Islam in World Cultures: Comparative Perspectives - Islamic Books ...

2 8 4Islam i n World Cult u r e sThe Reverend Jerry Vines, a former Southern Baptist Convention president,called the Prophet Muhammad a “demon-possessed pedophile.” The ReverendPat Robertson, the popular television host of the 700 Club, declared Islamto be a religion of war, arguing that “the Qur’an makes it very clear, if yousee an infidel, you are to kill him.” And Franklin Graham, the son of the ReverendBilly Graham, called Islam “evil and wicked.”At the same time, many non-Muslim Americans, including other Christianleaders, disowned such views. President George W. Bush visited a mosque indowntown Washington, D.C., where he declared,The face of terror is not the true faith of Islam. That’s not what Islam is allabout. Islam is peace. These terrorists don’t represent peace. They representevil and war. When we think of Islam we think of a faith that brings comfort to abillion people around the world. Billions of people find comfort and solace andpeace. And that’s made brothers and sisters out of every race—out of everyrace. (Bush 2001)In addition to such statements of support, a large number of Americans, of allfaiths and of no faith at all, visited a mosque for the first time, supported interfaithdialogues, and reached out to Muslim neighbors. In San Antonio, Te x a s ,dozens of people lined up to eat at a Persian restaurant that had been attacked;the owners temporarily installed plywood in place of their broken glasswindows and proudly displayed over a dozen U.S. flags. In Toledo, Ohio, 2,000people joined hands with Chereffe Kadri, the female president of the IslamicC e n t e r, and prayed around the mosque, whose stain-glass windows had beendamaged by gunfire. And these are just illustrative examples of many acts ofkindness and concern.After 9/11, then, Muslims in the United States faced not only unprecedentedchallenges but also unprecedented opportunities. Many more non-MuslimAmericans began to understand what U.S. Muslims had always known—that their presence in the United States is defined simultaneously by possibilityand peril. As religious and often racial minorities in the United States, Muslimshave known the horrible face of U.S. xenophobia, racism, sexism, and now, “Islamophobia.”Many, especially African American Muslims, have also sufferedfrom a lack of economic and educational opportunities. But Muslims in theUnited States have also managed to respond creatively to these challenges,building their own sense of community and forging ties with many outside theMuslim community. They have established political and self-help organizations,constructed their own places of worship, operated their own schools, and committedthemselves to a wide array of vibrant Islamic religious practices.Because this chapter is written in a time of peril and possibility, it is informedby a desire to contribute to understanding and dialogue rather than to