‘This act has no place in Islam’: Houston Muslims worry about Islamophobia after New Orleans attack

From The Texas Newsroom:

At Houston’s Medical Center Islamic Society, men, women and children left their shoes at the entrance as they gathered for midday prayers.

This week’s Friday service was the first since the horrific New Year’s Day attack in New Orleans. Basem Hamid, one of the imams at the mosque, had a powerful message in his sermon.

“As Muslims, we condemn this incident, this horrific act with the most severe and clearest statement,” he said. “This act has no place in Islam and has no place among Muslims and it’s not accepted by any standard. There is no excuse and there is no justification for it.”

In the wake of the truck attack and the revelation that the driver lived in Houston and had pledged allegiance to the terrorist group ISIS, some Muslim residents worry about the impact this will have on their community. Will they be singled out? Should they be concerned about their safety? Many of those attending Friday prayers were quick to point out that the alleged perpetrator did not represent them or their faith.

RELATED: Houston man suspected in deadly New Orleans truck attack called ‘act of terrorism’

About 200,000 Muslims live in the greater Houston area, the largest population of Muslims in Texas. It’s a diverse, growing community that includes immigrants as well as people born in the U.S. Just recently, a new Islamic Center for Spanish-speaking Muslims opened and early last year, George Bush Intercontinental Airport added a dedicated area where Muslims can wash and pray.

At the Medical Center Islamic Society mosque, there are signs of that growth. Construction is underway for a new, larger center. During Friday’s service, female members in colorful hijabs packed the women’s prayer area. The room included young girls and boys. Every now and then, a baby would cry out or babble.

Among those in the room was Umme Kulsum, who is originally from India but has lived in Texas for a number of years. She’s married and raising four children. She follows the news closely and said she had two fears when she heard about the attack in New Orleans.

“The first fear in my mind was I hope it’s not someone from our community — that was the first fear,” she said. “Then it’s like, now what will happen? What next? What will be the Islamophobic reactions we might face in our community?”

As a parent, she worries about her children and the questions they’ll ask her. She said parents have to be prepared to talk to their kids about these issues.

Echoes from 2001

Some congregants of the mosque said there’s an uncomfortable feeling that echoes what they felt more than two decades ago. Mohamed Salama, an IT worker who splits his time between Houston and Dallas, talked about this after Friday prayers.

“I lived through September 11 and I have, to this day, have very vivid memory of both how sad it was and then afterwards, how difficult it was to be a Muslim in the U.S. and how concerned I was about practicing, simply just going to mosque.”

The FBI says the man responsible for the attack in New Orleans that killed 14 people was Shamsud-Din Jabbar, a 42-year-old Army veteran from Houston. He was killed in an exchange of gunfire with police following the attack.

RELATED: Brother of alleged New Orleans attacker mystified about his radicalization

The Islamic Society of Greater Houston said Jabbar was not a formal member at any of its 21 mosques in Houston.

During the service at the Medical Center Islamic Society, Imam Hamid didn’t just denounce the attack. He singled out social media, which he believes is fueling a lot of hate, anger and misinformation. Many individuals, he said, claim to be experts on Islam or leaders of the faith but end up leading others astray.

“This is how people get radicalized – by getting exposed to unreliable sources of Islam,” he said.

Hamid and other imams in Houston say they’ve been talking to each other about how to combat this problem.

Waleed Basyouni, the imam of Clear Lake Islamic Center, says he’s challenged his congregants to think about how best to address their concerns. After the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack in Israel and Israel’s bombardment in Gaza, for example, he asked them several questions.

“We’ve been talking about, how can you channel your anger, your opinion, your political position, whatever you feel in the right way and the most effective way?” he said.

RELATED: FBI conducts second search of Houston home tied to alleged New Orleans attacker

After the attack in New Orleans, several Houston Muslim organizations issued statements. The Islamic Society of Greater Houston said it was “horrified by the senseless crime targeting civilians” and extended its condolences to the families of those killed.

“ISGH has a longstanding absolute zero-tolerance policy against extremism and suspicious activities,” said the statement, which asked anyone with relevant information to contact law enforcement. “The attack on civilians, regardless of their nationality, ethnicity or religion, is an atrocity that no ideology or cause can justify.”

Shariq Ghani, the executive director of The Minaret Foundation, a multi-faith group in Houston, said it’s important to build and maintain bridges with other communities.

His organization hosts a number of events throughout the year. A recent one was called “Competing in Goodness” and included 30 faith organizations from the Greater Houston area. The groups competed against each other to raise food for local food pantries.

“The clergy I’ve spoken to aren’t very concerned about retaliation or secondary attacks,” he said. “What they’re most concerned about is how this impacts us, our neighborliness, our social cohesion. Will it lead to Islamophobia or othering communities here in our city?”

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