University Imam Sees Prospects For Expanding Islam

By William Amin, Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- Once a remote possibility, the need to have chaplains to lead Muslims in major U.S. colleges and universities has become a settling reality in response to an expanding base of Muslim students, faculty, staff and alumni.

This is the view of Hajj Johari Abdul-Malik, the first Imam (chaplain) in the history of Howard University, since its founding in 1867 as an independent Washington, D.C., institution of higher learning.

But neither Howard University, the sole institution to adapt to the changing times, nor guiding Muslims within its premises, is the Imam's only devotion. Faced with unprecedented growth of Muslims on their campuses, despite misinformation linking Islam with extremism, universities in metropolitan Washington, D.C., sought the Imam's help in organizing their Muslim community.

The Muslim leader, who recently assumed the mantle of director of Muslim chapters in higher education for the National Association of Muslim chaplains in the U.S., sees in his extended service a green light to "duplicate the idea of Muslim chaplains in all universities in the United States and Canada that have Muslim student associations." Supported by the Muslim World League, the Muslim Students Association, the Islamic Foundation of America, and other institutions, this long-range endeavor is a welcome shield against what the Imam calls "some extremists who may take hold (of Islamic movements) in universities."

But the road to projecting "the real Islam" among students who probably never before had the chance to grasp the essence of the faith so closely is not easy to take, Imam Abdul-Malik acknowledged during a "Washington File" interview. "A university," he explained, "is not a Masjid. It has youth culture. It's dynamic, and it's challenging."

And for Muslim chaplains to succeed, he emphasized the importance of a methodological approach being based on both the "continuity" of the "Da'wa" (call to Islam) and the presence of "balanced and mature" leaders who "give guidance" to others and can present themselves as "role models."

Academically, Imam Abdul-Malik, and the Islamic movement he leads in Howard University (which houses more than 19,000 graduate and undergraduate students), proved to be an additional asset to the institution.

On a broader scale, Howard University is a member of a consortium which allows the exchange of its students and faculty with other prestigious institutions in the greater Washington area, including Catholic, George Washington, Georgetown and American universities. The concept behind the consortium is to conduct biomedical research, provide genetic counseling and make available to other universities courses that are unique to Howard, such as those offered by its African studies department dealing, for instance, with Islam in Africa and Islam and political development in the Middle East. These courses, he said, often appeal to scholars from the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding of Georgetown University.

Hajj Abul-Malik was born non-Muslim in Brooklyn, N.Y. Following in the steps of his parents, he attended Howard University, an institution noted for its "good education," as well as being a place for "activism -- social and political," Abul-Malik said. That was in the mid 1970's when the (chemistry major) undergraduate student led, with others, a movement to open a university cooperative facility offering healthy food. The Muslim students who joined him in the venture later asked for a room to use as a "musalla" (a modest place for worship). They were eventually granted a spot in the corridor where the co-op was operating.

That coincidental "neighborhood" proved to be a turning point in the young man's life. He observed the group's practices, listened to their teachings, shared in their activities, and then, years later, became a Muslim.

The "musalla," that could hardly accommodate a maximum of 15 worshipers some 20 years ago, has become a spacious hall, "open daily for Salah (prayer) and meditation," according to the Imam. A congregation of more than 100 students, alumni, university administrators and faculty, as well as community members, attend the regular Friday prayer, he said.

Imam Abdul-Malik emphasized the importance of establishing "a place of worship in the mainstream of the campus" to attract children of both immigrant Muslims and Americans who embraced Islam. Without this "magnet" place, students would not be able to maintain their yearning, and that of their families, to keep up with Islamic traditions, he pointed out.

The current American Islamic fabric, the Imam maintained, also includes a significantly expanding category of non-Muslims who become "fascinated by and interested in the idea of Islam during the course of their education." While on the campus, they come to know about the American Muslim movement as part of their own history. In addition, global and regional politics, particularly those related to the Middle East, Africa and Asia (i.e., Indonesia) and the Gulf region, sharpen their awareness of Islam, he noted.

This fundamental and unavoidable exposure leads to the next step, based on what Imam Abdul-Malik calls "personal connections," when non-Muslims are invited to a lecture, a forum, a film, or to an event of Islamic significance in the hope that they would ultimately realize that Islam, the fastest growing faith in North America, is a "sensible way of life." Abdul-Malik describes this approach as "very academic" and aimed at encouraging potential converts to "base their decisions on critical reading and analysis."

Speaking of the development of the Islamic movement in Howard University, Imam Abdul-Malik said that following the formation of the Muslim Students Association in the mid 1970's, a similar association for the university's faculty and administrators was established in the 1980's in recognition of the fact that "the people who would really be in this village the longest (time) are the faculty and staff"; consequently, "they are the anchors of the Da'wa community." A step further, he added, was the formation of the Muslim Alumni Association, "which the university has agreed to recognize as an official alumni association."

"We really struggle here in this environment to have multi-cultural, multi-ethnic, multi-generational" adherents of the "Da'wa" (call to Islam), the Imam said when asked about the Muslim community environment in Howard. He cited encouragement by University faculty and administrators who "pray with us, work with us," and provide students with "mentorship" that enables them "to excel both religiously and academically."

Support for the "da'wa" also comes from sources outside the university. "The work of 'Da'wa' (in Howard)," he acknowledged, "cannot be done effectively without the support of other organizations." He listed among promoters local "Masajids" (mosques), donors, speakers and specific program funding.

Howard's Imam cited in particular Saudi supporters. The Saudi Department of "Iftaa" (legal opinion), he said, "is very generous in providing support for us." That support scored new heights when a program was initiated more than five years ago through which "mostly young American converts to Islam" are invited to Hajj (pilgrimage) as guests of the Saudi government and "Al-Rabita Al-Islamiya" (The Muslim World League), a non-governmental organization headquartered in Mecca but with a U.S. national office in the state of Virginia, U.S.A.

In addition to preserving the theological doctrines of the faith, Howard University Muslims have a multi-fold social agenda. Being community-oriented, they share with other groups the operation of a food facility that serves the poor and homeless in the Washington, D.C., area. Beyond the U.S. borders, the Imam said, they recently provided material help to victims of hurricane "Mitch" in South America and previously to political victims in troubled spots like Sudan and Somalia.

The social and humanitarian activism extended locally, nationally and globally by the Muslims he guides is based on two criteria, Imam Abdul-Malik elaborated: cooperation and competition with other Muslim and non-Muslim groups in being beneficial to others as dictated by the Koran and the Sunna.

But it is the Imam's and his followers' view on the relationship between men and women that draws special attention and probably shakes stereotypical perceptions about Islam in a typical western society. Simply affirmed in the Imam's words, men and women are equal in the sight of Allah and "the interaction between them should be maintained in a good Islamic way (as) brothers and sisters to each other."

Abdul-Malik fervently advocates that "women are not second class," and are actually "very active and involved" in the Islamic community as group representatives, as well as in academia. For a leading example, one need go no further than "Majlis Shura," for which Abdul-Malik is "Amir" or chairman. The Majlis, an advisory governing body representing the three Muslim associations functioning within Howard University and Muslims in greater Washington, includes women among its members, he noted.

Hajj Abdul-Malik emphasized that this organizational aspect ensures that "the voice of women is heard" directly and not through intermediary channels. The Imam argues that, from what he understands about Islam, applying that model is in essence a recreation of the early days of Islam when, during the lifetime of Prophet Muhammad, "men and women were working together as a team" and "co-partners in the leadership under the banner of Islam."