Jewish and Muslim Children Unite for a Common Cause

You can also read the article here.

An interfaith meeting of young people may not strike anyone as headline news. But for those of us at the event, it was a moment to cherish and draw inspiration from, particularly in these dark and difficult times.

Accompanied by a few mothers and mentors, about 40 kids – ages 9 to 22 – arrived at the Evergreen Islamic Center (EIC), in the foothills above San Jose, California. The group, from a progressive Jewish summer camp in the Southern California city of Big Bear Lake, were greeted by an equal number of Muslim youth and parents.

Their visit was prompted by a hate letter sent to Evergreen just before last year’s Thanksgiving holiday. 

“We will not tolerate or accept racism, sexism, climate denial, homophobia, xenophobia or Islamophobia in any form,” wrote Shira Menter, a Camp Gilboa staff member and mentor, in a letter to Evergreen after she learned of the incident. “We want you to feel safe, accepted, and free to practice your religion wherever you choose to live.”

“My heart ached when I read the hateful letter you received from people calling themselves ‘Americans for a Better Way.’ We are part of a Jewish youth movement and we are part of the Jewish resistance. We will do whatever we can to protect you. The beauty of this country is that we celebrate diversity. Much love.”

Shira suggested that “it would be a good idea to have our kids interact with yours” as a
way to “build relationships between Jews and Muslims in the United States.”

To which I could only say, ‘Amen.’ About three weeks later, the meeting materialized.

One of the leaders of the Gilboa group, Yasho, defined the goals of the meeting: a) build relationships between American Jewish and Muslim youth b) gain some understanding of each other’s religion and culture c) improve the world by partnering with one another.

As the adults in the room watched in wonder, the youth, under Yasho’s confident guidance, arranged themselves in circles and over the next several hours played games, asked and answered questions (sample: “What’s the best thing you have done for your community,” “What’s your family like, your brothers, sisters, pets? Tell a funny story about them,” “What’s your favorite class, your hobby?”, “If you could change something about the world, what would it be and how?”), pondered the dangers of labeling and judging others, and identified practical steps to making the world a better place through personal acts of courage and kindness.

They were shy at first but within minutes, our prayer hall was resonant with the kids opening up to one another as if they had known each other for years. They shared ideas and challenged their feasibility, came up with ways to improve bad situations at home and school, discussed the cruelty of bullying and the importance of befriending bullied students, expressed what social justice meant to them, and listed steps to organize themselves to achieve a goal - all with humor and grace.

When Sid, a computer science major at Berkeley, suggested that everyone should follow the Golden Rule – treat others as you would like to be treated – Elliot, a precocious 6th-grader, wasn’t convinced. “What if they don’t want to be treated like the way you want to be treated?”

There was silence, followed by some giggles. It’s probably fair to say that no one in recorded history had ever questioned the logic of the Golden Rule, but then no one had to contend with an irrepressible 12-year-old genius.

“Well, just treat him well, then!” said Sid.

“How?” persisted Elliot.

Ronnie came to the rescue: “Just ask!”

Elliot seemed doubtful but decided to let it pass!

“Ignore all the hate mail you get because these people are mean and cruel. Remember that these people don’t know who you are.”

A bond has been forged. On their own, without any parental interference, Jewish and Muslim children had broken through a barrier that previously made them strangers to one another.

What about the other hundreds of thousands of Jewish and Muslim children?

“Take one step at a time,” said Ephraim. “I have made Muslim friends. I now know I can make a difference.”

Zaid echoed the feeling. “Change one person at a time and you will change the world.”

“I am Andrea and a middle-schooler from Silicon Valley. You are not alone. There are people like us fighting for you and we won’t stop.”

Yasho had distributed a special type of paper to the youth that contained seeds. “Write on your seed paper how you will make the world grow better. Take it home and plant it and whatever grows will be a reminder to you to try to change the world.” The paper itself contained this instruction: “Plant this in your garden. Keep it moist. Watch it grow!”

What did some of the youth write in their seed paper?

“Lead by example.” “Become a doctor and provide healthcare to the poor.” “Let this be the first meeting of many more meetings between us in the future.”

The laughter on the surface was tempered by concern about the country’s current direction. Mosques have been burned to the ground and Muslims have been attacked. Many Jewish Centers have been threatened and Jewish homes spray-painted with swastikas while several Jewish graveyards have been desecrated.

“Overlook the hate letter because hate cannot be fought with hate. Darkness can only disappear in the presence of light. We must defeat hate and discrimination in Trump’s America with love, unity and faith in one another.”

But witnessing this kind of Jewish-Muslim bonding in just a few hours gives hope that hate and bigotry will never be the last words that define our nation but that love and fighting for justice will.

“Don’t let Trump and his supporters bring you down. There are many people who don’t share their views. We are a Jewish Youth Movement and we will be there for you.”

