Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, January/February 2000, pages 80-86

Muslim-American Activism

American Muslims Find Strength and Unity at ISNA's Annual Conference

As many as 30,000 faithful Muslims gathered on Labor Day weekend to attend four days of seminars, prayer and socializing at McCormick Place's lakefront convention center in Chicago, IL for the 36th annual conference of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), the continent's largest Islamic organization. Attendees, who may be used to living as a minority in their communities back home, appeared to enjoy the sense of belonging and camaraderie of being among fellow Muslims.

Unity was stressed throughout the weekend. In his welcoming speech on Sept. 3, Chicago's Cardinal Francis George said dialogue between Christians and Muslims is crucial to America and the world. "In the century, in the millennium to come, the primary carrier of civilizations and of cultures will be the great faiths," Cardinal George said. "Here in Chicago we are at a new moment when cooperation and honest dialogue can take place."

At a Sept. 4 news conference, ISNA president Muzammil Siddiqui focused on unity, saying the theology of mainstream Islam "is to have good relations with all humanity, regardless of religion, color or gender."

The melodious voice of Yusuf Islam, the former British pop singer Cat Stevens, who converted to Islam in 1977, called attendees to prayer throughout the weekend. His program, titled "One God, One Humanity," commanded the largest audience of the day on Saturday. "This is a great context for us to get together for Allah's sake," said Yusuf Islam.

The Muslim American Society, consisting largely of African-American converts to Islam and led by Imam Warith Deen Mohammed, was holding another conference in Philadelphia over the same holiday weekend. In the spirit of unity Imam Mohammed also spoke at the ISNA conference.

Professional basketball player Tariq Abdul-Wahad, 23, of the Orlando Magic, who attended the conference to coach children's sports camps, told attendees, "Now, today, we are dealing with American Muslims. The Muslim youth of America went to American schools, and they're the ones who are going to take Islam to the next level." He cautioned young people to resist the temptations of a society in which there are what Yusuf Islam called "uncontrollable freedoms." This anything-goes mentality stands in stark contrast to Islamic rules and laws, he said.

In a shopping area reminiscent of a Middle Eastern souq, Islamic businesses marketed their wares. Among those doing a brisk business were bookstores, boutiques, and gold, handicraft, and carpet merchants, and even a company catering to Muslim insurance needs.

Throughout the weekend North American Muslims had a unique opportunity to listen to and learn from Islamic scholars from all over the world. Programs included sessions on marriage in Islam, raising Muslim children in America, Islamic schools and even foster care for Muslims. Other seminars discussed how Muslims in America can respond to the nation's broader social problems. Now that first-generation Muslims are not just trying to survive in America, many thriving second-generation Muslims are ready to look beyond themselves and help others.

Various speakers mentioned that many Americans' only exposure to Islam is through media reports on tensions in the Middle East and Eastern Europe. The speakers expressed hope that through the conference and similar events they would reach non-Muslims and inform them about Islam. Someday Islamic holidays may be as familiar to the general public as such Christian and Jewish holy days as Easter and Yom Kippur.

Among many politically oriented workshops, Rep. Tom Campbell (R-CA), Agha Saeed of the American Muslim Alliance (AMA), Salam Al-Marayati of the Muslim Political Action Committee (IMPAC), Nihad Awad of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), and Najir Khaja of the American Muslim Council (AMC) held a panel discussion on coordinating Muslim political action regarding secret evidence as a weapon. Oussama Ahmad of the Islamic Association for Palestine, Richard Curtiss of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, John Mahoney of The Link and Omar Ahmed of CAIR talked about Palestine and what the state means to Muslims.

In a session focusing on print and broadcast journalism and the media, Haroon Siddiqi, editorial page editor of the Toronto Star, commented on the state of the Muslim presence in these respective fields. To date, Siddiqi said, Muslims are still struggling with their presence in the West and whether participation in a non-Muslim society is warranted under Islamic shariah. Expending their energies in that intellectual debate has left Muslims unequipped with the necessary skills and techniques needed to participate in the media, Siddiqi said. "Unfortunately, Muslims act according to the stereotypes that define them," Siddiqi explained. "Where we want effective lobbying efforts and organization we end up rioting."

Richard Curtiss offered practical advice to the audience on how to achieve objective and favorable coverage of Islam. Although media coverage of the Israeli-Palestinian dispute has been considerably one-sided and Islam has traditionally been received with mistrust and hostility, Curtiss said, grassroots efforts on the part of Muslims could elicit change.

Such Muslim observances as Ramadan, Eid al-Fitr, and Eid al-Adha present ideal opportunities to invite press participation and coverage from local television and radio stations, Curtiss suggested. Observing large numbers of Muslim participants also reminds editors of the existence of a largely untapped resource of subscribers and advertisers. Curtiss also suggested writing letters to editors of local and national newspapers in an effort to dispel myths about Muslims, Islam and the Muslim world. He said there are plenty of Muslim doctors, lawyers, engineers and academics. Now it is time to encourage talented young Muslim people to select journalism as a career.

In concluding the session, Dr. Nazir Khaja, president of the American Muslim Council and chairman of Islamic Information Service, urged audience members to be politically active and aware of the media and its workings. Dr. Khaja also suggested that Muslims adopt a pro-active rather than reactive approach to their political involvement.

Speaking on U.S. foreign policy and human rights, Ramsey Clark, former attorney general of the United States, delivered a powerful and emotional talk on Iraq. Clark first traveled there in 1991 and has since made eight trips, witnessing at first-hand the effect of U.S.-imposed sanctions.

Clark began by offering the following statement as his motivation and impetus for speaking against U.S. actions in Iraq. "The conscience of a people causes them to struggle to make a government just and honest in all its acts and the greatest treason is to support it when it is committing crimes."

What the U.S. government is doing in Iraq, Clark said, is not out of its historical context. During the Cold War, the U.S. developed weapons of mass destruction, weapons more pervasive than any traditional arms, and actively engaged in building up its military, actions that impacted many parts of the world, Clark stated.

"Consider Iran," Clark said. The Central Intelligence Agency restored power to the shah in 1953, overthrowing a democratically elected government. The U.S. then attempted to control the region through its surrogate power. At the same time the U.S. was extolling democracy and peace, Clark continued, it was selling $25 million in arms to the shah's government, arms that were then used in 1978 to slaughter 40,000 people.

It was also with U.S. weapons that Iran and Iraq fought an eight-year war, Clark said, with some individuals such as Henry Kissinger (by then long-retired from government service) admitting they were in no hurry to see that war end.

During the Cold War, the U.S. strategy in the Middle East was confined to propping up subservient governments, Clark said. However, in the post-Cold War era the U.S. moved toward direct military intervention, as in the case of Libya.

Iraq, however, has been the greatest crime of the last decade in the bloodiest of centuries, Clark charged. For 42 consecutive days the U.S. dropped one bomb every 30 seconds on the people of Iraq. That, Clark said, is the equivalent of 7.5 Hiroshima bombs. But the campaign against Iraq really started with U.S.-imposed United Nations sanctions in 1990, Clark said. By 1991, UNICEF was reporting the death of 47,500 children under the age of 5 as a direct result of the sanctions.

To date, Clark said, 1.5 million Iraqis have died and Iraq is facing the largest single death rate among infants. He closed by offering the audience the words of President John F. Kennedy. "I look forward to the day that America is no longer afraid of grace and beauty."

—Sadia Razaq and Delinda Hanley

American Muslims for Jerusalem Hold Fund-raiser

Those following the Arab-Israeli peace process know that in final status negotiations the most emotional and potentially divisive issue will be resolution of the final status of Jerusalem. Before that stage of the negotiations is reached, however, progressive organizations such as American Muslims for Jerusalem (AMJ), formed by combined efforts of seven national Islamic organizations and headed by Khalid Turrani and Fahim Abdulhadi, have initiated efforts to provide accurate information regarding Jerusalem and to educate the general American public about Israeli apartheid policies, the city's role in the three Abrahamic religions, and the differing positions of the Israeli and Palestinian negotiators.

At the organization's first annual fund-raising dinner on Nov. 14, in the national capital, speakers described to the 250 guests the accomplishments of American Muslims for Jerusalem in its first six months of existence. These included leading the successful campaign to convince Burger King to close an outlet in the West Bank settlement of Ma'ale Adumim, helping to persuade the Walt Disney Company to modify its Millennium Exhibit depicting Jerusalem as Israel's capital, generating news stories portraying the personal experiences of Muslims and Christians in Jerusalem, and educating government and public officials about Israeli policies and actions in Jerusalem.

Speakers included Imam Johari Abdul-Malik, the chaplain at Howard University in Washington, DC, and executive director Nihad Awad of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). Both speakers focused on the need to educate the public on the illegal occupation by Israel of West Jerusalem in 1948 and of East Jerusalem in 1967, Israeli expansion of the Jerusalem city limits to include a large part of the West Bank and Jewish settlements there in order to alter the city's demographic balance, and Israel's policies of forced expulsions, home demolitions, land confiscations, denial of human and religious liberties, and systematic erosion of the Muslim and Christian presence in Jerusalem.

