Muslims Stress Similarities to Other Faiths

By Patricia Rice and Victor Volland
St. Louis Post Dispatch

Convention organizers are trying to show how members of their religion are just like their neighbors and clients. They say stereotype of violence is unfair.

The 15,000 Muslims expected here over the Labor Day weekend for the 35th annual convention of the Islamic Society of North America are no "foreigners." Most are Americans by birth or naturalization and belong to one of the fastest-growing religions in the country -- one that has quite a lot in common with traditional American faiths.

Islam shares three major beliefs with Christianity and Judaism: That there is but one God, that God created the heavens and the Earth, and that all humans belong to a single family that originated with Adam and Eve. Islam honors Jesus and the Jewish prophets of the Old Testament along with its own founder, the prophet Mohammed.

It is important for Americans to understand something of Islamic belief so that Muslims are not automatically suspected of incidents like the Oklahoma City bombing, observed Dr. Sadiq Mohyuddin, a physician in St. Louis and a spokesman for the convention Friday through Sept. 7 at America's Center.

"We absolutely condemn the bombings of the American embassies in Kenya and Tanzania," he said. "Islam does not condone the killing of innocent people.

"We are totally involved Americans. We vote. We pay our taxes," said Mohyuddin, an internist in Creve Coeur who came here from Pakistan 28 years ago to complete a residency at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and stayed to become an American citizen and raise a family.

He noted that terrorism is not confined to any one people, culture or religion.

"The press yells `fundamentalist,' and the viewer automatically thinks 'Muslim' and 'terrorist.' But it was Christian 'fundamentalists' who blew up the federal building in Oklahoma City, and it is Christians killing each other in Northern Ireland in the name of religion," he said.

The word Islam means peace, noted Dr. Rashid Qureshi at a recent meeting of the convention planners here.

St. Louisans are kind when face to face with Muslims, said Qureshi, president of the Islamic Foundation of St. Louis. But, he added, American Muslims wonder what those neighbors, patients and clients think when television news talks about Muslim terrorists.

St. Louis Muslims who attend the area's three mosques have strong family values and do not smoke or drink, Qureshi said.

"We want to foster understanding that Islam will make this country better," Qureshi said. "That is what we want people to know."

Those working on the convention's 22 committees come from the 800 core Muslims who assist at prayer services for the two largest holy days, Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha. In St. Louis there are an estimated 12,000 Muslims representing 40 countries. The largest center is the Daar-Ul-Islam Mosque on Weidman Road opposite Queeny Park.

About 800 Muslims now live in the Belleville area and began building a domed mosque in a wooded area this summer.

The Masjid Al-Mu-Minum Mosque at 1434 North Grand Boulevard draws black Americans. The Gateway Mosque (formerly the Islamic Center of St. Louis) at 3843 West Pine Boulevard has the largest potential attendance, counting the more than 8,000 Bosnians and several thousand Somalis who immigrated here in the 1990s.

There are 1.3 billion Muslims in the world, and American Muslim adherents are probably unique in having representatives from every part of the globe. The 6 million American Muslims -- a group larger than American Episcopalians or United Church of Christ members -- now could demonstrate positively to Muslims elsewhere that political change can be brought about without extremist measures, convention leaders point out.

There have been Muslims in the United States for more than 100 years, but the great growth happened after World War II, first with university students staying on and then with immigration waves of professionals in various fields. Islam among blacks began taking root in the 1930s and now has more than 2 million adherents, with about 100,000 affiliated with Louis Farrakhan's Nation of Islam movement.

The issues to be discussed at the convention will vary. Many workshops and larger sessions will help Muslims live here without losing their religious beliefs and culture. They will talk about how to be successful business people, doctors and other professionals without borrowing money. They believe it is evil to borrow money.

They will talk about how they can stop and say their prayers five times a day on the job, as Islamic practice requires. Muslims stop and pray at sunrise, midday, late afternoon, sunset and after dark.

Experts will update them on recent court rulings that protect their rights to pray on the job and to wear certain religious garb, such as head coverings and veils for women.

Workshop speakers will talk about the importance of Muslims getting involved in the democratic process and registering to vote. They will learn how to defend their rights, work with legal rights funds and work with elected officials to support their views.

Another participating Muslim group, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, recently released its annual report, "Patterns of Discrimination," on the status of U.S. civil rights. It listed 280 incidents of anti-Muslim violence, discrimination, stereotype bias and harassment. The council study noted an 18 percent increase in total incidents and a 60 percent rise in discrimination cases filed.

This article by Patricia Rice and Victor Volland appeared in the St. Louis Post Dispatch on August 29, 1998. Permission has been obtained for republication/translation of the text (including for IIP's home-page on the Internet) by U.S. Embassy Public Affairs and press outside the U.S. On title page, credit authors and carry: "Reprinted with permission of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, copyright (1998)."