“We read the hate letter that you received a couple of months ago from ‘Americans for a Better Way.’ We just wanted to say that nothing in that letter is true and if the people who wrote the letter take further action, we will support you. At our Jewish Summer Camp we talk about the importance of treating everyone fairly. Everyone is different and valued. If everyone was the same, it would be boring!"

“I am writing this letter to send my support to you and all those affected by the hateful letter you received. I am from a Jewish youth movement that is a liberal movement that fights for equality in the world. Overlook the hate letter because hate cannot be fought with hate. Darkness can only disappear in the presence of light. We must defeat hate and discrimination in Trump’s America.” 

Christians and Muslims Find Common Ground Through MLK's Words

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"If you want peace, work for justice. That includes housing the homeless, ending the death penalty, organizing labor unions, standing up for minority rights, and countering rising Islamophobia in the U.S.”

So said Dublin-born San Jose Diocese Bishop Patrick J. McGrath, leader of over 50 Catholic churches in Santa Clara County, and the prime mover behind the Catholic-Muslim dialogue held at the Shia Association of the Bay Area (SABA) Center on MLK day, January 16.

Bishop McGrath quoted MLK to make his point: “Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice, and justice at its best is power correcting everything that stands against love.” 

Bishop McGrath addressing the Christian-Muslim Interfaith Event

Speaking to an overflow audience of about 500 Christians and Muslims, he reminded them that “Xenophobia has always been a part of America’s social and political landscape ... But we have much more in common than what divides us. Both the Bible and the Quran list mercy and justice as foremost divine attributes. I ask each one of you to use your light to replace the darkness of hate.”

Aurora Solis, a Latina leader with San Jose-based ‘People Acting in Community Together’ (PACT) spoke of a co-worker who told her, “I am a Muslim. I am scared. What will happen to me and my family?” Her response: “I will be with you. My friends and I will register as Muslims if it comes to that. We will work with Muslims so we can become better Christians.”

Tahir Anwar, an Imam and a long-time Bay Area activist, spoke passionately of the Golden Rule, a common theme that unites the major religions of the world: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” 

He also urged those in the audience to "make a habit of visiting synagogues, churches, mosques and other places of worship," adding,  “Islamophobia poses a threat not just for Muslims but for everyone. If our phones are tapped, yours will be too, sooner or later. The Quran says we will have some good days and some not-so-good days. That is life. But if we work together, we will overcome.”

Imam Tahir narrated how he travels separately from his family when returning to the U.S. from a trip abroad. “I am questioned at such length and harassed by immigration and law-enforcement officials that I try to spare my children the humiliation I am often subjected to when I return to my country. So they travel a day or two before I do.”

Speaker after speaker reminded us of the importance of extending hospitality to strangers, not to be haughty but to associate with the lowly, the sick, the disabled, the unemployed and the underemployed, to cherish our diversity, to overcome evil with good, to not suffer injustice with silence but to engage in non-violent activism that can change the world for the better.

There is a moral momentum growing across America. On January 21, the day after Donald Trump’s inauguration, an estimated 200,000 women are expected to participate in the Women’s March on Washington. On a smaller scale, this symbolic march will be enacted in cities throughout America, including San Jose, Oakland and San Francisco. 

As in other cities, too, San Jose city leaders recently approved a campaign to create sanctuary places in schools and churches were deportation sweeps may occur, while Santa Clara County supervisors allocated about $1.5 million over two years to provide legal aid for undocumented workers in danger of deportation.

On a personal level, it also struck me forcefully how easily Shias and Sunnis prayed, listened and shared meals together at this event, as we have been doing for all the decades we have been in the Bay Area. I am a Sunni because I was born into a Sunni family, and I find no hindrance to my visiting Shia mosques to pray when it is convenient to do so. Same goes for Shias who pray at our mosque at the Evergreen Islamic Center when it is convenient for them.

Contrast this with the terrible sectarian conflicts that plague some of the world’s Muslim countries in which Sunnis kill Shias with terrifying regularity and Shias retaliate in kind. It is clear that Muslim countries are in far greater need of Intrafaith, rather than Interfaith, events. We Muslim-Americans must find a way to play a larger role in eliminating the deadly sectarian conflicts between Sunnis and Shias.

The backdrop of the stage where the religious leaders sat at the SABA Center on MLK Day contained these words of Imam Ali (601-661), son-in-law of Prophet Muhammad: “Man is either your brother in faith, or your equal in humanity.”

These are MLK's words too, and the words of America's founding fathers, even if expressed differently. MLK's "fierce urgency of now" has taken on a significance no conscientious American can ignore without eroding the fundamental values that make us who we are as a nation.

Muslim-Americans Need to Engage in Self-Analysis

(You can also read the article here.)

