Challenges of pluralism dominated the debate at the convention of the Islamic Society of North America at the Rosemont Convention Centre, Chicago on July 1-4. Prof. John Esposito, who teaches Islam and international affairs at the George Washington University in Washington DC, set the tone of the discussion by asking the Muslims to face pluralism of the American society as well as to feel it within the fold of Islamic society.
Prof. Esposito who has edited the 4-volume Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World, said Islamophobia gripping the West can be dispelled by accepting the pluralism that informs and inspires the society in the West and showing acceptance of ‘other Muslims’ transcending the Sunni-Shia, Barelvi-Deobandi, Hanafi-Shafii divides. This would entail moving beyond the concepts such as Zimmihood. Esposito said the Muslim scholars would have to grapple with the challenge of distinguishing between what is sacred and its human interpretation. ‘The latter is changeable as humans are fallible’, he added.
He said in order to withstand the acid test of pluralism, all religions would have to accept other religions as equal and essentially believe that salvation does not depend on whether we belong to a particular faith but on what is the right conduct. He said many of us want to live like devout Muslims, Christians, and Jews, but that does not make us knowledgeable Muslims, Christians and Jews. The realities of today are complex as we all live in plural societies. Traditions have to be reapplied to today’s context, he urged.
Dr. Maher Hathout, a cardiologist by profession and senior advisor to the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), was more forthright in his explanation of the challenge of pluralism. He said everyone believes that his religion is the truest of all religions and wondered as to why others did not embrace his religion and ‘became right like him’. But pluralism demands that we all believe in our religions without showing any disrespect to others’ faith.
Quoting a verse from Surah Maida, Dr. Hathout said Allah enjoins Muslims to fight only when they are driven out of their land. The verse specifically says that if they are not being driven out, they should coexist in peace and deal with others with justice and in fairness. He said the Qur’ān exhorts Muslims to compete in doing good to others rather than in arguments. He said the Muslims would need to develop a vision, nurture leadership, devise a strategy and organise themselves on the basis of these guidelines.
Prof. Ingrid Mattson, Director of Macdonald Centre for Study of Christian-Muslim Relations, at Hartford (Connecticut), and the first Islamic convert to lead the ISNA (she was elected president in 2006), said religious diversity is the choice of Allah and the communities gain ascendancy in the world through competitiveness in virtues. She said Muslims would need to look at others in order to inculcate these traits. She said the small community of Jews had done commendable service to civil rights movement while the Christian community has always spearheaded social service campaigns. She said it is problematic to base one’s community identity on the postulate of ‘we being superior to others’. It is just like one’s connection to his / her family being very intense, but not at the interest of another family whose interests are as sacrosanct as mine’.
Highlighting the pluralism of Islamic societies, Dr. Mattson said the fact that Lebanon remained predominantly Christian despite its Arab character testifies to the fact that Islam tolerated the diversity of faiths. Referring to Iraq, she said it exemplifies the pluralism within Islam as the country always had a Sunni-Shia divide. She dispelled the notion that Islam prescribed capital punishment for apostasy. She said it was important to distinguish between treason and conversion to other faith. As for Nigeria, she said it was wrong to interpret the conflict there in terms of Muslim-Christian differences. She said the issue there was exploitation of tribals by the Multinational companies and oil giants had an interest in fuelling the ethnic divisions.
Dr. Michael Kinnamon, General Secretary of the National Council of Churches in the US, said peace in the world would depend upon peace between Christians and Muslims. He said ‘Love God, and Love your Neighbour’ can therefore be the common ground for peace for the two communities as both faiths emphasised the dictum. He said, it is no big deal to love others, ‘but loving those who are not like us indeed involved tough-mindedness’.
Congressman Keith Allison, the first Muslim member in the House of Representatives, said the Muslims make huge investments in mosques in America. They would rather need to nurture young talents and burnish creative energies of the youth in order to speak with confidence. ‘The Prophet’s mosque was a humble building, but the people he trained and groomed were men of solid character and talents.’
Speaking at a parallel session at Hotel Hyatt, in close proximity of the Rosemont Convention Centre, noted Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan, Professor at Oxford University, addressing a huge gathering of Muslim youth said, Islamophobia was being nurtured in Europe systematically. Referring to the ‘Arab Spring’, he said the media in the West was painting the choices as between dictatorship and Islamic extremism while the Arabs themselves have not demonstrated any affirmation of Islamic hardliners. He warned that Muslim would face critical times in the US too and they will need to build confidence in themselves. He advised the youth not to develop a mindset of victims and to develop language and articulation. He advised Muslim youth to shun easy life and pursuit of status. ‘You will not be allowed to buy American dream. You will need to question as to why you are here’, he advised. He said the starting point would be to love God and love the people around you. He said when the Prophet of Islam entered Madinah after migration from Makkah, his first advice to the people was to develop love between each other.
