Moin Ansari's speech on 9-11-2005

Salaam, Shalom, Peace, Pax, Shanti, and Aman:

Welcome to the "911 march 4 peace". Welcome to the mosque. This mosque is the result of the philanthropy of a family who have truly devoted their lives to the well being of the Muslims of this area. The life force behind this effort is Mrs. Hamida Amanat, whom we will introduce to you today. This is a busy day for her today, because it is the first day of Sunday school. I apologize to her for intruding on a busy day and thank the entire administration for supporting our interfaith efforts and allowing us the opportunity to build bridges.

Welcome to our "911 march 4 peace". We are gathered here to mourn the innocent victims of a terror attack on our country. We are also gathered here to condemn violence, and to build bridges of harmony. These bridges of harmony will build a better America. These bridges of harmony will reverberate back to the Middle East and South Asia. These bridges of harmony will build a better world.

Today your being here is a testament to the unity of our country and the magnanimity of our people. You have heard all the heart rendering stories of families broken, and innocence lost. As we condemn violence today, let us not talk about international affairs, and world politics. Let us today focus on our community, and our friendships. Today let me share another side of the same story.

What does 911 mean to me? My sharing my personal story and by being here today, will truly confirm my belief in the greatness of America and goodness of our people.

What does 911 mean to me? Let me begin by telling you about myself. I was born in Lahore Pakistan. My first teacher was a Hindu. I did not realize this fact ‘till a few years ago…she was simply Mis Das...a good person and a wonderful human being. All my life I went to Catholic school, growing up with tremendous respect for Christians and Christianity.

I came to the USA 25 years ago on August 12, 1980. I did not come here as a political or economic refugee. I came here as a student to study engineering. Like my parents and grand parents I went aboard to learn. Unlike my father and grandfather, I did not go back. I decided to stay. I got my engineering degree, completed my post graduate education and finished my MBA. As an American by choice, I love America and what it stands for. For 15 years I world for corporate America at companies like Motorola and Delloitte an Touch at the highest levels of management. Like many immigrants I strived for and built my American dream.

What does 911 mean to me? I can distinctly remember where I was and what I was doing that day. Right around 9 am, when someone told me that a plane had hit the Word Trade Center, I dismissed it as a freak accident because of a drunk pilot flying a small Cessna or something. A few minutes later, this person came to my office and told me that another plane had hit the WTC. I took it to be the working of another drunk pilot. Being a news junkie I went to the internet to get my news. When I tried to log on to CNN I was locked out.
What does 911 mean to me? We ran to the office downstairs, and saw the most devastating pictures that will remain etched in our minds till our dyeing day.

What does 911 mean to me? I was scared. I was scared for the people of New York and as a patriotic American citizen, I was scared for our country. The tears of sorrow that were rolling down my cheeks were also the tears of anger. My country was under attack, and this endangered me, my family, my friends, and my favorite city in the world. My favorite restaurant in the entire world was "Windows to the World". On many occasions, we had gone to the restaurant and had partied all night there. As I saw the buildings fall, images of the restaurant were flashing through my eyes. I used to work for Delloitte Consulting which had a floor on the World Trade Center. As the buildings went down, I was angry because that office, and some of the people in it were no more. I know most of you felt the same way.

What does 911 mean to me? Many have said that 911 changed the world. 9-11, 8:46, and 9:03 have now become proper nouns. On a personal level it changed my world. Life will probably never be the same for Muslims like me. As we mourn the 3000 Americans that died on that fateful day, we also want to pay tribute to the 300 Muslim Americans who perished in the buildings. As we remember those who were lost, we must focus on moving forward and building a better America. Life will never be the same again for Muslims in the USA or anywhere else in the world.

What does 911 mean to me? Many Muslim Americans will not share this other side of 911. Let me share it with you. On September 12, I saw a roadblock on Route 10. This is where my story begins to become dramatically different then yours. This is where, Muslim Americans face a double whammy. First traumatized by an attack on our homeland, second, being scapegoated and then the backlash.

As I approached the roadblock, all of a sudden, 911 took a very different turn. Suddenly, I realized, that this road block was set up to look for people who looked like the terrorists. All of a sudden, I realized that 911 would personally impact me in more than one way. All of a sudden I realized that maybe perhaps they were looking for people like me. By a fluke chance, I was not stopped at the roadblock, but every time I cross Ridgedale avenue, I think of that terrible day.

On September 12, I found a very different world. I faced roadblocks on Rt 10 on other occasions, and was randomly checked on my return from a trip to Europe. The only people who were randomly checked was a dark skinned Thai person and me!

After 911 clients, consultants and business associates who had always respected me all of a sudden asked me my national origin, and my religion. Over the next few years, my business began slowing down. When I looked around me, I counted many many of my well qualified friends had been laid off. On one occasion, I answered the phone. The client loved me and what I had to say. We discussed things and thrashed out the details via email and over the internet. She was ready to sign the contract. When I showed up at a client site, the person in charge refused to acknowledge me, instead turning to my Anglo employee, and she did not talk to me during the meeting. I did not get the contract. Slowly my business started to slide down.

