Page 4 Page 5 The Islamic Bulletin Still a relatively new Muslim, but being a well-known personality, I was invited to join a letter campaign requesting the publishers of the controversial novel to think again. I did, but they ignored the plea. Suddenly the media tried linking me to supporting Iran’s Fatwa on Salman Rushdie. The fact is that I never did support the Fatwa. Such is the irony. You wouldn’t ask a Christian to deny one of the Ten Commandments; equally, as a new Muslim, I couldn’t deny that the Quran, just like Leviticus in the Bible, forbade blasphemy and if there is no repentance, made it a capital offence. But what most people-including many Muslims-fail to recognize, is that the Quran repeatedly calls on believers to repent, to uphold the rule of civility and not to take the law in their own hands. Clerics and extremists who call for the assassination of civilians outside the recognized bounds of the Islamic State without due process are wholly out of line with the limits and spirit of Islam. The Koran states, “And do not let your hatred of some people… cause you to transgress (the law).” My songs of love and harmony and I were now associated with death edicts and even the Ayatollah! That was a time of great emotion and uproar. I released a statement clarifying my position, but the press preferred to ignore it-perhaps for them it didn’t go far enough. At that time, I was still learning, ill prepared and lacking in knowledge and confid nce to speak out specifi ally against forms of extremism. I wish to avoid making that same mistake again. Today, I am aghast at the horror of recent events and feel it a duty to speak out. Not only did terrorists hijack planes and destroy life last September, but also they hijacked the beautiful religion of Islam and split the brother and sisterhood of mankind. The targeting of unsuspecting civilians going about their daily work was energized by nothing but blind irreligious hatred. Yet we should remember, this kind of atrocity has been a common occurrence, year upon year, in many lands. My memory of the prolonged suffering and death of two hundred thousand people in Bosnia at the end of last century is something that I cannot easily forget. However, it is also good to hear spiritual and political leaders across all countries and cultural divides making it clear that such acts of murder as were witnessed in the U.S. have nothing to do with the universal beliefs of Muslims; it’s also important that retaliation does not become a representation of Christian wrath.The Koran states: “Repel evil with what is better and he, between whom and you was hatred, will become as a warm bosom-friend.” So out of the shadows of death, positive signs are arising, human beings are beginning to feel each other’s pain. Tragedies can sometimes help breakdown the barriers of prejudice. In Chicago, three days after the attack, non-Muslim neighbors-Christian and other denominations-held hands in a circle to form a human chain around a Mosque in which Muslims were praying. That chain, in the form of humanitarian aid, should stretch to those innocent and blameless people of Afghanistan and all fellow human beings like them who are still starving on the knife-edge of life and death. If humanity can be revived through honor and deeds of compassion and charity, it is hoped that the tragedies of the past will herald a new tomorrow and a new sunrise of moral understanding for people all over the world. Our future is still glimmering brightly in the searchlight of children’s eyes. I belonged to that idealistic movement which grew up in the Sixties and Seventies with undiminished dreams and hopes for a more peaceful world. There are multitudes of people around the world who don’t want more wars and destruction. And I am still one of those. Conflicts on earth seem endless, like day follows night. Life goes on and, regrettably, wars and terrorism are still very much with us. But nothing should stop us “dreaming about the world as one.” Let’s hope those words of my song “Peace Train” will one day be fulfilled Actor Will Smith Embraces Islam Muslim leaders across America acknowledgeing Will Smith for embracing Islam religion after completing the Muhammad Ali biopic. Smith was introduced to Islam while learning about the legendary boxer’s life. Friends close to Smith claim the megastar is now embracing the religion in his own life and is eager to learn more about it. Director of the American Muslim Association of North America, Sofian Zakkout says, “Muhammad Ali is one of the best examples of Muslims in this country. He’s been a wonderful spokesperson for the religion and if Will Smith can continue Muhammad Ali’s work that would be wonderful.” He continues, “Islam is a peaceful religion and if good people such as Muhammad and Will can carry that message then it would be wonderful. It would be a positive message for peaceful Muslims all over the world.” Smith appeared at the America: A Tribute To Heroes telethon in September alongside Ali, defending Islam in the wake of the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington. Many In Hawaii Turning To Islam By Mary Kaye Ritz -- Advertiser Religion Writer Less than three weeks after terrorists struck New York City and Washington, Heather Ramaha stood among a group of women at the mosque in Manoa and recited the shahada in Arabic: “Ash-hadu alla illaha illa Allah. Wa-ash-hadu anna Mohamadan rassulu Allah.” She was testifying that “I bear witness that there is no God but Allah (one true God), and Mohammed is a prophet of God.” By doing so, she became a convert to the Islamic faith, extending a recent national trend. Some Muslim clerics across the country say they are seeing a fourfold increase in conversions since Sept. 11, when stories about Islam jumped from the back pages of the religion section to front pages worldwide. HakimOuansafi, the president of the Muslim Association of Hawaii, said that prior to Sept. 11, there had been an average of three converts per month. In the two months since then, there have been 23. And oddly enough for a religion that is often perceived as one that cloaks its women from head to foot, the newly converted Westerners tend to be female. Ouansafi said the national ratio of converts is 4-to-1, women to men. Here, he said, it’s closer to 2-to-1. Most Mainland converts are African-Americans, who make up about a third of U.S. Muslims, some of whom found Allah while they were in jail or in recovery from drug or alcohol addiction. On the West Coast, the men are mainly military, said Ouansafi and most of the O’ahu converts are former