ISNA conventions in the United States are always a huge draw. Muslims of all shades, ethnicities, colours, languages and sectoral affiliations make it a point to be seen at the convention. No wonder then why the 48th annual convention that was kicked off on July 1 was not different from the previous ones. ISNA convention is known to be the largest annual congregation of Muslims in the West. However the convention was advanced this year by two months in order to pull it away from proximity with the fasting month of Ramadan and Eidul Fitr. It was kicked off with a call to the American Muslims to be ambassadors of Peace by Imam Mohammad Magid, president of the Islamic Society of North America at the Rosemont Convention Centre.
Delivering the Friday sermon before the vast conclave of nearly 10,000 men and women, Imam Magid, who inaugurated the 48th Annual Convention, exhorted the audience to personify Islam that called for good behaviour, strong kinship and fraternal relationships with members of the society characterised with love, compassion and cooperation. Magid said a religion that enjoined Muslims not to allow their neighbours to sleep hungry, could not be associated with violence and hate.
The Islamic Society of North America has emerged as the largest umbrella body of Muslims in North America embracing in itself a wide variety of Islamic thought, activities and forums with a take-all, leave-none character. Nearly 40,000 Muslims and hundreds of non-Muslims looking for inter-faith cooperation attended the conclave during the four days (July 1-4) in what has been designated a long weekend coinciding with America’s 236th Independence Day on July 4. The theme of this year’s convention was ‘Loving God, Loving Neighbour, Living in harmony’.
Expounding the theme of the convention, Dr. Sayyid M. Sayeed, former general secretary of ISNA said, Chicago was described as the ‘American Madinah’ by a recently published book authored by a woman scholar. Dr. Sayeed said Prophet Muhammad and his family members were a model for all of us in building up kinship based on mercy, compassion, love and respect for each other. He said the Prophet of God who asked that women be trained as camel drivers could not have banned them from driving cars. He reminded that all had not been hunky dory through the American history and much violence and bloodshed has been witnessed in the course of history in building the nation to its present strength and referred to killing of 600,000 Americans during the civil war.
Prof. Ameena Jandali recalled the hadith from Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, that assigned hell for a Muslim woman who was regular with Islamic rituals but displeased her neighbours with her manners and behaviour. She called for avoiding the term ‘non-Muslims’ as it carried negative connotation and suggested substituting it with ‘brothers and sisters of other faiths’. Dr. Muzammil Siddiqui, former ISNA president, said shunning anti-semitism, racism, bigotry and discrimination, and developing respect for each other’s faith was the only prescription for harmony in the society. Presiding over the session, Imam Magid said the Muslim activism needs to be expedited as 80 per cent of the world’s refugees were Muslims but only 2 per cent of those who took care of them belonged to the community. He said the ISNA has launched the programme ‘Shoulder to Shoulder’ to promote interfaith harmony in the US.
The ISNA annual convention is always a huge draw in the US as it allows multifarious Muslim bodies and forums to exchange views and experiences. Businessmen looking for entrepreneurial opportunities, companies and insurance firms seeking investors and clients, families looking for alliances for eligible sons and daughters, booksellers and filmmakers on Islamic themes and ladies desirous of ethnic wear accompanied the ISNA members in large numbers to avail of the opportunity. An Islamic Bazaar with nearly 200 exhibitors setting up stalls was in full bloom with expansive convention centre during intervals.
The conclave was a sight to watch with diversity of humanity – whites, browns, blacks and yellows – savouring pizzas, burgers, pastas, biryani, samosas and khubooz with shawarma in the dining hall. The Islamic sisterhood too was out in strength with girls in jeans, elderly in scarves, and adult women donning burqas and chadors strutting about the bazaars. ISNA’s accommodative culture brought them all together in order to acculturate them with Islamic universality. Several parents visited the annual conclave merely to make their kids aware of an Islamic social ambience. Dr. Aziz Siddiqui from Houston, an engineering consultant, was there with two sons who are into film-making. Salmah, a Lebanese-American, was selling scarves. Kamrudin, an American citizen of Indonesian extraction, has been visiting the convention for the last 12 years continuously. Zaheerul Islam, a Bangladesh-born, driver of a limousine has been volunteering his services since long. Naseema, an Indian mother of two graduate girls, had been attending matrimonial meet with several couples with whom she has had initial email negotiations during the past year.