{"id":6847,"date":"2011-05-11T12:01:17","date_gmt":"2011-05-11T08:01:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/?p=6847"},"modified":"2011-05-11T12:01:17","modified_gmt":"2011-05-11T08:01:17","slug":"time-for-muslims-to-re-discover-their-voices","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/middle-east-politics-analysis\/time-for-muslims-to-re-discover-their-voices\/","title":{"rendered":"Time for Muslims to Re-Discover their Voices"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The last ten years have been marked by the events of 9\/11, which\u00a0Osama bin Laden set in motion. The next ten years, however, need not be lived in his\u00a0shadow.<\/p>\n

Bin Laden\u2019s death, like his life, is already proving controversial. World leaders\u00a0have been quick to laud his demise as well as remind and assure their people that\u00a0the fight against terrorism does not end with one man\u2019s death. The speed with which\u00a0bin Laden was buried, and the fact that US President Barack Obama\u2019s administration\u00a0has decided not to release photographs, has led some to doubt whether or not he was\u00a0actually killed. Scepticism has come from all corners: from the United States,\u00a0Europe, the Muslim world, and from the Taliban in Afghanistan.<\/p>\n

In Muslim-majority countries, many see this as a natural result of the suspicion\u00a0with which American involvement in the Middle East and South Asia is often viewed,\u00a0especially because of the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Shadi Hamid, Director of\u00a0Research at the Brookings Center in Doha, Qatar, told The Wall Street Journal: \u201cIt\u2019s\u00a0not so much about bin Laden as it is about the United States. The United States has\u00a0provided its narrative to the world \u2013 and the natural reaction of many people is to\u00a0cast doubt on whatever the United States says.\u201d<\/p>\n

Imam Khalid Latif, Muslim Chaplain at New York University, took a different\u00a0approach, focusing not on debates around bin Laden\u2019s death but instead on what the\u00a0future might hold, saying: \u201cI hope some ease comes to the hearts of each and every\u00a0person who lost someone on [September 11th] \u2013 and that together we can begin a\u00a0process toward healing and reconcilement that our city and nation need.\u201d<\/p>\n

How close are we to beginning that process?<\/p>\n

Some Americans, mostly young people, gathered at Ground Zero and Times Square in New\u00a0York, and in front of the White House on 1 May, after Obama addressed the nation in\u00a0a live broadcast, to cheer and celebrate bin Laden\u2019s death in a manner that made\u00a0many uncomfortable. Mona Eltahawy, a commentator on Arab issues, was at Ground Zero\u00a0on Monday and felt that the \u201cfrat boy\u201d chants did little to dignify those who lost\u00a0their lives on 9\/11.<\/p>\n

Recalling the uprisings across the Middle East, Eltahawy says, \u201cI\u2019m not hearing\u00a0sympathy for bin Laden from Muslims and Arabs I know. They\u2019re relieved he\u2019s finally\u00a0gone. But they\u2019re understandably concerned that media obsession will let him hijack\u00a0these noble revolutions. One man has been killed; dozens courageously staring down\u00a0despots are slaughtered every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

In some ways, bin Laden\u2019s most profound legacy has been the resulting suspicion with\u00a0which many Americans have come to view their neighbours, and entire regions and\u00a0religions; and the same suspicion also colours many Muslim and Arab eyes when\u00a0looking at America.<\/p>\n

And that is something we can change.<\/p>\n

What I\u2019ve heard from many Muslim, Arab and South Asian friends is anger that bin\u00a0Laden in effect took away their right to be treated as individuals, restricted their\u00a0movement, stole their voices, and associated them with acts they neither committed\u00a0nor condoned. While there are, of course, people who sympathise with bin Laden and\u00a0see him a symbol against Western imperialism, they are a small minority.<\/p>\n

Perhaps our biggest take-away from bin Laden\u2019s death should be his increasing\u00a0\u201cirrelevance\u201d as journalist Robert Fisk, who interviewed the Al Qaeda leader on\u00a0three occasions, puts it. If the last ten years have been largely defined by terror\u00a0and fear, it\u2019s fitting that they come to an end now with the rebirth of democracy in\u00a0the Middle East and North Africa. Let the next ten years be defined by the kind of\u00a0positive populist expression we\u2019ve seen in Egypt and Tunisia, where ordinary people\u00a0have made and continue to make their voices heard.<\/p>\n

Although terrorism will obviously not end with bin Laden\u2019s death, this moment can be\u00a0a chance to turn the corner and a remarkable opportunity for dialogue. American\u00a0ignorance of South Asia, the Middle East and Islam has coloured and hampered our\u00a0engagements with the Muslim world.<\/p>\n

Going forward, there is a wide array of voices to be heard. People are speaking. Who\u00a0will listen?<\/p>\n

Sydney Smith is Communications Associate at the international conflict transformation organisation Search for Common Ground. This article was written for the Common Ground News Service (CGNews).<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SYDNEY SMITH: Most Muslims, it appears, are relieved that bin Laden is gone but how do they deal with the prejudice and suspicion engendered by his deeds? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":6848,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[83,60],"tags":[24,169,423,1103,1874,2399,4472,18300,470,18321,91,1879,191,1384,1171,18324,583,18307,4791,6854,6847,1789,1374,3715,18322,18302,2099],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6847"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6847"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6847\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}