The recent uproar around plans to construct an Islamic community center, tentatively titled Park51, just a few blocks from Ground Zero in mid-town Manhattan has generated much talk about Islam in the United States, and the conversation about religious diversity has continued on campus. Students have been working hard to battle negative stereotypes of Muslims that they encounter regularly.
Tasmiha Khan ’12, a member of the Muslim Student Association, hopes to combat the idea of Islamic homogenization through education after being frustrated by recent media headlines.
“You don’t hear of a Bible or a Torah burning,” Khan said. “Racism is ubiquitous even in academia.”
She pointed out the inequality in responses to Muslims. No religion wants to be identified by radical fringe groups, she explained, but much of the time Muslims are clumped together this way.
“I see myself as a representative of Islam,” Khan said. “People shouldn’t judge Islam solely on what Muslims do. There are different degrees of adherence, and Islam is more than a beautiful religion of peace and submission to God; it is a way of life that I willingly choose to follow.”
As one of the few American Muslim woman students on campus, Khan feels it is her responsibility to represent her faith and educate others. By wearing a hijab—a headscarf worn out of modesty— she is very much aware of the stigmas she faces. To her, the hijab is a safeguard, and not a symbol of oppression. Despite the occasional odd looks she still gets (even on campus), Khan said doesn’t see it as a hindrance.
House Manager of Turath House Hira Jafri ’13, a program house for people who identify with or are interested in Middle Eastern and Muslim cultures, also expressed recent frustrations over Muslim stereotypes.
“It becomes really difficult to be [informed] when the sources people are getting their facts from are so misleading themselves,” Jafri said. “If information were presented the way things really were there would be far less misunderstanding in the world. The ‘Ground Zero Mosque’ would be recognized as a community center blocks away from the actual Ground Zero, and there may be less of a stigma for Muslims around the world.”
Religion Professor Peter Gottschalk has written a number of articles on recent topics about Islam, providing a more nuanced and analytical view of arguments that reduce Islam or Muslims to a single, monolithic identity. He explained how the recent Qu’ran burning created international furor due to extreme media attention despite the fact that the Pastor only had 50 congregants in his church.
“It has become politically opportune to play on fears about Muslims,” he said. “News outlets see an advantage in reporting on those both for their actual news content and also because of their spectacular kind of quality.”
He addresses Muslim stereotypes and their effects in “Islamophobia: Making Muslims the Enemy,” a book he co-wrote with Gabriel Greenberg ’04, as well as in numerous media interviews. The political fear baiting that relies on sensationalist media is partly to blame, Gottschalk explained, but so is the historical prejudice against Muslims.
“Though these events are very specific, there has been pervasive Islamophobia in the United States for more than two centuries—it’s really been here ever since Europeans settled,” Gottschalk explained. “[Islamophobia] erupts and takes specific forms according to the current context, as we can see in the Park51 controversy.”
On campus, students are attempting to spread knowledge about Islam. Khan is working with the Interfaith Justice League to plan a lecture series and movie screenings with guest speakers. She would like to see University alumnus and writer Michael Wolfe, a convert to Islam and president of Unity Production Foundation, show his recent documentary on Ground Zero somewhere on campus.
“Religion is only a part of one’s identity,” Khan said. “You’re a person first.”
Gottschalk is happy with how the administration has recognized student interest in Islamic studies and supported the expansion of this program, adding the new position of Professor Attiya Ahmad in Islam and Gender studies.
“It’s great that students have expressed an interest in Islam, non-Muslim students as well as Muslim students, and that Muslim students have reached back and made programs available,” Gottschalk said.
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