Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, September 1998, pages 66-71

Muslim-American Activism

Minaret of Freedom Fund-raising Dinner

Nuclear proliferation is not necessarily bad, according to Professor Ali Mazrui.

“There has to be some degree of nuclear proliferation to shock the present nuclear powers out of their complacency,” said Mazrui, keynote speaker at the Minaret of Freedom Institute’s first annual fund-raising dinner.

The Minaret of Freedom Institute, formed in 1993, describes itself as a Muslim think tank whose goal is to educate leaders about the roles that economics, justice, liberty and free trade play in a community. The institute sponsors an exchange program between Muslim scholars in America and those in Muslim countries around the world. The institute also produces position papers on Islamic topics which have been presented in such diverse forums as the Vatican and the World Bank.

By bringing in speakers like Mazrui, the institute hopes to raise awareness of Muslim issues, while also seeking to break down distortions and stereotypes of Muslims and Islam.

Mazrui, a native Kenyan, has written over 20 books in his career as an academic and has taught on 5 continents. He holds a B.A. from Manchester University, a master’s degree from Columbia University, and a Ph.D. from Oxford University. His recent work includes the series “Africans,” which was produced and shown by PBS.

Following recent nuclear tests by India and Pakistan, Professor Mazrui’s address, entitled “Islamic Dilemmas: Human Rights vs. the Right to Nuclear Weapons,” offered the audience a challenging look at nuclear proliferation and what could be the next step in addressing it. According to Mazrui, global disarmament may be achieved not by limiting weapons, but through the acquisition of weapons by those who are not present nuclear powers.

“Why are the five nuclear powers allowed to possess these weapons and no one else is allowed to, and why should NATO have three nuclear powers?” he asked.

His response to the NATO dilemma is to have two of the three give up their weapons. While noting that the U.S. reduced its nuclear stockpile following the Cold War, Mazrui sees it as a pragmatic rather than a moral move. “The U.S. did not start getting rid of these weapons because they are evil, but because the Cold War was over and they didn’t need as many anymore,” he said.

But at the heart of it, Mazrui maintains that proliferation among weaker countries is merely a shortcut toward the goal of global disarmament. “I certainly don’t see it [proliferation] as a long-term security solution, but as a temporary shock out of complacency for the existing nuclear powers,” he said.

In terms of the nuclear status of the Arab world, Mazrui believes that nuclear inferiority affects much more than the military strength of a country. “Nuclear inferiority in the Arab world could definitely affect a lack of democracy and help support dictatorial regimes,” he noted. This feeling of inferiority, according to Mazrui, is the driving force behind the recent nuclear tests by Pakistan and India.

Mazrui finished his address with a comment both to and about India. “Secretary Albright says the bomb won’t make you important. She is lying; it will. India just wants to feel as important as China is.”

He concluded, “As long as [nuclear weapons] are possessed by some, there will be a reason for others to acquire them.”

—Rob Swanson

Chicago’s Young Muslim Women Find Support at “Sisters” Program of Muslim Youth Center in Bridgeview

The southwest side of Chicago, and its neighboring suburbs have experienced a steady influx of Muslims moving into the area over recent years. The first generation of Muslim Americans, who are children of immigrants from all over the world, are now grown, and many have children of their own. The leaders of the Mosque Foundation in suburban Bridgeview have pondered for a long time how to facilitate the needs of the Muslim youth here, who are assimilating into this secular society without preserving their Islamic identity.

Nazir Shaheen has tried to combat this problem for several years. His determination, along with the help of others like Besman Dahlah, led to the opening of the Muslim Youth Center (MYC).

The Mosque Foundation’s board of directors approved a proposal for buying a building near the mosque and renovating it to accommodate several recreational features like an indoor basketball court, a workout area, pool and ping-pong tables, and a social area for group prayer and discussion. Adjacent to the Youth Center is the Library of the Mosque Foundation, which houses a wide selection of texts in both English and Arabic.

The first of its kind, the MYC was opened in 1995 to the delight of many teenagers who felt that they finally had a place where they could hang out without being stigmatized or without being exposed to the corrupting ills that face so many of our nation’s youth.

