The concepts and ideas that have recently gained currency amongst US Muslims give expression to the pressure they have been subjected to in the wake of the events of September 11, a pressure that amounted to the infringement of their rights and civil freedoms. Readers of The Crucible, a popular classic novel by the well known US author Arthur Miller, can draw a parallel between the ordeal of the townspeople of Salem and the current ordeal of Muslims and Arabs in the United States of America.

Lessons Ignored

The events in The Crucible take place in Salem, a small religious town in the US colony of Massachusetts, in the late 17^th century, and follow the crisis that took the town by storm in 1692. In the space of a few months, this crisis resulted in the execution of dozens of the townspeople and the imprisonment of hundreds more; caught up in the frantic hysteria that gripped the town, falsely accusing one another of selling their souls to the Devil and swearing allegiance to him.

The novel draws on the lifestyle of the Puritans, followers of a religious sect who immigrated to America from England in the early 17^th century in fear for their religion that advocated the return of Christianity to its purest form. The Puritans, known for their strict religious adherence, committed themselves to the literal interpretation of the gospel and its application to their daily lives. They had an overwhelming fear of committing sin and constantly scoured their souls, and their neighbours, exacting public confessions. The Puritans had strong faith in the power of the Lord, His control over all aspects of human life, the severity of His punishment, and the limited number of people whom He will choose to admit into Paradise. The Puritans were known for their diligence and dedication to work, which led to their financial success and helped them face the hardships of the New World.

They gave priority to the interests of the group over those of the individual and endeavored to apply the teachings and moral values of their religion to all aspects of their private and public lives. This resulted in the division of their society into two groups (the “good” and the “bad”) and entrenched the concept of “with-us” versus “against-us” in the thinking of the society. The few who dared to openly declare their disagreement were condemned to destruction, particularly when religious fundamentalism dominated the thinking of the government of the Massachusetts colony.

Historians believe that the Puritans’ extremism and isolation, difficulties and challenges of the New World, the change in the economic situation, and the concept of freedom that swept through the United State of America contributed to the break down of the Puritans’ society in the 19^th Century, although remnants of their heritage and values survived and can be seen in US public life today, e.g. the importance and sanctity of work and the tendency to view public life from a religious and moral perspective.

The Plot

According to the story, the town’s priest stumbles upon a group of teenage girls (including his daughter Betty) who are dancing wildly in the woods in their jovial attempt to communicate with the Devil and ask him to fulfill their dreams.

Upon seeing her father, Betty faints from shock and cannot be revived for a long time. Meanwhile, her father interrogates their relative Abigail and their black servant girl, who were with the dancing girls but deny any knowledge of what had happened to little Betty. As time passes, the priest becomes increasingly anxious for his daughter. Not knowing what is ailing her, he fears that the townspeople will attribute her sickness to being possessed by an evil spirit--a common belief among the townspeople owing to the dominance religious fear has over their lives--and their ignorance and lack of knowledge of modern day medicine.

When the priest departs to lead the congregation in prayer, the teenagers gather around Betty’s bed and fearfully promise one another never to reveal their secret because of their fear of reprisals from the townspeople and Abigail, their ring leader, who is domineering and rebellious. Meanwhile Betty awakes, and is threatened by the girls around her who tell her not to reveal their secret. Frightened, she screams so loud that her screams interrupt the congregational prayer and runs to throw herself out of the window. Thus, this incident serves to strengthen the people’s suspicion that Betty is possessed by the Devil. Aided by a friend, the priest tortures the servant to force her to confess that she had communicated with the Devil and led him to possess the priest’s daughter.

Under duress, the servant falsely confesses that she has communicated with the Devil and was forced to conspire with him to possess Betty’s soul and kill the priest, but she resisted and refused because of her love for and loyalty to her master. Hearing this, the priest breathes a sigh of relief as half of his mission is accomplished. The second half is to interrogate the poor servant to find out the extent of her relationship with the Devil, the depth of the conspiracy, and the role of the other girls. Pained and indignant, the servant makes false accusations, framing some of the womenfolk whom she dislikes, or who are disliked by the townspeople.

When the immoral Abigail sees the attention given to the servant, she rushes to confess in the midst of the gathering, that she too had seen the Devil, and that being familiar with the conspiracy and those who had planned it she is willing to expose them in order to save herself from the Devil and return to the Lord. Soon, the other girls follow suite; they all have enemies whom they want to get back at, and thus the witch hunt begins.

