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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.
Innocent until Proven Muslim is now available for order.
Learn more about the book.
One of the key themes of my book is internalized Islamophobia. What is it, and how does it manifest? Visit my Instagram page by tapping the photo above to learn more.
How familiar are you with the presidential history of the War on Terror? Tap the photo above to see the full Instagram post and learn more about WOT and my book.
Praise for Innocent Until Proven Muslim:
“In Innocent until Proven Muslim, we have a coherent and damning exposé of the never-ending US response to 9/11 and the complicit Muslims who have signed on to this catastrophic project.”
— Dr. Nazia Kazi, author of Islamophobia, Race, and Global Politics, and associate professor of anthropology at Stockton University
“As a former Guantanamo Bay prisoner for 14 years, I’ve found few books that can speak to the violence of a war of which I was, and continue to be, a casualty. Dr. Hilal's book brilliantly exposes the destructive logics behind the war and its innumerable impacts—visible and invisible—on Muslims across the globe. Her unflinching commitment to presenting a comprehensive account of the structures and harms of the War on Terror will inevitably shift the tide towards justice and accountability for Muslims. This couldn't be more important at this juncture in time.”
— Mohamedou Slahi, author of Guantánamo Diary
“In this important book, Dr. Maha Hilal shows how the War on Terror both reflected and reinforced ideas of American exceptionalism and negative stereotypes about Islam and its adherents. Anyone attempting to come to grips with the harm this war has done to Muslims and Muslim Americans, American constitutionalism and the wider world, will have to address the fundamental questions this vital book raises.”
— Dr. David Fagelson, Associate Professor, American University
“Dr. Maha Hilal’s powerful and accessible account of the U.S. war on terror is nothing less than a freedom manifesto for the twenty-first century. Guiding the reader step by step through the war on terror’s false premises and horrific policies, Dr. Hilal provides us with the unapologetic and bold ideas needed to free us from the internalized oppression and racist assumptions at the heart of this never-ending war. This book lights the path of liberation.”
— Edward E. Curtis IV.William M. and Gail M. Plater Chair of the Liberal Arts IU School of Liberal Arts, Indianapolis
“In this important book, Dr. Maha Hilal shows how the War on Terror both reflected and reinforced ideas of American exceptionalism and negative stereotypes about Islam and its adherents. In tightly argued prose, Hilal details exactly how, in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, the state exploited these Islamophobic tropes to shape an idea of terrorism as an almost exclusively Muslim phenomenon. She deftly explicates how the government leveraged this prejudicial narrative to fundamentally reshape the legal and policy landscape in an unprecedented expansion of executive power that would permit it to operate outside of the limits imposed by existing legal institutions. Anyone attempting to come to grips with the harm this war has done to Muslims and Muslim Americans, American constitutionalism and the wider world, will have to address the fundamental questions this vital book raises.”
— David Fagelson, Associate Professor, American University
“Dr. Maha Hilal has done something extraordinary: to seamlessly blend academic analysis, social theory, political insight, moral conviction, and personal experience into a history of the post-9/11 United States like none other. Her complex definition of Islamophobia — and acute sense of how it works through language — are profoundly illuminating. Furthermore, her thorough examination and critical account of how language underwrites state violence against Muslims is deeply disturbing. Hilal’s rigorous effort to understand vast, racialized systems of state power is equalled by her compassion for their victims. This gives Innocent Until Proven Muslim a big heart, which itself feels like resistance to the dehumanizing logic of the War on Terror. May we all learn from Dr. Hilal’s wisdom and courage.”
— Jeremy Varon, Professor of History at the New School
“The dominant political narrative of the War on Terror focuses on the US as a victim of unjust violence as opposed to a perpetrator of it. Maha Hilal corrects this narrative by centering Muslim perspectives and exploring Muslim experiences in relation to the brutal violence unleashed by the US government after 9/11. Hilal sets a new and higher standard for how to reflect critically and courageously on the War on Terror and its devastating impact.”
— Todd Green, Luther College, author of The Fear of Islam: An Introduction to Islamophobia in the West
“In this accessible and inspiring introduction, readers will find a critical account of the institutional and intimate violence of the War on Terror, as well as Muslim resistance to it.”
