Divinty School Conference Probes the Muslim Identity

Panelists at this weekend’s Islam in America Conference looked beyond Sept. 11 to address broader issues of identity, understanding and tolerance they said the Muslim community is currently facing.

About 100 students and community members attended this Saturday’s third annual conference, organized by the Shura’ Islamic Forum at the Harvard Divinity School (HDS).

“We didn’t want to focus on Sept. 11” said Melinda Krokus, a second-year HDS student who co-directed the conference.

“We want to focus on Islam as a religion. There’s been enough on the social, political and legal. We need to focus on what Islam inspires you to be and to do with your lives,” Krokus said.

The weekend’s panels ran the gamut from discussions of nonviolence and activism to the legacy of Malcolm X to pluralism and American media.

Before each speech began, the panelist addressed the audience in Arabic with the traditional Islamic greeting, “Peace be unto you,” and the audience responded by echoing the same words.

Joshua Salaam, director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said complaints of discrimination and violence against Muslims have skyrocketed since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

He said that while the council had received 1,200 complaints total in the past two years, it received 1,800 in the last six months.

According to Salaam, some Muslims themselves have inadvertently helped perpetuate negative stereotypes by not taking the initiative to educate others on their religion and way of life.

“Violence [against Muslims] is only an option when people are not active,” Salaam said. “People are stagnant. Muslims were here for years. If we live here, we have to make an effort to make it better.”

Many panelists said the racial, ethnic and economic diversity of the Muslim community makes it difficult for Muslims to define themselves—both internally and to non-Muslims.

For example, within the audience Saturday, only some women wore hijabs, the traditional Muslim head-covering. The participants ranged from recent immigrants to Muslims who have lived in America for generations.

“We must define ourselves,” said Umar Faruq Abd-Allah, director of the Nawawi Foundation for the study of Islam.

“We have to have interpretive control over our religion,” he said. “After Sept. 11 the doors [of communication] opened. It is important that we do not allow these doors to shut.”

Other panels focused on how mainstream media has chosen to portray Muslims.

“I knew that there would be backlash [after Sept. 11] because of all the negative images,” said Precious R. Muhammed, a graduate of HDS. She said recent events reflect a pattern of how media represents Muslims that she first noticed following the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995.

Former Turkish Parliament member Merve S. Kavakci said she agreed, condemning negative portrayals of Muslims in the media and government.

“It is the best of times and the worst of times,” she said, “Hate speeches and misconceptions were heard.”

But Kavakci said Muslims now have the opportunity teach others about the “common values that bind us to humanity.”

“It’s time, more than ever, for Americans to learn about Islam,” she said.