Asma Uddin spoke at MPAC’s 10th Annual Convention, on a panel entitled: The State of Our Umma (Community): Facing Our Challenge
The State of Our Umma (Community): Facing Our Challenges
Moderator: Edina Lekovic – Director of Policy & Programming
Imam Johari Abdul Malik – Director of Outreach at Dar Al Hijrah Islamic Center
Aman Ali – Co-creator of 30 Mosques in 30 Days & Standup Comedian
Dr. Maher Hathout – MPAC Senior Advisor
Dr. Abdulaziz Sachedina – Professor of Religion at Univ. of Virginia – Charlottesville
Asma Uddin – Founder & Editor in Chief of AltMuslimah.com
Imam Suhaib Webb – Resident Scholar of the Muslim American Society
For a video of the panel discussion, see: http://www.mpac.org/convention.php
Notes on the talk by Musa “Maniac Muslim“:
DI posted these on his facebook. They are from an MPAC convention that was broadcasted online. Some are interesting, mostly just little quotes.
Here are some notes and overview of the MPAC Convention Panel with Imam Suhaib, Imam Johari Abdul Malik, Aman Ali, Asma Uddin, Dr. Abdulaziz Sachedina, Dr. Maher Hathout hosted by Edina Lekovic. There were 2 panels, I missed the first one but it included reverends and ministers who were talking about building bridge to the Muslim community and common struggles. Below is a quick overview of the discussion of the second panel, including discussion from the chat room (about 70 viewers), Twitter conversations, and Facebook feed. There is more but I’ve only mentioned the points that are more to take away and ponder about and continue the conversation. This will be on CSPAN too apparently.
I’ve tried quoting as accurately as possible, and did some paraphrasing to get across the meanings- but feel free to make corrections! I’ve also added my thoughts and ideas at the end, and along the way in italics and encourage everybody reading this to comment, share their views and substantial ideas (i.e. we don’t need 20 comments rebutting any one silly comment that may come up or ‘over-commenting’!). Panel discussions such as these are much more productive for ideas and solutions than blogs or articles, so its important to keep the conversation going- online especially, as Imam Johari mentioned! 🙂
Loneliness
“The bigger the community, the more lonely we are. We are nationally connected, but locally disconnected.” – Imam Suhaib
-Brothers go to the shisha bar and the bar because they are lonely–one brother told Imam Suhaib I don’t drink or smoke but I go because I’m lonely.
There was an old man in the masjid. No one knew him or knew his name. The only thing they needed him for was to fill in the gap in the front row and they were happy to see him doing that. -Imam Johari
“The underwear bomber was going online looking for friends and was clearly a lonely kid. So when you don’t find support and empowerment in your community, you can become susceptible to extremists who are telling you “yes you can do this,” we need to give these youth another option in a positive direction, that is a powerful anecdote to the extremist.”–Aman Ali
Masjid Life
-10 to 15% of Muslims attend the mosque, that means we have a lot of work to do. -Aman Ali
“The masjid is a place for treating homesickness.” (true, but sad joke from Dr. Maher)
“It’s easier to build mosques then minds in the mosques.” The Prophet (PBUH) said, your mosques will be large and decorated but empty of guidance. Academia plays a major role in the public opinion formation, we need to get back to a focus on education.” Dr. Abdulaziz Sachedina, Professor, Univ. of Virginia Charlottesville
People go to the churches and synagogues for a relationship with the community, Muslims go to masjids for a relationship with Allah. -Imam Johari mentioned this in relation to a group of people who visited the masjid studying worship in religious communities
“The main client of the masjid is the “Lamer (?)—all he says is La, La, La- NO NO NO.” -Imam Johari Abdul Malik
“We’re pre-pubescent as a community. We’re going through growing pains.” (Imam Suhaib Webb)
Imam Suhaib describing Rasulullah salallahu alayhi wasalam: “He’s not an indict-er, but an inviter.”
“Many youth come to the mosque and they don’t feel like I’m showing up at the mosque, I feel like I’m showing up to a courtroom” -Aman Ali
Some of our activists don’’t pray fajr -Imam Suhaib
Imam Johari said “Most Masajid don’t have Imams!”;
Imam Suhaib said “Most Masajid have uncles.”
The mosque should be our country club, our barber shop, our chai house- Muslim young people need a place to go.
Sisters issues:
-In talking about loneliness someone shouted out in the audience, “He needs to get married” and Imam Suhaib said, “Maybe both him and his wife are lonely.”
-porn and sexual issues was discussed, perhaps a little too much…
-Gender barrier in masjids– “the bullet proof, glass barrier” as Imam Suhaib put it
-Masjid had the lights put out so the brothers couldn’t look in and children went wild crying
-Why is the sisters section for baby-sitting the children and not the brothers section?
“Our women are taking Prozac because they’re looking at a wall and are told they’re part of the community.” (Imam Suhaib Webb)
“Are you saying that if we take down the wall (in the mosque separating men & women), it’s going to be triple-X?
