Decrying Stereotypes and Bias, Islamic-jewish Dialogue Begins

Saying that American Muslims and Jews are “tired of stereotypes, bigotry and caricatures, and we are tired of looking at each other at a distance,” a Jewish leader began what many hope will be a long, fruitful dialogue between the two communities.

“In North America, Muslims and Jews have been like those ships in the night which pass one another, but who have never really met as vibrant and real peoples,” said Rabbi A. James Rudin, director of interreligious affairs of the American Jewish Committee.

Rudin’s forum was a conference titled “Muslims and Jews in North America: Past, Present and Future,” held Oct. 24-26 in Denver.

Kareem Abdallah, imam of the Mountain States Islamic Association, a mosque in Denver attended by blacks who have converted to traditional Islam, was also a keynote speaker at the forum.

The forum was sponsored by the AJCommittee and the University of Denver’s Center for Islamic-Judaic Studies.

The budding dialogue between Muslims and Jews, the rabbi said, was made possible by two “objective realities” — the fact of American religious freedom and the dawning prospects of Israeli-Palestinian peace.

It is, he said, an opportunity that both communities should grasp enthusiastically.

“I think we will be judged as irresponsible people if we do not seize the unique opportunity that is open before us,” Rudin said in a keynote address. “Future generations of Muslims and Jews will judge us very harshly if we do not act now.”

Rudin predicted that Muslim-Jewish relations would encounter vocal opponents in both camps.

“We have to be especially alert to the seductive and dangerous siren songs of those extremist voices in both communities,” he said. “Although those extremists are few in number, they can easily take center stage.”

The rabbi advised conferees to embark on fundamental discussions of the historical, theological and political differences — and similarities — between Muslims and Jews.

EMPHASIS SHOULD BE ON SHATTERING CLICHES

The emphasis, he said, should be on shattering and avoiding the many cliches with which Jews and Muslims have long regarded one another.

Abdallah said that while Jewish scripture and the Koran perceive Abraham in differing ways, both religions could find useful positive examples in the patriarchal figure.

“As we see him, Abraham-Ibrahim was not a Jew or a Muslim or a Christian.” Abdallah said. “But he was an upright man, a man of a submissive nature to God, a man of a fair, just and honest character. This too can be a description of all three of these faiths.”

Abdallah was speaking in place of Imam W. Deen Mohammed. Mohammed, the Chicago-based “Muslim American Spokesman for Human Salvation” and the son of Elijah Mohammed, founder of the Nation of Islam, did not attend the conference due to illness.

Speaking as a minority, both as a Muslim and an African American, Abdallah told Jewish conferees: “As minorities, having been oppressed and unjustly treated, we can both understand Ibrahim’s call for freedom, justice and fairness.”

The imam suggested that cooperation between Jews and Black Muslims could serve as a role model for larger efforts to resist racism.

For Jews to successfully engage in dialogue with Black Muslims in particular, Abdallah said, they must free themselves of racism. Black Muslims, conversely, must resist the forces urging them to accept anti-Semitic thinking.

The ultimate challenge for Muslims and Jews, Rudin said, is whether it is “possible for Jews and Muslims to remain faithful to their own beliefs and to affirm, very positively, the spiritual validity of their neighbor who does not believe.”

Asked by an audience member about the anti-Semitic comments of Black Muslim leader Louis Farrakhan, Abdallah said Black Muslims have no control over which spokesmen the media decide to feature most prominently.

“There is a diversified approach to leadership within the African American community,” he said, adding that leaders like Farrakhan appeal to a sense among many African Americans that Jews are simply a part of the oppressive white majority.

The Denver mosque does not adhere to the goals of the Nation of Islam.

A “lack of leadership” within the African American community, Abdallah said, helps foster black racism not only toward Jews but toward Asians and other minority groups.

Asked by the Intermountain Jewish News whether North American Jewish-Muslim dialogue could survive a failure of Middle Eastern peace efforts, Abdallah said, “I don’t think it will fail; I think it will succeed.

“Look,” he added, expressing a thought that might serve as a starting point for the nascent dialogue itself, “Muslims and Jews are not natural enemies. We’re human beings and we share the same struggles as all human beings.”