Discussion: Da’wah to College Educated People
Posted on June 3rd, 2006 by Tariq Nelson
In the previous post, Brother Abu Abdir Rahman, made some good points on the above topic that I began responding to, but my comments were so long that I decided to put up here instead. Brother Abu Abdir Rahman
Filed under: Convert Issues
what we have been saying for years is and no one ever does anything about it, is that we need a program for converts at each major masjid and that where converts need to be directed. Otherwise they will just wither away and float out of the deen
As Salaamu Alaikum,
I have often pondered why Islam isn’t growing rapidly. I quickly reflected upon the 1960s. The 60s were the Age of Growth. What elements in the environment fostered growth? First, the muslims offered a program to address the ills of society. The believers strived to administer to the physical, social, and psychological needs of the people. Second, Islam was propagated to open minded people. The youth and young adults minds are open to embrace new ideas and philosophies. It is the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) to meet the physical needs of the community! A hungry man does not want a flyer, he wants food. A poor man does not want a flyer, he wants a job or money! We have fulfill the material needs of society. We have to offer a tangible alternative. This is what made Prophet Muhammad successful. He offered an alternative to the Christians, Jews, and Quraish.
I strongly agreed with structuring dawah activities around college campuses around the world. In fact, I have the very same thought many months ago. The dawah activity must embody more than handing out fliers. The MSA must have a proactive agenda! The MSA should provide tangible alternatives for the physical, financial, social, and psychological needs of college students. I strongly suggest each community Masjilis Ash Shura strategize to develop an agenda.
Nice detailed post outlining many important issues. I have often pointed out to many in my family about the issue of befriending new converts because many times we are impressed when they come to Islam but then leave them in the wild to figure out everything and assume they will befriend Muslims. It is extremely difficult situation to be cut off from one’s family, one’s friends, and one’s community and then not be taken care of by the new one you have chosen to identify yourself. Jazakallah Khairan.
aabiransabeel:
Yes, and the thing is that in many cases when the type of brother I described above has gone through what he has gone through is not seen for a while, a group of brothers may show up at his door (that is if they know where he lives) or corner him and give him a scripted speech about how 'weak' he is or how he has become caught up in the dunya.
Not a thought or care about what actually led him to this point or about any of his concerns as long as this drone returns to the collective where he can continue to come to the masjid, pray, shake a few hands and return home.
The brother who is being visited thinks to himself that he does not know these people. They don't really care about him other than him being another body in the masjid. He has never been invited to their houses. Their families don't know each other. They haven't sat down and talked together, laughed together, cried together, consoled and comforted one another or do any of the things that normal friends do in every other society on the planet do. The message: "I'm just here because this is what I'm supposed to do"
So it all becomes part of a five to ten minute script. He is just a fill in for that "someone to visit" while the other brother is the speaker.
All of the real feelings, real emotions, and things that make real friendship are squeezed out made into a robotic excersise that we just do. It is like taking all the juice out of a glass of orange juice and drinking what it left. (i.e, nothing)
At the end of the movie "Light it Up", the most violent and irrational character became Muslim. He was also the only one still in jail. Stereotypical portrayal of what a Muslim convert is. The others pretty much made something of themselves
we just did the community day at our place of work. To work there you must have at least a Bachelors, many also have Masters and PhDs.
I found that the material that went the quickest were ones with titles like “Human Rights in Islam” and stuff like “Women’s Role in Islam” and a nice one called “The ROle of Minorities in Islamic Societies.”
I think you must approach the religion in a different manner for highly educated people. Of course, I was the “token white guy” put in front to hand out the material and field questions, as well as the newest fad, “token non hijab wearing Muslim women.”
There are more and more highly educated coverts out there, Jeffery Lang being one, Math propfessor at KSU, married to a Saudi lady as well, incidently.
I think there are more out there than people realise. When I used to attend Dar al Hijrah regualrly I would see them show up during Ramadan, only to disappear for the rest of the year.
