ISNA Matters
ISNA Joins in Highlighting Minority Rights ISNA joined Georgetown University’s Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding (ACMCU) to host a Symposium on Religious Freedom and the Rights of Minorities in Islam in D.C. on May 18. ISNA President Imam Mohamed Magid and ACMCU Assistant Director Dr. John Voll welcomed an audience of more than 100 representatives of faith organizations, academic institutions, think-tanks, and diplomatic missions. ISNA is working together with Muslim leaders worldwide to promote a mechanism for developing Islamic standards and protocols on religious freedom and the role of religious minorities in the Muslim-majority communities. Shaykh Abdallah bin Bayyah of Mauritania presented the background on the fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) of the rights of religious minorities in Muslim-majority communities. The word “minorities” does not exist in Islamic thought, Sh. Bin Bayyah said, but rather multiple “religious groups.” He added, “Islam sees humanity as one unified group,” quoting the Quranic verse, “O mankind, indeed We have created you from male and female and made you peoples and tribes that you may know one another.” ISNA board member Dr. Jamal Badawi expanded upon the notion of plurality and diversity and connected it to the objectives of Shariah, which seek to provide goodness to everyone.
“Shariah is not what Muslims are doing and what they’ve done,” he said. Georgetown University’s Dr. Jonathan Brown provided practical examples of the treatment of religious minorities throughout history. In many examples, he said, “Religious minorities would pay their own taxes and this would ensure their protection.” This was the precedent established at the time of the Caliph Omar and was repeated numerous times. At the same time, however, he also provided examples where religious minorities have not been afforded this protection as mandated by Islam, and were instead used as scapegoats by certain individuals, highlighting how this was absolutely wrong behavior. College of William & Mary’s Dr. Tamara Sonn shared insights about the ideals of
ISNA Takes Message of Interfaith Harmony to Muslim World ISNA President Imam Mohamed Magid and ISNA Director of Community Outreach Dr. Mohamed Elsanousi met with high-ranking religious authorities and scholars in Morocco and Tunisia to discuss the rights of religious minorities in Muslimmajority countries across the globe. Working in consultation with these authorities, they 8
Mohamed Elsanousi
presented the idea of developing Islamic standards and protocols to guarantee equal participation of various religious groups in Muslim-majority countries. During their visits, they met with Dr. Ahmed Toufiq, Moroccan minister of Islamic Affairs and Endowments; Dr. Noureddine Khadmi, Tunisian minister of Religious Affairs; and Dr. Abdul Aziz Othman al-Tuwaijri,
Islamic government, one of which being that in theory, the government should serve as a contract between the ruler and the ruled. The Quran provides guidance on equal rights and other areas, but the specifics are left to human beings to extract and apply. U.S. Institute of Peace Senior Program Officer Dr. Qamar-ul Huda spoke about the perspective of religious minorities with whom he works in Muslim-majority countries, particularly in the era post-Arab Spring. South African Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool shared his experiences as a Muslim minority struggling alongside the majority during apartheid. Muslims, he said, even though not more than 3 percent of the South African population, got nine cabinet posts when Nelson Mandela took office in 1994. He reminded: “What you demand as a minority, you have to give when you’re the majority. That’s the test of integrity when you fight Islamophobia, and when we speak to our fellow Muslims when they are the majorities.... The rights that you want as a Muslim, you must give to others, even if you detest their lifestyle.” He added, “Our achievement of our status in South Africa, despite our numbers, was because we understood fundamentally that before the Prophet was a messenger, he was the trustworthy, Al-Ameen.”
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General Manager of the Islamic Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (ISESCO) to stress the issue of the rights of religious minorities. Morocco has a history of harmonious coexistence between people of diverse religious backgrounds. Similarly, developments in Tunisia following the Arab Spring have re-energized a commitment to a pluralist democracy and to a guarantee of the rights of all people to wholly participate in government and society. ISNA is committed to religious freedom and seeks to promote it not only in the U.S., but also abroad. In the U.S., ISNA is partnering with Jews and Christians in running, “Shoulder-to-Shoulder: Standing with American Muslims; Upholding American Values” campaign.
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Islamic Horizons July/August 2012