April 1996 Progress in Communication

by Norma Tarazi

So often, we sigh and nod together, us Muslims, over the incomprehension of your faith by non-Muslims, of their disregard and disrespect for our feelings, our holidays, our salat, our moral values. Well, we need to note any step in the direction toward understanding that they make, and encourage them in that direction. Several stories came in over the news in the last 2 months about the improved relations we are making. did you know that at the University of Syracuse they now serve halal food in the student residences? They also closed the university in observance of Eid this year, just like they close for Christmas. they are probably the first university to do so, but such recognition is a start and we hope to continue in this direction. The Muslim community reported that their negotiations with university officials were cordial and reasonable at all times, and they obtained these changes in university policy peacefully, without threats or arm twisting.

Hillary Clinton gave an Eid Party at the White House this last Eid. Her daughter Chelsea, has been studying Islam at school and brought her new information to her mother some months ago, before their trip to South East Asia. this brought Mrs. Clinton to a better understanding of Muslims in our country, and she invited about 200 Muslims, families with their children, for an Eid Party, to respect our religion as Christmas, Easter, and Hanukah are represented at the White House. She wrote an article about this experience to the newspapers. They ate lots of different specialties, meat dumplings, pita bread, hummus, baba ghanoush, tabbouleh, and pastries. The way to a man's heart is through his stomach, people say. The way to help improve understanding among people may be to share more food with them, like these Muslims did with Mrs. Clinton. Here in Columbus, our local MSA did with their Iftar Party at OSU. IQRA! wrote last month about the news coverage of Br. Hakeem Olajuwon's fasting during Ramadan. This month we saw Br. Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf of the Denver Nuggets refusing to stand for the national anthem. This controversy did not turn out standard negative publicity for us. Several commentators compared Abdul-Rauf to other non-Muslims who have made public statements of similar kind, like Sandy Koufax. Several major writers spoke up defending his freedom of speech and discussing how poorly many spectators react to the anthem.

We now have Muslim public relations experts to contact the press and give them a reaciton from the Muslim community. CAIR and others were reasonably able to respond to reporters so that the public could understand this as a personal decision of Br. Abdul-Rauf, not as an act demanded of all Muslims. The event culminated with the interview of Br. Hakeem Olajuwon, who helped mediate the problem and resolve it in a peaceful, undramatic way. An article in Newsweek of March 25th is particularly interesting. Frank Deford, the author, manages to respect Abdul-Rauf for his faith and explain his act as an excess of zeal in a new convert. Deford's understanding of the Muslim situation is commendable.

We can see progress in media coverage of Muslims. Hopefully this is a trend. Let us seek to create more examples of this kind. The truth, properly and decently presented, may take more time to be noticed over the strident screaming of slander and sensationalism, but, with continuous effort and the help of Allah (SWT) we will create a better understanding of Islam throughout the United States and the world.