The attacks on the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City on September 11 2001 are accepted by the majority as acts of terrorism. This paper will commence by examining the events that took place that fateful day and explore possible explanatory reasons. What is meant by terrorism and who is considered a terrorist will be defined along with exploring the stereotyping and misrepresentation of Muslim practices, beliefs, populations and communities as a result of such terrorism definitions, accusations and assumptions; especially as presented by the media.

The response to these attacks by the United States was immediate and began with an assault on Osama Bin Laden and his supposed hideout and support in Afghanistan. Shortly following these events was the invasion of Iraq and subsequent overthrowing of Saddam Hussein. The combined efforts and response of the United States was rapidly coined “The War on Terror”. Due to the large array of Muslim communities and the large variety of nations in which they are found, Muslim responses have been varied and are often influenced greatly by locale. In summary, Muslim responses have been both accepting of the United States and feelings of further aggression and non-tolerance for the West – in particular the United States. When the true doctrines of Islam, particularly that of Ummah and its vital role and need to protect, are understood, the Muslim outcry against the United States appears justifiable. It is concluded that the war against terror deeply affects Muslim communities as they are encouraged by extremists to stand up to the United States and defend the Ummah, as well as the stereotyping and non-tolerance of Muslims by Westerners as a result of gross generalizations and categorization.

At 8:45 the morning of September 11 2001, a passenger jetliner that had been hijacked by members of Al Qaeda crashed into the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City. About 18 minutes later, a second passenger jet crashed into the South Tower. Many lives were lost that day as the twin towers came tumbling down. Almost immediately following the attacks President George W. Bush declared a war on terrorism on 12 September 2001. In the very near future, the United States commenced Operation Enduring Freedom – the invading of Afghanistan and removal of Taliban control who are claimed to have sheltered Osama Bin Laden, the alleged mastermind behind the attacks. Osama Bin Ladan, the top leader of Al Qaeda has apparently never claimed responsibility for the attacks and specific instances where the leader has openly condoned the actions are extremely difficult to find. There are conspiracy theories purporting that top CIA and US officials were behind the demolition of the World Trade Centers by means of explosives both at the base of the towers and throughout them. This was done for personal gain and it is also believed that the plane hijackings and claim of terrorist attack were merely diversions and a means of linking the events with the Middle East. It is not the purpose of this paper to explore these varying theories and to determine which is correct; rather it will focus on the consequences of the events that did transpire and how the original statements of belief have impacted Muslim communities. The words of William Crotty may be sufficient to surmise that, “The awful events of 9/11 have been used to explain, characterize, and justify a vast range of actions….and has been dominated by the paradigms of military science or international relations.”

Terrorism can take on varying forms and may be defined as “the unpredictable and premeditated use of violence or the threat of violence to achieve identifiable goals”. Almost immediately after the attacks on the twin towers, the media began showing images of Bin Laden juxtaposed with the Twin Towers which have continued since. This created a definitive link with Bin Laden, the attacks and terrorism even though there never was an appropriate investigation to clarify such accusations, especially in such short a span of time and US government officials did nothing to state contrary to media reporting. From the actions of the media and to an extent the inactions of the government, Osama Bin Laden was given credit for the attacks which led to the terms “Islam” and “Muslim” being slurred across the world. Despite the Bush administration claiming it was a war against terror, rarely are those claimed responsible – namely Al Qaeda; discussed without alluding to Islamic Jihad and Muslims. Mustafa Al Sayid, a Professor of Political Science at Cairo University noted that Western media tend to only focus on terrorist organizations that operate within Muslim countries which leads to “reinforcing a perception in Western public opinion that terrorism is exclusively Islamic”, omitting those that operate in Latin America, Northern Ireland and Spain. He further states that, “popular Western media tends to misconstrue the relationship between Islam and terrorism significantly”. It is therefore evident that the media and even the Bush administration itself began to shape public opinion regarding the stereotyping of essential Muslim beliefs and practices.

One such essential Muslim doctrine that that is largely misrepresented is that of Jihad. Jihad is a term that is interpreted differently by Muslims and the West alike. In Islam jihad means to strive or to struggle. It most often refers to the personal struggle within oneself to overcome the more natural or basic instincts of man. It can also be applied on a community level where Muslims are constantly ensuring that the community (ummah) – its people and its beliefs; are protected and maintained. Sometimes this may take the form of physical violence. It is this less frequent form of jihad that has been coined “holy war” by many non-Muslims. The acts of terrorism often carried out by Muslim people aids in the stereotype of Muslim people and the subsequent interpretation of Jihad. Many people tend to focus on the “holy war” interpretation of Jihad, paying particular attention to the minority who carry out Jihad to the extreme. Even then, it can be supposed that the majority of people either do not fully understand the reasoning for such behaviour or choose not to accept the consequences of attempting, to a large extent, to force certain nation-state actors to participate further on the global stage, playing the roles dictated to them by larger economy driven and focused actors. Very seldom do people consider the daily struggle of many Muslims to overcome their baser instincts and to strive to become better people. In fact, in many instances, this is entirely overlooked as is evident by the lack of support for Muslim communities by of the general public and the fear and danger that are often associated with Islam and the Middle East.