Probably the most significant of MYC’s successes has been the ongoing development of the “Sisters” program. The MYC is open for boys on some days and for girls on others. The center is strictly segregated, and that is just fine with everybody there. “There is no pressure here on you whatsoever,” remarks one of the female members, “I feel relaxed when I come here, and I feel really good about myself when I leave.” Jamila, a Filipina-American sister who volunteers at the MYC, remarks, “You can really feel the sense of unity here; our Islamic beliefs teach us that we are all sisters, regardless of our ethnicity.

Emal Ali, the program coordinator and personal counselor for the sisters, goes out of her way to make every new girl who comes in feel at home. “I can always spot a new face, and when I do, either I or one of the other volunteers welcomes her and introduces her to everybody else. We get girls in here who have made mistakes in their lives. Our community is not immune to the social problems that plague America. Here at the MYC, we try to offer support and advice to sisters with problems of all kinds, while at the same time exposing them to an Islamic environment.”

Emal’s determination to improve the lives of the sisters at the MYC by bringing them closer to Islam, is personified by the drastic change in the life of Nedaa Alwawi.

When Nedaa first came to the MYC, she knew little about her religion, and she didn’t wear hijab (modest Muslim female attire). With time, Nedaa increased her knowledge of Islam. This led to her performing the five daily prayers. That, in turn, led her to dressing in an Islamic manner.

Nedaa’s actions have had a great impact on her family, especially her father, who only started praying after his daughter started. She says that none of this would have been possible without both the grace of Allah, and the guidance of Emal.

“Emal became my mentor in Islam,” says Nedaa. “She helped open my eyes and my heart to the beauty of Islam.”

This sentiment was echoed by all of the girls at the MYC.

The programs at the Muslim Youth Center are designed to teach the sisters about Islam, as well as to teach them the importance of discipline and unity through a number of positive activities. These programs and activities include: basketball tournaments, Islamic “Jeopardy,” rap sessions, and Qiyam Al-Layl (all night prayer services).

“I really like the Islamic programs, and I like the fact that you can practice your deen (religion) here,” says 14-year-old Halema Hasan.

Adla Abu Nada says she likes the fact that everyone here sticks together. “There are no cliques here, we are all members of a large sisterhood,” she explains.

A large sisterhood indeed. The MYC’s sisters program has a membership of over 200, and that number is rising every week.

The lessons that the sisters learn here really help them battle peer pressure from non-Muslim friends, as well as equip them with the knowledge that they need in order to undo ignorant stereotypes about Muslims, especially those who wear hijab . One cannot help but be impressed with the tremendous achievements of the MYC’s sisters program. With the blessing of Allah, the future will be much brighter for its members, and, in turn, the community as a whole.

—Raeed N. Tayeh

James Bill Analyzes “Islam and Politics in the Gulf” at UASR Program

Prof. James Bill of William and Mary University presented a complex and disturbing analysis of “Islam and Politics in the Gulf” in a June 5 program at the United Association for Studies and Research headquarters in Springfield, Virginia.

Describing a number of visits to the eight states of the Persian Gulf over several years, where he built up not only a network of contacts but also developed a rapport with them based upon trust and confidence, Bill reported: “I found an Islamic resurgence in a very big way; I found the power of Islam in the air.” As a scholar rather than a polemicist, however, Bill’s listing of the specifics of his findings was more of a cautionary measure against jumping to conclusions than a guide to what may transpire in the near future in a region containing more than 60 percent of the world’s energy resources.

“The Persian Gulf is not a barrier or an obstacle, but a crossroad,” Bill, the author of The Eagle and the Lion, a book on the shah’s Iran, and numerous other works, told the audience of Islamic scholars and Middle East specialists. “It is a place where Shi’i adjoins Sunni” and “Persian is the language of trade and discourse in the souqs in the Gulf states.”

Of the eight Gulf states, two, Iraq and Iran, “have had their revolutions.” while the six Arab states of the Gulf Cooperation Council remain “traditional, family-run regimes.” He described them as “like ice cream—frozen, with the sugar and all about to melt” and compared them to “whooping cranes flying in stormy skies with the American eagle flying point.”

“Iran is the hegemon of the Persian Gulf,” Bill asserted. “It is the major piece of real estate separating the countries of Central Asia from the Gulf. Therefore, instead of focusing on the Gulf as one large oil reservoir, I want to focus on the people and how they have survived.”