— Atiya Husain, Assistant Professor in the Law and Legal Studies Department at Carleton University
“Dr. Maha Hilal provides a historical account of the United States rhetoric and narrative of democracy as a virtue that has been used throughout its existence and legitimized after the tragic events of the terrorists' attacks on September 11, 2001. These narratives have had a wider impact on the Muslim community both in the US and globally. Dr. Hilal has inverted the impacts of the War on Terror to vividly detail the Islamophobia and brutality that became the Terror of War on Islam throughout the world and forever labeled Muslims as outsiders in the US. This book is useful for those interested in understanding the legal and historical antecedents of the War on Terror narrative; it should be a required reading for us all.”
— Rebecca Hankins, Wendler Endowed Professor MLIS, Certified Archivist, Librarian/Curator of Africana/Women’s & Gender Studies Affiliate Faculty for Interdisciplinary Critical Studies Society of American Archivist Distinguished Fellow
“Innocent Until Proven Muslim is a searing indictment of institutionalized Islamophobia in the US. Opposing the respectability politics that prevails in discussions of Muslims in the US, Hilal persuasively demonstrates that the Muslim experience is powerfully shaped by state violence. Her apt conclusion is that the only appropriate response is the abolition of the War on Terror.”
— Arun Kundnani, Author of The Muslims are Coming! Islamophobia, Extremism, and the Domestic War on Terror
“A masterful contribution, Maha Hilal’s Innocent Until Proven Muslim exposes with searing detail the systemic Islamophobia of the War on Terror, its disturbing narratives, its destructive consequences and its harmful legacy. Proscriptive as well as reflective, Hilal roots her analysis in critiques of otherness and inhumanity while pointing constructively towards a future in which intersectionality and collective liberation beckon.”
— Karen Greenberg, Director, Center on National Security at Fordham Law
“In Innocent Until Proven Muslim, Dr. Hilal systematically and courageously confronts the violence of the War on Terror and its rootedness in Islamophobia. From outlining the ways that official narratives of the War on Terror have constructed Muslims as the enemy other, to highlighting how Islamophobia has been perpetuated in policy through the design and implementation of laws and policies designed to target Muslims, Dr. Hilal presents a holistic picture of the destructiveness the war has wrought over the last two decades. Crucially, she also confronts the oft-minimized problem of internalized Islamophobia, where Muslims themselves have become participants in their own oppression. However, this book is not without hope - the clarity with which Dr. Hilal examines the War on Terror in its totality, paves the way forward for it to be finally dismantled and abolished.”
— Mohammed Abunimer, Professor of International Peace and Conflict Resolution, American University
“Dr. Hilal’s contributions to the post-9/11 narrative and the War on Terror are important, with an impressive breadth of topics covered (from influential policy to media grandstanding) while still allowing for the nuance and humanity of Muslim Americans to breathe through. Whether her focus is on Bush, Obama, or Trump, her rhetorical breakdown of the strategic phrasing around this never-ending war allows for the reader to go beyond simplistic narratives. Words have power, and Dr. Hilal’s incisive analysis shows how from the most overtly Islamophobic, violently ‘inciteful’ rants from the likes of Rush Limbaugh to the soft, apologetic tone of a Buzzfeed video (“I’m Muslim, but I’m not…”), the discursive paradigm has shifted little in the past twenty years. This book is a wakeup call for everyone on the political spectrum, Muslim and non-Muslim, to question their unquestioning adherence to our constantly whitewashed recent history.”
— Ali Rahman, Lecturer in Critical Writing, Pennsylvania State University
“Dr. Maha Hilal painstakingly and powerfully details the wide-reaching violence of the never-ending War on Terror and institutionalized Islamophobia. With careful attention to the experiences of those impacted, Innocent Until Proven Muslim refuses to turn away, and is a necessary call for justice.”
— Harsha Walia, Author of Undoing Border Imperialism and Border and Rule
“Dr Hilal has written a definitive text on Islamophobia and the War on Terror in the United Stated. Accessible and comprehensive, it is a must-read for both newcomers and experts on the subject. After twenty years of the War on Terror, Dr Hilal’s analysis of internalised Islamophobia and Muslim American politics is especially worthy of our reflections.”
— Tarek Yonis, Senior Lecturer, Middlesex University