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No Substitute
for Personal
Encounters
by Thomas Ryan,
C.S.P.
I spent the
Labor Day
weekend at the
Rosemont
Convention
Center in
Chicago with
over 30,000
Muslims who were
participating in
the annual
conference of
the Islamic
Society of North
America (ISNA).
ISNA is the only
Islamic
organization in
the world that
has succeeded in
bringing
together the
diverse groups
of Muslims:
Arab-South
Asian;
Black-White;
Shi'a-Sunni. The
event,
established in
1963, combines
learning—120
workshops on a
wide-variety of
mostly
non-political
subjects—with
celebration in
the form of art,
film festival,
and literary
entertainment.
As Mary Vaccaro
said in her
article, “As
important as it
is for
Christians to
learn about
Islam, it is
even more
important for us
to come to know
Muslim people.”
The weekend
afforded me the
opportunity to
listen to
Muslims talk
with one another
about things
that are on
their minds, and
to converse with
them over meals,
as well as
before and after
the sessions. Of
irreplaceable
value in this is
that the
personal
encounter
humanizes the
“other” who has
to some
extent—whether
we admit it or
not--been
stereotyped in
our minds by
media
impressions. Add
to this the
insight and
perspectives
that come just
by listening and
asking
questions. Some
examples:
If I had heard
just one speaker
say, “Our
mission in life
is not to
convert people
to Islam or to
save humanity,
but to influence
humanity to open
to Allah who can
save it,” I
might have said,
“yeah, right….”
and stayed with
the stereotype
of a hidden
Muslim agenda to
convert America.
But I heard
three different
speakers say the
same thing in
different and
unrelated
sessions.
The former,
reformist
President of
Iran, Mohammad
Khatami, made
his own
contribution to
that theme in
addressing a
plenary session:
"There is a
great
opportunity of
dialogue and
cooperation
among people of
faith," Khatami
said. "But I
mean people of
true faith. I
don't mean
extremists and
terrorists.
Public opinion
can be rescued
from the grips
of ignorance and
blunder, and the
domination of
arrogant,
war-mongering
and
violence-triggering
policies will
end." He told
the packed
plenary that
Muslims must
forge a new
identity that
embraces the
modern world,
tolerates other
religions and
works toward
peace.
Echoes and
Insights
Against the
backdrop of the
daily news
reports of
internecine
killings in
Baghdad, I
listened with
interest to
Sunni and Shi'a
Muslims talk
about their
differences in a
workshop titled
The Prospect of
Sunni-Shi'a
Repprochement..
There were
moments when it
seemed as though
I was at the
National
Workshop on
Christian Unity
listening to a
panel of
Catholic and
Protestant
theologians
discuss the
Reformation and
what it will
take for us to
be one Church
again.
“Shi'is are
guilty of
denigrating
certain
companions of
the Prophet
(Muhammad),”
said one Sunni
speaker, “and
they must repent
and reform.”
When a woman
stood up in the
question period
and said, “I
would like to
see no Sunni and
no Shia—just
Muslim, with two
separate schools
of thought,” the
crowd applauded.
In moments like
that, the will
of the moderate
Muslim on the
street comes
through. And I
could relate: I
would like to
see Christians
stand together
within one
Church with
acknowledged
different
traditions of
Christian faith.
In a session on
Answering
Difficult But
Frequently Asked
Questions About
Islam, I got
another angle on
why Muslims take
a pass on Jesus'
death and
resurrection.
What I have
previously been
given to
understand is
that for God to
be hungry,
thirsty, tired,
tortured is
unthinkable. So
as the Qur'an
says, “It so
appeared to
them” (emphasis
mine) that he
died. But the
answer that the
speaker, Jamal
Badawi, gave was
that the issue
is not whether a
prophet could
die such a
death—several
have, he
said—but that
there is no
concept of
inherited sin in
Islam, and
therefore no
need for
atonement.
“Whether Jesus
died or not
doesn't make any
difference to
our faith.
Crucifixion just
isn't
theologically
important for
Muslims as it is
for Christians.”
Windows into
Human Struggles
The film
festival,
featuring a
dozen short
films produced
by young Muslim
adults, provided
a window into
various problems
the Islamic
community is
coping with in
North America.
One, entitled
“The Highway,”
personalized the
statistics of
the Humdard
Center that 30%
of Muslim
women—single,
married,
widowed—leave
home because
they are not
given basic
rights. It
displayed the
story of a young
woman of
Pakistani
background in
her final
semester of
college in
America who runs
away from home
because her
parents, while
living in the
U.S., had
arranged for her
to go back to
Pakistan to
marry someone
she had never
met. The final
frame of the
film displayed
the statement:
“Islam supports
women's rights.
Unfortunately,
culture
oftentimes does
not.”
Another film,
“Whose Children
Are These?”
tells the
stories of three
Muslim youth, an
honors student
whose father was
put into a
detention center
because his
papers weren't
in order; a
popular high
school athlete
who confronts
pending
deportation; and
a college
student who
finds a new
life's calling
to combat bias
crimes in New
York City as a
youth activist.
Each tale spoke
for thousands of
immigrant youth
who are
struggling in a
post-9/11
environment to
define a life
and a
livelihood. Said
one young man in
the discussion
following the
film: “There's a
problem of
psychological
ghettoisation
among Muslims in
America today.
We live here,
but we don't
feel like we
belong here.”
Reasons to Stand
Together
How did they
respond to a
priest being in
this sea of
Muslims? One
high school
student stepped
up to me and
said, “Hey,
what's with the
neck thing
(collar)?” It
occasioned a
friendly
conversation,
and at a session
the next day
when I was
looking for a
free seat in the
plenary hall, he
spotted me and
waved me over to
one next to him.
Mostly I just
got a lot of
appreciative
nods of the head
accompanied by a
smile.
The conference
theme—Achieving
Balance in
Faith, Family,
and
Community—effectively
summarized the
preoccupation of
believers of
every stripe in
North America
today. In the
end, what left
the deepest
impression was
simply this:
here is a
community of
people with a
strong faith in
the God of
Abraham and a
strong track
record in
community
service and
charity (the
city of
Chicago's
foodbank said
that the Muslim
contribution
last year was
larger than any
it had ever
received in its
history). In an
era of
secularization
where faith is
increasingly
being
air-brushed from
the public
square, I felt
grateful for the
witness of these
believers and a
desire to
strengthen our
relationship as
“people of the
Book”.
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