They have had “fairly astute traditional leaders,” Bill continued, “and they have had oil. This oil, converted into resources, has enabled them to buy time. But when you look at other factors for instability, there is considerable reason for concern.”

Among factors for instability in various parts of the Gulf he listed the problems of “citizens and non-citizens, Ajamis [Persians] and Arabs, Shi’i and Sunni, differing schools of Shi’i thought.”

Narrowing his focus to specific countries, Bill listed the contrasts among the Kuwaitis: members of the ruling Al Sabah family and non- members; Kuwaiti citizens and non-citizens; first-class and second- class citizens, Muslim fundamentalists and secular nationalists.

Citing Kuwait’s situation after the Aug. 3, 1990 Iraqi invasion, Bill explained: “During the Iraqi occupation of Kuwait, two thirds of the Sameds [steadfast resisters] who stayed behind and fought were Shi’i. They stayed and fought and were killed. They proved their loyalty to the Al Sabahs, but they still aren’t trusted. Professors at Kuwait University said ‘our biggest problem is that we don’t know who we are. It is a problem of identity.’”

Turning to other Gulf countries he described Bahrain, with a Sunni ruling family but a heavily Shi’i population as “an armed camp.”

“There are clusters of various serious problems facing Gulf states,” Bill continued. “The traditional six Gulf states have yet to determine who they are and where they’re going.”

Describing the area’s “Islamic resurgence” Bill said that “the number of mosques quadrupled in a 10-year period...But there are several Islams. There is establishment or official Islam on one hand, and populist Islam on the other hand. There is the Islam of Saddam [Hussain] and Mubarak, of the sheikhs, and of the Saudis.”

“Religion,” Bill continued, “is like a falcon. Whoever captures and trains it can hunt with it.” He cited what he called “Mullahs with Mercedes.”

“The other is the Islam of the oppressed and those having a hard time making it.” Bill continued. “This is populist Islam.” Bill in turn divided “populist Islam” into “puritanical Islam” and “reformist Islam.”

“Populist Islam is extremist Islam, authority-centered, hierarchical, doctrinaire,” he said. “It rides the crest of crises and bursts forward where traditional systems are disabled.”

Bill described “reformist Islam’ as that of “al Afghani and even Khatami...a very real force although many deny its existence.

“Note that these categories cut right across the Sunni and Shi’i division,” Bill said. Noting that there are “five populist Islamic groups in the Gulf,” he stated also that 76 percent of the citizens in the Gulf are Shi’i. This is the religion of the vast majority of Iranians, who outnumber all of the Arabs of the Gulf; of a slight majority among Iraqis, the second most populous Gulf nation; and of more than one million Shi’i in Saudi Arabia.

Noting that Shi’i Muslims make up 4 to 6 percent of the population of Oman and 10 to 12 percent of the population of Saudi Arabia, Bill declared, “wherever you find Shi’i, you have oil.”

Further, Bill said, the Shi’i “are completely dedicated to their belief. They have a mindset of solidarity.” In addition to their demographic advantage, he said, they have wealth and organization and “family networks of Shi’i crisscross the Gulf.” He cited the Al Fardan, Al Tajer and Al Hadad families as examples.

However, Bill said, close relationships between the Sunni regimes and the Shi’i upper classes also mean that “there will be no one to represent the poor Shi’i.”

Further, Bill warned, “the U.S. has sided with establishment Islam. This puts the U.S. squarely in the path of popular forces bubbling up. This has pressed the reformers more and more into the extremist camp.

“I’m not sure that there is much understanding of this,” Bill concluded. “But if we can’t understand it, how successful can our policies be? It is very difficult to deal with people without understanding them.”

Although Bill’s listing of the complexities of the Gulf “crossroads” was meant as a cautionary lecture for U.S. policymakers, it also elicited skepticism and even hostility among Muslim members of his audience. Some compared the factors he had listed to real or fancied obstacles raised by the “Orientalists” of the past to Arab unity or an Islamic renaissance.

The widely varying reactions to his talk, and the frequently heated ensuing discussion carried a moral of its own. Neither Bill nor any members of his varied audience had a good word to say about the existing dual containment policy presently being pursued by the United States in the Gulf. But those who know and understand the area disagree among themselves as to what course the United States should take, and even whether the U.S. should adopt an activist or passive stance.