Muslim-Americans are reacting to the increasingly strident anti-Muslim rhetoric of Republican presidential candidates Donald Trump and Ted Cruz with emotions ranging from shock and disbelief to wariness and resignation. The latest came in the wake of the Brussels bombings when Mr. Cruz called “to empower law enforcement to patrol and secure Muslim neighborhoods before they become radicalized.”

The suggestion is absurd. Most of the 3 million American-Muslims of widely diverse backgrounds, about 1% of the population, live in integrated neighborhoods. A recent landmark study by the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding reported that in the San Francisco Bay Area, there are about 250,000 Muslims living over six assimilated counties. South Asians comprise 30%, Arabs 23%, Afghans 17%, African Americans 9%, Asian/Pacific Islanders 7%, Whites 6%, and Iranians 2%. My neighbors in San Jose, for instance, include Christians, Jews, Chinese, Korean and Indian Americans, but not a single Muslim.

If Muslims do cluster in certain neighborhoods, as in Queens, New York, it is based more on ethnicity than on religion. When I visit friends in Jackson Heights, I see far more Bangladeshis spending long stretches of time in ethnic restaurants serving Samosas and Biryani than in mosques serving piety. There is no equivalent Molenbeek in America, the ghetto in Belgium that breeds petty thugs and criminals who, bereft of a future, real or imagined, become foot soldiers for ISIS.

So if Mr. Cruz can identify Muslim neighborhoods that require special patrolling, he will not only be helping law enforcement but, even more, Muslim-Americans. Whether the senator knows it or not, Muslims have been at the forefront in foiling terrorist attacks on U.S. soil. Of the 72 known terrorist plots since 9/11, 56 were detected by law enforcement, 44 of which happened with tips from Muslims. In the 15 years since 9/11, the number of Americans killed by Muslim terrorists in the U.S., including San Bernardino, is 45. That’s 45 too many, which is why we would like Mr. Cruz to tell us where to look, so we can help apprehend the radicalized without going through ‘needle in haystack’ hunts.

Here are the facts, however. N.Y.P.D. has almost 1000 Muslim officers, some of whom are also combat veterans. For the record, combat experience on behalf of the United States is something that is missing from Mr. Cruz’s resume. 

But while the threat of Islamophobia is real, it is not preventing Muslims from engaging in serious self-analyses. Because of our diversity, such analyses assume many forms but the basic goals are the same: Confront our internal problems honestly and work on solutions that will help us become more open and responsible.

Based on my years of observation and interaction with fellow Muslims, there are three areas we need to work on, even though we are making cautious progress on all three.

First, we must curb our excessive reverence for imams and scholars.

Enlightened Muslims who have earned their reputation deserve our respect but the attitude of some of us toward them verges on hero-worship. The infatuation with celebrity imams is fraught with peril for all. I have also seen highly-educated Muslims turn into toadies in blindly accepting the most banal, absurd, misogynistic, or downright stupid, religious statements made by some of our imams and scholars, often members of an old boys’ club trained in religious schools abroad without any exposure to modern subjects. At a Friday congregational prayers, for instance, I heard a ‘scholar’ claim in his sermon that if a Muslim woman walks by a group of men and the men experience lust because she is improperly dressed, it is the woman’s fault and she is the one who has sinned! The Quran mandates that each one of us use our faculties for critical thinking. Letting the clergy do our thinking for us is against the spirit of Islam. The way out is to revive the practice of Ijtihad, an Arabic word that means to think independently, and to reinterpret sacred text in the context of the times.

Second, we must shun religious chauvinism.

I come across Muslim-Americans who are condescending toward followers of other faiths and are eager to proselytize, convinced that those who are not like them are destined for hell. They are a minority but because of their strident nature, play a disproportionate role in shaping the Muslim discourse in America. The Quran insists on respect for people of all faiths. A verse states, “O mankind! We created you from a single pair of a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, so that you may know each other.” Diversity of faith, culture and language are a human condition. If we all followed the same faith, wore the same clothes and ate the same food, we would go mad with boredom. Religious chauvinism leads to arrogance and is at the root of terrorist organizations like the Taliban, al-Qaida and ISIS.

While many Muslim-Americans condemn religious chauvinism in the privacy of their homes, such condemnations are becoming more frequent in our places of worship as well. In mosques around the Bay Area, including the Evergreen Islamic Center that I attend, we are required to speak about other faiths with respect and humility. A contributing factor is our increasing alliances with interfaith groups that are guided by the principles of pluralism, democracy, freedom of religion and secular governance. Still, much remains to be done.

Finally, we must reject the culture of victimhood and embrace the culture of self-assurance.

In the past, particularly before 9/11, Muslim-Americans were focused mostly on rights and not much on responsibilities. Islamophobia is a serious, and sometimes deadly, threat for us. We have to speak out for our constitutional rights, as when Muslim passengers are forced to get off planes only because they happen to be Muslims.

