Tolerant Approach-Muslim Americans find ways to engage

Global Arab Network – By Mehrunisa Qayyum and Ramah Kudaimi

In August  2011 the Abu Dhabi Gallup Center released a report in which the key  finding was that Muslim Americans are among the most integrated and  successful citizens in  the United States. To accompany these statistics, personal stories  highlight how, unlike first-generation immigrants who tended focused  their activism on fundraising for the development of their countries  back home, second-generation Muslim Americans are dedicating their time  instead to resolving domestic problems and engaging in interfaith  dialogue. Our focus is on our current homeland – the United States.

One  missing aspect of the current Muslim American narrative is this  contribution, by Muslims, to civic engagement such as community service,  political activity, service-learning, activism and advocacy in the  United States. Instead of concentrating on what Muslim Americans think,  as many polls and think tanks currently do, focusing on what they  actually do will go a lot further in changing the misconceptions that  Muslims are not contributing members of American society and instead a  group to be feared or marginalised.

Such misperceptions are what  lead to the Park 51 controversy in Manhattan in the summer of 2010 or  the anti-sharia hysteria which has gripped many states and has kept  Muslims in a negative media spotlight.

In a survey by PITAPOLICY,  a blog that focuses on the political economy of the Middle East and  North Africa, 75 Muslim Americans between the ages of 18 and 50 across  the United States were polled. Several respondents, at least 15 per  cent, stated they have felt victimised or stereotyped during the past  few years.

“Recently, I am somewhat hesitant to tell people I am  Muslim,” someone wrote. Another common response was, “Why are they  doing this to us?” highlighting the concern over the treatment of Muslim  Americans especially in regards to civil rights.

At the same  time though, the constant negative attention paid to their religion is  pushing Muslim Americans towards civic engagement. We found that 84 per  cent of Muslim Americans engage in civic matters such as community  service. As one respondent put it, “I feel driven to counter  stereotypes.” More than 95 per cent see the positive impact of their  professional work, volunteerism and outreach efforts in the arena of  civic engagement, and more than 75 per cent of respondents are engaged  in some sort of community organising.

When we asked people we  polled to identify organisations they worked with as volunteers, interns  or professionals since completing high school, many listed fraternities  or sororities and professional organisations, such as Habitat for  Humanity and Big Brothers/Big Sisters, and local organisations such as  hospitals and social service agencies. While organisations which  primarily serve Muslims, such as the Islamic Society of North America,  were also listed, they were greatly outnumbered by groups which serve a  wider range of Americans.

The Inner-City Muslim Action Network  (IMAN) in Chicago, for example, is a community-based non-profit that has  been working on social justice for all since 1995 by offering a free  health clinic and cultivating the arts in urban communities through  community cafes and music festivals.

Chicago Public Radio  selected Rami Nashashibi, IMAN’s Executive Director, as one of the  city’s “Top Ten Chicago Global Visionaries”.

And in March 2009  Asma Uddin launched the website Altmuslimah.com, which explores gender  in Islam by providing a platform for intra- and inter-community dialogue  on a wide variety of gender-related issues. Essentially, this online  magazine, Asma explains, serves as public space media where people with  similar opinions, from different or similar backgrounds, meet.  Altmuslimah has succeeded in highlighting women of all backgrounds as  political change-makers. Altmuslimah has also inspired a similar gender  advocacy project from a Christian perspective: Altcatholicah.com.

Muslim  Americans are carrying their civic engagement spirit into the private  sector as well. Social entrepreneurs Khaled Beydoun and Hamada Zahawi  combined their public defender and corporate attorney backgrounds and  founded Write Track Admissions, a company that helps high school  students develop compelling applications to colleges and universities.  And more recently Beydoun and Zahawi have been offering free workshops  to students from lower income and ethnic minority backgrounds to  strengthen their chances of being accepted for higher education  programmes.

These contributions support the conclusion in the  Abu Dhabi Gallup report that Muslim Americans are “most optimistic”  about their community’s improvement compared to other American groups.

And  regardless of the results of various polls, organisations like IMAN,  Altmuslimah and Write Track are rewriting the Muslim American narrative  to include Muslim social entrepreneurs who inspire and mentor all  Americans – regardless of religious or ethnic background.

Global Arab Network

*  Mehrunisa Qayyum worked for the US Government Accountability Office for  four years before becoming an international development consultant and  Founder of PITAPOLICY Consulting and blog. Ramah Kudaimi is an MA  candidate in conflict resolution at Georgetown University. Follow her at  www.twitter.com/ramahkudaimi. This article was written for the Common  Ground News Service (CGNews).

American Muslim Consumer Conference: 29th October 2011, Hyatt Regency, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA