Yesterday Phin and I watched a short PBS documentary about Muslims in America since 9/11. It reminded me how much I love Islam and Arabic and the Middle East...and it gave me something to write about on my blog. Hurrah! Here's what I learned:I was unaware that there was such a strong push to organize and/or standardize (to some extent) Islam in America. Actually, it seems more like there's one guy, Hamza Yusuf, an American who converted to Islam in his teens, who's behind most of it. He started the Zaytuna Institute and Academy, the purpose of which is to educate and encourage the study of classical Islam, not fundamentalism. For a religion that has little to no hierarchy or organizational structure, I think this is fantastic.
I was also surprised at how many Muslims seemed offended at the suggestion that they make a public statement against terrorism. One thing I've often heard (or even occasionally said myself) is that Muslims in the US need to publicly denounce terrorism, making it clear that just because a woman wears a head scarf doesn't mean she's a crazy conservative. But many people in the documentary pointed out that being a terrorist is the exception, not the rule. The terrorists are the ones who are crazy, the ones who have taken a mostly peaceful religion and tried to make it barbaric. Should regular Muslims have to publicly define exactly what their beliefs are just because they share a religion (or share parts of one since the fundamentalists manage to twist everything around) with a small percentage of freaks? I don't think so.
Another thought: as I was watching, I was struck by the similarities between life as a Mormon and life as a Muslim. Both religions share similar core values, but more importantly, their members are often exceptionally devout (as compared to cultural Catholics, Presbyterians, Lutherans, etc. I'm not saying that all Muslims and Mormons are all 100% active members (or even close to that), just that I would guess these religions produce a higher number of active members than many others), and may suffer social consequences or even be ostracized for their beliefs. A clip of a sermon by Hamza Yusuf could have been a Mormon church talk. He warned that people will judge them for their outward appearance and their resistance of mainstream pop culture type values (remember junior high?). Then encouraged his congregation to stand up for their values, explain their beliefs and values to their neighbors who might misunderstand their conservatism for fundamentalism, and invite people to events and meetings to learn more about their religion. Sound familiar?
Anyway. I thought it was really interesting.
7 comments:
I think I agree with you that moderate Muslims shouldn't have to define themselves, but it may be in their best interest to. It's kind of like in politics, if you don't define yourself, you opponent will.
That's really great about Hamza Yusuf and the Zaytuna school. What a great way to help preserve the values and ideals of classical Islam.
I often have thought about the similarities between Islam and Mormonism. That's interesting that Hamza Yusuf's sermons have similarities to things spoken over the LDS pulpit.
What was the name on this documentary? I wonder if I could request it off of Netflix or something. I think J would really like to watch it, too.
It was from a series called America at the Crossroads, and the episode was Muslims in America. I found it at the libs.
Fautie Hill Says:
It is a difficult thing. However, it seems that as Travis noted, if they don't speak out others define them. And other groups do speak out about segments of their particular ideology. The Mormon Church condemns and works very hard to distance itself from extreme polygamist sects.
Another question I ask, and I am not an expert on Islam, is why does there seem to be in inordinate amount of Islamic terrorists? What is it about this alleged peaceful religion that spawns a seemingly higher percentage of fanatics then other religious traditions. Are there teachings that create this? What other things are at force. There are some Muslims who condemn these terrorists. I think it behooves others to do the same.
Faut- I think the main problem is that Islam has clerics, but they aren't unified. There is no set of "standard" Muslim doctrine, so any crazy cleric can stand up and say "Westerners are the scourge of the world," get a few other crazies to join in, and voila, they have a following. That doesn't happen in Mormonism, for example, because we actually have unified leaders who tell us what our church stands for.
time for a new blog....
rotten sister...getting me excited for a new comment but then not saying anything!
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