AIF Discussion Meeting - Transforming Identities

The discussion meeting on Friday addressed the topic of secular/religious paradigms in relation to a country.

The discussion leader, David Ramezani, took participants through a journey of the history of Iran and the sometimes seeming dichotomy between national identity and religion.

There were lots of challenging considerations about the importance of balancing one's religion and national identity and the ability to balance both sides.

A quote by Amina Wadud, speaking to the struggles of France to balance religion and national identity, helps to bring perspective to the conversation:

"I was glad to be in the United States, where the idea of secularism is wedded to the first amendment idea of freedom of religious practice. In France, no such complementary relation between secular and religious freedom exists. Laïcité is the kind of secularism that is anti-religion, anti-religious expression, and anti-religious identity. They are the ones that give secularism such a bad name in most parts of the world that still consider religion a part of identity."

National identity does not have to be abandoned for the sake of religion, but there are many places in the world where there is a black and white approach to the topic. As Americans, there must be consideration of the presence of such environments when discussing multiple identities. When approaching those who have had unfavorable experiences when trying to mix national identity and religion, it is important to use the example of the United States and show how the ability to mix many identities at once is at the core of the Constitution, but also something residents of the U.S. might not readily acknowledge or understand is not necessarily part of all societies.

The conversation was left with many questions still brewing in the minds of participants that will hopefully lead to a continual dialog on the matter.

Kelly

American Islamic Fellowship

blog@americanislamicfellowship.com

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Reference: French "Burqa Ban": It's Not about Religion - Amina Wadud

Quranic verse:

Read in the name of your Sustainer, who has

created humanity out of a single cell

Read for your Magnanimous Sustainer

who instilled the knowledge of how to use the pen

taught humanity what was not known!

Humanity becomes extremely arrogant

whenever it believes it is self-sufficient:

for all will return to the Sustainer.

Have you ever considered the person who tries to prevent

a servant of God from praying?

Have you considered whether the person is on the right way,

or is concerned with God-consciousness?

Have you considered whether the person may be lying and abandoning the truth?

If the person does not stop, God will drag the person down on the forehead

the lying, rebellious forehead!

and then let the person summon the counsels of personal wisdom,

God will summon the forces of heavenly chastisement!

No, pay no heed to the person, but prostrate yourself and draw close!

Quran 96 (The Cell - 'Alaq')

Opportunity to Make a Difference - International

Here is an opportunity to have your voice heard in an international project called the Charter for Compassion. Led by author Karen Armstrong and supported by the TED Prize, the Charter for Compassion Project is aimed at bringing together people from all walks of life and focused on the shared human concept through many philosophies and religions of The Golden Rule. You can contribute your thoughts to the charter and your stories about your faith and compassion you have experienced or given in you life.

From the Charter for Compassion website:

The Charter for Compassion is a collaborative effort to build a peaceful and harmonious global community. Bringing together the voices of people from all religions, the Charter seeks to remind the world that while all faiths are not the same, they all share the core principle of compassion and the Golden Rule. The Charter will change the tenor of the conversation around religion. It will be a clarion call to the world.

Video about the Charter for Compassion

Feel inspired and share your compassion with the world!

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Kelly
American Islamic Fellowship
blog@americanislamicfellowship.com

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.

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

Kelly
American Islamic Fellowship
blog@americanislamicfellowship.com