistan. That's
where bin Laden got his start as a religious fighter, and for Saeed, any
discussion of Islamists must include that caveat.
After Sept. 11, major Muslim groups like the American Muslim Alliance
and the Council on American-Islamic Relations issued statements condemning
the attacks and protesting a backlash against Muslims. But critics say
they have been slow to acknowledge the role of militant Islam.
Omar Ahmad, national president of the Council on American-Islamic Relations,
said there was some discussion about religious extremism before Sept. 11,
but not much. The Santa Clara executive said that while CAIR supports
Bush and the U.S.-led campaign against terrorism, he wants more evidence
that bin Laden was behind the attacks.
``If bin Laden is responsible, we condemn him,'' Ahmad said. ``I
don't think they've shown the evidence. They've shown it in private, to
other governments.''
Some critics say that the response by Muslim communities to Sept. 11
has been too defensive, too reluctant to address religious extremism.
``When Sept. 11 happened, there was enormous concern among Muslim
groups about being persecuted, which was legitimate,'' said Stephen Cohen,
a South Asia expert at the Brookings Institution. ``But there wasn't much
talk about community responsibility for this. A lot of the perpetrators
lived in Muslim communities in the U.S.''
No evidence has surfaced that knowledge of the terrorists' plans was
widespread in local Muslim communities.
Cohen added that while Muslim groups have condemned the violence, they
have been loath to criticize those who committed it and offer too many
caveats when they do. ``I look for the word `but' or `however,' ''
he said. ``Then I know someone's trying to play both sides of the street.''
Many moderate Muslims say that criticism of American foreign policy is
legitimate, particularly when it comes to U.S. support for Israel, for
Saudi Arabia's undemocratic regime and for sanctions against Iraq. But
some say that resentment over these policies has entered everyday discourse,
and it's time to change the tone of the debate.
``Muslims love to live in the U.S. but also love to hate it,''
wrote M.A. Muqtedar Khan, a political scientist at Adrian College in Michigan.
When bin Laden called on Muslims in 1998 to ``kill the Americans'' --
months before the bombings of American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania
-- few Muslims in the United States condemned him publicly.
Javed Mohammed, a high-tech manager in the valley, said there was no
need for U.S. Muslims to comment: ``If the leader of the Irish
Republican Army, of Sinn Fein, makes a statement, does every Catholic
church have to respond?''
Acculturation
In January 1999, Kabbani alleged at a State Department forum that
many of the nation's mosques were controlled by ideological extremists
whose views were rejected by most Muslims. Condemned for his remarks by
eight national Muslim organizations -- including the American Muslim Alliance
and the Council on American-Islamic Relations -- Kabbani said this week
that those groups have suddenly toned down their statements about America.
Overnight, they became ``the big supporters'' of the United States, he
said. ``Before Sept. 11, all they do is criticize.''
Kabbani is still widely viewed as exaggerating the extremist threat in
American mosques. ``His entire analysis is inaccurate,'' Saeed said.
Still, too many American Muslim immigrants ``have been acculturated into
this anger against America,'' said Faheem Shuaibe, spiritual leader of
Masjidul Waritheen, a largely black mosque in Oakland. ``That's what their
culture gave them. But you can't do here and say here and act here the
way you did there.''
Sometimes, red-hot oratory is a matter of cultural style. Kabbani, raised
in Lebanon, said it is common to hear fiery sermons in Middle Eastern
mosques. ``People there, they fight, they shout, and then they have a
good laugh.''
But passionate style and political grievance can be a powerful combination,
as the Marin-raised Yusuf discovered during a decade in the Middle East
in the 1970s and '80s. During that time, he said, he absorbed too much
of the region's anger and frustration.
``There are times when, having been in that environment, that I have
been complicit -- when I have let my own emotions ride too high and that's
my own spiritual immaturity,'' he said. ``I think it's very painful to
look at yourself, you know? It hurts.''
Muslim leaders debate their response to extremism
Some clerics say they have failed to address the incendiary rhetoric
of militant Islam
Mercury News Staff Writer Lisa Fernandez contributed to this report.