William A. Crawford

When William A. Crawford took over as Executive Director of the National Committee to Honor the Fourteenth Centennial of Islam—founded by a group of distinguished Americans—his mission was to help enhance the understanding by Americans of a religion and culture that was little talked about in the United States. Within a few weeks, however, more than 50 U.S. diplomats were taken hostage in Iran by disciples of its newly-installed Muslim leader, Ayatollah Rubollah Khomeini. Shortly afterwards in Afghanistan, other Muslims were making headlines by resisting Soviet invasion and occupation of their country. When friends used to commiserate with Ambassador Crawford over the fact that the start-up of his organization coincided with such turmoil in two Muslim nations, he would reply: "But at least we have people's attention. Americans are now interested in learning more about Islam."

That was nearly three years ago. Since then, Ambassador Crawford-whose instinct to search for the silver lining may derive from his 28 years of experience as a diplomat specializing in Middle East affairs-has been instrumental in helping large numbers of Americans broaden their knowledge of the meaning of Islam, its cultural contributions, and its vast diversity. The organization which he directs—usually called Islamic Centennial Fourteen, or simply "ICF"—has done this through its sponsorship of films, exhibitions, public discussions, books and other educational materials, and by acting as a clearing house and source of information for projects planned by other groups.

Islam's Heritage

ICF's most ambitious single project has been a travelling exhibition—the "Heritage of Islam"—which covers 1400 years of art, science and technology from Islamic countries by displaying objects which range from illuminated manuscripts and antique rugs, through pottery and textiles, to delicate glassware and scientific instruments. The exhibition opened in Houston last March 10 and will then visit San Francisco (in July), Boston, Pittsburgh, Washington, D.C. and New York during the next two years.

Other ICF projects have included a panel discussion on primetime television, with an estimated audience of seven million; publication of a book critiquing and indexing all available films in the English language on the subject of Islam; and an exhibition, done jointly with the National Geographic, focusing on three "Symbols of Faith" (as the exhibition was called): Islamic prayer rugs, Jewish menorahs, and Christian icons.

Ambassador Crawford stresses that none of the ICF programs deals with contemporary political issues. "Another thing we don't get involved in," he says, "is scholarly discussion of comparative theology— although we do try to make the point that the similarities of Islam, Judaism and Christianity are far greater than their differences." ICF also tries to get Americans to understand the extent to which Islam is shared as a faith by people from a very large number of different ethnic and cultural groups, stretching from Morocco eastward to Indonesia.

Money Problems

The money to pay for ICF's activities comes from donations by corporations, foundations and individuals. ICF does not accept funds from foreign governments, but it has received grants from the U.S.'s National Endowment for the Humanities and from the International Communications Agency. The only problem is that so far the ICF does not have nearly enough.

"Right now, we're broke," says Ambassador Crawford matter-of-factly. The total amount budgeted for ICF, when it got underway in 1979, was $4.5 million, of which it has raised $2.7 million. About $2 million has already been spent for the "Heritage of Islam" exhibition alone. "It will take another million just to move the exhibition along its U.S. itinerary," Ambassador Crawford says.

Whatever happens in the fund-raising arena, ICF-which was only supposed to be active for a limited period—will go out of business under its present name as soon as the "Heritage of Islam" exhibition finishes its tour in 1984. But before then, Ambassador Crawford says, ICF may begin leading a parallel existence, as it gets a new lease on life from American University, in Washington, D.C. The University wants to absorb ICF as a permanent, autonomous unit under the name "National Institute for Islamic Studies." Ambassador Crawford will not be going with it, however, He, too, is moving on, to become President of Eisenhower Exchange Fellowships, in Philadelphia.

Prior to joining ICF, Ambassador Crawford was a principal deputy assistant secretary of state. Earlier, he had tours as Ambassador to the Yemen Arab Republic and Ambassador to Cyprus. He was born in Philadelphia, is a Harvard graduate, and received a master's degree in Near East studies from the University of Pennsylvania.