Definitions and Respect

"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world." ~Anne Frank

I attended a lecture last week where the speaker introduced some new concepts in relation to thinking about Islam. It fascinated most people in the group who asked lots of questions about the concept and troubled one guy fiercely. He had been taught a certain view about Islam and the new concept did not fit within that taught definition. The speaker was very patient and considerate. At the end, you could see that busted bubble of certainty the man once had about Islam. You could feel a palpable change. The speaker understood there had been a change, but never once acted arrogant.

I asked him later how he was so deft in introducing a completely new concept to someone and how I might do the same. He assured me that by relating to someone in an unobtrustive way and offering familiar examples was the way that had worked best for him. He was not always successful at a complete change, but sometimes just putting enough thoughts into a person's head was enough to render some sort of movement to consideration, which was the speaker's only goal.

I looked at my own self and wondered how I could possibly take on the whole of someone's psyche and change it. I did not have the education nor did I have the respect the speaker had. God then reminded me of a time when I had been able to move people to thought.

I once taught a group of students and came upon a very touchy subject for them, the Holocaust. I had several students protest and refuse to participate in the mandatory reading for the class. I had never experienced anything where a majority of people in a group I was dealing with moved together to deny something I had always accepted as fact.

I spent the next couple of days, all I had before the next class, and read all I could about the Holocaust. I tried to understand my student's point of view through research, as well. I did want to convey to my students I absolutely did believe in the Holocaust, but I wanted to approach them in a way that could instigate change. I had limited resources, so I decided to print a picture of Anne Frank and a picture of people in a concentration camp.

I went the next day to class not knowing what I was going to say, but I knew I had to at least try. I first showed a picture of Anne Frank and asked if anyone knew who she was. No one knew exactly, but they decided the picture was of someone from a nearby town in the past, based on what she looked like and what she wore. I next showed the other picture and once again asked the student's thoughts. The students saw the people as being victims of something horrible and expressed many feelings about how they wanted to help or could help the people they saw.

I mentioned the picture of the girl was of the person we were going to read about that day and the other picture showed an example of what happened when she was writing. The students read the story and then realized the pictures I had showed them were of Jewish people in the Holocaust.

A couple students were angry I had "tricked" them, but I said I never talked about the pictures, the students had. The students realized they had defined the pictures and things changed. One guy, who was a leader in the class, said he was not sure if he could believe the Holocaust was a big as it was portrayed to be in the story, but he did believe the words of Anne Frank were genuine and the picture was not fake, for no one would purposely do that to themself. He also stated that it did not matter who was in the pictures because people should not be treated that way, even if they were an enemy. The other students reacted positively to the guy's statement and came to a consensus the Holocaust, at the very least, was something they could consider having happened.

I had not completely changed the students' opinions, but I had at least affected a change. The students respected me enough to eventually see I was not trying to "trick" them, but rather was trying to help them think outside their world.

I then thought about what had been presented to me by the speaker. I finally understood enough to think outside my own limitations. I knew I did have the ability to move others.

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"God has taught you that which you knew not in the past."(Qur'an 2:239)

Kelly
American Islamic Fellowship
blog@americanislamicfellowship.com