Page 2 Page 3 The Islamic Bulletin Issue 16 This is probably the strangest letter I have ever written, but here goes... I picked up your May 1998 issue of The Islamic Bulletin at a bus stop bench inMinneapolis whilewaiting to go home fromwork one evening. Thinking it was going to be a “hate filled terrorist devil-American” kind of thing, I started to read it just for fun, fully expecting to be horrified by its contents. What a complete shock when I started to see some of the principles Islam stands for. It was nothing like what I had been led to believe by the standard media hype about “Muslim Terrorists, etc”. I sawbeauty, grace, andmercy in the words of the Qur’an. Could this be a true representation of this ‘crazy Arab’ religion? Well, much to my surprise, I found out that not only is it not an “Arab” religion, but it certainly is not crazy. Nor is it ‘hate-filled’, but just the opposite! I saw tolerance, justice, guidance, fairness, understanding, and logic! My interest was piqued enough to actually go to the library on the weekend and obtain a copy of the Qur’an plus a few other books about Islam. You people are certainly keeping this wonderful gift a closely guarded secret! I have spent the last month reading everything I could on Islam and I think I am ‘hooked’. As a middle-class white American 40-something male, I am stunned that this has happened to me! With the freedoms and opportunities that America has to offer its people and a belief system such as Islam...it seems to me to be an unbeatable combo! I do not see any conflict between being an American with all of our cultural perspectives and following Islam. As amatter of fact, I believe that Islamcan offer Americans what has been missing for many of us from my generation...moral guidance, family values, honesty and integrity in daily life. I also believe that America has a lot to offer Islam if we take advantage of the good things this country has to offer - Freedom of religion, the Bill of Rights, etc. I can only see a benefit for Americans embracing Islam and a benefit to our beautiful country as well. Thanks so much for this ‘awakening’. It has changed my life. Sincerely, George Herbert Minneapolis, MN Response: Dear George, Thank you so much for your touching letter. The staff here at the Bulletin is very appreciative of your response and thank you for your contribution to the Bulletin. Letters To The Editor We are receiving many inquiries fromAmericans like yourself and many newconverts to Islam. This iswhywehaveexpandedThe IslamicBulletin to address the numerous questions we are getting regarding the basics of Islam. The demographics are definitely changing from what they were ten years ago. May Allah guide you and bless your efforts. - Editor Dear Editor, I am ten years old and I would like you to make the Kid’s Corner bigger andmore fun. I like it but I think you shoulddomore for us kids tohelpus learn about Islam. But my mom is sending a check with my letter so you will keep sending it to us. I hope I didn’t hurt anyone’s feelings by saying this. I got all the answers right in the last quizbut the answers for theblanks were not in order and at first I was confused, but then I figured it out. My little sister likes it too but I have to read it to her because she’s small. Thank you, Yasmina Howard Salt Lake City, UT Response: Dear Yasmina, Thank you for writing to us.We are always happy to hear about what our readerswould like in theBulletin. In this issuewehaveexpanded theKid’s Corner as you asked. We hope you like this months games. See if Mom or Dad knows all the Prophets! Also, one of the articles inWorld News is about anamazing6year oldboywhocan recite thewholeQur’an,which youmight like reading about. Maybe your momor dadwill have to help. Thank you again for your subscription and your comments. - Editor Dear Editor, I have recentlybecome interested in Islamand took threebuses andabout 3 hours to go to a mosque in Southern California where I live, with the idea of obtaining a Qur’an and other Islamic literature. When I arrived there, I found that the Mosque was closed but on the front step was a copy of your newsletter. I helped myself to one, thinking that at least it would be interesting reading for the long bus ride home. I was surprised to find that I could not put it down. It explained many things I wanted the answers to ...basic questions about Islam. I amenclosing the price of a subscription andwill look forward to future issues. Can you tell mewhere I can obtain a Qur’an and other material? Tammy Ortiz Los Angeles, CA Response: Dear Tammy, Weare sohappy tohear that you found theBulletin, enjoyed it, and found it of value. If youhave a computer and Internet access there are a fewsites for converts to Islamthat alsomay be of help to you. And Insha’Allah (that meansGodWilling)wewill haveour siteup soon.We are very impressed with your efforts to learn about Islam and the extent to which you went for the sake of knowledge. May Allah make it easy for you. Best Wishes, The Editor Need to contact us? Web Address: www.islamicbulletin.org E-Mail: info@islamicbulletin.org Editor, Islamic Bulletin P.O. Box 410186 San Francisco, CA 94141-0186, USA THE MUSLIM MAINSTREAM Islam is growing fast in America, and its members defy stereotypes. Reprinted in part from U.S. News & World Report In the polished wooden pews of a white-steepled New England church, the weekend congregation sits