—Sadia Razaq

Georgetown's CCAS Celebrates Saudi Arabia's Centennial

In observance of the modern kingdom of Saudi Arabia's centennial, the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies at Georgetown University invited scholars and specialists to explore a number of themes including Saudi state building, economic development, and foreign policy.

Within the first set of presentations, Joseph Kechichian, of Kechichian and Associates, reviewed the role of the al-Saud family in the state-building process. According to Kechichian, for the past 65 years the al-Sauds have articulated two primary goals: maintaining custodianship of the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah and preserving the family's rule. Historically, Kechichian explained, these two points of policy have been reasserted by each successive ruler, thereby ensuring the legitimacy of each individual king and, as a consequence, the power of the al-Saud family.

Focusing specifically on the history of Saudi Arabia, Kechichian discussed the alliance between the religious establishment, called the ulema, and the al-Saud family, which formed the cornerstone of the state-building process.

The unitarian movement launched by Muhammad ibn abd al-Wahhab, known abroad as Wahhabism, demanded a return to the concept of the absolute oneness of God. The Arabian tribes rejected Wahhab's unitarian message and he sought refuge among the al-Saud family. It was at this point, Kechichian said, that the al-Wahhab and al-Saud families forged a pact committed to the preservation and propagation of pure Islam. As a result, Kechichian stated, the union provided the al-Saud family with a clearly defined religious message that became the basis of their political authority.

At the time future King Abdul Aziz ibn Saud re-established his family's rule in Riyadh 100 years ago, the Arabian Peninsula was a chaotic and fragmented tribal environment. According to Kechichian, the future king forged a new political order, thereby transforming the peninsula into a unified force and ensuring the development of a modern state. "By acting decisively very early on," Kechichian said, "Ibn Saud denied leadership contenders an influence and stripped contentious tribal chiefs of their ability to rule in remote areas. Ibn Saud also appointed his sons and other family members to sensitive regional administrative posts without exposing the family to outright criticism."

But, Kechichian said, King Abdul Aziz ibn Saud only achieved his objective through the assistance of the religious establishment and through fostering alliances with the most important tribal families. Despite these accomplishments, King Abdul Aziz did encounter political crises, the most serious of which were the Ikhwani rebellions.

"Between 1927 and 1930 Ikhwan troops rebelled against King Abdul Aziz because they wanted to preserve their independent power base and the peninsula's traditional socio-ethnic framework." In a drastic move, Abdul Aziz challenged the Ikhwan to elect another member of the al-Saud family to replace him. Finding no suitable alternatives, Ikhwan leaders pledged themselves anew to support and obey Abdul Aziz, Kechichian said.

However, further rebellions led the Saudi leader to a decisive battle in which he crushed his Ikhwani opponents. "This was a very bloody chapter in Saudi history," Kechichian explained, "but, nevertheless, an accomplishment. It was a clear victory over the Ikhwan and consolidated the power of the embryonic Saudi state."

In November 1979 the neo-Ikhwan, remnants of the early group, demonstrated that the al-Saud family, even after 50 years of rule, faced renewed opposition. One to two hundred neo-Ikhwan supporters laid siege to the mosque in Makkah, holding it hostage for three weeks and demanding that worshippers recognize an Ikhwani as the Mahdi and eradicate all Western influence from the kingdom.

After receiving approval from the nation's top religious leaders, the Saudi National Guard and police units stormed the mosque, killing 103 of the rebels. "Given its performance in 1979," Kechichian said, "the al-Saud family displayed its ability to stifle opposition and retain control over the kingdom, all the while preserving the legitimacy of the ruling family."

At points in its evolution, the Saudi state also faced critical internal crises, Kechichian said. "Starting in the 1950s, King Abdul Aziz's son and first successor, King Saud, despite the increase in oil revenues, clearly mismanaged the kingdom's economy and in an extravagant spending style brought the country to the verge of bankruptcy. Soaring public debt, inflation, and the fall of the riyal to half of its official value affected the ruler's capabilities." As a result of King Saud's profligate spending, senior members of the family transferred executive power to the king's brother and prime minister at that time, Crown Prince Faisal, while allowing Saud to retain his title.

In addition to balancing the budget and improving the country's fiscal health, Faisal reformulated Saudi foreign policy toward Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Jordan and the United States. For example, Kechichian said, "Faisal proclaimed Saudi Arabia sympathetic to Arab nationalist intentions without suppressing Saudi ties with the West, even as [Egyptian President Gamal Abdel] Nasser called for precisely such steps. This pragmatic statement on the part of Faisal stood in stark contrast to Saud's indecisiveness toward Egypt's ideological advances.

