Innocent Until Proven Muslim: Islamophobia, the War on Terror, and the Muslim Experience Since 9/11

by Maha Hilal

On September 11, 2001, nineteen terrorists hijacked four airplanes and carried out attacks on the United States, killing more than three thousand Americans and sending the country reeling. Three days after the attacks, President George W. Bush declared, "This is a day when all Americans from every walk of life unite in our resolve for justice and peace." Yet in the days following, Bush declared a "War on Terror," which would result in years of Muslims being targeted on the basis of collective punishment and scapegoating. In 2009, President Barack Obama said, "America must play its role in ushering in a new era of peace." Instead, Obama perpetuated the War on Terror's infrastructure that Bush had put in place, rendering his words entirely empty. President Donald Trump's overtly Islamophobic rhetoric added fuel to the fire, stoking public fears to justify the continuation of the War his predecessors had committed to. In Innocent Until Proven Muslim , scholar and organizer Dr.Maha Hilal tells the powerful story of two decades of the War on Terror, exploring how the official narrative has justified the creation of a sprawling apparatus of state violence rooted in Islamophobia and excused its worst abuses. Hilal offers not only an overview of the many iterations of the War on Terror in law and policy, but also examines how Muslim Americans have internalized oppression, how some influential Muslim Americans have perpetuated collective responsibility, and how the lived experiences of Muslim Americans reflect what it means to live as part of a "suspect" community. Along the way, this marginalized community gives voice to lessons that we can all learn from their experiences, and to what it would take to create a better future. Twenty years after the tragic events of 9/11, we must look at its full legacy in order to move toward a United States that is truly inclusive and unified.

Genres: Religion, Politics, Social Justice, Nonfiction, History, Islam

336 pages, Hardcover

Published January 25, 2022

Reviews

[Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

We don't torture people and other American Myths.

CIA's approved torture techniques: facial slap, cramped confinement, wall standing, stress positions, sleep deprivation, insects placed in a confinement box, water board, sever physical suffering but not severe physical pain

Prisoners held in complete darkness for months, naked, chained to bars in the ceiling and forced to soil themselves.

Water torture that induced vomiting, hypothermia and unconsciousness.

Men were raped, hung upside down, beaten, buried alive.

[Ramsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

In a country where people in the highest levels of government still deny the many atrocities that has been committed in the name of "white" supremacy, the veils have fallen and the structure of systematic inustice lays bare. Now another veil has dropped as Maha Hilal documents how the already existing racist and supremacist structures went after the Muslim community. It's a thoughtful, eye-opening read that adds to the hypocrisy of the US government extolling its virtuous democracy to the world while at the same time acting in the most tyrannical ways to those it deems "others." Great book and a must read for those who care about social justice.

[Liz Getman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dr. Maha Hilal is a brilliant author, researcher, and organizer who has crafted a brilliant book about U.S. state violence, the War on Terror, and Islamophobia. Dr. Hilal's ability to weave research, data, interviews, and her own experiences as a Muslim woman in a post 9/11 world is unlike anything published on these subjects to date. Buy this book. Buy another for a friend. Share it widely. It needs to be read!

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hilal has a very clear argument about the emergence of institutionalized and internalized Islamophobia post 9/11 (although section 1 is sort of a contextualization in rhetoric and doesn’t really fit into this argument). Section 2 on institutionalized Islamophobia is strong. Section 3, on internalized Islamophobia, could have been one chapter not three.

[Kavin Senapathy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must-read for pretty much anyone who cares about justice for all in America, Innocent Until Proven Muslim makes a devastating case that institutionalized Islamophobia must be abolished. If you're like me, you'll be shouting every few pages.

[U B · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is some of the best writing I’ve read on systemic Islamophobia. Dr. Maha Hilal is brilliant in explaining the pervasiveness of collective punishment against Muslims and the residual affects of the War on Terror. Highly recommend you buy and read this book.