Talat Hamdani
Born1953 (age 70–71)
Karachi, Pakistan
NationalityAmerican
Occupationschoolteacher
Known forfrequently quoted on Muslim-American issues

Talat Hamdani is a Pakistan-born American who became a commentator after her son was killed during Al Qaeda's attacks on September 11, 2001.[1][2][3][4][5][6] Her eldest son, Mohammad Salman Hamdani, was a New York Police Department cadet, who had trained as a first responder.[7]

Mourners at her son's funeral included Michael Bloomberg, who was then Mayor of New York, Ray Kelly, then Police Commissioner, and Gary Ackerman, then his Congressional Representative.[8]

Hamdani described growing up in a Karachi that was more liberal than the Pakistan of today, where she was able to play in the schoolyard with boys, ride a bike, and learn to drive.[7] She worked as a school teacher in Pakistan, before immigrating to the US, where she again worked as a school teacher.

In August 2004, the San Francisco Chronicle called Hamdani 'a vehement opponent of the Patriot Act", when they quoted her in an article about critics of George Bush who feared he would use the site of the 9-11 attacks for partisan political purposes during the 2004 Republican Convention.[2] Hamdani has described how her son—a paramedic who had spontaneously made his way to help at the World Trade Center, only to die when the buildings collapsed—was investigated following the attacks.[8][9][10]

A small number of the loved ones of those who died during al Qaeda's attack were selected to attend the Guantanamo military commissions of the most senior Guantanamo captives.[1] Talat was one of those chosen.

The King of Jordan invited Hamdani, and the surviving relatives of other American victims of terrorism, to sit beside him when he addressed the United States Congress in March 2007.[5] The theme of the King's speech was the need for the US to play a leadership role in guiding the peace process in the middle east.

In 2010 Hamdani's support of the building of the "ground zero mosque" was widely repeated.[3][4] Hamdani told the San Diego Union Tribune that she felt Muslims were being unfairly "targeted" for terrorist attacks, when the attacks killed Muslims like her son.

"Why are we paying the price? Why are we being ostracized? Our loved ones died. America was founded on the grounds of religious freedom opposition to the [ground zero mosque] is un-American. It's unethical. And it is wrong."

In April 2010, when forensic specialists began searching through yet another 844 yards of rubble, for bits of bone of 9-11 victims, to see if DNA could be extracted and identified, Hamdani was quoted, questioning the value of the search.[11] Reuters quoted Hamdani calling the search "cruel and inhumane" as it prevented the surviving loved ones to find closure.

On January 4, 2012, Public Radio International reported that her son Mohammad Salman Hamdani was not going to be included on the list of police officers who were killed on 9-11.[8][12][13] Spokesmen justified leaving him off the list as he was still a cadet. Talat speculated that his Muslim faith played a role in leaving him off the list.

On November 23, 2015, the New York Daily News published an op-ed from Hamdani, allowing her to respond to Republican Party Presidential aspirant Donald Trump comments on Muslims and public safety.[14] Hamdani asserted that Trump's assertion that he would register all Muslim Americans in a special database, and force them to carry special ID cards, would be inconsistent with the oath of office, where an incoming President swears to defend the United States Constitution. She pointed out:[14]

"The President of the United States, like every member of Congress and every member of the armed forces, takes an oath to defend and uphold the Constitution. Freedom of religion, freedom of speech, the right of assembly and the right to be free from unlawful search are at the heart of our national identity."

She suggested the willingness of Donald Trump, and other candidates, including Ben Carson, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, to advocate unconsistutional security measures should disqualify them from serious consideration as presidential candidates.[14]

