Death of a symbol: Osama Bin Laden - Hafsa Ahmad

September 11, 2001 is hardly a blur. I vividly remember the confusion and the chaos that ensued after school was released early and our mosque shut down. The subsequent days were the most trying of our lives. The pain of losing a dear friend of our family, our “Uncle” Tariq Amanullah (Allah Yarhamhu/May God Bless Him), in the World Trade Center attacks was trying for the community. Little did we know the following years would only mount the pressure even higher.

At 10 years old, I couldn’t comprehend why my private Islamic school shut down for days. I didn’t understand why people were attacking my neighborhood mosque. I didn’t know why people slandered my hijab-clad mother on the street, why a gang of teenage boys egged me or why a strange girl tried to tear my headscarf off. The smiling neighbor that once waved at us from her driveway now peeked through her curtains, wondering if our house party was really an underground Al-Qaeda operation.
All I could glean was that because of this man, this furry Osama bin Laden fellow, nothing was the same.

I have not forgiven him. I cannot forgive him. He killed a beloved and respected member of our family. He condoned the murder of thousands. He maligned the name of Islam. He damned every Muslim in America to a life of suspicion … a routine of ‘random’ checks at the airport, wire-tapping in our phones, sneers in the mall, bigotry in the workplace, violence in schools, crimes against our mosques, FBI interrogations in our homes and regular slurs of ‘raghead’, terrorist and ninja.

In his death, there is closure for many. I am glad for them. I wish I could attain that closure. I wish that this one man’s death could provide that for me. Just as it did for many Americans who had been wanting to hear these words for nine and a half years. However, as an American-Muslim, Osama bin Laden’s legacy will haunt me forever. My own people will forever label me as an outcast and my own government will eternally perceive me as a suspect.

If only what Osama bin Laden started could also end with his life. It has, however, only begun. Islamophobia is on the rise and hate speech at its peak; anti-Muslim prejudice has not diminished. Forget not that we, American-Muslims, have to deal daily with the vilification. We have not been vindicated. Osama bin Laden’s death is not the conclusion of this chapter of our lives. Nay, it is but a reminder that although the man is dead, Islamophobia is still very much alive.

Islamophobia is as much a product of Osama bin Laden as is anti-Western terrorism. The only difference is that American-Muslims are the victims of both. All Americans, including American-Muslims, hung flags on their doors and sang the national anthem after 9/11, not just the families of victims. All other identities were abandoned amidst the stampede towards patriotism. We were united in this War on Terror.

But what about the War on Islamophobia? No. Rather, hordes of people thronged to clamber upon the Islamophobia bandwagon. Where was our unity then? We were American, too. We are American, too. So I beg of you, once more … While the hot blood of Americanism may be coursing through our veins, let not your guard slip. To champion Islamophobia would only be a victory for Osama bin Laden. And let us not, in his death, award him that conquest.