One of my dearest buddies named Muhammad tried to cope with the new realities by changing his name to Mike Walker. As I read the foreign newspapers, I found out that plane loads had been deported, and thousands had fled New York City back to Karachi and other cities. The real estate values doubled in Islamabad. Thousands "escaped" to Canada.

What does 911 mean to me?On the news media and from the pulpits of Graham, Falwell and Robertson Islam and Muslims were a target. On a daily basis, we faced venom spewed about Islam and Muslims. We felt smaller. As patriotic American citizens, we felt small and demeaned.
Each person you meet in the mosque will either tell you these stories, or will be too embarrassed to mention similar stories to you.

What does 911 mean to me? Over the past few years, each one of us have been asked, to explain our religion and explain the violence. I ask you in earnest, is it not insulting to ask another human being ………is murder is OK? In frustration sometimes I asked, is it OK to kill 50 million people during world war to or 15 million people in WW 1. My friends told me not to ask these questions, or question about Vietnam, Hiroshima and the Koraen war. This was too provocative.

What does 911 mean to me? To cope, we undertook a mission to reach out to our fellow Americans. We began visiting synagogues, and churches. We have been tried to explain what Muslims are all about, and what Islam is to our fellow Americans. We met a group of really good people at the Presbyterian church…and we began our reconstruction…………..they reached out to us like no one can

Rev. Dick Sanner, Rev. Jim Chestnut, Dave Mortensen, Dale Mcdonald, Jimm Kassar, Bob Donaldson, Ruth Vidal, and now Jim and Mary Jane Milway have become my best friends. God Bless them and God Bless the Presyterian Church. As we asked around, the church has reached out to a demonzied community across the nation and across the world.

I say we shall overcome. This too shall pass.
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I wont take your time to tell you about the basic tenants of Islam because all you have to do is read the Ten Commandments.

I will tell you that Muslims have been part and parcel of this great land of ours. There is nothing strange about Muslims being in America.

Muslims came to America with Columbus, before Columbus and after Columbus. The Panzone brothers, captained two of the ships that Columbus sailed on. This fact is not so strange if you figure out that Columbus sailed from Al-Andulusia, Spain a Muslim country with a huge Muslim population.
For those with a flair of history must also know that "they came before Columbus" included a Chinese Admiral by the name of He. More than a quarter of the slaves imported from Muslim African countries were also Muslim. Kunta Kunte, the forefather of Alex Hailey was only one such individual. Some of the Cherokees were named Salahddin and Ramadhan Watie.

If you want to see Islam in America, one does not have to go far. Islam is very visible in the architecture of the 5th avenue synagogues. If you want to see Islam in America, you can see it in the arches of the Moorish architectured houses of Alhambra California. If you want to see Islam in America, you can find in the gothic dome architecture, of the capitol building in almost every US capital. If you want to see Islam in Americam find it in Islamadora Florida, Mecca Ohio, Algeirs New Orleans, The San Joaquin Valley, and the Muslim names of more than 500 American cities. If you want to find Islam in America you will find it in the Tulip gardens of the Bronx Gardens, because tulips imported from Istanbul and Baghdad spread tulipomania in Holland which exported them to America. If you want to find Islam in America you can find it in the Bill of Rights which was taken from the writings of Jeffersen, Locke, Newton, Ibn Tufail and Ibn Haitam. If you want to find Islam in America you can find it in the writings of Jeffersen…read the Jeffersen Bible. If you want to see Islam in America listen to Jannessarian inspired music of Beethoven and Bach. If you want to find Islam in America, listen to Blues. It is truly inspired by African Muslim music. If want to see Islam in America watch Flemenca dancing and realize that the shout of Ole were actually the shouts of Allah. If you want o find Islam in America listen to Spanish, a language born from the confluence of Jews, Muslims and Christians. If you want to find Islam in America visit anything Sicilian, it will have a Muslim ingredient to it because of the fact that Sicily was ruled by centuries by Arabs and because of the constant influx of immigrants going both ways. If you want to find Islam in America think about it the next time you enjoy crepes, a local Moroccan dish. If you want to see Islam in America, pay attention to the word collegiate a corruption of Kulliat named after the first universities of the world in Cairo, Baghdad and Cordoba. If you want to find Islam in America pay attention the words, Al-gebra from Algebran, Chemistry from Al-Chemiya and even Alcohol from Al-chohol.

My point is...that...Muslims have been part and parcel of the American fabricwith between 7 and 16 million Muslims here, America has few options...no matter how painful it is….we have to work through this.

Let us work together to build bridges of harmony. The bridges that we build will surely reverberate back to the Middle East and South Asia.

We will have a moment of silence, read the covenant of Muhammad to all Christians, and read the fatwa against terror passed by the most eminent Muslim scholars of North America.

Le me thank all of you for coming. And Thank the Presbyterian church, and also the synagogues, the Hindu temple and the Sikhs who are here. Thank you, and let us work together. Le me thank our fellow Americans, and all the groups that helped make this a success. We invited all the officials that we could find, from the Governor to Senator Corzine to all local mayors and all Congressmen Frelingheuysen, Senator Martin etc.

Thank you and God Bless you and God Bless America!