Life after death—what bin Laden's demise means for Muslim Americans

On Sept. 11, 2001, one man managed to strike fear into the hearts of millions of Americans and simultaneously place a severely misconstrued generalization upon Muslims across the globe. As a result, millions of Muslim Americans are forced to see our multifaceted identity as mutually exclusive—Muslim, or American. With the death of bin Laden we begin to ask ourselves—what does his death mean for us? What does the Duke Muslim community think about these events? These questions are difficult to answer since Duke Muslims are, in background and ideology, as diverse as the Duke student body. However, even with all these differences the Duke Muslim Students Association can say the following:

Over the past 10 years, Osama bin Laden has become synonymous with evil and Islamic extremism. With his death comes a sense of relief and, perhaps, satisfaction that the figurehead of terrorism has been killed. This relief should not be equated with jubilation, however, for celebrating death is fundamentally wrong—regardless of how patriotic we may be. Even though President Obama has made it clear that bin Laden was not a “Muslim leader” but a murderer of Muslims, associations have already been made. Too many people in our country are under the false impression that bin Laden represents all that Islam teaches and has to offer. Perhaps with the death of bin Laden, the veil of vengeance and hatred can be lifted in our popular media to reveal the peaceful teachings of Islam.

At the same time, this symbolic death could act as a watershed moment. If bin Laden’s death promotes nationalism exclusive of Muslims and reinforces negative media stereotypes about the Muslim world, May 1, 2011, may not serve as a source of relief for Muslim Americans. However, the optimistic among us would like to see this as a turning point in the tale. We would like to see an America where the predominant image of Islam in people’s minds is not a bearded man wearing a turban and living in a cave, but an American very much like themselves—a world where Abdullah is as American as Adam.

Nabil Enayet

Pratt ’12

MSA President ’10-’11