I think many of them, like myself, have taken the choice to NOT be a part of the wider Muslim community. Probably got sick of the nonsense like I did.
Yeah, unfortunately I myself have recently just thrown my hands up and removed myself from the “community”. I go to Jumu’ah evey week and the occasional salaah…and even when I do that, I now put my shoes on after praying and leave without hesitation simply because I can’t stand to exist in this in-between world where I do not fit in because I’m not Arab or from the Sub-Continent or because I’m not a thobe wearing, miswak carrying, animal slaughtering AA brother who is down with the ___________ (insert whichever group you prefer - salafis, tablighis, sufis, etc etc etc.)
Abu Sinan and The “R”:
I am finding that more and more brothers are like that. Preferring to keep the “community” at arms length except for main events
well do you wanna hear from a south-east asian(not south asian) Muslim who despite having been a Muslim all my life had to face as much difficulties integrating into the NOrth American Muslim community as you white and black converts face.
what is even more ironical is that i am the very founder of the MSA of my university in Canada. yet i was never spared from what you suffer. when i graduated, after a few years a new batch of students who were elected into office drafted a constitution in which they explicitly defined Muslims from the Islamic world as those from Middle East and South Asia. they were truely that ignorant, without even knowing that the largest Muslim country and population lies outside that region nor knowing that the Ottoman Caliphs also lived outside the region.
from every Muslim convention to every Muslim gathering that i went to during my six years in North america, i was always out of place as I was neither Desi nor Arab.nobody realized that this is nothing more than pure primitive tribalism.
in my undergraduate university nobody was really interested to set up or run a MSA or dawah activities or community activities and so i was able to take the lead and do it with the grace of Allah. however in my graduate universities where there was already MSA established, the sense of tribalism resulted in a closed working environment where outsiders or newbies like me just could not go near to volunteer our experience or time or effort. in my four years of heading the MSA in my undergrad uni, i was able to explore and adventure, research and implement numerous activities and programs. I had a weekly radio show, we had our own islamic exhibitions using our own “discover Islam” posters that we spent much time to research and design as we found the original Discovery Islam posters being too contemporary, we also had a refugee program, we had adhoc programs for kids, we worked strongly to ignite the curiosity of Canadianized teenagers towards Islam, we had our own Calligraphy exhibitions and talks etc etc. But I was never able to repeat these activities again in my graduate university MSA thanks to the tribalism shutting me out and forcing me to be a token. I was on the average about 5-8 years older than them and that made communication even more challenging. in my undergraduate uni our dawah program was diverse and strong and reach out wide because i allowed anyone of any ethnicity to come in to share their ideas. for instance the biggest intelllectual inspiration my undergraduate uni MSA had was from this turkish graduate student. his ideas will never have been invited in other MSAs i am sure.
Its no use talking about how Islam is tolerant and embraces diversity till we ourselves demonstrate it in our actions within our own Muslim communities. That itself will be a stronger dawah than organizing speeches by eloquent Muslim speakers or passing fanciful slogans.
I see where most of you are coming from, but we need more solutions. I don’t think most MSA-types actually invite more people of their own ethnicity. It’s a double edged sword. Brother Abu Sinan just mentioned that he felt like he was a token white guy at a dawah booth. But if it was all Arab/South Asian there, it would seem like its something different and from ‘them’. I am not saying that there are no issues, or there are no problems with the South Asian/Arab community. But it is hard to keep the programs more open if there are only two or three converts even around.
If something specific bothers you, please say it then and there so things can be corrected. If you dont like a particular MSA event, ask them to support the event you have in mind, and insist on it. A lot of times, there are bigger issues, and “background” stuff is just a label. I am South Asian - brown, political, desi, socially awkward, college-centric, the whole deal. Interestingly, the most I connected with were at MSA were a politically aware Cuban-American Muslim, a Pal-American Muslim, both grad students. Sometimes the immature Paki, and American types gave me the creeps.