Christians. More people are looking into Islam and liking what they see, he says, despite the relentless media coverage of Muslim terrorists. “ Know you find bad people in every religion, and that religion should not be judged by that extreme minority,” he said. One thing Sept. 11 didwas remind people that life is too short: “If I’m going to die, I want to die a Muslim,” a convert told Ouansafi Cromwell Crawford, chairman of the religion department at the University of Hawaii-Manoa, echoed that: The effect of Sept. 11 on thenational psychemade all Americans awareof the transience of life. He described themood of the country as changing: Singles seek to bond; family members hang together more tightly; and, by extension, the nation’s people reach out to one another. “People are turning to religion both in the institutional sense and in non-institutional ways,” Crawford said, adding that the fallout also is benefiting other religions besides Islam Why Overwhelmingly Women? “In the expression of this mood, women are moved more readily and more deeply than men,” he said. “Go to any church and you’ll fi d more women than men.” He also fi ds the female students in his classes often show greater insight into ethical issues. “Women are the more religious of the genders for various reasons,” Crawford said. “... Women give birth and so they are in touch with the life process, caretakers of the life cycle by virtue of their biology.” Converting - or “reverting,” as Muslims call it since they believe everyone starts life as a Muslim - does not take much besides a sincere belief there is one God, and only one God. “We believe, as Muslims, once a person reverts to Muslim, all his past sins are forgiven by God,” Ouansafi said. “Starts just like a baby that was born.” The conversion ceremony itself is fairly simple, he said. A convert tells of the converting of his or her own free will; then explains the five tenets of faith. For the ceremony, two witnesses watch as a convert agrees that Jesus was among the great prophets (Ibrahim/Abraham, Mohammed and Moses are among the others), but not God, then speak the same two sentences that Heather Ramaha recited. Now, Ramaha is incorporating her Islamic faith into her life as a Navy petty offi er stationed at Pearl Harbor since July. She doesn’t wear her hejab to work as a dental hygienist, but she does wear her head covering when attending services at themosque.While her husband, a Marine, was away recently, she couldn’t quite recite the five daily prayers, all said in Arabic, without his elp. But Ouansafi said the Islamic faith is supposed to be practiced to the best of one’s abilities. It’s forbidden in the Quran, for example, for pregnant women, travelers, and people with diabetes to fast at Ramadan, if fasting means harming oneself. On a recent Friday - the Islamic equivalent of the weekly Sabbath - Ouansafi spoke at the prayer services about the role of women in Islam, and talked at length in an interview at his office with his wife, Michele Ouansafi, herself a convert, about what draws women to a faith some have called oppressive. Women are revered in their faith, the Ouansafis said. The wearing of the hejab is for a women’s own protection - they are away from the lascivious looks of men. The women pray in different rooms and behind the men so as not to be a distraction when worshippers kneel andplace their foreheads to the fl or. “Women are in back because we are the stronger of the two,” saidMichele Ouansafi with a laugh And all the major texts of religions - the Bible, the Torah, the Gospels - “in the Quran, women have more rights,” her husband said. He noted that in the Quran (“the word of God, descended directly on the prophet through Gabriel,” said Ouansafi), Eve and Adam were equally at fault for leaving the Garden of Eden. Eve wasn’t the seductress. Many of the passages in the Quran are gender-neutral. And, in Islam, Ouansafi said, the money a man makes goes for the family. The money a woman makes is hers, he said. Women are not obligated to work. Michele Ouansafi converted after meeting her husband-to-be whenhe tutoredher inRhode Island in1986, but she saidhenever asked her to convert. “Ours is a faith of attraction, not promotion,” said the French Canadian woman with an MBA who works at Earth Tech, an environmental firm, as a contracts administrato . For those women who see their place in the home, the Islamic faith can be very attractive, said Tamara Albertini, a UH philosophy professor who specializes in Islam and grew up in an Islamic country. The man is responsible for taking care of the earnings, and the woman rules the home. Although Ramaha’s husband, Mike, is a lifelong Muslim and a Palestinian who grew up in San Francisco, he was not the reason for her conversion, she said. “Mike never once tried to get me to convert,” the 24-year-old ‘Aiea resident said. “He said, ‘If you want to do this, you can research it yourself, but I’ll love you either way.’” Ramaha has been searching for a way to explain her new faith to her family in California. She notes that most of their information about Islam comes from the TV movie, “Not Without My Daughter,” a story about an American woman, an abusive Iranian husband and a subsequent fight over their child. “I haven’t been able to find a way to tell them without them flipping out,” she said. “I haven’t told Dad. I tell him I go to the mosque, but I haven’t told him I converted yet.” To people who ask her why she would choose a religion that some consider oppressive to women, she responds that they’re mixing religion with culture. “Growing up in the U.S., Islamic faith doesn’t have the culture mixed into it,” she said. Ramaha was the first in her family to join a church. At age 5, she befriended the daughter of a non-denominational pastor and became a Christian. The rest of the family joined later. Her mother is still a churchgoer. But Ramaha said she struggled with the Christian view of the Holy Trinity. In March, she took an online world religions class through a California university. “I’d been a Christian for 18 years,” she said. “There are so many loopholes in that religion. (Islam) opened up so many ideas. ...I felt that in my heart this was the right (one) for me.” As a follow-up, she took an introductory class on Islam in Hawaii. After Sept. 11, she started reading the Quran, and “something clicked.” She converted soon after. “I’ve always felt drawn to something out there, (otherwise, there’s) an emptiness,” she said. “The only way I feel complete is when I have a religion, a God to pray to.”
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