with heads reverently bowed. The town of Chelmsford, Massachusetts, is Yankee to the core, and so are most of the inhabitants. Like the sober, straitlaced Pilgrims 300 years before them, the worshipers here shun liquor, dress modestly, and feel uplifted when they call out “God is Great!” Unlike their Puritan predecessors, however, those gathered here address their Maker in Arabic: “Allah-u Akhbar!” They chant, in a call offered five times each day by Muslims from Maine to Alaska. Five to 6 million strong, Muslims in America already outnumber Presbyterians, Episcopalians, and Mormons, and they are more numerous than Quakers, Unitarians, Seventh-day Adventists, Mennonites, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and Christian Scientists, combined. Many demographers say Islam has overtaken Judaism as the country’s second-most commonly practiced religion; others say it is in the passing lane. Yet while Muslims make up one of the fastest-growing religious groups, largely because of immigration, they are among those least understood by their neighbors. Over half the respondents to a recent Roper poll described Islam as inherently anti-American, anti-Western, or supportive of terrorism--though only 5 percent of those surveyed said they’d had much contact with Muslims personally. And according to a draft report scheduled to be released this week by the Council on American-Islamic Relations, although the incidence of violence and harassment directed at Muslims declined 58 percent last year, discrimination reports increased 60 percent. In part, such statistics reflect attitudes shaped by Muslims who live across the globe rather than those who live across the street. Militant fundamentalists such as the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini of Iran (and a tiny minority of American Muslims) come from an extreme wing, rather than the more moderate center of the world’s 1 billion Muslims. But TV cameras and international showdowns raise the militants’ public profile. They overshadow the mass of American Muslims, who tend to vote Democratic on issues like immigration and affirmative action, veer Republican on “traditional family values,” including such topics as abortion and sex education, and live comfortably within the mainstream of society. The statistics also suggest that the United States must wrestle with a question that has challenged France, Germany, and other European nations as their Muslim populations have grown: Is America a nation based on Judeo-Christian values or on something more universal? Do we value cultural diversity, or merely tolerate it? As the country begins thinking about how the expanding Muslim population might change the nation’s sense of itself, the challenge will be to see Islam as it really is, rather than as people wish or fear. One of the most widespread misconceptions about Muslims here or abroad is that they are primarily Middle Eastern. Fewer than 1 out of 8 American Muslims (12.4 percent) are of Arab descent; other Middle Eastern groups like Iranians and Turks account for only a few additional percentage points each. On a global basis, there are about 100 million more Muslims on the Indian subcontinent alone than in all Arab countries combined. The two largest Muslim groups in the United States are native-born African-Americans (42 percent) and immigrants from South Asia (24 percent). America’s polyglot neighborhoods are home to Muslims of every conceivable background: Malays from Southeast Asia and Bosnians from southeast Europe, Songhai from the Sahara desert and Uighars from the Taklimakan desert. America is seldom so truly a melting pot as in her mosques. There is even a mosque on a Navajo reservation in New Mexico: Islam has a small but long-standing presence among Native American communities from the Plains to the pueblos. Islam, which stresses egalitarianism, has a special appeal for the marginalized, but the faith draws many converts from the white middle class: More than 80,000 of America’s Muslims are of West European background. When Mariam Agah (nee Mary Froelich) started questioning the faith of her birth, she was not only white and middle class...she was a Roman Catholic nun. At the age of 25, after seven years as Sister Frederick, she gave up her habit: “I was not convinced that Jesus was divine,” she says, “and that’s when I realized that I needed to leave.” That was 28 years ago. Agah got a job at an elementary school, and for a long time she taught and she thought. She read her way through many bookshelves of philosophy, and two works stood out: the Koran and the Autobiography of Malcolm X. “I continued my spiritual journey,” she says, “and it led me to Islam.” Jim Bates is another unlikely convert. In 1990, after four terms as a Democratic congressman from San Diego, he lost an election...and also lost his marriage, his home, and his sense of direction. Born and baptized a Catholic, raised Protestant in a series of orphanages and foster homes, then a loose follower of Unitarianism for most of his adult life, at age 50 Bates found himself searching, he says, for a truth that would never slip away. He found it through the faith of Pakistani-American friends he’d made during his tenure in Congress. Now Bates spends much of his time consulting, and the rest farming hay and raising quarter horses on a ranch in Idaho. ISLAMIC WORLD NEWS
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