Written by: Diana West



About the reaction of American Muslims to 9/11.

How about word from Akbar S. Ahmed, currently the Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies at American University in Washington, D.C., and formerly the first Distinguished Chair of Middle East and Islamic Studies at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD?

On p. 149 of his 2003 book, Islam Under SIege: Living Dangerously in a Post-Honor World, Ahmed describes a trip he took to Cleveland, Ohio in October of 2001 to deliver the annual lecture of the Ibn Sinna Society.

He writes:

The night before my event, my host, Dr. Zia Khan, invited about 60 professional Muslims -- Arabs, Iranians, South Asians -- to his home. ...

When I stated that Islam had suffered a major setback after Sept. 11 (for a grossly un-Islamic act of violence), that every Muslim was in the dock as a result ... I was challenged by some Arabs and Pakistanis. They called Sept. 11 a glorious event for Islam. The taking of innocent lives was justified, they argued, as Sept. 11 was the continuation of a full-scale Islamic war taking place against Israel, which is backed by the United States.

I heard a similar debate when the Muslim Council of Britain hosted a dinner for me in London in July 2002."

So here were see the state of the educated American Muslim mind in America's heartland, as described by the prominent American Muslim professor.

On the one hand, there is Prof. Ahmed's point of view: Sept. 11 was a "major setback" for Islam -- as opposed to the USA, the 3,000 killed, the cities attacked, the terror, the pain of families, the decimated rescue forces, the sundered civilization, etc. etc.

On the other, there is that of the Arabs and Pakistanis who "called Sept. 11 a glorious event for Islam."

9/11 as "setback" or "glorious event" -- for Islam.

I have been referencing this quotation for years and it is more chilling than ever.