Methuen
Muslims Speak Out
Tom
Duggan
The Valley
Patriot was invited into the Selimiye
Mosque in Methuen where an interview took
place with several members, including
Shaban, Yusef and Hussein. More than 250
families are members and worship at the
Selimiye Mosque on Oakland Avenue in
Methuen. Most are from Turkey and hail
from Methuen as well as other cities and
towns throughout the Valley.
In 2006, The Valley Patriot published a
column by syndicated columnist Michelle
Malkin regarding Islam and terrorism. And
to show support for our colleagues in
Denmark who were in fear for their lives
for publishing cartoons depicting the
prophet Muhammad, (something forbidden by
Islam) we published one of the cartoons
alongside Malkins Column.
It was a sore spot for some of the
Muslims at the Mosque in Methuen whom
admitted they were Valley Patriot readers
at the time. But it wasnt until we
published a letter to the editor last
months (written by Dennis Walters)
equating Islam to terrorism that the
members of the Mosque decided to
officially respond. At first, the
Mosques leader Soner Ungz sent in a
letter to the editor in response, but
within days, asked for an interview for
publication.
Soner Ungz did not attend the interview
but seven male members of the Mosque did.
Ungz, communicated through a translator
via email after the interview.
I use to read this
paper, Shaban said when he saw The
Valley Patriot on the table. I use
to pick it up over on Lowell Street. I
thought this was a very good paper. But
then I saw that cartoon and the [column]
attacking Islam and I tell you that hurt
a lot of people. I just couldnt
understand it, he said.
I talked to the mayor about the
cartoon when he came here and I asked him
if he knew who you were, I said I wanted
to meet you so we can know each other. So
we can see each others face. We were very
unhappy, the cartoon hurt us because
[Muhammad] is our prophet too, we
didnt complain at the time we
didnt want a back and forth
he said he said but I
did want to meet you.
Asked how Americans can attack Islamic
terrorists in the media without offending
Muslims, Shaban got passionate as did the
rest of the group.
You can say Islam and terrorists,
but terrorists can not be Islam. When the
terrorist says he is are [for] Islam they
are using my faith. They are using my
Islam. This is big power for him. Do you
think he is a good Muslim? They hurt us
more than anyone else when they use Islam
for their terrorism. A terrorist is a
terrorist and I dont care what he
says he believes, he is a terrorist and I
hate him more than you do, he is hurting
my religion more than anybody else.
Hussein, a young man in his 20s
took particular exception to the letter
to the editor written by Dennis Walters.
I was born in Germany and I was in
Germany on 9/11. After 9/11, the media
painted Islam as violent and that we have
to see in the Muslims a terrorist. We are
Turks, we have been in Germany since
1916, and we have not created terrorism
in Germany in that time. You can twist
the verses, [like] this writer took some
verses without the history or background,
he says in his letter that Islam orders
Muslims to kill unbelievers, its
not true.
Jihad is not to kill unbelievers
its for defense. If you are
attacked by another we say
Jihad. The people [can] call
the terrorists Muslims, I call them
unbelievers. They change the background
and meaning of Jihad, they misuse it,
therefore they are unbelievers
themselves. Theyre changing the
word of Allah. They are wrong, see Allah
in the wrong way. This is what we want
people to know.
This letter is dangerous,
Yusef added. Its sloppily
written. Every verse in the Quran has a
certain background. If it happened during
a certain times in the Quran the verses
have a different context.
Asked how Americans can tell the
difference between peaceful Muslims and
the terrorists, Yusef responded;
There are extremists in all
religions that have the same dress and
study from the same book as non
extremists. How do you know the priest
who is not a pedophile versus one [who]
is, they dress the same, they read from
the same book?
All I can say is that Muslims have
a responsibility, one way or another to
teach others about our religion. We are
still searching for the right way to do
that right now, Muslims dont have
much of a voice in American media today.
