CONFERENCE REPORT
The Seed Before the Bloom ISNA Central Zone conference focuses on growing through life’s challenges BY MARIAM SIDDIQUI
T
he Islamic Center of Greater Cincinnati welcomed hundreds of attendees from the Midwest and Southern Ohio region on Nov. 22 during ISNA’s third annual regional conference in Cincinnati, “Growing Through Life’s Challenges: Lessons from the Quran and Sunnah.”
The three-day conference was thematically entwined with the Quranic verse (3:200), which illustrates the model for achieving greatness. “The idea was that there are many challenges in our life, at an individual, spiritual, community and global level. And the (program) was to provide insights and solutions from the Quran and Sunnah,” said Nazim Fazlani, who served as one of the local conference organizers along with Aman Ahmed, Shamila Malik and Nehad Omara. Topics included “Balancing Spirituality & Modernity,” “Cultural Influences on Religion,” “Generation Change,” “Marriage and Familial Rights in Islam,” “Intra-faith Communication,” “Interfaith Partnerships,” and issues related to the development of the Muslim community. ISNA and the local community invited renowned scholars to address attendees. Conference lectures conveyed the mes12
sage that to build the perfect community, Muslims must come to terms with the complexity of their Muslim American identity — understanding what power that holds
— and must first understand, purify, and strengthen their souls. In order to build the perfect community, the purification of one’s own self must be duly emphasized, and then the Muslim community will inevitably, branch by branch, become whole. The first step of the Muslim community is to understand the magnitude of its existence: the power of Muslims’ abilities, gifts, and talents. “Are you going to say we are an Ummah that doesn’t count? You have abilities and the means to dream whatever you wish to be. We (the elders of the community) are simply here to direct the traffic jam,” said Abdullah Idris in the opening session about balancing spirituality with modernity. The session was meant to inspire those who feel as if spirituality and cultural allegiance are mutually exclusive. “We don’t have to modernize the deen,” he stressed. “We have to have a wide background and understand that people may have different points of view. And that’s okay.” Speakers emphasized that change is inevitable — the Muslim attitude will broaden with the tide as the definition of the American voice becomes clear. Usama Cannon illustrated in the MSA session, “Clash of the Titans: The Intersection between Culture and Religion,” how Muslims can be powerful, if they choose to be honest with themselves. “America is still defining herself,” he said. “Neither America nor Islam is static. The experience of Muslims is ever changing. Are we doing the work that needs to be done to bring about (change in) defining America and what it means to be Muslim?” The message was poetically fitting: no
ISLAMIC HORIZONS JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014