"What becomes obvious to one looking at Saudi Arabia's history," Kechichian said, "is that although the kingdom under the Al-Saud family has experienced several critical crises, the fact of the matter is that it has weathered every one of these more or less intact. From a tribal background to an established country on the Arabian peninsula, the Al-Sauds have really earned their keep as the custodians of the two holy mosques and, far more important, as the leaders of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia."

Speaking after Joseph Kechichian, Prof. Sdaka Y. Fadil of King Abdul Aziz University discussed Saudi Arabia's role in effecting regional stability. What one must understand, Dr. Fadil said, is the Middle East is, for several reasons, a terribly unstable region. Sources of that instability include the scarcity of water, the creation and development of Israel, and the twisted logic of making the Palestinians pay for Nazi crimes.

According to Dr. Fadil, the forced expulsion of Palestinians from their homes and land, coupled with their status as an occupied people, will continue to act as a source of instability in the region. "Israel cannot continue to dominate the Palestinians and simultaneously plead for peace," Dr. Fadil said.

Saudi Arabia can, as a country seen by others in the Arab world as moderate, influence the level of volatility in the region, Dr. Fadil stated. Considering the level of development Saudi Arabia has experienced over the past five decades, Dr. Fadil said, it is able to contribute to securing peace, security, and stability for the Middle East.

Discussing Saudi foreign policy, Prof. F. Gregory Cause, of the University of Vermont, began by posing the following question to the audience: "Is there an interesting question to be asked when looking at Saudi foreign policy? Can the many outlines of Saudi foreign policy and the important choices made by Saudi foreign policy-makers be easily explained in terms of classic balance-of-power theory?"

According to Cause, many of the main aspects of Saudi Arabia's foreign policy would not be surprising to people schooled in the realist tradition. People like Hans J. Morgenthau and Kenneth Waltz would understand Saudi Arabia's enduring alliances and its seeking out a powerful ally in the United States to be in accord with balance-of-power theory. Saudi Arabian choices of opposing the efforts of Gamal Abdel Nasser in the 1960s and Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in the 1990s can also easily be explained as simple balance-of-power motivations, Professor Cause said.

But, there are some anomalies that don't fit within a classical realist framework, he continued. "For example, the 1973 oil embargo in which Saudi Arabia put at risk its relationship with its major outside power patron, or its support of Iraq at the outset of the Iran-Iraq war, where classic balance-of-power logic would urge wariness against an emerging regional power."

To understand these anomalous behaviors, Professor Cause suggested extending balance-of-power theory beyond its basic premise: that a state's primary focus is to protect its external security. If domestic state-building goals are included in a state's objective, Professor Cause said, then internal and external objectives are no longer held to be mutually exclusive. According to Professor Cause, if one views Saudi foreign policy as an extension of its domestic state-building, the tension between domestic and foreign concerns dissolves.

"A perfect example of this," Professor Cause said, "was during the 1980s, when Saudi Arabia was challenged in terms of its Islamic legitimacy by the revolution in Iran." At this time, Professor Cause explained, Iran was arguing against the legitimacy of monarchy in Islam and calling upon Saudi citizens to rise up against the al-Saud family. Therefore, Saudi Arabia put aside its real worries about Saddam Hussain, he said, because the potential victory of the Irani-Islamic revolutionary regime posed a larger threat to the stability of the region as a whole and to Saudi domestic stability.

Picking up on the theme of Saudi foreign policy was Prof. Ibrahim Karawan of the University of Utah, who outlined three principles on which Saudi foreign policy is predicated. First, Dr. Karawan explained, Saudi Arabia acts as a Muslim and Arab state. Second, it maintains good relations with all states, respecting the principles of state sovereignty and non-interference. Lastly, Saudi Arabia depends on peaceful means of conflict-resolution.

Following these principles, Dr. Karawan explained, Saudi Arabia attempts to preserve the Kingdom and its national security, respect Islamic values without infringing upon the social and economic development of its society, promote peace and stability in the Gulf region, strengthen Arab and Islamic unity, and preserve international peace and security.

To support these objectives, Dr. Karawan said, Saudi Arabia can use diplomacy, mediation, and its political influence within regional and international organizations, such as the United Nations, the Arab League, and the Organization of the Islamic Conference. Another mechanism Saudi Arabia has is economic power, derived from its position as the largest oil exporter, Dr. Karawan explained. He said Saudi Arabia has, since 1973, given $90 billion in aid in the form of grants and for development projects. In addition to this, Saudi Arabia is one of the largest donors to the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.

