The face of Boston’s Muslim community in its time of crisis is a 6-foot-5-inch, blond-haired, blue-eyed former hip-hop DJ whose grandfather was a fundamentalist Christian preacher, and who moved to Boston just 18 months ago. William Suhaib Webb, imam of the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center in Roxbury, has been a target of conservative Muslims on the Internet, who call him a sellout, and of other critics, who say he is an extremist. He has tried, for better or for worse, to respond to all of it — in his sermons, on CNN, on Twitter. At the same time, he has endeavored to deepen the mosque’s relationships with Jewish and Christian leaders in Boston. The Marathon bombings cast Webb and his mission into a crucible. In the media, Islam was on trial again, and Webb was, too.

But what we’re learning of the suspects, the brothers Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, suggests a different story, and one that has itself become familiar: radicalization does not happen to young people with a strong grounding in the American Muslim mainstream; increasingly, it happens online, and sometimes abroad, among the isolated and disaffected.

The imam of a mosque that is managed by the Muslim Brotherhood-founded Muslim American Society (MAS) was initially invited to speak at Thursday’s interfaith service in Boston to honor the Boston Marathon attack’s victims, but that invitation was later rescinded by Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick’s office, JNS.org has learned.
Click photo to download. Caption: The Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center in Roxbury Crossing, Mass., whose imam was replaced as the Muslim speaker for Thursday's interfaith service in Boston for the Boston Marathon attack victims. Credit: Biruitorul/Wikimedia Commons.

Click photo to download. Caption: The Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center in Roxbury Crossing, Mass., whose imam was replaced as the Muslim speaker for Thursday's interfaith service in Boston for the Boston Marathon attack victims. Credit: Biruitorul/Wikimedia Commons.

The Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center’s (ISBCC) Imam Suhaib Webb, according to a series of Twitter

Security officials at Boston's largest mosque requested police to guard its campus in the wake of Monday's deadly explosions at the Boston Marathon, a sobering reminder that Muslims in the U.S. often face threats after alleged terrorist attacks.

But if the pair of city police officers parked outside the mosque conveyed a message of heightened alert, workers inside the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center were too busy to notice. There, a small staff spent Tuesday morning working with religious leaders from various faiths across the city to launch an interfaith prayer event to memorialize the attack's victims, while offering city and state officials all the resources the mosque could muster.

"We're Bostonians - we mourn with the city," said Suhaib Webb, the Oklahoma-born imam who leads the congregation. "We stand in support with the city, with the victims. We're hurt, equally shocked and equally pissed off."

The Prophet ﷺ (peace be upon him) said in a hadith recorded in Bukhari, related by Uthman ibn Affan:

“.خيركم من تعلم القرآن و علمه”

“The best of you is the one who learns the Qur’an and teaches it.”

A few months ago, I was sitting with Shaykh Mohsen Al’Najjar in the Mosque of our Messenger Muhammad ﷺ (peace be upon him and his family), preparing to make the blessed ziyara (visitation). As we sat, I could not help but marvel at the amazing Ottoman calligraphy decorating the mosque. My eyes and spirit quickly fixated on an ornate inscription from the Messenger ﷺ:

It is one of those unavoidable facts of life: sometimes we find ourselves in situations we don’t want to be in. Often, we have to do things or resist doing other things. The Qur’ān and Ḥadīth mention such occurrences, and also elaborate on our response to them.

Knowingly or unknowingly, we all sin and make mistakes. This is something from our nature as human beings that we will never be able to completely overcome. We all fall into that second look or say a white lie or miss a salah (prayer). While we may repent from the sin after, an aspect that is generally forgotten are the very real effects sins have in our lives.

Whether it is in the masjid, on the street, or online, these incidents are too numerous to count. If you haven’t heard these stories, then you haven’t been listening. Every day, time and time again, a troubled Muslim reaches out and communicates to someone, in one way or another, that they are thinking about leaving Islam. They explain that they have been in a troubled state for a while. They say that they pray and they feel nothing; that when they sin, they no longer feel guilty. They talk about how tired they are of the rules and the restrictions and being boxed in.

Jumah is the best day of the week. The Khateeb, Imam Suleiman, sent a purifying message at the Atlanta Masjid. He talked about the diseases of the heart. The more he spoke, the more I began to feel dirty, and dirtier, until I felt filthy. He said spiritual disease leads to physical disease. I’ve been in search of a cure for far too long. Dhikr is the cure. The remembrance of Allah, having Taqwah, is the cure. I immediately got a copy post-Jumah to make sure I collect all the gems from the Khutbah.