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I have just returned from a week's visit to Dearborn in Michigan and Madison in Wisconsin. Apart from participating in a conference in Dearborn, I delivered lectures, gave radio and television interviews and met with various individuals and groups. 'Sept 11' and its aftermath figured prominently in many of my programmes in the States.

Since the main purpose of my trip was the Annual Conference of the Association of Muslim Social Scientists (AMSS), where I delivered the Ismail al-Faruqi memorial lecture, I had the opportunity to discuss Sept 11 with a number of the participants. In fact, a couple of panel discussions were devoted to this subject. In my keynote address, I too spoke at some length on the moral issues arising from the Sept 11 carnage.

In their deliberations, the Muslim social scientists not only condemned Sept 11 as a heinous crime but also rejected any attempt to justify that diabolical massacre in the name of Islam or in the name of oppressed Muslims.

Real face of Islam

At the same time, there was much sympathy for the poor and helpless Afghans who are now bearing the brunt of the US-British military operation in Afghanistan.

Like many of us, this important segment of the Muslim intelligentsia in the States wants the United Nations - rather than the US - to play the principal role in the fight against terrorism. They too would like to see the US government address the root causes of terrorism instead of resorting to military action.

What really impressed me was a readiness on the part of many of the conference participants to examine the shortcomings within the Muslim community itself - shortcomings which, in a sense, were partly responsible for a devilish deed like Sept 11. There was a genuine desire to present the real face of Islam as a religion with a profound commitment to the sacredness of life and the dignity of the human person. The Islam that the social scientists identified with was an Islam with a universal outlook; an Islam that places a high premium upon social justice; an Islam that upholds the rights of women.

Though my interaction with the larger Muslim community in Michigan was limited - I gave a talk to a local mosque community - it appears that Muslims as a whole share the sentiments of the AMSS intellectuals on Sept 11, as on many other issues.

Nonetheless, there are pockets of Muslims in Michigan and other parts of the States who veer towards exclusivism, who marginalise women and who are rather dogmatic in their literal, piecemeal interpretation of the Quran and hadiths. These Muslims have yet to fathom why the Sept 11 carnage was a gross violation of a fundamental Islamic axiom.

Non-Muslim sentiments

In Madison, I was exposed to American (non-Muslim) sentiments about Sept 11. There was a lot of rapport with a huge Christian congregation I spoke to at a Presbyterian Church. From their comments and questions, it was apparent that many of them felt that the mounting loss of civilian lives in Afghanistan, as a result of the US-led bombing, was a terrible catastrophe. Some understood why there was so much anger and outrage within the Arab and Muslim world over various aspects of US foreign policy. A couple of individuals in the audience felt that the power elites in Washington should re-appraise US relations with Israel with the aim of facilitating the establishment of an independent, sovereign Palestinian state.

Sentiments of this sort were much stronger within the student and academic community I addressed at the University of Wisconsin the next day. My talk entitled 'Beyond Terror: Building bridges between Islam and the West' attempted to demolish the view that the Sept 11 tragedy was a manifestation of a clash of civilisations. On the contrary, on most of the crucial issues emanating from the tragedy - from identifying the root causes of terrorism to the US-British bombing of Afghanistan - many Muslims and a section of the citizenry in the West have adopted strikingly similar positions.

Nonetheless, there is a certain uneasiness between the two civilisations which sometimes expresses itself in the form of inter-ethnic and inter-community tensions. This uneasiness is rooted in historical memories - the crusades and colonialism for instance - and in contemporary power relationships - such as the politics of petroleum - and cannot therefore be resolved overnight.

The university audience not only understood these issues but also displayed a lucid grasp of American hegemony and how it impacts upon the world. A number of those who participated in the discussion that followed the talk were interested in how one could meet the challenge of global elite dominance. There were also questions about the Afghan war itself and the possible directions it could take.

