“International Herald Tribune”
“ALLAHU AKBAR” IN
A BOMB IN MY BRIEFCASE?
By Mohammad Ali Salih
A day before the Fourth of
July celebrations, my family went to the
The German girl took far
longer than my daughter to pass through customs. She said her two hands were
fingerprinted, her picture was taken and she was questioned at length about why
she was visiting. "I can't believe this; the Americans are scared of
everything," she said. "There is fear in
On the Fourth of July, as I
made plans for a customary cookout, I couldn't help but wonder about going to
Home Depot to buy a propane tank. I had
read that the security authorities have been contacting local businesses,
asking them to report unusual sales of propane tanks, fertilizer or other
materials that could be used to make crude bombs.
As our three children and
their friends prepared to go to the mall for the parade and fireworks, I asked
them, tongue-in-cheek, about "protruding wires, bitter odors" and
other "suspicious characteristics" in their cars that the police were
reported to be looking for.
When I left home, there was a
debate on the car radio about an immigrant from Morocco who was arrested in
Florida for saying "Allahu Akbar"
(God is Great) and threatening to blow up a building while his car was playing
loud Arabic music. Later, it was reported that no bomb was found and his
roommate said he had had problems with a girlfriend.
I not only say "Allahu Akbar" day and night
(as a quite prayer); I not only play Arabic music in my car, but I also keep
Koran CD's in my car. So I checked my CD
collection to make sure that the Bible CD's were also still there. There was
also some Christian literature I picked up the Sunday before when, for the
first time, I visited the
If someone becomes suspicious
when hearing me muttering "Allahu Akbar" a little too loud, or on hearing Koranic CD’s in my car, I will eagerly bring out my Bible
CDs.
On the day after the Fourth
of July, I asked our children and their friends about what happened at the
fireworks. One said he changed his mind
and didn't go - not for fear of terrorism, but because police checkpoints would
have make it unbearable for him. A second said there were loud booms coming
from across the mall and some people got scared and left. A third said there was a girl carrying an
electronic device that flashed numbers, and some people thought it was a bomb.
These examples suggested that
security measures sometimes cause more fear than they intend to thwart. Of course, the authorities should take
precautions to protect people. But it
just seems that these are the wrong precautions:
First, there will always be
terrorists and crazy individuals who would want to kill people. Second, the security authorities can not be
expected to ever declare, "There are no more security threats; let us
dismantle our agencies." Third,
President Bush inflames the situation every time he declares that if the
terrorists in Iraq are not defeated, "they will follow us home," as
he said in his Fourth of July address.
In the address, the president
also warned people about the "new and unprecedented war" on
terrorism. If he could only imagine the
fear, stress and depression that this "war" has already inflicted on
me and many other Muslims I know here
I have become very suspicious
– with some contempt -- of American politicians, and that added to my
stress. And that's why I go around
silently-praying “Allahu Akbar.” And that is why I packed my car with Islamic
and Christian CDs and literature after I had found refuge in mosques and
churches.
Mohammad
Ali Salih is
Copyright:IHT