Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, January/February 1998, Page 50

Islamic Forum

The Time Has Come to Establish a Coordinating Council of American Islamic Organizations

By Abdurahman Alamoudi

It is clear that the spark lit by the establishment and development of the American Muslim Council and other national and regional U.S. Muslim organizations since 1990 has created a wave of interest in political advocacy work in the American Muslim community. Today there is not a major U.S. city that does not have at least a few prominent Muslim activists or Muslim organizations. This is in addition to the existence of several major Islamic organizations on the national scene, whose activities are covered regularly in the pages of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs.

Healthy Competition

The Holy Qur'an advises and invites all believers to engage in healthy competition to do good deeds and to provide service to the greater community. Healthy competition means to recognize that there are valid alternative approaches to addressing Muslim needs and solving Muslim problems in North America.

As members of the American Muslim community continue to organize politically, we quickly come to two realizations. The first is that we are a diverse community, and that we can use that diversity to our benefit rather than consider it a major obstacle or challenge.

The second realization is that our community is like any other in America in that we have at our disposal the same resources as any other segment of the population. In fact, within our community we have both ultra-liberals and ultra-conservatives. Between these two poles, however, there is a broad swath of American Muslims who share similar goals and priorities.

Obviously, as the American Muslim community grows larger, its members will benefit from some measure of voluntary coordination among the proliferating national and regional groups, particularly those involved in political education, civil rights, and legislative and media monitoring activities. Because some of these groups already have been involved in various local coalitions outside the Muslim community, I believe it is increasingly important to set up now a framework for cooperation and coordination within the diverse American Islamic community itself.

I propose that all of the national Muslim groups form a Council of Presidents of Islamic political and advocacy organizations in North America. To those who point out that this seems to be an imitation of both America's Jewish and Arab communities, I can only point out that both found it necessary and valuable at a certain stage in their development. In my opinion, we American Muslims now have reached that stage. In fact we are at a crucial point in our growth where the need for such a framework for discussion and consensus-reaching on major issues facing our community is more urgent than ever before.

Our ethnic and social composition becomes more diverse every year.

The goal of the council would be to allow all of the diverse local and national organizations to air their views and to participate in reaching a consensus, whenever possible, on issues that affect us all.

Ours is the fastest-growing religion in America, and its ethnic and social composition becomes more diverse every year. As the challenges affecting us all become more complex, we must give priority to avoiding duplication, confusion, conflict and wasting important resources by working at cross-purposes. Moreover, we must begin the process of establishing such a council quickly if we are at least to establish our presence at local levels in this 1998 election year and prepare to make an impact in the national elections of 2000.

We have been working for some time to develop in our community highly professional organizations with specialized expertise that can have measurable effects in their chosen fields. Trying to coordinate these activities for the common good does not mean that we would impose restrictions or obligations on any Muslim individuals or organizations.

We can, however, make a greater joint impact if we pursue our activities with the understanding that each group will devote perhaps 80 percent of its efforts to its own specialties while saving perhaps 20 percent of its resources to work cooperatively with others on important issues facing or affecting the entire Islamic community.

Strategies and Priorities

This can be organized and coordinated through a council of such organizations. A Council of Presidents can be both voluntary and loosely organized, but should come together at least twice a year, perhaps in conjunction with national conventions of the major non-political Muslim organizations, to discuss strategies and set priorities in dealing with major issues facing the general community.

This is a three-to-five-year grand strategy. Before the end of that time America's Islamic leaders may become accustomed to working cooperatively together. Meanwhile, the community as a whole may become accustomed to looking to the council for guidance on how individuals can make their personal contributions more effectively, both to the American Islamic community and to the greater national and religious communities of which it is such an important part.