Bill offered a painstakingly researched, in-depth charting of the Gulf’s troubled waters. But, it left most of his listeners in doubt as to whether, at present, the area is navigable at all for the American ship of state, particularly given the doubtful qualifications of its current crew.

—Richard Curtiss

ICNA Creates Joyful Family Atmosphere at July Convention in Pittsburgh

“Rediscovering the Family—An Islamic Perspective” was the theme of the 23rd annual convention of the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) held in the Pittsburgh Convention Center over the July 4 weekend. The convention was attended by between 5,000 and 7,000 people coming from all over the United States, and particularly the eastern seaboard.

The convention opened with the Ju mu’ah prayer in which Dr. Muhammad Yunus, ameer of ICNA, emphasized the importance of family life in Islam. Welcoming the participants, Dr. Yunus described the convention as an “extended family” for every Muslim through which all members can cooperate and learn from each other. He urged participants to attend all sessions in order to make their stay at the ICNA convention fruitful.

Convention sessions dealt with a rich variety of family issues and concerns. Topics included manners and morals of family life; Muslim youth—transition to activism and the role of parents; fiqh of Muslim family; and parenting in America as a Muslim.

In a heavily attended bridge-building session, a panel discussion was held presenting Muslim, Christian and Jewish perspectives on family values. President Abdul Mawjoud, of the Islamic Center of Pittsburgh, explained that Pittsburgh represents an ideal example of Muslim, Christian and Jewish relations. “I believe that the city of Pittsburgh can be made a model city where Muslims, Christians and Jews can come together to a common understanding,” he said.

Father Frank D. Almade, from the Catholic diocese in Pittsburgh, talked about family tasks in Christianity. “I think that in the issue of family, there is an opportunity for people of many different faiths and even perhaps those without faith to be able to come together and see how we can try to form a society in which understanding and cooperation come about,” he said. Rabbi Andrew Bush of the Temple of Road of Shalom discussed Jewish teachings regarding family concepts, noting that family is considered one of the highest values in Judaism.

A late evening program, performed and moderated entirely by teen-age boys, consisted of a dramatized warning to parents to find time for their children, and particularly to listen to their concerns and problems. The youthful cast members performed a skit illustrating the ease with which young men can fall into bad company or into the drug culture around them, and the tragic consequences that can ensue.

A workshop on media relations focused on developing skills necessary to establish a mutually beneficial relationship with media. Jibril Amin, member of the ICNA media committee, discussed ICNA media organizational efforts. “As a new organization, we at ICNA are still learning mechanisms of how to work with the media,” Amin said. “We want to articulate the true image of Islam and the Muslim Ummah in modern vocabulary and form,” Amin said.

Richard Curtiss, executive editor of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, talked about his journalistic experiences focusing on how his perception of the Middle East changed after serving as press attaché at American embassies in the region. “I found myself totally out of sympathy with American foreign policy in the Middle East,” he said.

As for the mainstream American media, “there is a media bias when it gets into the Israeli/Palestinian problem,” he said, “and, unfortunately, it results in negative treatment of and hostility to Islam.” He gave examples of how Muslim communities can work with the local media to achieve positive reporting of Muslim holidays and community activities, and he urged participants to contact publications and radio and television stations to correct factual errors or misreporting about Islam and the Middle East.

Dr. Ahmedullah Siddiqi, a member of the ICNA organizing committee, discussed the positive roles Muslims could play in the media. “News about Muslims and Islam should not just happen, we should make it happen,” Siddiqi argued. In order to know how to deal with the media, Muslims should have good knowledge of individuals responsible for community events and news, knowledge of acceptable formats for their messages, and understanding of deadlines and media pressures.

Besides sessions that focused on family issues, the ICNA convention hosted seminars and workshops on a wide range of topics that interest Muslims in the U.S. such as Da’wah concepts, intercultural interactions, and parenting skills. Parallel sessions were also held for young Muslims who participated heavily in various activities prepared by ICNA.

