“How do you get your hair to do that? Were you born with that hair?”

“I got sixteen bee stings on my arm” “No you didn’t.” “SIXTEEN!”

“the NCAA stands for National… College… America… Best America”

“Are you related to the Jonas brothers?” This one prompted a timeout from the teacher.

“One thing I would never do is pet a wolf.”

So every Monday I’m able to go there and act as a mentor/tutor and teach a little Arabic. I’m really excited about that and also to meet the kids’ families/more of the people behind the Masjid Muhammad/Clara Muhammad connection.

I spent the summer studying Arabic in Salalah, Oman, a beautiful niche in the Arab Gulf. In considering the breathtaking features of the country—the mesmerizing roars of the Indian Ocean, the mountains lathered in fog, and the overwhelming smell of frankincense—the most memorable parts of my trip are still my warm and inspiring interactions with Omanis.

One of my favorite aspects of the country was how I could give a smile or innocent wave to any passerby and always receive a bigger one in return. What I discovered during my stay was that Omanis are probably the most affectionate, loving people I’ve ever encountered. Upon meeting a person you might even exchange favorite love stories, whether they are from movies, literature, or personal experiences. My Omani friends would share with me a poem they had just written or relate a personal story reminiscent of a Bollywood romance. In this Magical Sultanate of Oman, you couldn’t help but feel people’s infatuation with love. This caused me to ponder the idea of love within the Islamic tradition, an aspect that I had somewhat ignored, perhaps in place of more intellectually stimulating or socially relevant ideas in the faith.

I was lucky to find many sacred texts, books, and love poems that discuss the importance of love. Most famous is perhaps the poetry of Rumi and Hafiz, which is fixated upon the idea of divine love. Love, as an active, personal, and affectionate emotion, is repeatedly mentioned in the Quran and sayings of the prophet Muhammad, whose nickname is Habeeb-Allah or God’s Beloved.* In one famous saying, it is known that God’s Love is the primary cause and foundation of our creation.** In return, the famous Imam al-Ghazali noted that the highest actualization of faith that a person can attain is muhabba or love of God, which precedes sincerity, trust, and gratitude. Considering this regard for affection, it is unfortunate that Muslims are more closely associated with ideas of justice and law, rather than mercy and love.

The latter aspects are especially pertinent in this current month, Ramadan, as Muslims are encouraged to develop a closer relationship with God, exercise mercy and self-restraint, and strengthen ties within the community. It is a great time to include more love in our relationship with God and the way we treat others in our daily lives, considering it’s as easy as showing more smiles a day. I arrived home from Oman with an elevated sense of love for others simply because of their smiles and their love to love. I hope it continues to be infectious, and I am looking forward to spreading Oman’s gift into the Buxton Initiative.

*Most prophets of God in the Islamic tradition are given other names. Moses is Kareem-Allah (the Honor of God) and Jesus is Ruh-Allah (the Spirit of God).

**The sacred narration or hadith qudsi is as follows, “I was a hidden treasure and I loved to be known so I created heaven and earth that I may be known.” This is said to be God’s words narrated through Muhammad.

For an in-depth look at the idea of love in Islam, read, “The Divine Roots of Human Love” by William Chittick here: www.imagomundi.com.br/espiritualidade/chittick_love.pdf

Acts of Faith by Eboo Patel

Starting this fall, I’m beginning a fellowship at an interfaith organization in Washington, DC called the Buxton Initiative. We’ll be going after bridge-building and religious pluralism through an attack of events and publications. I’ve acted in a similar role with the Lubar Institute for the Study of Abrahamic Religions in Madison, WI, but I wanted to get into some literature on interfaith movements and religious pluralism in America, so I picked up a book by Eboo Patel, the man behind the Interfaith Youth Core in Chitown. It’s called Acts of Faith: The Story of an American Muslim, the Struggle for the Soul of a Generation, an autobiography and story behind starting up his movement.

What first resonated with me is my ability to connect with his early life. He’s grown up in a suburb close to mine with parents originally from the Subcontinent. I was excited to read literature by an individual of the generation of Muslims growing up in America and I’m pumped to see what else we’ve got in our future. One thing, however, that separates our experiences is his experimentation with different belief systems and reluctance to identify as Muslim until much later in his life. While I have certainly grappled with my Muslim identity and learned about the tradition largely through difference, I have been fortunate to never really identify as someone outside of the (abstract) community. I think that is totally a result of my upbringing with wise parents, an extraordinary social circle, and experiences with tremendous institutions like the Nawawi Foundation and Inner-city Muslim Action Network. I often forget how rare these types of people and organizations are for most Muslims in America.

As you can assume by the book title, Acts of Faith, Eboo Patel considers faith to be more than a statement of belief or identity. It is about doing and taking a proactive role in your spirituality, tradition and community. He writes,

“I learned that Islam is best understood not as a set of rigid rules and a list of required rituals but as a tradition of prophets and poets who raised great civilizations by seeking to give expression to the fundamental ethos of the faith.”

Patel had been constantly searching for an outlet for his faith and activism to grow together. He ended up creating this space (the IFYC), bringing together ideas of social justice and religious pluralism. Closely connecting these ideas is something that strongly resonated with me.

I think what is often forgotten in Muslims’ conceptions of Islam is the impact that it necessarily should be making; I think we tend to neglect self-criticism, pushing us to recommit mistakes or perpetuate long-standing community issues. Domestic abuse is clearly one issue that Muslims should take a stand against from every standpoint, but runs silently (and sometimes not so silently) in our community. This is a horrible and pathetic reality. In taking a look at the rampant sexual abuse in Cairo, its hard to justify the city’s label as an Islamic society. I think by taking a more results-based approach to understanding Islam, Muslims will have a better idea of our actual success as practicing Muslims and what types of reform we need to undertake in order to live up to the purpose of our religion. Islam should necessarily be a positive force in the world, and if the stats say no, then something is wrong.

Perhaps one of those glaring red marks on our balance sheet is religious radicalism, which Patel blames on dangerously strong institutions and their energy to go after youth. A recurring idea in his book is that if interfaith and peace-loving organizations pursued young adults with the same vigor, then religious “totalitarianism” could be largely reduced. So, he details how exactly he transformed his ideas born in a Chicago co-op into an active movement, giving some good insight into mobilizing ideas and issues in promoting interfaith dialogue, which many consider a waste of time or a danger to kids already under-exposed to their own faiths. An interesting point he makes is that peoples’ aversion to interfaith may stem from their fear of losing their own religious identity. But through dialogue and learning about the other it’s clear as day that you learn a whole lot about the self. Strengthening your identity, building ties with others, and empowering the collective is what pluralism is all about.

I recommend giving Acts of Faith a read- its quick, mostly interesting aside from a few of his stories that seem a bit random, and gives the story behind a man and organization that are serious building-blocks in the future of religions, not just Islam, in America.

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiz

rizwaan.akhtar@gmail.com