Paterson, August 02: After the 9/11 attacks, more than 1,100 Arabs and Muslims, most of them from New York and New Jersey, were rounded up as the FBI searched for terrorists.
In few places was the spotlight as white-hot as in Paterson, New Jersey, where as many as six of the September 11 hijackers spent time before the attacks. As agents went knocking on doors, many Muslims were cowering terrified of being thrown in jail for crimes they knew nothing about.
A young, soft-spoken Muslim immigration attorney named Sohail Mohammed represented many people rounded up in New Jersey in post-9/11 dragnet. Along the way, the Indian-American attorney gained the friendship of top law enforcement officials for his efforts to build bridges between the Muslim community and law enforcement. He won over one official whose favour would prove crucial: the US attorney for New Jersey, Chris Christie.
Christie, now the state’s governor, nominated Mohammed to a Superior Court judgeship. Mohammed was sworn into office last week, becoming New Jersey’s second Muslim judge. Mohammed, born in Hyderabad, India, is also the state’s first Indian-American judge.
When a group of young Muslims was detained by security guards at Giants Stadium for praying near an air intake vent during a game, Mohammed got the state’s sports authority to provide a room where anyone of any faith could go to pray or just enjoy a few moments of quiet. He also pushed the U.S. Justice Department to provide a list of pre-approved charities to which Muslims could donate without fear of being suspected of terrorist ties — an endeavor that failed when the feds refused.
And when cable TV stations needed a “good Muslim” to interview, they called him.
Mohammed, now 47, says his religion has nothing to do with how he’ll perform his new job.
“My faith, my ethnicity: that means nothing here,” he said. “It’s not an issue.”
-Agencies