“If something specific bothers you, please say it then and there so things can be corrected. If you dont like a particular MSA event, ask them to support the event you have in mind, and insist on it.”
i wish things can be easy as you advice. i have tried it before but to no avail. its always the yes yes sure sure reply but with no real commitment or sincerity to engage or embrace outside ideas. it boils from the whole isolationist attitude. i mean once you become an introvert, it really becomes difficult to accept and embrace those outside or foreign to you. i guess when i was MSA president in my uni i was able to practise what i preach also because to me, being the only south-east asian, everybody else be it south asian or middle eastern or else is practically an outsider and foreign. had i had enough southeast asians to shut myself into an enclave, maybe i might have acted likewise. but definitely there ought to be an awareness of this problem and a conscious effort is required to prevent this.
I want to run an observation of mine by everybody. In general, the many organizations play a very insignificant role in attracting people to Islam - and keeping their attention. Personal contact - at school or work or in the neighborhood is much more significant as I have found it to be more sincere and of course personlized. My experience as a college convert was that the MSA at my school and the big Arab masjib in my city left me feeling very alienated and alone as a mere curiousity to the ‘born-muslims’ who were the majority. My experience as a Christian left me feeling very bitter about the much love at church no respect out of it attitude and this is what I sensed as a new Muslim - the banner on the wall of the musalla would imply unity but the reality would undermine that. Walhamdulillah I found the good individual muslims I did.
I agree with you 100% Stuntman. I don’t think they do it intentionally, but it happens.
Brother Nelson..
This blog has me crying a river of tears…
Yal-Wadood, Yal-Wadood, Yal-Wadood…
: (
This post was on point.
I want to comment more, but I’m at work.
Assalaamu alaikum.
I have traveled all over this country to Masjids for AfricanAmericans and other ethnic groups. Unfortunately, I think the solution to this issues of new convert alienation is simple. AfricanAmerican converts should be steered to AfricanAmerican Masjids and so on. I know from personal experience that if a new AfricanAmerican convert goes to an Arab or Desi based Masjid he will eventually fall out, but he should start out with his own ethnic group until he is secure in Faith and Belief and then venture out to other Masjids as he or she pleases.
Salam
Ron,
How about Muslims practicing Islam the way it should be practiced, so no one will feel left out regardless of which ethnic group is the majority at the masjid. So if I live near the predominately desi masjid (let’s use dar us salaam as an example, I should bypass it and go all the way to Masjid Muhammad or Masjid Islam in DC?
Excellent post Tariq,
Most of these issues go back to the Masjid being made a social club instead of a place of worship. Those who are socially impeded will use the Masjid as a base, and those that are socially forward will usually shy away from the Masjid.
One solution will be to return the sanctity of the Masjid as a place of worship, and then facilitate community centers that are near or adjacent to the Mosque so as to allow Muslims and their children (regardless of their social mobility or degree of ‘religiousness’) outlets for recreation, development, and socialization. Having these types of facilities adjacent to Mosques allows for ettiquites conducive with Islamic mores to be implemented, a ’shelter’ for those seeking socialization without the hang-ups of compromise and an open-door policy that will lead people eventually back to the mosque.
Problem is membership in communities will probably have to become the norm, which is somewhat looked down upon by Muslims, but will in the long run solve a lot of the legal problems surrounding same organizations’ constituents and/or new members.
(Imagine what would happen if those posers that recently showed up in the news were asked to sign a legally binding form for proper conduct and representation?)
Orgs like this too can provide targeted Dawah information and classes, and appear broad enough to entice all Muslims/ New Muslims to attend ’services’.
The problem with this is that so many brothers were given dawah from the prisons, etc and no effort was made to educated men that it has created a problem for educated AA Muslimahs to get married. Educated AA sisters have to lower their standards in ways a reasonable woman would never have to
[...] Middle Class and Islam Last year, I posted this on the topic of telling college educated/middle class individuals about Islam. A few days ago, Amir [...]
