Finally, American Muslims take off the wraps

We won’t go so far as to say that a recent response by a coalition of American Muslim organizations can redeem the tone-deaf, insensitive, extremely poorly thought out plan to put a mosque at Grand Zero, but there is no doubt that a call by a coalition of American Muslim leaders for a “week of dialogue” is a positive and long overdue step.

The Muslims have called on fellow Muslims to conduct open houses at their places of worship, the weekend of Oct. 22-24, to help ease tensions, according to the Associated Press. “We ask Muslims to open mosques nationwide to welcome people, to let them understand the Islamic faith and what American Muslim community is,” said Nihad Awad, national executive director of the Council on Islamic-American relations.

If Muslims now have confidence in an “open house” — if they can finally take off the wraps — that means that they will begin the process of exposing their faith to scrutiny, whether they know it or not. Even more: “We also urge Muslims to visit places of worship in other faith communities,” said Awad.

It is just this kind of interchange that a religious community, whose major news value has been the discovery of terrorists in its midst, needs. In Muslim’s voluntary exposure to other faiths — and in the concomitant need to justify Islam rationally — we have the making of a modernized Islam. By entering the “marketplace of ideas,” an American Islam, unafraid to articulate the distance between it and radical Islam’s terrorist faith, may develop, wittingly or unwittingly.

To be sure, the Muslim leaders are not backing away from their support for a mosque at Ground Zero. However, the stinging American response to the planned mosque has apparently sobered these leaders. They apparently realize now that they have done a horrible job of portraying themselves as adherents of a religion of peace. Americans have been legitimately worried about Islam in America, given Islamic terrorism all over the globe, including in New York City on 9/11. It is those worries — not bigotry, not prejudice, not hate, not all the mindless labels recklessly tossed around by the likes of The New York Times’ Nicholas Kristoff —  that the American Muslim leadership is responding to, whether they admit it or not. In the long run, if this “week of dialogue” extends into a true encounter between American Muslims and a humane, pluralistic America, the needed, open, critical American Muslim response to Islamic terrorism will follow.

Jews and Christians must take up the Muslim offer. Visit the mosques. Question the imams. Don’t be shrinking violets. Articulate the reasons for the suspicion of Islam (such as the deafening silence in the wake of outrages by Islamic terrorists). Ask for denunciations of terrorism. Peaceful Muslims should not have trouble complying.

“ . . . it is important to remember that worldwide efforts to foster peace must begin in our home communities,” said Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, the man behind the plan for a mosque at Ground Zero.” We could not have asked for a clearer statement. Now, let us see what the follow through is on Oct. 22-24.

At one time during the “Golden Age” in medieval Europe long ago, Jews and Muslims did scrutinize each other’s faiths philosophically. A spirit of reason took hold. Maybe, just maybe, this “week of dialogue” will hearken back to that.

Copyright © 2010 by the Intermountain Jewish News