Muslim Americans in San Francisco Reflect on Sept. 11

MARWA ELZANKALY, Attorney: I just definitely feel like I should be a little bit more careful.

SPENCER MICHELS: At the Muslim Community Association Mosque in Silicon Valley, California, one of the largest in the country, four members talked about their own experiences as Muslims, professionally and personally, post 9/11.

Marwa Elzankaly is an attorney.

MARWA ELZANKALY: There is this sort of "You're either with us or against us" mentality that has developed. And there's no gray lines in between. And, so, if you're not totally with us, then, it's almost as though, well, what you're saying is, you're really supporting the terrorists.

AMJAD OBEIDAT, Computer Engineer: When I talk to my mom, for instance, who lives in Jordan, I often wonder if that call is being recorded by someone. There is definitely a feeling that we are a little bit more under scrutiny since September 11.

SPENCER MICHELS: Among Muslims, there is not complete unanimity.

WOMAN: I actually don't have the sense of virtual imprisonment, because I still believe in the freedom of speech. And I really don't feel that, if I'm to express my opinion, that I will have any negative repercussions.

SAFAA IBRAHIM, Council on American-Islamic Relations: There might be another type -- terrorist attack. And I fear, really fear, the ramifications of that, and what could possibly happen as a response from Americans as a whole.

I hear rumors about internment camps being awarded as contacts to some companies. And I think to myself -- and they call it in a case of an immigration emergency. And I think to myself, you know, is that going -- I'm an American. But my parents emigrated to this country, and I'm a first-generation immigrant. Am I going to be rounded up, in case of an attack I have nothing to do with?

SPENCER MICHELS: The civil rights officer at the Department of Homeland Security told the "NewsHour, "There are no such plans," and such a roundup "could not happen."

At the Zaytuna Institute, the only training facility for Muslim spiritual leaders in the U.S., Imam Zaid Shakir is even more fearful.

SPENCER MICHELS: Shakir says, he is concerned this could be a very dangerous situation for Muslims.

ZAID SHAKIR: I hope it's not an appropriate place to talk about genocide, but every genocidal campaign has been preceded by a media campaign against the people who are eventually targeted, be that in Rwanda, be that in Bosnia, be that here.

SPENCER MICHELS: Shakir, who was a Southern Baptist from Georgia, until he converted to Islam at age 20, has become a popular figure among American Muslims.

He teaches and speaks regularly across the country. He admits he used to preach some anti-American rhetoric of his own, but he no longer talks like an extremist. And it wasn't just fear that made him change his rhetoric.

ZAID SHAKIR: I think a lot of the change, in terms of tone and direction, is a simple factor of maturity, or function of maturity, because I think there has been a maturation process that has been going on that started before September 11, and probably was catalyzed by those events.

SPENCER MICHELS: The terrorism arrests in Britain once again put terrorism against America on the front burner.

Maha ElGenaidi, founder of Islamic Networks Group, an educational non-profit in California's Silicon Valley, said, reaction to those events is part of a familiar pattern.

MAHA ELGENAIDI, Founder and President, Islamic Networks Group: Here we go again. This is another 9/11. This is another 7/11 subway attacks that happened in London. So, again, it reinforces Islam's association, unfortunately, with violence and terrorism.

SPENCER MICHELS: The Israeli-Hezbollah war in Lebanon, she added, brought up other negative and false images of Muslims.

MAHA ELGENAIDI: As far as the war in Lebanon, it reinforces the stereotype that these people are willing to risk their civilian population for a senseless, mindless war, which couldn't be further from the truth.

That war had nothing to do with the religion of Islam, had everything to do with politics. If you took Islam out of the equation, I think the war would have happened between Hezbollah and the state of Israel.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right. Let's see your walk cycles. Yes, go ahead.

SPENCER MICHELS: For Mohammed Allababidi, who teaches computer game technology at several schools and summer camps, fanaticism and violence in the Middle East are completely alien to his world. Having learned his craft on his own after he emigrated from Dubai, he's now a mainstream American and a devout Muslim.

MOHAMMED ALLABABIDI, Computer Game Instructor: It's just nuts over there. I mean, there's kidnapping. There's raid and slaughtering and things like that. This is all not Islamic, has nothing to do with Islam.

You see the Muslims and the Sunnis and the Shia are fighting and killing each other, blowing up mosques. These are acts of people who call themselves Muslims, but they're not following Islam.

Court documents in a civil case allege the imam at Al Sabil (ph) Mosque in San Francisco at one point called for a holy war against Israel and U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, and branded Shiites agents of treason. The imam, Safwat Morsy, said the reports were incorrectly translated.

IMAM SAFWAT MORSY (through translator): You can't look at one instance and neglect my 10-year history in the United States. And I might say something at a specific time, but I could be wrong. It may be as a result of me being angry, but it doesn't represent my ideology at all. People say things.

There's an Islamic ruling, in general, that says, the best of those that sin are those that repent.

SPENCER MICHELS: Being in the spotlight has also forced Muslims to examine their own place in American society, says Maha ElGenaidi.

MAHA ELGENAIDI: Because we were asked questions "Where do your loyalties lie; do they lie with America or with Osama bin Laden?" which is a ridiculous question.

But they were really excellent questions, because, you know, those people that may not have identified as being American, that saw themselves as Muslims first, I think, began to see themselves as Muslim-Americans. So, that question actually helped Muslims articulate themselves, their Americanness.

SPENCER MICHELS: After the British arrests, ElGenaidi said she thought American Muslims, even though stigmatized, may have it easier than Muslims in England.

MAHA ELGENAIDI: America also has been very effective in integrating its populations, its diverse populations, whereas, it seems to me, from what we're reading and what we're hearing, that Britain hasn't been very effective in assimilating and integrating its diverse populations. So, a Britisher Muslim who is second or third generation may still not be viewed as truly British by the United Kingdom.

SPENCER MICHELS: For all the turmoil among American Muslims, most see one positive result: an opportunity to teach people about their traditions and religion. Before 9/11, few Islamic centers had outreach programs, but, today, almost all of them do, as American Muslims realize that their lives are not insulated from what others do in the name of Islam.