by Saima Fariz
Young people hold up cue cards, a la Bob Dylan in “Subterranean Homesick Blues.” One, a bearded man wearing a short, rounded skullcap with a prayer mat hanging in the background, holds a sign that asks: “WOULD YOU BE SCARED IF I MOVED TO YOUR CITY?” Later, a young woman’s card says, “Islam tells me to help the poor…but sometimes I’d rather just watch ‘Grey’s Anatomy.’”
The images played across a screen at Hermosa Beach’s St. Cross Episcopal Church. The church, in association with Temple Shalom and the South Coast Interfaith Council, hosted the community dialogue intended to provide information about Islam and its followers to the local community.
The conversation comes on the heels of a series of terrorist attacks, both at home and abroad, carried out by people claiming to be inspired by Islamic State. These attacks, speakers said, have had a disproportionate effect in shaping public opinion about a misunderstood religion and culture.
“I think these are the settings that will help in getting the word out,” said Imam Ameen Omar of Masjid Al-Shareef Mosque in Long Beach. “There is an urgent need to build relationships that share common values, and there’s one definite common value that we share, and that is we are all human.”
The Reverend Greg Brown of St. Cross agreed, stressing the need to learn about different people within the community to better help them in their struggles.
“It is the only way to understand another person,” Brown said to rows of nodding heads in the church’s Guild Room. “We must learn about our neighbors.”
Joining Omar was Edina Lekovic, director of policy and programming for the Muslim Public Affairs Council. Lekovic gave a presentation on Muslim culture in the United States and around the world. She showed pictures of Muhammad Ali, Dave Chappelle, and Keith Ellison as examples of Muslims who are tightly woven into American culture rather than being detached from it.
“We’re everywhere, in the best possible way,” Lekovic beamed. “And I am here to say that we, mainstream American Muslims, are more representative of the average Muslim in the world than ISIS or any other radical group.”
Neither Shareef or Lekovic denied or downplayed acts of terrorism conducted in higher frequency in the past fifteen years, but both were adamant in its inaccurate portrayal of the average Muslim.
“Not one atom’s weight of faith exists in these people’s bodies,” Omar stated in response to a question on Muslim terrorists. “Don’t correlate the actions of people with the religion of Islam.”
Audience members posed written questions to the speakers throughout the event. Several questions touched on prominent but ill-understood aspects of the faith, including sharia, jihad (Arabic for “struggle”), and the oft-repeated promise of 72 virgins.
The speakers took the questions in stride, doing their best to dispel popular myths.
“We are all God’s creation,” Omar stressed. “And I would like to share with you what we [Muslims] want our Christian friends to know… We want you all to know that we are not that far away from you. In fact, we should not be apart from each other at all. We should be together.”
Other questions provoked more personal responses. When asked what a “flip-flop-wearing-Hermosa-Beach-living-person” could do, Lekovic urged attendees to spread the message of understanding.
“The main thing I would ask you for is to find and embrace Muslims. Maybe not literally, some Muslims don’t hug,” Lekovic joked. “But you now have the ability to be the bridge to your zone of influence, in real life, in your neighborhood, in your workplace, in your families. We need your help.”
