What Muslims Thought Of Osama (And Al-Queda)

There was little doubt that Osama bin Laden was a terrorist and a mass murderer (and headed an organization as evil as he was). It wasn't just the attack on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon, although that would have been plenty, but he organized killings of innocents in many other countries too. But it was not enough for the right-wingers in this country to just blame the terrorists for their actions -- they wanted to make all muslims responsible for the actions of a few criminals.

It should have gone without saying that all muslims were no more responsible for the actions of Osama bin Laden than all christians were responsible for the murderous actions of Timothy McVeigh or Scott Roeder. But the right-wing needed a bogeyman to scare Americans into voting for their fringe candidates and they decided that muslims would fit the bill. For the last ten years or so they have taken every available opportunity to demonize and discriminate against decent people who believe in the muslim faith.

The truth is that most muslims are decent, nice, hardworking people who hate what bin Laden and al-Queda did as much (or more) than anyone else. Here is what some American muslim leaders had to say about the killing of Osama bin Laden by American forces:

Imam Hassan al-Qazwini, head of the Islamic Center of America (Dearborn):
"The world is definitely a better place without the patron of all terrorists -- the world's most infamous thug."

Ibrahim Aljahim, head of Arab American Outreach:
"He never represented Muslims or anyone else. It's a great thing. We're very happy. He hurt Muslims more than any other religious groups."


Imad Hamad, regional director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee:
"As gratifying as it is to see this, we should continue to be on alert. Executing the symbol of bin Laden does not execute the ideology (of extremism). It's a vital mistake to focus on the person and ignore the ideology."


Dawud Walid, head of the Michigan branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations:
"We welcome the elimination of Osama bin Laden and the threat that his terrorist leadership posed to the people of the world."


Frankly, those statements sound as patriotic as those of any American. These people, and the millions of other American muslims, never supported Osama or his terrorist organization. They are happy and proud to be Americans (and many of them have served bravely in our Armed Forces).

And the anti-Osama (and al-Queda) feelings weren't restricted to muslims in America. A recent Pew Research Center survey taken of muslims in many other countries showed that the huge majority of muslims worldwide did not support Osama or his organization. Only one country showed much support for Osama (and al-Queda) and that was Nigeria, and even there the support was from only about half of the muslims. The survey was taken only among those who were muslims, and here are the numbers in each country that supported Osama:

Lebanon...............1%
Turkey...............3%
Jordan...............13%
Pakistan...............18%
Egypt................22%
Indonesia...............26%
Palestinian Terr...............34%
Nigeria...............48%

The fact is that Osama bin Laden has never had widespread support in the muslim world, and in recent years that support has dropped even further. There are extremist muslims, but there are extremists in all religions -- and like all other religions the extremists are in the minority and opposed by the vast majority of their religion.

Americans breathed a sigh of relief when it was announced that Osama bin Laden was dead, but so did others around the world -- including many decent muslims in many countries.