Maybe once we do, that will help. But, I
think if you are someone from Methuen you
know you have nothing to fear from the
Muslims because this mosque has been here
since 1995, the Turks have been here
since late 80s. Theres been
no problem. The [former] chief of police
and the mayor come to this Mosque all the
time. They come to our summer picnics. We
have a good relationship with them. So if
you know the Muslims in this area, you
know we are peaceful and have nothing to
fear. Id like to think that the
people of greater Lawrence know
that.
Asked if Muslims have an obligation to
speak out against terrorism, Yusef
admitted they do.
Sure we do, we have an obligation
to speak out against any wrong. Long
before 911 we had that
responsibility.
Why has that not happened on a large
scale?
A lot of it is fear. But a lot of
it is that someone like Sean Hannity is
not going to put a Muslim on his show
unless he is saying something outrageous
and then he will have them on to get
ratings.
Someone said after 9/11 that the
terrorists had hijacked their religion,
because if they dress themselves as
Muslims, it makes it harder for fellow
Muslims to denounce it. It is harder to
denounce a family member than someone
else. Since 9/11 there is a lot of
fear.
But, we have to show the difference
between us and them that is our
responsibility, Hussein responded.
Shaban said he believed that the
terrorists who were using Islam as
cover should not be associated with
peaceful Muslims. They are using my
beautiful Quran and they hurt us so much.
I say dont punish the faith, punish
the terrorists. If you are a good Muslim,
you do good things for your religion, you
help people, you respect people, you
dont hurt them. It is against our
religion to commit suicide. How many
people know that? These suicide bomber
are no way Muslims.
Osama Bin Laden
When the group was asked if Osama Bin
Laden was responsible for 9/11 none of
the group would answer the question
except Shaban.
Well, who pushed the button? Who
was the cause, we dont know. Did he
do it, Osama Bin Laden? He didnt do
it himself. Who did it? They all attack
Islam but they dont know and it has
never been proven. They used them [the
people who hijacked the planes]. They
found someone stupid enough to do it But
they cant prove who did it.
Soner Ungz leader of the Mosque later
explained that because of Shabans
poor choice of words he did not want
anyone to think that they were denying
Osama Bin Laden was responsible for the
terrorist attacks on 9/11 .
I believe that Shaban was trying to
emphasize the Al-Qaida Network as a whole
was responsible for the attacks and not
necessarily the singular effort of Bin
Laden. If I recall, correctly, Khalid
Shaykh Muhammad was the mastermind behind
it. It was more so a consorted effort. I
dont think Shaban wanted to down
play the role of Bin Laden, but only to
show that there are other major players
behind the scenes. A quick example of
this, Bin Laden had sought the guidance
and edict of the Blind Shaykh, who is in
prison now. Bin Laden needed to procure
scholarly justification for
what he and others were planning. I
believe this is the common perception
amongst American Muslims. They dont
wish to just single out Bin Laden, but
stress that Al-Qaida is bigger than Bin
Laden.
The belief held by us at the
Selimiye Mosque is that the prepretrators
of the 9/11 attacks were not Muslims. We
believe this because Islam, when examined
in its original sources doesnt
advocate, or condone violence against
civilians. He quoted the Quran passage:
Sahih Bukhari Volume 004, Book 052,
Hadith Number 257. Narrated By
Abdullah: During some of the
Ghazawat of the Prophet a woman was found
killed. Allahs Apostle disapproved
the killing of women and children.
Abu Bakr, the first Caliph, had
advised the Muslim army along these lines
prior to their campaign: Do not be
harsh on them; do not kill children, old
men or women; do not cut down or burn
palm trees, do not destroy fruit trees,
do not slay a sheep or camel except for
food. If you see people who have taken
refuge in monasteries, let them be safe
in their place of refuge.
In this context, those who
purposely contravene the teachings of
Islam cant be necessarily
associated with Islam, or more simply
put, bear the label of a
Muslim.
The Muslims of the Selimiye Mosque on
Oakland Avenue in Methuen invited The
Valley Patriot back for more discussions
in the future and though there were some
language issues and misunderstandings we
fully intend to take them up on that
offer.
If you would
like to comment on this article you can
email Tom Duggan at Tdugjr@aol.com
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