Ten Years Ago Today

Ten years ago today, the worst terror attack on domestic American soil since Pearl Harbor became a part of every American’s life.

Ten years ago today, almost 3000 innocent people died tragically at the hands of people who called themselves Muslim. The lives of mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, grandchildren, cousins, and friends faded away as dust settled on the most populous city in America.

Ten years ago today, the battle against terrorism began. The War on Terror was launched to defend the United States of America as well as other countries, and to prevent any future 9/11-like events from occurring. Earlier this year, the supposed mastermind behind the attacks, Osama bin Laden, was finally found and killed.

Ten years ago today, Islam was brought into the spotlight in a violent way. As soon as the identity of the attackers and those behind the attacks was revealed, all eyes focused on the Muslims of America and the world. Muslim Americans – and all Muslims in general – immediately felt the repercussions on the 9/11 attacks as accusations began to fly.

In honor of this special 10-year anniversary, it seemed appropriate to set aside this week for something special. So, upon thinking of what I could possibly do to mark this milestone, I decided to contact some friends and acquaintances to see if they would be interested in helping me out by writing 9/11-themed guest posts. Several agreed to help, and thus every day this week the daily post will be written by a guest with a different guest each day.

Because of this plan, there will be a couple changes to the normal weekly routine. For one, there won’t be a weekly update on Friday. Instead, the update will be replaced by a 9/11-inspired guest post. Also, I’m not certain what will happen with Saturday’s ‘Islam in the News’ feature. I will either follow yesterday’s pattern and do something related to 9/11, or I will return to the usual ‘Islam in the News’ insha’Allah.