Muslim and Palestinian Unity Called For at Detroit-Area Events

By Sabah Fakhoury

MAYA Convention Draws 6,200 Muslims to Detroit

More than 6,200 persons from the United States, Canada and abroad attended the 16th Annual Muslim Arab Youth Association Convention in Detroit from Dec. 24 to 28, 1993. The winter convention, which stressed unity between North American and foreign-born Muslims, presented for the first time English-language programs in addition to programs in Arabic.

The change is to better serve American Muslims, organizers said. Although past conventions provided simultaneous translations of the Arabic lectures as well as several lectures in English, the 1993 program was designed to accommodate the increasing attendance by non-Arabic speakers. Another goal of the 1993 MAYA convention was education of all Muslims on the problems of coping with daily life in multicultural societies. Among topics discussed were: "What Does It Mean to be a Muslim?" "Converting to Islam," and "Restructuring the Muslim Family: Solving Husband-Wife Disputes."

"Divorce in the United States is high compared with the Middle East," said Hamed Ghazali, a MAYA organizer. Aside from the usual problems of marriage, there are the problems of "differences in culture" between Muslim couples from different countries.

Convention participants came away with the realization that more American imams (clerics) are needed to bridge the cultural gaps between Muslims of all cultures. "There is greater awareness of Americans within our community," said Norma Tarazi of Columbus, Ohio. A fifth-generation American who embraced Islam, Tarazi says it is important to make "Americans feel more accepted" and to recognize that Americans who accept Islam are "real Muslims," and not just people curious about the religion.

Both fear and mistrust were cited as possible reasons why a gap persists between Muslims from abroad and those born in the United States. "We need to create a comfortable feeling" and self-assurance among American women, especially African Americans, Tarazi said.

Key suggestions provided to convention audiences by Imam Haniza, Yusuf for Muslims to live a better life are to avoid worship of cars, television, materialism and expensive clothes among others.

"It's no accident that TV is called the boob tube," said Imam Yusuf, himself a convert of 20 years.

In recognition of the changing needs of convention participants, Waheed Khalid, former board chairman of the Islamic Public Affairs Council, organized a panel of speakers for the Detroit meeting which included Detroit FBI director Hal N. Helterhoff, chief of community relations Paul Goldenberg of the New Jersey state attorney's office; James Montgomery, Detroit director of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service; and executive editor Richard Curtiss of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. All outlined the rights and protections available to U.S. citizens and participated in question-and-answer sessions designed to help Muslim citizens and legal residents report and obtain redress in cases of religious or racial discrimination or intimidation.

The 1994 MAYA Convention will be held in Chicago. For more information call (800) 347-3210.

Maksoud Calls for Palestinian National Unity at PAS Dinner

"We must regain our sense of Arab national consciousness," regroup and engage in a dialogue, former Arab League Ambassador to the United Nations Clovis Maksoud told 185 persons attending the Palestine Aid Society's (PAS) 15th annual dinner at the First Presbyterian Church on the University of Michigan's Ann Arbor campus on Jan. 21.

Maksoud, who now directs the Center for the Study of the Global South at the American University School of International Services in Washington, DC, called for unity among Arabs abroad as well as in the U.S. "The Arab world at this juncture is going into the 21st century with an 18th century structure," he said. "Arab consciousness of the oneness of our destiny and of our patrimony is the only safeguard for us to restore our rights, our deeds, and our dignity and enter ... the 21st century with our heads raised and our hearts full of compassion toward our people."

"We are always allowed to enjoy the slivers bet never to enjoy the loaf," said Maksoud, a former journalist and lawyer who was the Arab League's chief representative in the United States from 1979 to 1990. He was critical of the current "peace process." Until the United States is able to extract an admission from Israel that it is an occupying power in the West Bank, Gaza, Golan Heights, and in south Lebanon, Maksoud said, "then the whole process is an exercise in diplomatic futility ... It isn't that we do not want to have this process continue. But it is important and crucial that the terms of reference be spelled out clearly and completely. "

Dearborn Speakers Warn Against Excessive Materialism

Detroit's Islamic Center of America and the Henry Ford Community College Department of Religious Studies held a two day conference entitled "Islam in North America: 21st Century" on Jan. 22 and 23 in Dearborn, MI. The aim of the conference was "to educate both Muslims and non-Muslims about Islam from a contemporary point of view," said Khalil Alawan, one of the organizers of the conference.

Between 275 and 300 persons attended each session of the two-day conference. Of these, 40 percent were non-Muslims, Alawan estimated, of whom perhaps 75 percent were Christian and 25 percent were Jewish. "We don't have a hidden agenda, " Alawan said. "We only want to educate people about Islam."

Among the reasons for this conference was the need to cope with the problems American society is facing as it enters the 21st century. Such problems start with either "ignorance or temptation," said imam Mohammad Ali Elahi, director of the Islamic Center of America.

"Mankind today is confused, disoriented, misinformed and aimless, " said Imam Mohammad Al-Asi, director of the Islamic Education Center in Washington, DC. "The world is quickly becoming a place not fit for the human species. " Among the reasons he cited were environmental pollution, racism, political and economic conflicts, and the maldistribution of wealth and resources.

In response to a suggestion from one of the panelists for Muslims to become more American, Imam Abdul Amin, an African- American in the audience, declared that Muslims don't need to change. Muslims are changing America, "in manners of dress and other ways."

Professor Yvonne Haddad of the University of Massachusetts, who is of Syrian-Christian descent, said also that according to the United Nations two-thirds of the refugees of the world are Muslim, due to imposed divisions of the Muslim world.

Professor Haddad estimated that of 1. 5 billion Muslims worldwide, between 5 million and 10 million, from more than 60 countries, now live in North America. Because their growing numbers are seen by some Americans as a threat, Professor Haddad said, "There is a big job ahead for Muslims to define themselves."

Sabah Fakhoury, formerly a Washington, DC based journalist, presently is a graduate student at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.