Q:
There are numerous Muslim institutions in the United States. Why was the American Muslim Council established, and what are it's short and long-term goals?
A:
We established the American Muslim Council in 1990 with two major goals. One, to empower American Muslims with their rights as guaranteed by our Constitution. The second is to familiarize our fellow Americans with the Muslim community. It's our job to make sure we're not seen as aliens. We have an obligation to contribute to American society, yet Muslims have an equal right to the privileges our nation has to offer.
We aim to empower Muslims through education, both social and political. We've discovered that if you want to achieve political success you have to take on social work, cultivating both your own community as well as others. We intend to help Muslims take advantage of the political system through participation and, done the right way, our presence will be felt.
We expect approximately 1 million Muslim voters to register for the elections. Over the long run, there will be Muslim elected officials from the local level to the Senate and maybe more. The challenge is to get Muslims out, active and involved in the social, political and civic arenas. Our community has to break out of its shell.
Q:
Some concerns have been expressed within the Muslim community that your drive to become a prominent Muslim political action committee has alienated you from grassroots support. Is this an issue of credibility? Explain.
A:
I acknowledge that some of our positions have been misunderstood. Although our goal is to become a mainstream political organization, we are not a political action committee.
For example, the American Muslim Council was among the first organizations to stand up for Dr. Mousa Abu Marzook's civil rights - a stand few others were willing to take. Some Muslim groups were elated by our position, others were not. However, we don't adopt policies to please individuals or groups. We seek our guidance from Islam, and our policies from logic. We cannot be emotional about these issues.
Another example: the American Muslim Council initially supported the American-led coalition during the Gulf War. We felt, and still do, that Saddam Hussein did not act according to Islamic principles. Yet once it was clear that civilians were being unfairly punished, while Hussein remained in power, we were in a better position to define our policy. The American Muslim Council approached our Administration, among others, and explicitly outlined the immorality of hurting the Iraqi people.
Now, some people choose only to remember our initial stance - either through vindictiveness or an inability to forgive. We may make errors in judgment but at least we have the courage to acknowledge our indiscretions. We acted then, as we do now, according to what we believe is morally correct. Such decisions aren't always easy, but we make our choices. When circumstance proves us wrong, we acknowledge it, then get up and move ahead.
Our credibility is always at stake, as is that of any organization that takes on contentious issues. We've worked hard over the years to earn the respect of government and community institutions, but we haven't worked to curry anyone's favor. The results of our efforts represent our best defense.
Q:
There are divisions within the Muslim community due to culture, nationality, and ideology. How do you propose to bridge such divisions?
A:
This is my dream. Not necessarily to unite the Muslim community - we're too diverse for such idealism - but to achieve results through coordination. Where our interests converge, we form coalitions to advance our mutual goals. Where they differ, we can amicably disagree. Harmony is much more important than unity.
Bringing Muslims together is a difficult and challenging task. There are the immigrant communities - comprised of Arabs, Asians, Europeans and others, as well as the African-American communities, which themselves are multi-faceted.
It's a formidable task. The indigenous community is not necessarily interested in Palestine, Bosnia, Kashmir, Algeria and other issues the American Muslim Council is obliged to address. Yet, similarly, the immigrant community has shown little enthusiasm in dealing with racism, welfare, gun control, abortion, alcohol, drugs, the budget, voter registration and so on.
We constantly strive to bridge this gap. The difficulty is that each group is concerned, naturally, with their own problems. The challenge is to establish common ground. This can only come through education. As such, our priority is not to concentrate on international issues, however important they are, but rather to sensitize Muslim Americans to their role in American life both at home and abroad.
Q:
The American Muslim Council has co-sponsored several events with non-Islamic organizations. Can you give us some examples and what were these events designed to achieve?
A:
We have sponsored several conferences, as well as participated in numerous projects. For example, although the American Muslim Council is part of the Bosnia Task Force USA, a Muslim group, we helped establish the American Task Force for Bosnia (ATFB), to include members of different faiths. We successfully brought Christian, Jewish and other organizations together in support of Bosnia. We believe Bosnia is more a humanitarian issue than a purely Islamic one.
We've also built a healthy relationship with the interfaith community, particularly the National Council of Catholic Bishops. We joined hands in condemning terrorism after the bombing of the World Trade Center. Also, the American Muslim Council gave the Mahmoud Abu Saud Interfaith Religious Award to Cardinal Keeler, the Arch-Bishop in Baltimore, for his efforts in religious liaison.
We also held a conference on Africa in conjunction with other organizations over a period of four days on Capitol Hill. Many African-American organizations helped dismantle Apartheid in South Africa. These same groups are working in other parts of that continent. We wanted to inform them that Islam is a component in the other parts of Africa and they need to factor it in, as well as share our knowledge of Muslims in Africa.
The list goes on. The point is that we've come a long way, but there's plenty more to be done. And we've found willing partners both within our community and elsewhere. By creating such partnerships, non-Muslims get a better understanding of Islam and the Muslim community can advance the interests it has in common with other groups.