Despite the well-deserved applause for Saudi Arabia's one hundredth year, the conference ended on a cautionary note. Many of the specialists suggested that Saudi Arabia's current economic and fiscal path is unsustainable. To maintain domestic tranquility, the Kingdom has relied on subsidies and patronage to religious and military officials, thereby giving these groups an interest in maintaining the status quo. Thus, any austerity measures could create severe domestic discontent. But, the speakers suggested, more dangerous than that is the government's failure to date to meet the nation's financial problems, leaving the country on a dangerous course.

—Sadia Razaq

American Muslim Agenda Examined in Middle East Policy Council Symposium

The Middle East Policy Council sponsored a half-day symposium Sept. 27 in the Russell Senate Office Building in Washington, DC to discuss "American Muslims and U.S. Foreign Policy." MEPC president Chas. W. Freeman, who was U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia during the Gulf war, moderated the discussion, saying that in the United States it has not been clear "to most of us exactly what the American Muslim community consists of, whether it has a consistent, overarching vision of American interests and foreign policy, and if it does not, whether it is in the process of producing such a vision and emerging as a political force." Each of the four speakers addressed these questions from widely differing backgrounds, but produced a very large measure of agreement.

The first speaker, executive editor Richard Curtiss of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, said that judging by mail received from Muslims, who are about 40 percent of the readers of his magazine, American Muslims are divided about the current government in Iran and only recently have achieved a consensus on Iraq (to lift the sanctions without waiting for the overthrow of Saddam Hussain). However, he continued, "on the Palestine problem there seem to be quite unified views. As the American Muslims try to unify, they obviously will have to avoid highly controversial matters like Iran and, to some extent, Turkey, and concentrate on the things they have in common—Palestine, Kashmir, Bosnia and Kosovo," he said.

"There are now at least six million American Muslims, perhaps as many as eight million," Curtiss said. "On foreign policy questions they're pretty much in tune with the 1.5 to 2 million Christian Arab Americans. What they have to do is put themselves on the American political map.

"Obviously this involves getting every member of the American Muslim community to register to vote" in both primary and general elections, he continued. "Fortuitously, American Muslims are heavily concentrated in the key electoral states. There are a huge number of registered Muslim voters in California. There also are large numbers, well organized, in New Jersey, and somewhat organized in New York and in Ohio, Michigan and Illinois. It would be impossible in a close presidential election for a candidate of either party to win without the electoral votes of those states, particularly California. And it may well turn out that it would be impossible for any presidential candidate to win in those states without the support of the Muslim community.

"The last step in making that Muslim community effective is to be sure that, when those newly registered Muslim voters go into the polling place, they're carrying in their hand a list of the candidates who are considered best on Islamic concerns in their locality, a list put together by local Muslim leaders," Curtiss concluded. "The result will be a more balanced, even-handed U.S. Middle East policy. And, as a retired foreign service officer who served 31 years with the U.S. government, most of it in the Middle East, I am quite sure that the happiest people about restoring balance and even-handedness to U.S. Middle East policy will be those U.S. government officials who have to explain it and carry it out."

Commenting, Ambassador Freeman, also a retired career foreign service officer, noted that "I, for one, hope that you are right; that countervailing forces will restore some freedom of maneuver and objectivity where those things have been lacking in American policy."

President Abdurahman Alamoudi of the American Muslim Foundation, which is closely affiliated with the American Muslim Council, opened by quoting author and former U.S. Congressman Paul Findley's statement that "American Muslims are a sleeping giant." However, Alamoudi added, "We are waking up."

Alamoudi said U.S. Muslims must also become involved in local political issues. "Unless we have an impact on our local issues, school board issues, county issues and national American issues, it will be very difficult for us to have a real impact on foreign policy," he declared.

Describing a survey of U.S. Muslims undertaken in 1992 when he was president of the American Muslim Council, he reported: "Muslims were evenly divided between Democrats, Republicans and Independents. We Muslims are mainly conservatives, but we have a soft spot for social issues, so you see Muslims across the whole spectrum of American politics."

Alamoudi called the World Trade Center bombing "a wake-up call for us, an opportunity to educate and galvanize the Muslim community, but also to go outside that community and start a dialogue with the mediaÉWe were devastated by [the bombing] because it has nothing to do with our religionÉOur religion, like all monotheistic religions, is against terrorismÉSo we had to go out there and market ourselves as Americans, as Muslims, and as good neighbors. When we did that, it really motivated us and other Muslim organizations to start working on the media and othersÉ"

In 1998 the main Muslim organizations came together in a coordinated council (the American Muslim Political Coordination Council—AMPCC), Alamoudi continued. "We met with the Arab organizations, and we have a good institution that will coordinate our activismÉOur main goal is to try to organize a bloc in the Muslim community."