Run by religious extremists, the Massachusetts government intervened and tried those accused of being in league with the Devil and communicating with him. The accused had only two choices: either to plead innocent and stand trial on a charge punishable by hanging or falsely confess to the charge and expose the Devil’s allies in order for them to be tried.

Some pleaded guilty either to avoid punishment or because they could not rebut the charges leveled against them, it was not easy to provide evidence that they had not communicated with the Devil. Others voluntarily claimed to be guilty in order to exact revenge against individuals they hated, wanted to inherit from, or disagreed with. Some opportunists went as far as encouraging their children to admit guilt in order to take revenge on their enemies.

Many honest individuals among the accused preferred death to implicating innocent people and living with the accusation of being in league with the Devil hanging over their heads. The accusations and the trials spiraled and implicated so many individuals that the townspeople tired and started to revolt against the court and the priest--Abigail stole his money and sneaked away one night. Realizing the crisis at its doorstep, the court tried to put an end to the process through offering bribes to some of the accused in return for false confessions in order to spare their lives. The story ends when one of the honest heroes chooses death in order to protect his reputation and that of his children.

From Communism to Islam

Arthur Miller did not live through the ordeal of the town of Salem that occurred during the late 17^th century, but he lived through the crisis of the McCarthy era and witnessed the hysteria against communism, which motivated him to write The Crucible in the 1950s. Taking advantage of the anti-communist frenzy that swept through the United States of America after the Second World War, US senator Joseph McCarthy fanned this hysteria when in 1953 he formed a congressional committee to examine the root of sympathetic sentiments towards communism, and to remove those who had communist leanings. Investigations followed and an intensive search for those sympathetic to communism ensued. The number of suspects increased rapidly, and suspects were pressurized into admitting their guilt and turning on their associates to avoid persecution. This situation heightened the sentiment that communism controlled US society and further inflamed anti-communist hysteria. The noble among the accused, who refused to admit to crimes they had not committed, were blacklisted and severely punished.

The novel’s connotations and symbolism became part of US heritage, and the story came to represent a symbol of the ordeal that innocent people experience throughout the world during times of crisis. Teaching this novel has become an important factor in creating awareness among the people of the United States of America, and other nations, to the danger of the Puritans’ beliefs and their views of humanity from a polarized perspective.

It is interesting to note that some university professors have taught The Crucible to their students this year, directly linking it to the suffering of Muslims and Arabs in the United States of America.

In conclusion, the following points highlight some of the notions that could be useful in understanding the reasons behind the current suffering of Muslims and Arabs in the United States.

1. The state of intolerance caused by the fundamentalism of the Puritans led to the division of the society: the party of the Lord and that of the Devil. This intolerance caused the townspeople to shy away from criticizing any injustices for fear of being labeled “supporters of the Devil’s party.” Many people realized the injustice of the courts and the invalidity of the evidence on which the accusations were based but did not have the courage to object because of their fear of reprisal.

2. The Puritans’ fundamentalism proved catastrophic when it was adopted by a governing body that had the authority to interpret and apply the law as it deemed fit and had the power and the means to arrest individuals, convict and execute them.

3. Extremists and opportunists thrive on the hysteria that renders people incapable of reasoning and applying logic, thus setting them up to suspect their neighbours. It also provides opportunists with the chance to express their deeply seated hatred for their opponents and take revenge against them.

4. The actions taken by opportunists and extremists during a crisis have nothing to do with religion or sacred principles. It is a malicious endeavor to achieve political power at the expense of moral values and ethics.

5. The legal system that governments put into place during a crisis may be far from conducive to the establishment of justice, owing to the system’s dependence on accusations made by informants and false confessions by both the opportunists and the persecuted.

6. When extreme views like those of the Puritans prevail, then it is easy for events such as those that took place in Salem to occur.

7. The Crucible highlights an important concept that may prevail during times of crisis. It is the concept of a witch-hunt in the form of a political campaign; a campaign aimed at removing opponents in order to achieve political gain at a time when panic and irrational fear are rife--a campaign which Muslims and Arabs in the United States of America have fallen victim to.

*This article was written for The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)

Alaa Bayoumi is the manager of the Arabic Affairs Department,Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)

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