Actions speak louder than words. It’s a litany spoken by teachers to students, parents to children, wives to husbands (and sometimes vice versa) thousands of times around the world each day in tens of different languages. It echoes in my mind from my own childhood, and although it irritated me beyond belief as a child, I have often found myself repeating the very thing to my own little ones. “Saying sorry after hitting your sister is all very good, but actions speak louder than words” or “You may say you love your mom, but when’s the last time you helped me out around the house?” Sound familiar? Because despite the fact that this little sentence is so clichéd it ought to be outlawed, it also happens to be the essence of human nature.
In a world reverberating with a cacophony of statements, actions reflect our state of mind more than anything that comes out of our mouths. Whatever we believe, whatever we want outsiders to believe about our group, is completely dependent on how we behave. Unfortunately these five little words that are so easily understood by the youngest of minds are often the most misapplied and ignored by adults. And it is these very words that have been playing over and over in my mind today, the twelfth anniversary of 9/11, when monsters pretending to be my brothers in faith declared a holy war against my home and killed almost 3,000 innocent of my fellow countrymen and women in one terrifying swoop. Certainly their actions were taken by the entire country as a sign that Islam is a violent, bloodthirsty religion, wanting nothing more than to force the West to its knees through murder and mayhem. Ordinary Muslims such as I were aghast that such terrible actions could hold more weight than the statements of millions of Muslims in the United States and abroad who vehemently denounced them individually and collectively. But that’s human nature, isn’t it, that actions speak more clearly and resound louder than mere words do?
For twelve years American Muslims have been shouting themselves hoarse that Islam doesn’t teach violence, that Islam is inherently a peaceful religion, and that those who kill civilians are not true Muslims. Yet Islamophobes such as Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer have the rapt attention of our collective minds. When I see Christians being kidnapped and Jews being killed by so-called Muslims on cable news, and when pundits and experts talk about Osama bin Laden in the same breath as my beloved Prophet Muhammad, it is difficult to believe the words that we all repeat like parrots… “This is not Islam”. More coherent are those within my own tribe who distort the beautiful teachings of Islam by attaching ugly acts to them.
It took the Boston Bombing earlier this year to put things in perspective for me and many other Muslims. For the first time when I wrote about terrorism, I did not begin with the expected denunciation that must go along in order to defend my faith. And my readers gave me hell for it, demanding that I denounce the actions of those two miscreants otherwise I would somehow be seen as agreeing with them. Why? Don’t actions speak louder than words when it’s Muslims who are acting good, behaving like model pillars of society, contributing to our local communities? Do those actions not count, do they need to be followed by words to make them somehow valid and worthy of acceptance? As Qasim Rashid wote on HuffPost after the Boston Bombing:
… let me start with the standard roll call: As an American Muslim, I condemn all violence in the name of religion. Terrorism has no religion and Islam is no exception. If the Tsarnaev brothers are guilty of the Boston bombings, then I hope they are brought to justice. Is that condemnation clear enough? Because I’m pretty sure a whole lot of people instead read blah blah blah blah blah.
Sadly in some situations it seems that words are never enough. Our actions and words have to be synchronized in order to get people’s attention. So for the third year in a row, many Muslims including myself will be putting their money where their mouths are. On this twelfth anniversary of 9/11 when life was taken in the name of everything we hold dear, we will come out in droves and give the gift of life. Sounds naïve? Not according to the national Muslims for Life blood drive campaign, with a goal of collecting 12,000 units of blood across the country with the help of interfaith partners. That’s enough to save 36,000 lives – 12 times those taken on 9/11. After all, we want to show our fellow countrymen that we are ready to give whatever it takes to prove that our religion teaches the sanctity of human life. It’s sad that we need to prove ourselves over and over, but if it gives us the opportunity to do some good, then so be it.
For many Americans, though, this may not be enough. After all, there are Christians like Pastor Terry Jones who feels that the 
best way to honor those who died on 9/11 is to burn the Quran. As he puts it, “It’s not about Muslims; it’s about the core message of Islam.” Pastor Jones, you have it all wrong, because your own actions, too, speak louder than your words. Christianity teaches you to love your enemy, yet you choose to commemorate a national tragedy by sowing more hatred and misunderstandings among your people. I chose to give blood on 9/11 to show that I am following the teachings of my faith – not just by professing them with my tongue but also with my acts… after all, saving a stranger’s life is a better embodiment of my faith than my blah blah blah. Join me this year by donating a pint of blood between Aug 11 and Oct 11 at one of the Muslims for Life locations across the United States, or contact your local blood center to see if they have a code set up for donating blood under this campaign. Whether Muslim, Christian, Jew, Hindu, Sikh or atheist, make your actions speak up, make your legs walk the walk, do what needs to be said.
Saadia Faruqi is an interfaith activist, editor of Interfaith Houston and trainer of American Muslim issues. Follow her on Twitter @saadiafaruqi.