The doctrine of ummah in Islam refers to the unification of the people on the local, national, and global level. One goal of prominent Islamic leaders is to unify Muslims throughout the world. This is no easy task as there is currently no single prominent leader that oversees Islam much like the Pope presides over Catholicism. There are more than 1.2 billion Muslims scattered across the globe with Islam being the world’s second largest religion. Further, Muslims are a majority in over 50 countries and a minority in more than 30. In a completely unified ummah, the Shariah or Islamic Law would apply and be enforced. However, within these nations are differing forms of government, different social customs, traditions and many are faced with the confrontation with Western ideals. The views that are held of the United States and the West are largely shaped by cultural beliefs and traditions of individual nations. The response of the United States to the terrorist attacks have both involved and influenced many nations and governmental representatives. As a result of this and in consequence of the direct attack on Muslim communities, Muslims are deeply impacted. Despite these differences, many Muslims remain united as they strive to live the true teachings of Islam as best as possible. Under such teachings, terrorist crimes are condemned as re-enforced by Zaki Badawi, Princiapl of the Muslim College in London, “Neither the law of Islam nor its ethical system justify such a crime”.

Smolicz in his Theory of Core Values suggests that language, family and religion comprise the three core founding values of the majority of cultures. All three of the core values are affected by the war on terror. These values act as a rallying cry for ethnic groups in times of external and internal pressure. There are many examples of this is Islamic leaders throughout the world condemn terrorist activities and strive to strengthen their communities and encourage them to practice true Islam doctrines and principles. Grand Islamic Scholar and Chairman of the Senior Ulama, Shaykh Yusuf al-Qaradawi stated, “The terrorist attacks, from the perspective of Islamic Law, constitute the crime of hirabah (waging war against society)”. The deteriiorization of some Muslim societies such as those in the war torn Afghanistan and Iraq face more problems than just military attacks by the United States and their allies. Mary Robinson, the UN Humnan Rights Commissioner warned that the war in Afghanistan could lead to a humanitarian disaster when she stated, “Are we going to preside over deaths from starvation of hundreds of thousands – maybe millions – of people….. There’s been three years of famine in Afghanistan, there’s been military conflict internally, now there’s this military assault……. but we have to have as a priority the civilian population and their need to be secured” This is just one example of the many ways Muslim communities are being affected by the war on terror.

As stated previously, there are more than 1 billion Muslims spread throughout most of the world’s nations. With this is mind, it is obvious that Muslim responses to the United States’ actions with the war on terror are diverse and often complex. The world has entered a “new international system” known as globalization, where states are now acting on a more global stage. Especially in light of its response to the September 11 attacks, the United States has been viewed as the global hegemonic power that can do its own bidding. Hegemonic stability theory, as defined by Vincent Ferraro, the Ruth C. Lawson Professor of International Relations at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts states that, “the stability of the International System requires a single dominant state to articulate and enforce the rules of interaction among the most important members of the system”. Friedman has suggested that globalization “homogenizes people” and that this is one of the main reasons why Muslims, in particular, disagree with Western principles and concepts. Although it is suggested that a hegemonic power may be necessary to sustain the globalization system, not all players, particularly the Muslims, necessarily agree that it should be the United States.

It can therefore be concluded that the attacks on the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center on September 11 2001 are considered terrorism whether it really was the direct result of Muslim Al Qaeda terrorists or whether as the conspiracy theory states – that US officials were somehow involved to bring the towers down so as to authenticate a war in the Middle East; have had a big impact on Muslim communities worldwide. It was the almost immediate linking of the terrorist attacks and Muslims as portrayed by the media that resulted in Islam, Muslim and Terrorist becoming almost synonyms. In consequence of this, Muslims have been grossly stereotyped, misunderstood, categorized and isolated in non-Muslim majority nations. The majority of Muslim people attempt to follow true Islam doctrines, especially understanding Jihad and the unification of the Ummah as is emphasized and encouraged by many Islamic leaders. The war on terrorism has deeply affected Muslim communities throughout the world in both direct and indirect ways. Muslims living in war torn affected regions like Afghanistan suffer from physical traumas such as starvation and disease, while many others are faced with US backed Western ideals which threaten the Islamic traditional way of life. It is these hardships faced by Muslim communities that have affected the Muslim response. On the whole, Muslims agree with the United States that terrorism has no place in Islam and needs to be eradicated, but on the other hand, do not agree with the force with which the United States attempts to change the world to democratic governments according to its own desire. It is essential that communities, Muslim and non-Muslim alike, understand true Islamic teachings and end the gross misrepresentation and stereotyping of Muslims in order to encourage greater mixed-communal harmony.