The Wisdom Fund, a Washington area non-profit corporation dedicated to combating misinformation about Islam and Muslims, declared that the tragedy in Oklahoma which killed scores of innocents, now has the potential for criminalizing the entire Muslim community, and undermining their civil rights.
Mr. Enver Masud, President, The Wisdom Fund, worked as senior planner for 12 years at Oklahoma Gas & Electric Company -- just three blocks from where the blast occurred. Masud condemned the blast as a heinous act, while also censuring those who are using the blast as an opportunity to tarnish, in effect, the entire Muslim community. The full text of The Wisdom Fund's statement follows:
The Oklahoma blast was a heinous act, and must be severely prosecuted. The massacre of innocents, and the devastation of the lives of their loved ones, shall forever remain a tragedy. Equally craven was the rush to judgment. Within an hour of the horror former Congressman Dave McCurdy was on CBS talking about "very clear evidence of fundamentalist Islamic terrorist groups." In support he quoted the PBS propaganda piece "Jihad in America" produced by the perennial Muslim-baiter Steven Emerson. The media, including CNN, joined in the fray.
Responsible Federal law enforcement officials were, however, more circumspect. They were cited on the front page of the New York Times of April 20 as stating that they "had no suspect," and that investigators "did not know whether the bombers were domestic or international terrorists."
Meanwhile, the damage has been done to innocent Oklahomans including the Oklahoma Muslim community, which has been doubly terrorized; by the bomb blast and by false accusations of complicity in the crime. The object appears to be to put Muslims outside the pale of mainstream Americans as was once done to the Japanese. This has occurred only because the Muslims, unlike others, have no effective lobby and are seen as easy targets.
Masud stated he was reminded of the wise words of another; "a society is judged by how well it protects the rights of the least powerful." There are two victims of the Oklahoma tragedy, concluded Masud, "the innocent dead, and the falsely accused."