Kindness and compassion

More than the concern for justice expressed by some members of the church and university audiences in Madison, what really touched me were the stories I heard of how in various places in the States, non-Muslim individuals and groups went out of their way to offer support, solace and solidarity to Muslim families living in their neighbourhood, in the aftermath of Sept 11.

Non-Muslim women donned head scarfs to accompany their Muslim sisters to groceries and supermarkets. Because some Muslim parents were afraid of going out for fear of reprisals from angry Americans, non-Muslim parents ferried Muslim children to school. Goodwill parties that brought Muslim and non-Muslim neighbours together were organised in some localities.

These acts of kindness and compassion have tremendous significance especially since the brutal slaughter had generated so much grief and anger. Indeed, given the magnitude of the massacre I had expected much more targetting of the Muslim minority and many more hate crimes.

If the majority community showed an appreciable degree of restraint it was partly because of a certain respect for the rule of law and the rights of 'the other' germane to a democratic culture; partly because of the commendable work of church groups and grassroots organisations in some cities in the area of inter-faith understanding over the last two decades; partly because of the unequivocal stand of Muslim leaders and associations against the Sept 11 carnage; and partly because of the firm position of the federal government against the vilification of Muslims.

Stereotypes still

However, the restraint shown by the American people should not lead us to conclude that there is now a more profound understanding of the issues involved in the Afghan war or that society at large has begun to overcome some of the negative stereotypes about Muslims and Islam.

I discovered very quickly that ignorance and prejudice were still as rampant as ever through the radio interview I did with a Wisconsin station. Since listeners were invited to ask questions, it was obvious that bombing Afghanistan regardless of the consequences for the civilian population, had tremendous support among the American people. For some of the listeners anyone who opposed bombing was a sympathiser of Osama bin Laden and the Taliban. How could Islam be a religion of peace, a couple of them asked me, when it believes in jihad (which is wrongly interpreted as holy war) and harbours terrorist groups?

The second radio programme I did which was for broadcast across the nation gave me an opportunity to explain issues in greater depth since there were no 'call-ins'. Besides, the interviewer himself was more knowledgeable than the host in the first programme.

I also participated in a television forum in Madison with friends from the International Inter-Faith Peace Council (of which I am also a member) - Daniel Gomez Ibanez and Peter Brinkman. The forum gave the three of us a chance to reiterate our commitment to a non-violent solution to the Sept 11 tragedy and to the larger challenge of terrorism.

War propaganda machine

Though Daniel, Peter and I made a pitch for peace, we were acutely conscious of the fact that scores of electronic media channels and perhaps thousands of newspapers and magazines throughout the States would be plugging for the continuation of the war at the same time. On the day my wife and I left the States, an opinion poll showed that 87 percent of the public support an escalation of the war. Only a small minority was concerned about the killing of innocent men, women and children in Afghanistan.

There is no doubt at all that the mainstream media has played a very big role in shaping public opinion in favour of the war. It is significant that the vast majority of radio and television stations and newspapers and magazines in the States very often come out in full support of the ruling elite whenever it is locked in conflict with another state or some foreign group. The media bends over backwards to justify each and every move of the State. Consequently, views that are different fromthose of the ruling elite are given very little scope or space. It is as if every time 'the national interest' as defined by the ruling elite is at stake, the media feels that it is its duty to salute the flag.

It is because the media behaves like a war propaganda machine that it is very unlikely that the US will change its course of action in the Afghan war in the immediate future. It will continue to flex its military muscle. It will continue to bomb Afghanistan. It will continue to kill innocent children - until the American people themselves develop a truly mass movement determined to end the war, come what may.

DR CHANDRA MUZAFFAR is president of the International Movement for a Just World. He is also a councilor in the 16-member International Committee for the Peace Council which includes other luminaries like the 14th Dalai Lama and Desmond M Tutu. The outgoing deputy president of Keadilan was the founder-president of Aliran from 1977 to 1991 and the founder-director of the Center for Civilizational Dialogue at Universiti Malaya from 1997 to 1999.