Islamic community voices outrage over mass killings

Jennifer Chambers / The Detroit News

Dearborn -- Metro Detroit Muslims struggled with dual angst Friday after the deadly shooting rampage at Fort Hood -- outrage over the attack and fears that a backlash will dismantle years of progress toward better understanding of Islam.

"All the hard work we do taking a step forward -- this takes us 10 steps back. It's really tragic," Victor Begg, of the Council of Islamic Organizations of Michigan, said of the massacre Thursday that shocked the nation.

On Friday, local and national Muslim and Arab-American civil rights groups and other organizations mobilized to denounce the shootings and to reiterate that their religion stresses peace, not violence.

Osama A. Siblani, publisher of the Dearborn-based Arab American News, said many Muslims already feel the need to defend themselves. He said threatening e-mails blaming all Arabs and Muslims for the attack have arrived in his in-box. He forwarded one that read "I know where you live" to the FBI and requested security around his office.

"We need to focus on the cause of all of this and not the ethnic background of this person," Siblani said.

The shooter, who killed 13 people in the rampage, is suspected of being Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, who has been identified by authorities as an American-born Muslim of Palestinian descent.

Mosque raid discussed

The Fort Hood rampage comes at an especially difficult time for Muslims in Metro Detroit, which has one of the nation's largest concentrations of Arab-Americans nationwide.

Luqman Ameen Abdullah, imam of the Masjid Al-Haqq mosque in Detroit, was killed by the FBI last week during a raid in which he was to be arrested on a raft of federal charges including conspiracy, receipt of stolen goods and firearms offenses. Many Muslim leaders have called for an investigation into his death and said a federal complaint painted him as a violent jihadist, even though neither he nor his 11 followers were charged with terrorism.

At a town hall meeting Friday night at the Muslim Center in Detroit, more than 250 people expressed outrage about the imam's death, but moderators said they would not discuss the Fort Hood shootings. The discussion centered on the circumstances of the imam's death and what rights citizens have when being questioned by police.

"A lot of people are focused on destroying this religion, and it's not about religion. This is religion -- this outpouring of affection and support," said Abdullah El-Amin, imam of the Muslim Center, referring to the crowd Friday. "Our goal now is to educate and have our people focus on our community."

Omar Regan, one of Abdullah's sons, told the crowd his father was a caring community member who is being misrepresented by the FBI.

"They make up stories about us all the time," Regan said. "Today it's my father, tomorrow it may be yours."

Also Friday, the Council of Islamic Organizations of Michigan urged law enforcement "not to participate in rhetoric that may serve to marginalize an entire faith simply because some members of that faith are implicated in alleged criminal activities."

And in Windsor, many Muslims showed up at a courthouse to support two Canadians charged in the raid -- Mohammad Al-Sahli, 33, and Yassir Ali Khan, 30 -- who face extradition in the case and were granted bail.

Battling stereotypes

Dawud Walid, executive director of the Council on American Islamic Relations-Michigan, said: "The recent events have made people very on edge."

"It's sad we live in this type of environment," he said. "This (Fort Hood) crime was heinous, but there are heinous crimes committed all the time and the assailants' religions aren't brought into play. That seems to be the case for American Muslims."

In Dearborn, Labib Cheaito was busy making hot take-home sandwiches Friday for dinners at his restaurant, Al-Basha, on Warren Avenue, but he was still thinking about the shooting from the night before.

"I said to myself last night: 'I hope it's not a Muslim that did this,' " said Cheaito, 30, as he rolled three sandwiches into wax paper for a customer. "When one person does anything it affects the whole group. There is more of that 'bad look' for every Arab-American, the 'you-can't-trust them' " sentiment.

But 18-year-old Mohammed Mroue, a student at Henry Ford Community College, said stereotypes are always part of life for Arabs and Muslims. They always have to worry about them, he said.

Tarek Baydoun, a 25-year-old Dearborn resident and third-year law student, called the shooting horrendous.

"People need to know the Arab and Muslim community is just as appalled," he said. "It's an outrageous attack and it has nothing to do with religion. It was strictly criminal."Numerous organizations issued statements deploring the shootings and calling for understanding, including the Islamic Center of America in Dearborn, the largest mosque in the United States. It issued a statement saying it "condemns the atrocious attacks on Fort Hood military base in Texas. This inexcusable act of violence must not be tolerated, and the perpetrators should be held accountable for their crime.

"Islam in no way accepts such violence and terror," the statement continued. "Islam is a peaceful religion with great reverence for human life."

Christine MacDonald, Gregg Krupa and Joel Kurth contributed. jchambers@detnews.com (734) 462-2289