United 93
I just finished watching United 93, the movie about the hijacking of United Airlines 93 back in 2001. As most readers will know, passengers of United 93 tried to take back the plane, after terrorists had hijacked it by killing the pilot, the co-pilot and had stabbed passengers (to death).
They fought the terrorists after they had called with relatives, family members and lovers who informed them that two other planed were hijacked earlier that day, resulting in the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon.
Since they knew all the passengers in those other flights had died, the passengers of United 93 decided to take a chance and fight; they knew that doing nothing would result in their imminent death.
Sadly they failed. They were able to kill two of the four terrorists, but the other two flew the plane into the ground. None of the passengers, or the terrorists, survived.
It is a heartbreaking story, and one with quite some emotional impact for Americans, of course, but also for people like me: Muslims. The terrorists killed in the name of Islam. They hijacked the plane, they put all those passengers through hell, all in the name of my beautiful religion, which teaches me love and compassion, not hatred.
Every time I heard them say “la illaha illala” (there is no God but God) I got angry. In the end I was even shouting at the screen telling them they were fake Muslims and asking God whether he would curse their souls. When the passengers started running through the front of the plane, trying to take out the terrorists, I was shouting them along, even though I knew they failed and died.
During the movie I noticed I was swearing at the terrorists thinking to myself “they killed so many innocent people that day, all in the name of my religion, thereby doing more damage to it than any other person in the history of mankind. May they rot in hell.”
No, my thoughts were not very compassionate and loving; instead, I was filled with anger and righteous indignation. I saw and heard them recite prayers many Muslims know and may recite at certain occasions. I heard them say “Bismillahir-Rahmanir-Rahim” constantly, which filled me with disgust; this is a sentence I use before eating, before starting an exam, and so on, and I now saw it being abused by a bunch of aggressive, hateful, radical idiots.
I am glad I watched the movie… but I only hope I can say these words soon again without being reminded of those criminals who killed innocent people while reciting these holy words.
I understand — I feel the same way when I read about the Crusades or hear about some bozo bombing an abortion clinic here in the U.S. The conflict in Northern Ireland made even less sense to me — killing folks because they aren’t the correct kind of Christians — senseless.
In an odd way, 9/11 prompted many in the U.S. to at least attempt to understand the basics of Islam. When they do, they see that the terrorists don’t represent Islam. Since the only possible harm the terrorists CAN do happens here, long-term they may have helped Islam more than they hurt it, as Islam only benefits when people understand it. I also think that their actions may have prompted good Muslims to be more observant — if only to show that the terrorists did not represent them.
I firmly believe that the 9/11 terrorists immedately discovered that they weren’t rewarded for their actions by God — I’m not sure how they are actually spending their eternity, but I’m pretty sure it isn’t as they expected.
Above I wasn’t quite clear — when I said “here” I didn’t mean the U.S., rather I mean on Earth — in our current realm of experience.
I have to disagree. It is sad that they died, but they succeeded in preventing a much greater loss of life by stopping the plane before it reached the terrorists intended destination.
It is sad that so many use religion to justify their hatreds.
Apart from my surprise that you’ve become a Muslim, I’m wondering why you’re only seeing this movie now…didn’t it come out back in 2005?
IMO, your indignation is a call to action. Better you remember the ways your faith is abused by killers than to forget their twisted prayers.