Alamoudi said that American Muslims support human rights in Palestine and Kashmir and "we will try our best to educate our administration that to pursue human rights and democracy in the Muslim world is in the best interest of our country as well.

"We believe we can be the catalyst—Americans who are believers in the American values of freedom and human rights and who strive to see those values respected in U.S. foreign policy," he concluded. "An America that remains true to its own ideals abroad would go far toward realizing the objectives of the American Muslim community."

The next speaker, Jameel W. Johnson, chief of staff in the office of U.S. Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY) and an African-American convert to Islam, told the audience: "When I first became a Muslim back in 1988, a brother at the mosque told me, 'you're going to find that whatever the personality of a particular people before they became Muslims, that's what they're going to bring with them to Islam.' African Americans typically have not had a background of being politically involved, so when they become Muslim, they tend to bring that lack of involvement in the system with them into Islam. They are wary of the system and lack faith that the system will work for them because it hasn't worked for them in the past.

"Those in the immigrant community also tend to shy away from the system, even if they have residency and visas and everything in place." Johnson said. "This is natural, especially if they're coming from a nation in which the government was more oppressive. They tend to be wary of becoming involved and being outspoken against the government, especially those who are in the lower socio-economic status."

Johnson said, however, that the issue of terrorism had united the entire Muslim community. "The Afro-American community and the immigrant community are very strong and united on eliminating the image of Islam as fostering terrorism to gain political or social ends. The Qur'an teaches very clearly that you only fight against those who pick up the sword against you. You have the right to defend yourself [but] Allah does not favor those who are the aggressors."

The congressional aide said the Muslim community is still divided between "those who are against Muslims being involved in the political process" and those who say "we need to be involved in the Democratic Party, the Republican Party, the Reform Party and to become part of the mainstream to achieve the changes that we want." He added that Muslims also are asking, "Should it be our goal to develop resources and establish a community so that we can live a life more in tune with Islam, trying to spread Islam throughout the United States, or should we simply have an agenda that moves us into the mainstream, so that we become part of the larger melting pot?"

In conclusion, Johnson said, "We have had issues that have united the Muslim community across the board. Palestine tends to be one of the more uniting issues and the high-profile issues such as Bosnia and KosovoÉ tend to bring the community togetherÉ[But] questions remainÉHow do we bridge the cultural divides to establish one agenda so that Muslims can begin to vote in a bloc, working with their Arab brothers and sisters who may not be Muslim, and with their fellow members of the African-American community, who have had similar concerns and live in the neighborhood, so we can pull together a stronger agenda to move the Muslim community forward?"

Ambassador Freeman commented that "most Americans would be startled, given the general view of Islam, to understand the point that you made so well that there is a debate in the American Muslim community about whether to be involved in politics at all. Since the general image of Islam is of a very politicized religion, this is an important corrective, I think, to that false understanding."

The final speaker, Hesham Reda, director of the Washington office of the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), whose national headquarters is in Los Angeles, described the American Muslim community as "a work in progress." He explained:

"Even within the immigrant Muslims there are two blocs, the Indian and Pakistani on the one hand and the Arab on the other. There are also a lot of other ethnic groups within the immigrant community. This means less cohesion in the community's approach to issues. However, all of these groups are united by a sense of alienation to some extent from the political process here...Added to this is the fact that there is a sense of fear...Most of the countries these immigrants come from are not democratic, and if you get involved in politics you are liable to face harassmentÉ

"But progress has been made in remarkable ways... There are a lot of organizations active in the field right now, and they have matured enough that they are able to work together and start focusing on specific issuesÉ

"The Gulf war mobilized the community to work in the political field, much more than it had before. On the heels of that came BosniaÉMuslims became active in an unprecedented way, even by Gulf war standardsÉ Through the work of building alliances and organizing ourselves, we have matured quite a bit in the last two to three years.

"I would like to take issue with the people who say that the Muslim community is divided among many foreign policy issues. It is true that we have far more issues to focus on than the Jewish community, which is concerned mostly about Israel. When we come to the Muslim community we have Bosnia, Kashmir, Iraq and many other issues that we are concerned about, including Chechnya and Kosovo recently.

"But the Palestinian issue remains central, for many reasons. The first is religious, because Jerusalem is a sacred place for Muslims, as it is for Christians and Jews. There is a very special place for that issue in every Muslim heart. In addition, strategically the struggle over Palestine is looked upon, at least subconsciously, as a struggle for the independence of the Muslim will.

"This is really a struggle over whether we are going to be, as a people, able to control our own fate, or whether we are going to be dominated by somebody else. This issue tends to divide Muslims and sap their energies in such a way that it has gained prominence over all others.