The Islamic bazaar hosted more than 150 exhibitors who filled the exhibition area with different ethnic and cultural items. The bazaar included a great variety of bookstores and publications and a good representation of various Islamic humanitarian and human rights organizations. Booths concerning the Kosovo and Algerian problems proved particularly interesting to the bazaar’s visitors. (See photo displays on inside front and back covers.)

Focusing on family issues, the convention was a gathering of families with roots in different parts of the world and residences in different parts of the United States, but all enjoying the food, the music, and the joyful ambiance. The spacious Convention Center hallways were filled with visitors and their children.

ICNA therefore succeeded in its total goal of bringing Muslim families together and making them aware of the importance of family in Islam. The beautiful Islamic atmosphere the convention portrayed was an equally remarkable achievement.

Other speakers included Imam Khalid Griggs, Dr. Amer Al-Shawa, Imam Mohammad Naseem, Imam Siraj Wahhaj, Rev. Gary Dinning, Rev. Art MacDonald, Dr. Jamal Badawi, Ama Shabazz, Dr. Francis Leap, Shamim Siddiqi, Dr. Zulfiqar Ali Shah, Dr. Ahmed Murad, Dr. Abdulah Idrees Ali, Ashraf Uz Zaman Khan, Zahid Mehmud, Nasheed Latif, Wali Alam, Dr. Islam Hussain, Dr. Mukhtar Maghraoui, Imam Plemon El-Amin, Dr. Omar Afzal, Sheikh Ali Sulayman Ali, Dr. Abdul Warith Saeed, Sheikh Abu Bakr, Abdul Malik Mujahid, Faraz Iqbal, Afia Sarwar, Tahmina Saleem, Zerqa Zafar, Aisha Muhammed, Ayesha Sheema, Abid Saffet Catovic, Nafees Khan, Tariqur Rahman, Taria Yoonus, Jawad Jafry, professor Khurshid Ahmed, Shaik Ubaid, Safia Griggs, Imam Al-Amin Abdul Latif, Aalim Fevens, Nouman Siddiqi, Fakhir Baig, Mohamed Salem, and Altaf Hussain.

—Raja’ M. Abu-Jabr

American Muslim Council Attracts Top Speakers and Serious Audience To Its June Convention in Washington

“Strengthening our Common Ground” was the theme of the American Muslim Council’s national seventh annual convention held at the Hilton Washington National Airport Hotel in Crystal City, VA June 25-28. As always, the convention started on Capitol Hill with a long day of lobbying sessions by participants with their congressional representatives.

Another feature was a June 26 White House briefing held at the Old Executive Office Building by Islam Siddiqui, deputy assistant secretary of agriculture. This Muslim official discussed actions taken by the administration of President Bill Clinton to improve the situation of the Muslim community in the U.S. Siddiqui praised the efforts of the American Muslim Council in “educating the American Muslim community and especially in representing the interests of the Muslims in Washington, DC.”

John E. Collingwood, assistant director at the Office of Public and Congressional Affairs of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and an FBI spokesperson distributed to the audience a text introducing “today’s FBI.” The FBI representatives focused on general policies of the FBI, declining to address specific issues of interest to the Muslim community. This did not stop members of the audience from raising questions and expressing their concerns about instances of discrimination and harassment issues against Muslims in the United States.

In a morning session entitled “Assessing U.S. Policy in the Muslim World,” Ambassador Walid al-Moualem of Syria discussed recent developments of the Middle East peace process. “We want peace, we are not running away from peace,” he explained. John Esposito, founding director of the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University in Washington, DC, Ambassador Riaz Khokhar of Pakistan and Hesham N. Reda, Washington director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) were other speakers at the same session.

Washington Report writer M.M. Ali, a senior fellow at the Center for Planning and Policy Analysis, spoke at the second session on “American Muslims and Political Empowerment.” Arguing that “America may not be the Promised Land, but it is a land of promises,” Ali urged American Muslims to stand up and be counted, as they already are becoming a highly significant feature on the American horizon. “The United States offers a fertile ground not only for the survival but also for the flourishing of the Muslim community,” he said.

At a luncheon with the media, CNN international correspondent Octavia Nasr; Turki al-Shebanah, chief executive officer of the Arab Network of America; and Alexander Kronemer, a writer and lecturer on Islam, recalled some of their media experiences to illustrate to American Muslims the importance of reaching the media and to describe methods to do so. The luncheon meeting was followed by a session on “Islam and the Media.”

