Local Muslims rally for peace and unity

Monday, March 24, 2003 | 11:15 a.m.

Sayed Qazi tapped the lectern with his right index finger, making sure about 300 Muslims got the message in the Jame Musjid mosque Friday afternoon.

"The fault," he said, "is not in the White House.

"The fault is not in the Pentagon.

"The answer, and the fault, is within us."

So began what was a complex, freewheeling sermon that offered a glimpse into how local Muslims are seeing the war in Iraq, now almost a week old.

The message was unusual, given that tens of thousands of the same faith had already left Friday's prayer service in the Middle East to march in protest against the White House, the Pentagon and the United States.

But in the Las Vegas Valley's largest mosque, Qazi touched on the violence that Muslims themselves have committed, saying that this brings more violence upon them. He spoke of divisions in the Arab world, which he linked to not removing Saddam Hussein by some means other than war.

Mostly, he rallied a room full of Nigerians, Pakistanis, Indians, Lebanese, Palestinians and perhaps even Iraqis around the core values of the 1,400-year-old religion: peace, unity, prayer and devotion to Allah.

On speaking with some of the faithful after they prayed, two things were clear: They were against the war, but also against Saddam's regime.

They were also struggling with what it means to have one foot in each of two cultures.

On the one hand, they fear backlash in the Middle East against the United States -- a country they see as their own. On the other hand, they fear backlash against Muslims and Middle Easterners in the United States.

"That guy Saddam, he's a murderer," said a man who would only give his name as Hamdi.

"But we didn't give the Iraqi people a second choice to solve the problem," he said.

Another man, who didn't want to reveal his name, said he opposed the war.

"I don't understand why this war is going on," he said.

"However you look at it, it's a lose-lose situation ... that will only breed more terrorism and make more people hate the United States," he said.

Both members of the congregation said making their names public could put them at risk of being the target of hate crimes.

"This country has great values," said Hamdi, who was born in Lebanon and is a U.S. citizen.

"One of them is freedom of speech. But now I look over my shoulder before I say anything, because you never know."

Khalid Khan, president of the Las Vegas Islamic Society, said he trusts that Metro Police's stepped-up presence around the mosque will protect members of the congregation from any violence.

After finishing the sermon, Qazi said he had not been exposed to any backlash.

"But I'm a physician, and perhaps in the circles I move around in, I don't feel this," Qazi said. "But other people in the congregation may be the target of bad feelings, and I would tell them to take the high road and show themselves to be on another level or try to remove themselves from the situation."

Others were also worried about backlash against bearers of American passports, even those of Middle Eastern descent.

"I just spoke to my mother in Lebanon yesterday," Hamdi said.

"I told her I'm afraid to go back home now, because of my American passport and the hatred in the Middle East against the American people."