By Noor Samee
Age (when it happened): 2
Location (when it happened): St. Louis, MO
Memory: I was two when 9/11 happened. I have no memory of it, but I do know it shaped the way I understand Islam, the way I understand the world, and who I am today.
How it lives with you today: For me, I learned Islam on the defense. I learned how to be Muslim in the middle of being attacked for it. The questions I asked as a Muslim child were unlike questions asked by generations before me.
I wanted to know how to validate, justify, and defend my faith. In a time full of intense oppression, I wanted to know why it was important enough to give up social privileges in exchange for identifying as Muslim. My identity was not erased. My Muslim identity has always been at the forefront of media conversation and under constant attack.
Under the weight that came with simply socially surviving as a Muslim in America, I became who I am today. I thought if it’s all or nothing, and if I have to sacrifice so much to identify as Muslim — it better be worth it. So I didn’t take Islam for granted.
My identity was not erased. My Muslim identity has always been at the forefront of media conversation and under constant attack.
I became really spiritual and hardcore about being a good Muslim because in my survivalist perspective, if I wanted to practice Islam half-heartedly, I may as well have not practiced it at all.
But the overwhelming sense of oppression didn’t only make me a stronger Muslim — it also provided me with opportunities to speak about Islam on a larger scale than Muslims had in previous generations.
I’d go through Islamic books and find quotations and analyses on Islam’s relation to various contemporary topics and then create presentations for those interested.
If those people weren’t as curious, I would have missed so many opportunities to understand my religion in depth. But despite those silver linings that came with what 9/11 did to create the Muslim identity I hold today, it still definitely sucks to be Muslim and American simultaneously. The most common narrative among Westerners and the media today are that those two parts of my identity are inherently contradictory and against one another.