On the road where we get to reflect on our lives whether it is listening to music, enjoying the scenery, or talking to your professors on the way to the next destination—our course on Islam in America significantly opened a new perspective towards Islam by allowing ourselves to understand and engage ourselves into discussion by dwelling upon the experiences that helped shape our perceptions towards their muslim narratives.

I introduced myself to Islam through a series of documentaries and snippets from videos. Unfortunately, the media has developed an image that has deranged the Islamic values causing people to develop misconceptions about Islam without giving themselves time to learn about it. One of the required readings for our class was The autobiography of Malcolm X as told to by Alex Haley. I have never read anyone’s autobiography and of course I was super excited to read Malcolm X’s. After completing the book it was powerful because as Malcolm told his life story he guided us through his metamorphosis of his own character. Bad habits to good habits, weaknesses to growth– Malcolm embodied perseverance and that is what many muslim communities are bound to when living in a world where Islamophobia exists. In relation to our course through this ten day road trip I was able to start off with an open mind and adhere to any of their religious practices because it is easy to make assumptions without knowing the background of why they do it. Even so, for Muslims in America they have different beliefs and practices, and it was essential to engage ourselves within discussion and get to experience what they have to offer as Sunni, Sufi, or Shia Muslims. From these three main ones I have come to learn that there is a total of 73 sects within Islam. This fact within itself is very intriguing, so I found this course to be impactful and life changing.

We had been traveling now for a couple of days and on the tenth day we finally had arrived to Michigan. Snow was on the ground and our hands were cold. It was time for some sleep because the following day was going to be eventful. Dearborn, Michigan is known as one of the largest Muslim communities in North America, so it was compelling to visit the Islamic Center of America there http://biid.lsa.umich.edu/2011/06/islamic-center-of-america/. Interestingly, this center has a congregation of different faiths, such as Jews, Christians, and Muslims. This embarks on the idea of interfaith communities and how they work together to provide a safe space of worship for anyone. Including socializing and sponsored events towards the benefit of the community. This muslim center is part of the Shia sect; however, they are open for anyone to join and take advantage of the services they offer. After our visit there I decided to  do some research regarding the community because from my perspective, Eide Alawan, seemed to be disconnected towards certain questions we asked. For example, he was surprised when someone from our class asked him if women could become a Marja. He was taken aback for a second where until he redirected the question back to us. I guess he was sort of uncomfortable to answer a tough question like that. This situation challenges the common conceptions of leadership and how they are applied to women within the mosque. A reason for that it is because men tend to hold leadership positions, which comes from the notion of traditional values. While, now that times have changed it is quite frank that there are more women today who are speaking up for what is important to them. Our discussion with Alawan actually made it clear to me how some Muslims could be unaware of the needs that muslim women would like to have access to in their community. For instance, according to Detroit’s free press, the long time imam Hassan Al-Qazwini had resign his leadership role in 2015. This ties everything together because his reason for leaving was that “Al-Qazwini blasted the board, saying it lacked term limits, promoted nepotism, had no female members, and failed to discipline those who acted improperly.” Imam Hassan also accused the mosque to be “Undemocratic, Unislamic, and Unamerican,” this developed controversial discussions regarding the foundation that was established with the long time imam. In addition, the article said that “Al-Qazwini, who is of Iraqi descent, and his supporters also say the board wanted to limit the mosque membership to Lebanese-Americans.” Alawan actually mentioned that he was concerned about some members of the Islamic Center of America who expressed negativity towards the immigrant community. They were not happy about the immigrant population that attends the center. This can be further explored in the “Whiteness and the Arab Immigrant Experience” article by Sawsan Abdulrahim, mentioned that “Dearborn is a suburb whose history is entwined with the maintenance of racial segregation.” This strictly confirms why there is a hesitance toward the immigrant community at this center. From Alwan’s concern he would like to foster equality within the Islamic Center of America where they are able to incorporate interfaith social events and continue upholding their genuine Islamic values. Regardless of the difficult transition they faced as they have grown over the years, our visit expressed otherwise– we saw that students were brought to the center so they could learn more about Islam and they continue to uphold their values of what it means to be a muslim. Overall, our visit to the Islamic Center of America was great and the people there were very nice. We got to meet a nice lady who identified herself as a Jew, and has been there ever since the center first opened in 2005. When she spoke about their community her face lit up and she seemed very fortunate to be part of the Islamic Center of America. I am glad I was able to visit this Islamic center, which helped me expand my knowledge towards Islam and the work they do in order to promote positivity within their community in Dearborn, Michigan

Sources

Abdulrahim, Sawsan. “Whiteness and the Arab immigrant experience.” Race and Arab Americans before and after 9/11: From invisible citizens to visible subjects (2008): 131-46.

Warikoo, Niraj. 2015. “Longtime Leader of Dearborn Mosque Leaves amid Split.” Detroit Free Press. Detroit Free Press. https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/wayne/2015/06/05/imam-qazwini-resigns-dearborn-mosque/28581129/.