The American Muslim Council provided a rich program of parallel sessions which included “Why Should I Become A Public Servant?”; “Muslim Population in the United States”; “Politics on Campus: Making a Difference”; “and “Muslim Women in the Public Arena.” With more than 600 participants in the convention, all the sessions were heavily attended.

Saturday’s activities concluded with a discussion of Muslim teachings and values in Islamic civilization by Prince Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz, ambassador of Saudi Arabia and dean of the Washington diplomatic corps, and an engaging speech by Hollywood film director Moustafa Akkad, producer of “Lion of the Desert” and “The Message.” Akkad spoke about his experiences while making “The Message” and the larger experience of being a Muslim film director in the West. “We are very grateful to be in the United States of America because we got the chance to express ourselves,” Akkad said.

In an informative session about Jerusalem, Dr. Yvonne Haddad, from the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University, talked about the “ethnic cleansing” of Jerusalem.“At the moment, in Jerusalem, ethnic cleansing really is proceeding without hesitation,” she said. In recounting Israeli acts against Christians and Muslims, Haddad argued that Israel is pursuing the de-Islamizing and de-Christianizing of Jerusalem. Haddad urged participants in the convention to become activists in shaping politics in the U.S. “We need to have voting blocs that can actually help elect or defeat some of the people running for office,” she said.

Ambassador Andrew Killgore, publisher of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, talked about his experiences while he was assigned to the American Consulate General in Jerusalem. He discussed the Mamillah Road cemetery, the largest Muslim cemetery in Palestine in which companions of the Prophet, mujahedeen in the army of the Prophet who occupied Jerusalem in 638 B.C., and mujahedeen in Salah Eddin al-Ayyoubi’s army, which retook Jerusalem from the Crusaders, are buried. The Israelis were destroying this cemetery one section at a time during the period in which he served in Jerusalem, Killgore said, without arousing any notice, much less criticism, in the Western media.

Killgore argued that though the current situation of Jerusalem and Palestine seems very bleak, a look into the close future would indicate hope and positive change. Killgore concluded his speech by quoting Dr. Edward Said in his article “Scenes from Palestine,” published in the May issue of the Washington Report, saying “the Palestinians are still there!”

Dr. Rashid Khalidi, director of the Center for International Studies at the University of Chicago and the president of the American Committee on Jerusalem, discussed historic and current aspects of the Jerusalem issue. “As an American, I am profoundly ashamed that this country has taken such a disgraceful position on the issue of Jerusalem,” Khalidi said. Referring to the Israeli measures to destroy Christian and Muslim Arab existence in Jerusalem, Khalidi said that the numbers of Arabs actually have increased in Jerusalem, and that is why Israel is taking its current steps to expand Jerusalem’s western and eastern borders.

Khalidi criticized the Palestinian leadership and Arab and Muslim states for doing little to rescue the city of Jerusalem. He said, however, that much of the force for change in regard to the issue of Jerusalem would have to come from inside the United States.

The AMC paid special attention to Muslim relief organizations in the U.S. Muthanna Alhanooti, president of the International Relief Association (Life); Shukri Abu Bakr, director of the Holy Land Foundation; and Umar al-Qadi from Mercy International gave brief presentations about the humanitarian relief programs they are carrying out.

Former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark gave the concluding speech of the AMC convention. “From my experience, there is a profound prejudice against Islam,” the former Johnson administration official declared. He cited the sanctions imposed on the Iraqis, the one-sided U.S. handling of the Middle East peace process, and negative stereotypes of Palestinians and Muslims in the U.S. “We need you Muslims desperately to get the message out,” Clark said. “We can reconcile if we can understand what Islam is. We need you to show the world that Islam stands for humanity and that it uses the word of God to help us all.”

AMC’s seventh annual national convention demonstrated both organizational ability and political maturity. Involving “young speakers” in the main sessions was a prominent feature that impressed many of the participants. The harmony existing between former AMC executive director Abdulrahman Alamoudi and his successor, executive director Atif Harden, was illustrated by the productive nature of the sessions, and the satisfaction expressed by the participants.

—Raja’ M. Abu-Jabr