US Muslims condemn attacks, warn of possible harassment, assaults
US Muslims condemn attacks, warn of possible harassment, assaults
WASHINGTON (AFP): Amid widespread speculation of an Islamic link to Tuesday's dramatic terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, leading U.S. Muslim groups condemned the strikes and warned the some seven million Muslims in the United States to take precautions against harassment or abuse.
In a joint letter to President George W. Bush, leaders of national American Muslim groups appealed for the president to unify the country in the face of what it anticipated could be "speculative accusations and stereotypical generalizations."
"American Muslims, who unequivocally condemned today terrorist attacks on our nation, call on you to alert fellow citizens to the fact that now is a time for all of us to stand together in the face of this heinous crime," the letter said.
"It is not the time for speculative accusations and stereotypical generalizations that can only serve to harm the innocent and to endanger our society and its civil liberties," the letter added.
"We hope that the perpetrators of these crimes will be apprehended immediately and swiftly brought to justice. Muslims stand with all other Americans who, on this sad day, feel a sense of tremendous grief and loss."
Signatories to the letter included the American Muslim Alliance, the American Muslim Council and the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
Meanwhile, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) urged American Muslims to assist in rescue and recovery operations, donate blood and send contributions to relief agencies but also said they should take measures against possible vigilante retaliation.
The group said it had already received isolated reports of harassment and recommended that Muslims who wear tradition Islamic clothing "consider staying out of public areas for the immediate future."
In addition, CAIR said the Muslim-American community should request additional police patrols in the vicinity of mosques and post mosque members as sentries at entrances and parking areas during prayer services.
The group recalled that in the days immediately following the 1995 bombing of the U.S. federal building in Oklahoma City, Muslims reported significant numbers of incidents of harassment,
Initial reports in that bombing said investigators were focusing on a Middle East connection to the deadly blast that was later determined to have been the work of former U.S. serviceman Timothy McVeigh. threats and actual violence.
A U.S. official said earlier that alleged Saudi terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden was suspected of being behind the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
In Perth, The Anglican Primate in Australia, Peter Carnley, has urged people shocked by the terrorist attacks in the United States not to vent anger on Muslims.
Carnley said on Wednesday the perpetrators of the New York and Washington attacks were as yet unknown and it would be wrong to label all Muslims as terrorists.
He said he had contacted Australian Muslim leaders on Wednesday and discussed with them the need for inter-faith prayer services for the bombing victims and for world peace.
"We have to be very careful in controlling our natural anger," Carnley said.
"I think there will be a natural outcry for revenge and retribution and I think the danger is that we won't know for quite a while exactly who perpetrated this bombing, and we may direct our anger at the wrong people.
"It's certainly wrong to think that all Muslim people, for example, are to be herded together with terrorists."
Carnley said Australian Muslim leaders were as shocked as others about the events unfolding in the U.S.