CHICAGO,
August 31 (IslamOnline.net) - In one of the busiest sessions of the
second day of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) 40th
annual convention, several experts and senior researchers spoke
of the importance of preserving the Muslim values after the September
attacks on the United States.
Dr.
Louay Safi, President of the Association of Muslim Social Scientist,
listed three important values needed for the peaceful and orderly
existence of societies as perceived in Islamic thought, namely,
justice, compassion and pluralism.
These
values need to be guarded, respected and protected by Muslims as well
as non-Muslims, he said.
The
expert noted that justice is a high value in Islam and has been
repeated in many verses of the Qur'an, a value which proper
functioning of the human communities depend on.
Speaking
of compassion from an Islamic perspective, he said that the broader
meaning of that value embodies what could be referred to as the
American value of equality and respect for human dignity, since the
protection of rights and dignity of others is ultimately a result of
compassion towards the full existence of the other and respect of the
other’s rights.
Pluralism
in the Qur’an means individual autonomy, noted Safi, saying that
Islam not only spoke against coercive conversion of non-Muslims to the
faith but further more admitted to the God-given right of people to be
different and to be accepted for that.
He
then noted that the American society was based on three other values,
which contributed to establishing the U.S. as it is now, these values
are: freedom, equality, rule of law.
However,
he added, these values were not fully applied because the value of
freedom was tinted with bias based on race, the African American
experience, while the application of equality faced challenges based
on gender bias and racial discrimination as well until recently.
Because
current waves of prejudice against Muslims following 9/11 are part of
a well designed discourse and not through individual acts, Safi said
that the way to counter this discrimination is by fostering more
Muslim thinkers and supporting think tanks that can produce a better
alternative to the current discourse.
Understanding
that this is a long term solution that requires extensive effort and
proper financial support as well as planning, he then suggested three
short-term strategies to counter the effect of that discourse on the
Muslim community in North America.
The
first is to open up to a larger society, getting out of the cocoon and
embracing the universality of Islam, he said.
The
second is to enhance political activism beyond mere casting of ballots
in national elections by being more involved in local politics,
forming contacts with local politicians and properly voicing the
community’s concerns and opinions on local and national issues.
Adding
to this is to provide the younger generations with early leadership
training.
Professor
of communication at Clarian University, Dilnawaz siddiqui spoke of the
increasing influence of money on journalism and the media, saying that
in North America, the role of journalists has shifted from being the
watchdog to being the lapdog of the major business corporations.
“PR
people are using journalists as tools,” he said adding that the U.S.
is currently having more commercial media and not free media.
He
also that the need to create an enemy to fill a vacancy in the defense
mechanism where a ready made enemy is being blamed for all the ills of
the society, and with the fall of the Soviet Union, Islam and Muslims
were the next candidate to play that role.
Having
highly skilled journalists from the community working in mainstream
media is the ideal solution, but again another long term one according
to Siddiqui. Meanwhile, he called on community members to be proactive
and take measures towards countering the bias against Muslims in the
American society.
He
said that for Muslims to get their point through, they should have
some knowledge of the basic principles of journalism and that they
should make use of the many class offerings available at community
colleges which help polish communication skills like writing letters
to the editor, or knowing how to debate an issue.
After
almost two years of the event, the concerns dealing with American
Muslims in the aftermath of 9/11 are still topping the list of most
important issues for the community, a fact clearly indicated by the
heavy participation at different sessions dealing with different
aspects of this issue held in the first two days of the Convention.