Thank you, Saadia, for the excellent video presentation and your blog. I was so sorry to miss the observation at your mosque, especially after I saw that my friend Mustafaa was a leader! We worked together at the Blood Center years ago. You will be speaking at the Discovery Group at our church, Northwoods, next month and I look forward very much to your presentation. Thanks for all you do to help us understand your faith. See you in October! Norma
Thank you Saadia for such an honest and passionate piece. All Muslims should speak out, specialy those ones who do not have hate and anger in their hearts, and they are many. They just chose to be silent ?
I would like you to reconsider your assumption that this terrifying act of murder of 3000, innocent people was carried out by Muslims or Arabs. Look at all the facts in hand, look at all the sercomstances ,look at the $$, look at the plans that were indiscussion to retrofit those buildings,and the cost,look at the consideration to demo them,and who benefited largely from such tragedy. This was planed and executed , not by Muslims, nor Arabs, only false information lead us to believe that- even though ,they are not substantiated by any real material evidence-but the truth is totally different, and the act was planed to be followed with the other atrocious acts of wars and discrimination that we are wittinessing today. This has to be clear, and real history will show it sooner or later, but we can’t keep on carrying such a huge inhumane lie.
Monir,
It is easy to see from your response that you are part of the problem, not part of the solution. Suggesting Jews were behind 911 is despicable.
Hmm…conspiracy theories are a controversial subject..but I’m curious why you said this person whose comment you replied to blamed the Jews. He is only saying it was non-Muslims and non-Arabs.
You can read right into the piece of trash, Monir, he also claims that Israel was behind the rebellion n Syria.
Monir, I’ve seen a few videos on conspiracy theories myself and I’m hoping that it may in fact one day turn out to be that the people responsible for 9/11 were not Muslims. But, unfortunately, there are still enough suicide attacks perpetrated by Muslims that the article still carries weight. Until conclusive evidence comes out disclaiming the current assumption, the world will continue to see the 9/11 tragedy as it has been since that day. People like Faisal Shahzad and the Boston Bombers, and death fatwas coming from ignorant mullahs don’t help.
The reason I started writing this reply was to say that please be careful blaming any groups, because until there is conclusive evidence, it would be irresponsible and un-Islamic to do so. It also hurts people and makes them angry…something we, as Muslims, have been feeling for a long while.
As for me, the article has spoken to my heart.
Osama Ben Laden and AQ proudly accepted responsibility for the attack, We know it was him. The conspiracy theorists have ulterior motive.
Thank you for your boldness! Also for your character and perseverance in the face of false stereotypes and generalizations about Islam due to the poor example of a few. Your actions truly demonstrate your heart and faith in a loving God. Way to walk your talk!
Luke 6
27 “But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you… 31 Do to others as you would have them do to you.32 “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. 35 But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because He is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. 36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
This is truly the best article that I’ve read on post 9/11! Many years have gone by, but still..it seems like yesterday. All we can do is inform people the truth of Islam and indeed, by showing our actions rather than talk mindlessly. Beautifully written, Saadia.
i don’t remember many Muslims coming out with condemnations after the bombing. I could be wrong. The people i remember most are Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who has some very good points i think, and also the professor in Canada-a woman who also has a radio or t.v. show. Both of them think that Muslims need to up-grade islam. take a look at it, and bring in new discussion.
But one thing i’d say about the situation,and also from the view of those who choose outright terrorism, or those who choose hate and smearing as weapons against “The West”, Jews, etc., is that Islam is still operating on a premise of the group-the brotherhood of Muslims. The West, Jews and Christians are operating on an individual premise-seeing people as individuals.
I think in terms of ‘the group”, that in the West the people who act as a group, see individual interests as group interest are the very top money people-who it is now reported, that they are even more wealthy than they were five years ago.
The second group who sees itself as group is the so-called non-profits who are a very large part of the economy who are responsible to no one but themselves. And are responsible for repression and silence of the American poor, not advancement. Via brainwashing. And are sophisticated.
To a Muslim in Afghanistan Algeria, Yemen, the West, Jew, Christians, all look like the same thing-to the young man who has definitely been oppressed , and been oppressed by the West, Jews, Christians.
The young man and his buddies know that there is something wrong, besides their extreme poverty, besides the contempt they receive from the ‘sophisticated” West. And they see for all the talk of democracy, it is often the majlis, and tribal councils who are democracy, not the American Congress, etc. controlled by etc., etc. (Aside from the fact that until very very recently there was no female tribal concil or majlis. There now is one i know of.) it might be interesting for all to look at things from the terrorists point of view.
the individualist view that you must be out for yourself, together with the mantra”There is nothing you can do, you can’t change the world, you can’t change people”, you have to get ahead, what life is about is having a car and home of your very own,.
And the ‘health’ craze-focusing on bodily healthy,, sometimes robbing and distorting other cultures’ treasures and discoveries in healing, there are going to be Muslims, especially younger people, or people who have been tortured in jails who are going to band together, Some of the poverty enforced by Western oppression nurtures juvenile delinquency, in Gaza, Yemen, etc. And these people will fight back. They don’t have the U.S. Army or the Marines to join up, so they do join up-in another way.
Western oppression in Gaza and Yemen? Can yo explain this?