"Finally, we have seen that at least some elements of the Jewish community, particularly those who are extreme Zionists, have taken it upon themselves to be the main impediment to the progress of Muslims toward full participation in American life. That also adds to why the Palestinian cause is such a primary issue for MuslimsÉ

"An American-Islamic agenda is an ongoing project. In foreign policy it focuses more on the Palestinian issue than others. We also have a domestic agenda focusing mostly on the civil rights of Muslims. But this agenda is not complete. There are many, many issues that are being tackled in detail in different places, not in a very systematic way and not completely. On issues like education, drugs, crime and the society, we have diverse opinionsÉ

"When it comes to the Democratic and Republican partiesÉyou find that there is identification with the so-called 'family values' advocated by Republicans, even though Muslims probably would pitch them in a different tone, in some instances more strongly than the Republicans do. But social issues and compassion for the poor are very important for Muslims. The Democratic Party has been able, especially during the Clinton administration, to gain a lot of respect and support among the Muslim community because it has been so inclusive, and because this administration has opened the door for Muslims to participate much more than any previous one. This has gone a long way toward gaining support for the Democratic Party. Advances by the Republican Party have not been as forthcoming so far. A dialogue is happening. Hopefully it will continue and will be more fruitful.

"The main motivating factor for the Muslim community, and for the new generation of Muslims, would be, as in Islam, to make the society around us better. This is a duty that is imposed upon us in IslamÉ we have to show that this is something we will work toward with the rest of society. We will need to form large alliances around these issues and work together on them."

—Donna Bourne

AMA's Convention Features 57 Speakers

The American Muslim Alliance (AMA), which now has some 90 chapters nation-wide, held its fourth annual convention in Orlando, Florida Oct. 2 and 3. The national organization, headquartered in Northern California, concentrates on building grassroots support with the ultimate goal of having chapters not only in every state, but insofar as possible in every congressional district. AMA chairman Dr. Agha Saeed, of the University of California at Hayward, said this year's conference featured more than 50 speakers.

In accordance with joint recommendations of the American Muslim Political Coordination Council, of which Dr. Saaed is this year's chairman, and the Council of Presidents of Arab American Organizations, chaired this year by President Hala Maksoud of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, the AMA convention focussed particularly on voter registration and the abolition of the use of secret evidence in U.S. legal proceedings.

Other areas of concentration included strategies for coordinated action in the year 2000 elections, particularly through local candidate forums; encouraging Muslims to run for elected political office and providing legal, institutional and individual support to their campaigns under the slogan "2000 by 2000"; and political and civic action workshops with local officials around the United States.

Speakers in addition to Dr. Saeed included Dr. M.H. Qazi, Khalid Mirza, Ali Naqvi, Grover Norquest of the Republican National Committee, Thomas Albert of the Democratic National Committee, Randa Fahmy, Asim Ghafoor, Suhail Khan, Maya Berry, Salam Al-Maryati, Aly Abuzakouk, Bilal Kareem, Omar Ahmed, Stuart Sharr, Dr. Sami Al-Arian, Abdul Ghani Lone, Abdurrahman Alamoudi, Dr. Mahjabeen Islam, Judge Hamdy Ezalarab, Khalid Safoori, Farooq Ansari, State Sen. John F. Casgrove, Asim Ghafoor, Barbara Aziz, Erica McMahon, Bill Cowles, Dr. Aisha Kareem, Hossein Ibish, syndicated columnist Charlie Reese, Anisa Mehdi, Emin Egiru, Dr. Talat Khan, Ambassador Syed Ahsani, Shameem Habiba, Dr. Sultan Hameed, Mitchell Shamsuddin, Habibullah Saleem, Dr. Riaz Ahmed, Dr. Shabir Safdar, Dr. M.A.Q. Siddiqui, Abdul Kunbargi, Rep. Dale H. Kildee, Ramsey Clark, Khalid Mirza and Muslim candidates for 2000 Amin Egiru, Saghir Tahir, Shahid Mahmood, Sheraly Khwaja, Eric Vickers, and Morshed Alam.

Summarizing the convention, which attracted Muslims of Arab, African, South Asian and other ethnic backgrounds, Dr. Saeed expressed satisfaction with the higher-than-expected attendance, the fact that women speakers were more prominent than in previous conventions, and that speakers and questioners stayed on message, concentrating on effective political action in the year 2000 elections

As at the three previous AMA national conventions in Boston, Long Island, NY, and Kansas City, MO, emphasis was placed on participation by leaders of other national and regional Islamic political organizations. This included a strategy coordination session at the conclusion of the Orlando conference.

