Understanding Islam and Upholding Religious Tolerance on 9/11

In the end, the controversial "Burn a Koran Day" sponsored by a Gainesville, Florida church was canceled. Pastor Terry Jones says he will be trying to meet with Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf to discussed the planned Islamic community center near the World Trade Center, Cordoba House/Park51 and while Rauf reports that there is no meeting scheduled with the pastor who envisioned such a hate-filled event, that he is willing to talk with anybody “seriously committed to pursuing peace.”

To counter the message of the planned Koran-burning event, Gainesville Mayor Craig Lowe declared 9/11 "Interfaith Solidarity Day." Other residents put together a Gainesville Muslim Initiative with a "Koran 101" lecture, "Know Your Muslim Neighbor" events, and a homelessness outreach project on this sad day, which President Obama asked be recognized as a national day of service. In the online world, Facebook members responded to the Burn a Koran Day fan page with a "Buy a Qur'an Day" page, asking that people learn about the religion instead of buying into the hateful rhetoric. (You can also request a free Koran here.)

The idea of blaming the entire religion of Islam for the act of a few extremists displays how little many people know about Islam. Just this week, the FBI arrested a Christian terrorist intending to blow up a North Carolina abortion clinic. Do we blame all of Christianity for this act of terrorism? Of course not. Yet many people have argued that Islam is a religion of violence, even though Imam Rauf himself is a practitioner of Sufism, a notably peaceful tradition. So perhaps it's not just the Koran that people should read, but the Bible too. Because while reading the Koran will turn up passages of violence, so will reading the Bible.  Philip Jenkins, author of Jesus Wars and Dark Passages, points out that Saul was severely punished in the Old Testament for failing to commit genocide: violence wasn't simply condoned, it was required. The infamous Christian Crusades were justified by the Church through the obvious discrepancy between "Thou Shalt Not Kill" and what God asked his people to do.

It's important to understand that the original Holy text does not define the modern-day religion in most cases. As Frank Schaeffer, son of evangelist leader Francis Schaeffer who was instrumental in bringing the Christian Right to power, writes on Alternet: "Muslim 9/11 Debate Is off the Mark: The Real Problem Is Fundamentalism of Every Kind." (See: mention of clinic bombing above.) Taken in a strictly literal sense, the dictates of the "jealous God" who underpins Judaic-Christian-Muslim tradition (remember, they all include the Old Testament) are antithetical to American principles of religious freedom and tolerance.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, as part of their Teaching Tolerance program, asks teachers to commemorate this tragic day by "help[ing] students overcome misconceptions about Islam, confront stereotypes and deepen their understanding of different religious beliefs." The organization offers lesson plan materials on this subject, recognizing that the struggle against hatred and extremism begins with raising a generation that understands and respects different religions.

Where to Turn, a prominent 9/11 victims families group, asked protesters against Cordoba House to cancel their planned protest today, writing that 9/11 is "a day to respectfully remember and honor those who died. ... We will never support such activities that disrespect the memories of our loved ones on this sacred day at this sacred site." Those who died include fathers and husbands like Abdoul-Karim Traoré, whose wife and three children go to the site of the Twin Towers, which is now being rebuilt as a memorial, to remember their loved one. Traoré and his family are all Muslim. Perhaps he even used to pray in the Muslim prayer room in the south tower of the World Trade Center.

This is a tragedy shared by thousands without regard to religion or faith. Let us remember.

Photo credit: SpecialKRB