References

  1. 1 2 Talat Hamdani (2009-10-20). "No Justice Can Come From Guantánamo Military Commissions". Huffington Post. Archived from the original on 2009-10-27.
  2. 1 2 Zachary Coile (2004-08-31). "Some victims' families say GOP unfairly capitalizing on 9/11 / Ground zero a touchy subject during convention". San Francisco Chronicle. Archived from the original on 2013-02-02. Retrieved 2010-11-02. 'My son was a casualty of 9/11 -- not because he was a Muslim or because he was from Pakistan, but because he was an American,' Hamdani said. Hamdani, a vehement opponent of the Patriot Act, which provided law enforcement greater powers to fight terrorists, said she believes the administration is wrong to detain thousands of mostly Arab men without charging them with crimes. 'So many families have no knowledge of where their loved ones are," she said. "In the name of democracy, they are arresting innocent people.'
  3. 1 2 Samantha Gross (2010-08-20). "9/11 family members divided over mosque near WTC". San Diego Union Tribune. Retrieved 2010-11-02. When her EMT son went missing in the days after 9/11, Talat Hamdani traveled to Mecca to pray that he was safe - hoping authorities could have thought him a suspect because of his Muslim background and detained him.
  4. 1 2 Rachel Zoll (2010-08-19). "N.Y. mosque raises worry for some Muslims: Islam's image in US a concern". Boston Globe. Archived from the original on 2010-08-20. Retrieved 2010-11-02. Talat Hamdani, a Muslim whose son Mohammad Salman Hamdani, a New York emergency medical technician, was killed, supports the proposal. "I'm not fighting for a mosque. I'm fighting for my rights, she said.
  5. 1 2 Louise Radnofsky (2007-03-08). "LIers get royal treatment, In D.C. speech, king of Jordan honors 2 LI families who lost sons on 9/11, calls on U.S. to guide peace process". Newsday. p. A.08. Retrieved 2010-11-02. Queen Rania of Jordan, front center, listens to King Abdullah II's speech before Congress yesterday along with Talat Hamdani, far right, whose son died on 9/11.
  6. ↑ Joyce Purnick (2001-09-20). "Metro Matters; Our Daily Tribute to Differences Provokes Dislike Among Many". New York Times. Retrieved 2010-11-02.
  7. 1 2 Mary Clark; Peter Bearman; Catherine Ellis; Stephen Smith (2013). "After the Fall: New Yorkers Remember September 2001 and the Years that Followed". The New Press. ISBN 9781595587671. Archived from the original on 2016-01-29. Retrieved 2016-01-23.
  8. 1 2 3 Talat Hamdani (2013-09-11). "My son died as a first responder on 9/11". CNN. Archived from the original on 2016-02-02. Retrieved 2016-01-23. At Salman's funeral, the many mourners included Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly and our congressman, Gary Ackerman. The Patriot Act, enacted in response to the terror attacks, specifically refers to Salman as a 9/11 hero. Yet, at the 9/11 Memorial, his name is grouped among the miscellaneous victims, not among the first responders who sacrificed their lives, where it belongs.
  9. ↑ Jessie Bonner (2005-02-15). "Muslims Want Voice in 9/11 Commission Follow-Up". infozone. Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2010-11-02. Hamdani recalled the thousands of Muslims who were interrogated for alleged connections with terrorist activities and said her son was also investigated by the FBI as a potential suspect after he was reported missing. 'As a Muslim-American woman, it was horrific,' said Hamdani, a public school teacher in Queens. 'I came to realize that Islam and terrorism have become synonymous.'
  10. ↑ "9/11 Pakistani victim's mother questions treatment of Muslims". Daily Times. 2005-02-16. Archived from the original on 2012-10-22. According to a news-report circulated by Scripps-Howard, Hamdani recalled the thousands of Muslims who were interrogated for alleged connections with terrorist activities and said her son was also investigated by the FBI as a potential suspect after he was reported missing. "As a Muslim-American woman, it was horrific," said the public school teacher in Queens. "I came to realise that Islam and terrorism have become synonymous."
  11. ↑ "Years later, looking for traces of Sept 11 victims". Reuters. 2010-04-23. Retrieved 2012-05-01. Another sifting of the remains is cruel and inhumane," said Talat Hamdani. Her son, a police cadet, died on Sept. 11. "Sifting the remains will not provide the victims' families closure. On the contrary, it will only cause more pain by reopening their wound and it will inject a feeling of revenge once again in the veins of our nation," she said.
  12. ↑ Sharon Otterman (2012-01-01). "Obscuring a Muslim Name, and an American's Sacrifice". New York Times. p. A17. Archived from the original on 2016-06-20. Retrieved 2016-01-23. And Representative Keith Ellison of Minnesota, one of two Muslim members of Congress, was brought to tears during a Congressional hearing in March while describing how the man, a Pakistani-American from Queens, had wrongly been suspected of involvement in the attacks, before he was lionized as a young police cadet who had died trying to save lives.
  13. ↑ "Muslim American NYPD Cadet Mohammad Salman Hamdani left off 9/11 memorial list". Public Radio International. 2012-01-04. Archived from the original on 2012-01-12. Retrieved 2012-05-01. Talat Hamdani, Hamdani's mother, thinks her son is being overlooked because of his Muslim faith. Talat Hamdani said when her son, also a trained paramedic, rushed to the scene of the attack, he was viewed as a potential terrorist attacker. His picture was circulated and law enforcement were told to detain him for questioning.
  14. 1 2 3 Talat Hamdani (2015-11-23). "Donald Trump insults my son's memory: The mother of an American Muslim first responder who died on 9/11 answers the Republican frontrunner". New York Daily News. Archived from the original on 2016-01-13. Retrieved 2016-01-23. By contrast, across America today, we are witnessing the spectacle of politicians crassly exploiting the tragedies of Paris, Beirut and Russia for selfish political gains. Capitalizing on fear and the considerable ignorance about the Muslim faith among many of our citizens, they are in a rush to the bottom, driving a stampede of prejudicial proposals.
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