—Richard Curtiss

SIDEBAR 1

Muslims Rally for Chechnya at Russian Embassy

Washington, DC-area Muslims rallied outside the military attachŽ office of the Russian Embassy on Dec. 3. Organized by the Muslim Coalition for Justice, the event attracted a long list of sponsors including the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the American Muslim Council (AMC), and the Muslim Students' Association of the USA and Canada.

Within a short period, the small group grew to a crowd of more than 50 Muslims—all shouting in unison, "What do we want? Peace and justice. When do we want it? Now." A number of speakers and leaders of the local Muslim community addressed the crowd; speaking most eloquently and passionately was Imam Johari Abdul Malik, the Muslim chaplain at Howard University. In addition to condemning Russia's brutal acts of aggression, Imam Johari drew a stunning parallel between the present situation of the Chechen people and the early American settlers. "Just as America grew out of wanting its freedom and independence from the Europeans, so Chechnya wants its freedom from Russia," he said.

The current Russian campaign against the Chechens is the latest episode of the 1994-96 war, which resulted in the shrinking of the resident Chechen population from 1.2 million to only 800,000. Since October 1999, more than 200,000 Muslims have fled the region—making for a humanitarian crisis of the highest proportions. In the words of an Islamic Circle of North America Relief spokesman, "the depopulation of Chechnya makes for a human tragedy that is far worse than the Russian name of its capital, Grozny, which means "terrible."

—Saira Razaq

SIDEBAR 2

Washington Report Editor Speaks At Northern California Institutions

In a repeat of his May 1998 tour of Northern California universities and colleges to speak on 50 years of Palestinian dispossession, executive editor Richard Curtiss of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs spoke at Northern California mosques and at two universities in November of 1999. The sponsor of his 1998 tour was the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), which provided transportation to and accommodations in California, while Muslim and Arab student groups arranged the local campus programs.

The 1999 tour was sponsored by the newly formed American Muslims for Jerusalem (AMJ) and local student groups, with some logistical support from the CAIR Northern California office. Curtiss spoke this year on the history of the Palestinian-Israeli dispute to student audiences at the University of California at Berkeley and San Jose State University. At Islamic center breakfast and dinner meetings he spoke on political empowerment of Muslim and Arab Americans, followed by lengthy question-and-answer sessions. At all of the programs introductory copies of the Washington Report were distributed to audience members.

—Donna Bourne

SIDEBAR 3

Three Exhibits at Sackler Gallery on Modern Mideast

Three exhibits, one calligraphic and two photographic, dealing with the Middle East opened in November at the Smithsonian's Sackler Gallery in Washington, DC. "Imaging the Word: Selections of Calligraphy from the Islamic World" displays 30 works from the 9th century to the present on various materials. Thanks to recent acquisitions and gifts, the Sackler is now able to exhibit the continuous tradition of the most important artistic medium in Islamic art. The works on display range from one of the smallest known examples of kufic script to a monumental Timurid Qur'an page, and include a carved emerald and an engraved stone cup. Contemporary works are also on display, one a set of talismanic steel plaques and a minimalist, Sufi-inspired painting entitled "Light Upon Light," composed entirely of the word "Allah."

A photographic exhibit examines the work of Antoin Sevruguin, a Russian-Iranian photographer. Sevruguin's work records life in Iran from the late 1870s to the early 1930s, a period of rapid modernization and change. The photographs cover all aspects of Iranian life: everyday life, ethnographic studies, the royal court, Iranian antiquities, along with Western fantasy. The Sackler holds over 900 of Sevruguin's works, the largest collection in the world. One of the great 19th century photographers, but largely unknown, Sevruguin owned a successful commercial studio in Tehran. Thanks to Nasir al-Din Shah's interest in photography, Sevruguin gained access to the royal court, allowing him to photograph the shah in both formal and informal settings. The shah was interested in photography as a symbol of modernity, a sentiment Sevruguin apparently shared, capturing telegraph offices, railroads, and the first airplane to land in Iran.

The second photographic exhibit deals with the ideas of Orientalism, especially the Orientalist idea of the Arab woman. Jananne al-Ani, an Iraqi-Irish photographer, takes the idea of the veil as the basis of these photographs. Using her mother, sisters and herself as subjects, al-Ani pairs juxtaposing photos to challenge stereotypes of "mystery and exoticism" associated with Middle Eastern women. One set portrays her subjects seated and veiled to various degrees, but also allowing the viewer to see the jeans and shorts they are wearing.

The calligraphy show is on exhibit until Feb. 28, 2000; Sevruguin and al-Ani until March 28, 2000.

—Hugh S. Galford

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