Salam alaikoum
You know, upon re reading, I wonder if there isn’t a link with the lack of dawah and why so many people rush to get married.
I got married late for a convert (I met my husband a year after converting and married him a year after that) and marriage was like a life preserver being thrown at me in the ocean. It gave me an instant social circle, the “Algerians”, but the price was that I got lumped in with the Arabs and never created my own circle. I mean alhamdoulillah I am married and all that, but I do think a lot of converts get married to get locked into “a” community since one doesn’t really exist for us.
I will note that Dawah on HBCUs is virtually non-existent. We always go to the jails first and forget the HCBUs
This is so true.
I was in law school when I converted. I was so excited but a bit naive. One of the first mosque I joined was salafi ( I really had no idea what that meant). Needless to say, I was encouraged to drop out of law school, wear niqab immediately and marry a stranger who did not have a steady job. It was impossible to have an intellegent conversation or ask questions about Islam. I soon left the masjid.
I then ventured into an “ethnic” masjid full of Arabs and some Pakistanis. The kutbah was in Arabic (they gave English speakers headphones where someone translated). I never felt so alone. The women either (a) spoke in their own language (2) were stay at home mothers who could not fathom why I wanted to go to law school and tried to make me feel guilty because I was unmarried with no children or (3) random African American women with 10 kids, husbands who did not work or some other such chaos.
I am not sure what to do now. I live in the midsouth, am in grad school (for philosophy…that is another issue) but still believe in Islam. I am isolated, however. i have even started going to church out of desperation.
@ AA Muslim in Tennessee
You need to move to a larger community with more people like yourself
AA Muslim in Tennessee, can you transfer to another school? How long are you there? If not, then stay in contact with sisters of a similar state of mind, internet forums. Email me!!
[...] Outreach to College Educated Individuals [...]
Hi.
Good design, who make it?
I hope this isn’t a brothers-only space. In response to the person who wrote that AA converts should make their way to a predominantly AA masjid.
Umm, but as the brother mentioned in his post class, as well as race is at play. So that a middle-class, educated AA convert may feel just as out of place in a working-class or poor AA masjid as someone who is South Asian or the South Asian person if their class level is similar might feel more at home in the AA masjid.
Also, in response to the brother who wrote that educated AA converts are finding it difficult to find marriage partners. I don’t think the solution is just to invite more educated AA to Islam.
I think that we need to see an opening up of the communities so that it becomes quite normal to see interracial and intercultural marriages. I think we are beginning to see these more and more with the younger generation, although they still often face fierce opposition from their elders.
There should be no need to stay in our little ethnic/racial silos if we share the same American or Canadian wider culture and Islam.
@Margaret
Thanks for the kind comment. It is very difficult; I hate being put in the position to either choose my faith, my education or my connection with people similiar to me. Unfortunately, my closest friends are non-muslim and very accepting of my choice of religion. It is generally the AA converts who are judgmental and tell me to stop participating in the “dunya.”
I would like to move, but have to finish school and have some familial obligations.
Assalam Aleykum wr wb
Mashallah Brother you got a very well- organized and popular blog which adresses alot of issue i havent seen been adressed, Having said that i have a little proble with your controversial topics, Let me ask why are they called controversial topics??? because i only see the topics side more wit the AA community and pity with them. Anyways i just wanted to clarify that with You. Just so you We muslims have more bigger problems to deal with which are the kaffiruns and their mind tectics that will soon divide the ummah as a whole if we keep going on like this. Instead of talking about controversial topics and people here living comment feeling sorry for themselves wouldnt it be good if we were to correct the mistake and move on, because going about things we can change but not change is not going to do anyone no better.
P:S If every Muslim Have their ups and downs only some deal with it and other still go on about it with no logical conclusion!!
All i’m saying is no one need to feel sorry about the past because its for every gone and the fuure is yet to come so, you are only left with today just make the best of it.
Allah swt Knows best!!