False Friends

In the courtroom I glanced at the young Defendants face. He looked so sad and stricken, sitting quietly in his suit and tie. No, this young man is no martyr. He had not left the world behind. He is a real human being, a Muslim, one who had made some serious mistakes.

This young man had apparently entered into conspiracy to bomb various sites around New York City. However, it was never anything more than talk, stupid talk encouraged and manipulated by a police undercover informant named Eldawoody. The prosecution contended that previous undercover police had noted how the young man would brag and talk trash to his friends, trying to be the tough thug; they claimed in court that this character defect showed a predisposition for terror.

However, against this view, the Defense argued that the constant pressure brainwashed the young man. Eldawoody was an older father figure who met with him and a friend several times a week for months, and a man who claimed special religious knowledge. Video surveillance and audio tape shows how pushy and controlling the informant was with his young accomplices. You could really hear it.

Eldawoody also told one of them, “I see you have a strong heart”—this made the young man feel “he know s something about me that I myself did not know.” He became the authority, and then the corrupter. And perhaps he did this in the same way that real extremists brainwash the young. In some ways isn’t mental and spiritual abuse not similar to the physical and sexual abuse of young men in the Catholic Church? Isn’t it similar to a husband or wide who so dominates the marriage with ceaseless demands and increasing power? And sometimes doesn’t the National Security State abuse its people in the same way?

Is it not wrong to take a vulnerable young man and turn him into a terrorist wannabe? How many young men fantasize about being a martyr or an important man, and how many of us are really angry about the world situation and the politics used against Muslims? Our angry talk is a symptom of frustration and of our immaturity as a community. It is not admirable. But is it right for a Muslim informant to take this material and create a criminal? Is that not an abuse of an older man’s authority and wisdom?

False friends, False teachers. Much of the community may feel “entrapped” or set up by the rhetoric of islamophobes and public hysteria on the war on terror. Government authority also manipulates us and media brainwashes us. So much is false. And yet America is not one vast conspiracy. America is still its people as well as its problems. Though we may criticize its system, in some ways, we need to deal with our neighbors, even our leaders, on a case-by-case basis, on a human and personal basis. We need to live as Muslims, not heartless ideologues!

Therefore let us consider our own youth. Many of them think they know better than their parents. Sure, they may know technology, the way of their own world, and if their parents are immigrants they may also know the language better. They may believe they understand the religion better. They are idealists. What they may not have is settled wisdom and good judgment; many seek the horizontal way of knowledge with peers and internet; not the years of study