Post date: May 02, 2011 5:39:11 PM
Muslims in New York question what's next after Osama bin Laden's death.
NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (MAY 2, 2011) REUTERS - In the mostly Muslim neighborhood of Astoria, in the New York City borough of Queens, there is joy, relief, and worry at the news that al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was killed during an American raid.
The day after the announcement that Bin Laden had been killed in Pakistan, Muslims in New York expressed
mixed emotions on Monday (May 2).Nasr Nour, who moved to New York from Egypt, said it was a happy day.
"I think this is the most happiest day in America, that they catch the leader of terrorists and the guy who makes Islam look bad toward the West and America and everybody, and we live here and we love this country. So I think this this is the most happiest day in our life," said Nour.
In addition to joy, Nour admitted he is also worried.
"I am scared of scared of something. What is the reaction of people after Osama bin Laden? So we should watch. The government here should watch. I'm happy. Everybody's happy, but we should watch what is behind because everything has reactions. We don't know what's the reaction afterwards, but most importantly, he's dead," Nour told Reuters.
Inside a hookah lounge, Ahmed El-Hassan who stopped in for a morning smoke, said he hoped relations between the U.S. and Muslim-Americans will improve.
"Nobody don't like any terrorists here. It's very, very difficult here in New York, especially after September 11. Everybody don't like any Arabic people here. All the community, Arabs, they are feeling like some discrimination after September 11. So I believe everybody's be happy for these news we are listening last night," said El-Hassan.
Along New York City's Steinway Street, where Arab-run businesses sit next to American coffee shops and Mexican restaurants, Muslim workers applauded the news of bin Laden's death.
"I was surprised yesterday to heard he was dead. I think maybe it's a good start for the world. They got rid of somebody and they were looking for him for so long, and spending so much money, sometime he was not even worth it. But thank God, he went to rest. He will get what he deserves from God for whatever he did, and the world will get some peace of mind, and this way we have no more excuses to have somebody creating problems for us and for everybody else," said Driss Lazhar, who works at an accounting business.
A woman who works at a Middle Eastern restaurant, declined to give her name, and said "I don't like it when people die for nothing, I don't like it, the World Trade Center in September. This is no good for any people from any country because Osama bin Laden is no good, he make a wrong. My God he make a wrong."
Osama bin Laden admitted to plotting and financing the September 11 hijacking attacks on the United States. The suicide attacks killed nearly 3,000 people at the World Trade Center in New York, the Pentagon outside Washington, DC, and aboard a hijacked airplane that crashed in Pennsylvania.