Education is not enough.
That was the theme of two talks recently given on the campus of Indiana University as part of Islamic Awareness Week. It is an annual event organized by IU’s Muslim Student Union.
“I think it is important to have this week of events, because Islam is still so vastly misunderstood,” MSU President Romaze Akram wrote in an email. “Raising awareness however is a single step in the process of erasing these misconceptions and having people widely accept Islam as a peaceful religion and not one that is in any way in odds with many American values.”
Research has shown that Islamophobia — an anxiety about Islam and Muslims — is on the rise on around the world.
“Our core target audience would be non-Muslims as Muslims probably have a decent grasp on some of the concepts that will be discussed,” Akram said. “It is crucial that we can attract people who are not of the Muslim faith as they stand to gain the most from attending these events.”
Akram said that attendance at Islamic Awareness Week in past years has been “dismal” so this year the MSU wanted to bring speakers to campus who would draw in a broad audience.
So, they lined up religious scholar and media figure Reza Aslan, most recently in the news for his book on Jesus — Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth. The MSU also brought to Bloomington Ayesha Siddiqi, ideas editor with Buzzfeed.
Reza Aslan gave a talk titled “Unity in Diversity, or How to be American in the 21st Century” in which he explained that, even though there’s a plethora of information about Muslims and Islam available that dispel stereotyping, it really doesn’t matter.
“None of this data matters … none of it matters,” Aslan said, stating that data can only do so much. “If you know a Muslim, it cuts in half the negativity ratings for Islam…It becomes hard to think of them as ‘other.’”
Bigotry, Aslan said, doesn’t live in the head, it lives in the heart and data can’t change people’s hearts.
“It’s relationships that have the power to change people’s minds,” he said. “If we want to live in the kind of society that doesn’t otherize communities, the only way to do it is by building relationships.”
Specifically in the United States, Aslan said the negative feelings toward Islam have less to do with Muslims than they do with America at the moment.
“What it means to be an American is becoming harder and harder to define,” he said. Aslan pointed out that the fact that the United State is a decade away from being a “majority-minority” nation and that scares a lot of people.
But American identity, Aslan said, is based upon a common set of values. The only way to move forward, he said, is to find “unity in diversity,” to embrace the multifaceted nature of the culture, and to build relationships to work toward a definition of what it means to be American that does not other some communities.
Ayesha Siddiqi also discussed the importance of building relationships in her talk “This Talk is not Called Beyond the Veil: A Discussion about Women in Islam.”
Siddiqi began her talk with a discussion of the media’s obsession with the veil, which she pointed out is related to Orientalism and is a global phenomenon.
The focus on the veil, and it’s implication that Muslim women are repressed socially, politically, and sexually, suggests that Muslim women cannot speak for themselves and need saving.
“How do we, as Muslim women, respond?” Siddiqi asked.
First, by considering what is being centered whenever the issue of the veil comes up. Siddiqi said that engaging in debates over the veil legitimizes it.
“We have to move away from the ‘despite being a Muslim woman’ narrative” she said. Siddiqi said that narrative often comes up in stories about the achievements of Muslim women. The focus on the issue of veiling helps propel those types of narratives.
“I work in the media and every time there’s a story about Muslim women it’s exhausting to think about. They’re all the same,” Siddiqi said. “I’m not here to be an exception to a stereotype.”
Siddiqi said if you’re really interested in learning about and understanding the lives of Muslim women then you have to talk to them.
Siddiqi also urged the audience to move away from thinking about Muslim women in a way that dichotomizes them.
“Muslim women are a diverse group,” she said. “It can be patronizing to approach a Muslim woman and celebrate her success by framing it with the identity of ‘Muslim.’”
Siddiqi wrapped up her talk suggesting people stop focusing on what women wear and, instead, try to figure out what’s “standing in the way” of their agency.
Both Siddiqi and Aslan said they think the representation of Muslims in the media and the negative stereotyping will get better, it’s just going to take time — Indiana University Muslim Student Union President Romaze Akram agrees with that sentiment.
“I believe with the expansion of the Internet, people are now able to connect with people they might not have been able to otherwise,” Akram said. “People are really getting to know other Muslims through sources like Twitter and Tumblr, etc., and I feel like that has had a positive effect.”
Akram said the MSU’s Islamic Awareness Week was the biggest the group has organized thus far and he has high hopes for events in the future.
“I feel like we have laid the groundwork this year to do even more next year, and that is my ultimate hope,” Akram said. “Through events such as Islamic Awareness Week, I hope that we speed up the process of eliminating misconceptions about Muslims across the world.”
Of course, the IU Muslim Student Union isn’t alone in its efforts. For the last several months college campus around the United States, and in Canada, have been holding similar events designed to help educate people about Islam as well as bring Muslims and non-Muslims together to begin building bridges.
