The Ummah at inception, a community that could easily fit in the palm of Medina, was an entirely different creature than the Ummah today, a burgeoning population of nearly two billion. Although we are “one body,” we must recognize each of the “limbs” as truly independent bodies in their own right; only when we understand each geographic unit of the Ummah as distinct, can we begin to intelligently attend to the needs of each limb.
“The Ummah is like one body. If the eye is in pain, then the whole body is in pain and if the head is in pain then the whole body is in pain.” (Prophetic Transmission)
The Ummah at inception, a community that could easily fit in the palm of Medina, was an entirely different creature than the Ummah today, a burgeoning population of nearly two billion. Although we are “one body,” we must recognize each of the “limbs” as truly independent bodies in their own right; only when we understand each geographic unit of the Ummah as distinct, can we begin to intelligently attend to the needs of each limb.
The unique challenge (and opportunity) of our limb, the American-Muslim community, is to peacefully live and proactively engage with a predominantly non-Muslim society on a daily basis, because Americans, Muslim or otherwise, are OUR community. We must examine and re-examine our cultural, economic and political context because it doesn’t remain stagnant. For example, the wider American society we belong to today is markedly different than the society our parents immigrated to twenty years ago.
Too often American-Muslims fail to step back, take stock of the present needs of our community and then tailor their behavior accordingly. For example, you will find that many American-Muslims try to endear Islam to the wider American society by drawing comparisons between Islam and the Judeo-Christian tradition. They hope to prove that we have the same values as our neighbors. Conversely, American-Muslims may become defensive and pluck sordid details from the Bible in response to criticism of the Qur’an. These strategies seldom work because Americans today are generally not responsive to Biblical rhetoric. In fact, you could even go as far as to say that religion and religiosity are looked down upon amongst a large portion of the American intelligentsia and power players. If we want to present our faith in a positive light to our non-Muslim counterparts in this country, we must intelligently examine the current climate our portion of the Ummah inhabits before speaking.
For example, you will hear this question time and again, “How is it that your Prophet married such a young girl (Aisha)? That sounds like pedophilia to me!” Our instinct to defend our Prophet kicks in and we typically respond in a combative manner. “Haven’t you read the Bible? The first chapter of both Matthew and Luke will tell you that Joseph married Mary before she reached puberty! And don’t lecture me about pedophilia when priests are touching boys left and right!” This tirade busts forth before we even pause to consider the listener’s background. More likely than not, we are speaking to a person who is largely unfamiliar with the Bible, would condemn Mary’s (purported) child wedding as quickly as he did Aisha’s, and probably dressed up as a priest for Halloween to mock the church. After our outburst, he still considers our Prophet a pedophile, and now we’ve further cemented his decision to stop going to church 14 years ago.
In today’s political climate, Islam, more than any other religion, is under a microscope. Muslim-Americans should neither run from the attention, nor complain, ‘Why are we being asked to defend our faith?’ Instead we should prepare ourselves for the inquisition, prepare to answer the tough questions that the communities in Pakistan or the Gulf do not have to. We must realize that the very questions our neighbors put forth about Islam today, our children will ask tomorrow.
Brainstorm, listen, and understand. What about our Prophet(s), our religious mandates and our religious history raises eyebrows? Think about how you would discuss the Messenger’s marriage to Aisha, for example, while remaining confident in your Prophet, and without immediately taking a defensive stance or angrily invoking the Bible. This is precisely the sort of controversial issue we must prepare an intelligent response to, all the while tailoring our answers and our reasoning to the time and place in which we live.
Muslim-Americans have begun to take this nuanced approach when it comes to women’s participation in mosques, for example. Women in South Asia almost never visit their local mosques, and don’t seem to mind much, and this situation is not unique to South Asia. This is all fine and dandy, but when Muslims began to immigrate to America and build community mosques, we ran into some issues. Dogmatic allegiance to the gender norms of our native countries frightened away curious women who were interested in learning about and possibly embracing Islam. A hostile and unwelcoming mosque atmosphere alienated observant Muslim females, leaving them unable to appreciate the religion they were born into, and excluding talented decision makers from mosque boards.
So what did many of us do? We recognized this problem, and educated ourselves about what aspects of gender segregation are not negotiable within Islam, and which are merely appropriate for another cultural context. We made sure there was equal access to mosque resources, community events, and leadership positions. For example, the local mosque in my hometown was founded by a woman (shout out to Nasira Sharieff Auntie out in San Ramon, CA), and made it a point to involve the women just as much as the men. This is not to say that Muslim-Americans have achieved gender equality in mosques across the country, but we have certainly made strides towards the more balanced gender representation that our Muslim-American Ummah requires.
The question a non-Muslim asks us or the community issue we must tackle might be gender related or it may be something entirely different, but the lesson I put forth is to pay attention to your local community and its needs. For example, dealing with gender is a very different matter at a predominantly indigenous black mosque in Oakland and D.C. than it will be at a San Francisco or Arlington mosque where immigrants comprise most of the congregation. That’s okay. Under the broad umbrella of Islam we can and we should find multiple approaches, each one suited to the demands of our individual time and place.
Abrar Qadir is a student at Georgetown University Law Center. Originally from California, Abrar attended the University of California, Berkeley before moving East. This piece was adapted from one of the Friday Sermons he periodically gives for his school’s Jumaa prayers.
