Fri May 18, 2012
Victoria Morphy
Revisiting an Interview with Imam Rauf
By Victoria Morphy, New York – September 2010
It’s difficult to believe how little has changed in the seven years since I wrote this article from an interview I conducted with Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf. A cultural war of words continues to explode across the media but this time sides are drawn over the proposed building of an Islamic community center near Ground Zero.
The wound of 9/11 remains raw for many Americans, making it difficult to see past the slander and hysteria that has evolved regarding this situation. Setting aside the controversy, which showcases a symptom of a larger disease of hate, Americans must focus instead on how we can move forward.
Clinging to the past does not drive progress. Instead, we must respectfully honor what’s occurred and engage in educated discussions about bringing about resolution, which is exactly what I believe Imam Rauf said in the interview he gave me and he continues to say today.
By Victoria Morphy – September 2003
For more than two years we’ve heard over and over how much Sept. 11 has changed America. And while that’s true, we fail to realize that the United States wasn’t the only country affected by this terrible tragedy. As a result of this horrific event, thousands of Muslim men and women in this country became targets of American violence, discrimination and racial slurs. Men who wore turbans were called “rag heads” and varied other monikers. Arab people were imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, many without evidence of any wrongdoing.
Just as suddenly, people in the West began to see a conflict between our cultures that could unleash all kinds of horrible violence and tragedy if it weren’t tamed. But the origins of that clash of cultures dates back to when Britain colonized India and Egypt, or when the French colonized Algeria or Senegal, according to Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, an author and religious Imam at a mosque in New York City.
“There was the feeling that the white man was superior to a man of a non-white race,” said Imam Feisal. “For example, it is widely felt that the English tried to create a race of brown Englishmen in India. There were clear racial elements which created deep animosity, causing what Harvard Professor Samuel Huntington refers to as a ‘tear’ in the
society itself.”
Is the Arab and Muslim world feeling this again? For Americans, Imam Rauf said our fundamental belief in America is wrapped around our Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights, which defines our inalienable rights under God. “These are the core beliefs of American society. They define American society,” he said. “We [in the Muslim world] have those beliefs as well. But in the context of Islam, those beliefs define an Islamic society. They also define the laws of our society. And, because we don’t have the so-called separation of church and State as it is expressed in the West, this has made the role of religion far more pronounced and important in Islamic society today.”
Perhaps this begins to shed light on the media’s images of Arab and Muslim people in the Middle East who are angry about the way they feel they have been treated and misunderstood by the West. When President Bush called his mission to ‘hunt down terrorists,’ fight the Axis of Evil, and introduce democracy to the Middle East a “crusade,” it did not help communicate to the Muslim and Arab world that this was not a
war against their culture.
Stories began to circulate in the news of women being stoned to death for showing their wrists in public and suicide bombers taking revenge against the West. These stories began to be equated with Muslims who practiced Islam.
In fact however, Imam Rauf said that suicide is strictly prohibited by the Prophet and by the Koran and by Islamic law. “There has been no case in which deliberately taking one’s life has been acceptable in Islamic law,” said Imam Rauf. “Those who engage in that kind of action are those whose options have reached an endpoint; they are losing the battle – their backs are against the wall and they cannot win in another way besides taking their lives.”
American media has also focused on the issue of women’s rights in the Muslim world – they see the Middle East as an archaic region where women are oppressed. However, Rauf says, “The relationship between genders has been a matter of custom and culture more than theology.” In the Middle East, custom has been a source of law, and some of the Muslim cultural laws have been seen as religious law. These cultural laws are not established by religion or theology, they are social laws.
“There is a concern in the non-western world that there is an encroachment of western values on traditional values,” said Imam Rauf. “This has happened more than just in the Middle East. The Japanese have felt it, the Chinese have felt it, the Indian cultures have felt it and many other cultures have felt it. There’s a feeling in much of the Muslim world that they are being violated. But the manner in which a woman dresses in the Middle East is a matter of cultural law and [her dress] doesn’t mean [she] is less equal or weaker than men. You should meet some Saudi women and see how powerful
and strong and willful they are.”
Bridging an understanding between our two cultures is very possible. Imam Rauf says American culture is very popular in the Middle East. “The Muslim world admires many things about the West,” he said. “It will incorporate many things of the West, but [people] want to do it their own way. It’s like when a parent of a teenager says ‘Do it this way,’ and the teenager wants to do it their way. If it’s forced upon you, it’s not your own. That’s exactly the issue of the Muslim world.”
Imam Rauf cautions that the source of the clash over our cultures is not necessarily based on what one would assume. “Basically people fight over issues of power, issues of money, fortunes and assets,” he said. “You may believe that a person is crazy if he or she believes in one God or in the multiplicity of Gods, or doesn’t believe in God at all. But as long as that belief does not prevent [people] from having the rights to their freedom, having their rights to jobs, having the rights to the things they want in life, then people will get along very, very well.”
As a religious man, this reporter asked Imam Rauf what his prayer for humanity would be - “Exhibit the behavior of the two greatest commandments: to love God with all of your heart, your soul, your mind and your body – and to love your fellow human being as you love yourself.” Not to seem too cliché, with that in mind, our cultures can
be bridged in a heartbeat.
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