Yet we cannot allow Islamophobia, and its attendant culture of victimhood, define us. As we demand our rights, so we must also act on our responsibilities, one of which is to engage with the broader community, particularly with our neighbors, in helping the needy, feeding the hungry and opposing injustice of any kind against any group. If victimhood is the foundation of our identity, we will remain weak, objects of pity and prone to conspiracy theories. We are mostly middle class, mainstream and moderate. It does not suit us to be grievance collectors. We must have the self-assurance to legally secure our rights while working with Americans from all walks of life to help ours become a just and generous nation.

Islam in the Polls

Americans know more about Islam than ever before - and they don't like what they see.

A new CBS News poll conducted in early April suggests that 45 percent of Americans hold negative views of Islam, compared to 33 percent in the tense aftermath of the 9/11 attacks. A Washington Post-ABC News poll in March that also showed a growing number of Americans (46 percent) expressing unfavorable opinions of Islam.

The situation has become so bleak that Muslim religious leaders sought the help of a Nobel Laureate to stem this rising tide of negativity. The Dalai Lama, 71, led leaders from Buddhism, Christianity, Judaism, Islam and Native American traditions at "A Gathering of Hearts Illuminating Compassion" conference in San Francisco recently. The leaders appealed to Americans not to equate Islam with terrorism.

What makes these polls so scary for Muslims is that the queried Americans confirmed that they were better informed about Islam now than they were five years ago.

In other words, despite all the mosque open houses, outreach and interfaith programs, books and articles on Islam, the idea that increased knowledge will lead to greater tolerance toward Islam and Muslims has become more eluive than ever.

Is there a contradiction here?

Not really, if one thinks about it.

Consider the situation from the point of view of an average American.

During the week of April 10-16 (a remarkable convergence of Passover, Easter and the Prophet Muhammad’s birthday), the average American learned that Zacarias Moussaoui, the al-Qaida terrorist, had “no regrets, no remorse” for the nearly 3,000 people killed on September 11, 2001.

There is the consistent horror of Sunnis and Shias dismembering each other in Iraq and Pakistan, always when the gathering is large, as during the Friday congregational prayers.

There is also the daily genocide that the Muslim Janjaweed militia wages against the indigenous tribes of Darfur, Sudan, most of whom are also Muslims but of darker skins.

Yes, most Muslims are as outraged by these horrors as the average American in question. But isn’t it too much to expect that he will continue to be reassured by our words (the fanatics are not of us and we are not of them, and besides, every faith has its fanatics) while the horrific deeds continue unabated?

He sees what Muslims are doing to Muslims, how some of them are spewing murderous hatred for the West, and while he may hold his own country responsible for the catastrophe in Iraq, it does not diminish his growing conviction that Muslims are disproportionately prone to violence. Talk of peace and harmony can go only so far; he is more persuaded by the grim reality on the ground.

In the same week, however, quiet (and recurring) events of different sorts were taking place throughout America, far removed from the gaze of the mainstream media.

In a crime-infested neighborhood in East Oakland, Calif., for example, two Muslims stand at a street corner, giving out free popcorn and cotton candy to passersby. Their only goal is to spread some cheer and hope to their down-trodden neighbors. With help from their activist friends from the nearby mosque called Masjid Al-Islam, they host year-round soup kitchens for the poor and the hungry.

We also learn that Habibe Husain, founder of Rahima Foundation (http://www.rahima.org/), has received the Human Relations award of California’s Santa Clara County. Her organization has been helping the less fortunate residents of Silicon Valley and adjoining areas since 1993.

In cities such as Sacramento, New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Detroit, Tampa Bay and Atlanta, local Muslim doctors provide poor and uninsured residents with free medical care. And through organizations like Habitat for Humanity, Muslims also volunteer their time and skills to build homes for the homeless.

Is our average American aware of these “events?” Perhaps not. There is no requirement that he should be, unless he is a beneficiary himself. After all, we Muslims providing humanitarian services are doing so not to enhance our standing in the polls, but as a religious calling to help the less fortunate.

But these acts do teach us an important lesson. While it is undeniable that there is a need to educate Americans about Islam and Muslims, perhaps our efforts will go further if more of us engaged in deeds rather than words.

Most of our mosques have traditionally been heavy on seminars and conferences but after several years, these often turn into a case of preaching to the converted.

Just as a picture is worth a thousand words, an act of charity is worth a thousand sermons. So here’s a humble suggestion to my fellow American Muslims: Let’s cut down on the number of seminars and conferences at our local mosques by about half and replace them with charitable acts that affect the homeless, the needy and the destitute around us. That will require more effort than writing a check or listening to an Imam expound on the same tired topic. But in the end, it will make us better Muslims.

Perhaps it will even improve our standing in the eyes of our fellow Americans.