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ISNA Convention Calls for Self-Reflection, Activism
The 39th annual Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) convention, closed Monday, September 2, 2002. A message of self-reflection and inclusive activism for the American Muslim community was offered. Better late than never, I guess... A wide variety of speakers touched on these messages, from the popular scholar Hamza Yusuf, whose lectures over-attended often forced security officials to close the doors early, to congressmen and academicians speaking at ISNA for the first time. The third day of the conference opened with the usual 11 parallel sessions, with former ISNA president Shaikh Abdallah Idris Ali and Muslim Students' Association president Altaf Husain among the speakers addressing the "Quest for Islamic Legitimacy." Other sessions during the same period dealt with everything from family and education to Islamic finance and refugee issues. In Sunday's second main session, regarding the emotional and psychological aspects of the impact of September 11, both Imams Siraj Wahhaj and Hamza Yusuf urged Muslims to take an active role in working for and with the world around them, and avoid selfish isolationism. Yusuf said that Muslims need to change the way they talk about non-Muslims, for one step. "We must redress the way we have spoken about other religions," he said. "When we denigrate other religions of others, we are not glorifying God who created those people, we are glorifying ourselves." He's got a point, but it's not a point most Muslims will take. Sufis, maybe, and Ismailis, but not the Salafists and Wahhabis and the Deobandis. Hollering "Death to Infidels" isn't the best way to get along with one's neighbors. Regarding oneself as a member of a Master Posted by: Fred Pruitt 2002-09-04 |
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