“We need guts, our sisters are still waiting for men to fight the battle, that is self defeating, even if the man wins the battle for her she did not win anything. Take your place, don’t let anyone stop you.”—Dr. Hathout
“Every where else out there in the world we are told we can achieve what we want to achieve, but then when we get to the mosque we are sent to the back.” Asma Uddin, Alt Muslimah Magazine
Terrorism:
Imam Suhaib Webb mentioned that a brother sent him an email saying, “I support AA’s message and I wanted to talk to you about it,” and after about 8-9 emails he admitted he was wrong and decided to open a soup kitchen in the ghetto. He had the right intentions but just need direction
Mainstream Society
“When are we going to have our values impact not inside the masjiid? Can we let our faith flow out into the streets?” Imam Johari Abdul Malik, Dar Al Hijrah Islamic Center
“How many masajid have a visitor card?” -Imam Suhaib
“Some of our converts are the greatest carriers of immigrant Islam” -Suhaib Webb
If a mayor comes to visit the masjid and the mayor is a she not a he, and you show her the sister-section…how will she respond? –imam didn’t shake her hand and told her she can go to the ladies section
We gotta do more outreach since we’ve been doing a lot of in-reach. We only talk to people who want to take shahadah. -Imam Johari
“We have to recognize in America the importance of popular culture, if America is not going to make an impact on the popular culture scene we will not have a real impact.” (shouting out Wajahat Ali and Amir Sulaiman)–Imam Johari
We got the biryani and the tabouleh(?), but we don’t got the mashed potatoes and the fried chicken in the masjid. -Imam Suhaib
SOLUTIONS:
“Somebody told me the other day: We should feel the fear…and do it anyway.” – Edina Lekovic
“He had a sign saying: ‘Having a masjid here is like a punch in the stomach’, and he was in line for a halal food cart” lol -Aman Ali
-Imam Suhaib made reference to Spike Lee “Do the Right Thing” http://www.youtube.c…h?v=cOxOR3x8FBQ (from 30 seconds to 1 minute, profanity in other parts of the clip) point being Prince and Magic Johnson are “not N-words,” they are respected and that its the everyday Muslim everybody knows, they see the halal food cart vendor is not seen as a Muslim, its seen as someone who they can get along with and learn Islam from.
“We need to have more Muslim lawyers. As a community we need to gain an understanding of where Muslim values meet western values. This process is going to create greater confidence amongst Muslims about how the system works and how we can contribute.”–Asma Uddin
–journalists and Muslims in the humanities, social sciences, religious studies was also encouraged and that we have enough doctors!
Closing comments:
-“There is another generation of Muslims that are un-mosqued but they are not un-Muslim, they are ONLINE having discussions on Islam, as a result of that, this is widening the discourse. The real challenge for them will be what will they build, will they build the institutions that are necessary for the next generation?”–Imam Johari
-Edina: “We are praying salah in the Hollywood room.”
Imam Johari: “Now that’s Islam in America!”
New terms/ideas:
“un-mosqued”/ “un-mosqued but not un-Muslim”
“in-reach” vs. out-reach
visitor cards for masjids
Online conversation/discussions:
-Muslims need to read more, suggestions about starting Masjid Book clubs. Here is one mentioned in the chat: http://www.mecasocal…id=57&Itemid=97
-How would you design the ideal dream mosque? Describe what it would have, be like and provide for the community?
-Having a conversation with Jews and other people about the generational gaps in their communities and how its a common issue.
-America loves (our) academic excellence but does Allah love our academic excellence? (i.e. are we using our minds in ways that are pleasing or displeasing to Allah or just pleasing to ourselves?)
-Do Muslims have a communication problem?
-Recommended links by people in chatroom (I didn’t read them yet):
http://www.psycholog…characteristics
http://edition.cnn.c…lization.study/
http://www.howardgar…ner_General.pdf
-Some books recommended by online audience:
“Don’t Think of an Elephant!” by George Lakoff (book about debating and ideas) http://www.amazon.co…s/dp/1931498717
“The American Muslim Mind” (not sure about this one)
“Reading the Muslim mind” http://www.amazon.co…t/dp/0892591579
My thoughts, comments and ideas:
-Loneliness is the beginning of Extremism–we need lots of discussion on this phenomena because its breaking apart the community.
-We need a yearly ranking of the “Top Mosques of North America List”
-“Masjid Neighborhood Watch”? Should we have something like that?
-Ideas surrounding Muslim Masculinity/Manhood and terrorism
-Most of the problems we have are from our beginnings–someone set it that way from the start and its continued…like a domino effect, so perhaps its not that hard to fix or maybe its all about making sure we get it right from the start?
-African American Muslims are very important in these types of conversations considering Imam Johari was the one who disagreed with others the most. Its good the discussion has moved beyond advocating the African American Muslim or convert perspective and actually incorporating it. It would be good to see some inclusion of Muslims in lower socio-economic classes and social workers ALONGSIDE these people- diversity is key–if its about all of us, then we need to include everybody.
-Interestingly enough, in my reading of the Wikileaks cablegate documents, one of the suggestions American officials made was having American Muslim imams and artists fly to France and Brazil to help those countries integrate and manage their growing Muslim population. Obviously, managing Muslim attitudes in ANY country is in the interest of America, but I think it says something about agendas and also that how things play out in the American Muslim community will have ramifications for all of the ummah.
