Looking toward new Vision for Islam and the West

With seemingly endless media coverage over the past few years, Islam has been brought to the forefront of the Western world time and time again.

As a result, the issue of having traditional Islamic values integrated into modern day society has become a complicated one, leaving both non-Muslims and Muslims alike with a sense of confusion.

How do Tech students feel about the issue? The common reactions range from confusion, to fear of sounding uninformed to sheer apathy.

As fourth-year INTA student William Welch said, the issue is "perhaps made more complicated by the fact that I've learned very little about it in school, or in environments in which facts are presented, rather than bombast or apologist."

Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, founder of the American Society for Muslim Advancement, recently spoke at Tech for the College of Management's IMPACT Speaker Series.

Although focusing primarily upon the socioeconomic aspect of Islamic assimilation with the west, he also spoke about the cultural factors involved with the issues at hand.

According to Rauf, incorporating Islam into western culture is dependent upon the identity that American Muslims create for themselves.

"The.community is now on the cutting edge of evolving something which we have to call an American Islamic identity," Rauf said.

"We are now in a situation analogous to...previous immigrants that came to this country," he said.

But what makes it difficult for Islam to mesh into a society whose history is based upon the mixing of different ideas and cultures?

"Immigrants who came from Europe.when they came, the relationship with their homeland was pretty much cut off."

Thus according to Rauf, the connection that immigrants in today's society have with their respective homelands made much easier via improved communication tools like the Internet serves as a roadblock preventing the evolution of an American Muslim Identity.

The validity of this notion can be argued to great lengths, but it remains an interesting idea nonetheless.

Other than cultural or economic factors, do the basic values underlying Islamic faith play a role in complicating the integration process?

Theoretically they should not, considering the fact that most world religions share basic core values. Most Muslims at Tech would define Islam as a way of life.

Like most other religions, it is message on how to live righteously based on the principle that all of humanity should respect each other.

Joanna Bayles, fourth-year Chemistry major claims that primarily, most religions share common values and themes from a moral perspective.

One would assume that these similarities would help facilitate understanding between different religions.

But as Bayles further claims, most people have a general understanding of the commonality between different faiths, but that "perhaps some of the loudest people in each religion claim otherwise.

They think that their religion is the only 'true' religion."

This may be another impediment towards the integration of Islam into the western world.

Similar to the way in which the KKK distorts fundamental Christian values, certain people representing themselves as spokespeople for Islam distort its teachings in order to justify personal agendas (for example, Osama Bin Laden).

With the media traditionally using fundamentalists as spokespeople for Islam in other nations, certain misrepresentations have been created as a result.

As Waqas Sheikh, President of the Pakistani Students Association states, "Western media is not nearly as open-minded about Islam as it needs to be. It's sad to see implications [and sometimes even obvious statements] regarding certain select groups of Muslims representing the vast Muslim community.

Considering the size of the Muslim world, [over one billion people], and the fact that this is an ever-increasing number, this generalization is both ridiculous and dangerous."

Herein lies the problem: Who can non-Muslims turn to in order to better understand this seemingly confusing faith at Tech?

As INTA Grad student Vince Pedicino states, "At Georgia Tech, a lot of people know that we have Muslim students but know nothing about the religion or its adherents.with world events the way they are, it falls more on the shoulders of Muslims to dispel rumors and misunderstandings.

"And those who are moderate within the religion need to speak up and loudly," Pedicino said.

Perhaps the most important thing for Muslims to do is to remain as open-minded towards others as they want people to be towards them.

Sheikh said, "Muslims generally have not done a great job of explaining the background and philosophy behind a lot of our customs and values.

"If we as a community try to open up and be more vocal about our religion and ideology, we'll find there are more 'outsiders' willing to listen and understand where we're coming from than we might imagine," he said.

Various organizations around campus are taking this approach and are attempting to educate others on Islamic culture and customs.

Last year, the Muslim Students Association hosted a Fast-a-Thon which invited non-Muslims to fast alongside Muslims during the Islamic month of Ramadan.

Other organizations such as the Pakistani Students Association also encourage this kind of education.

Therefore particularly in social settings of college campuses, the integration of Islam into modern day culture is not solely dependent upon Muslims or non-Muslims.

The issue is not an "us against them" battle, but rather a confusing predicament requiring common understanding and a willingness to learn from each other.

As former Tech student Shaela Rahman said, "[What is] so great about Western society is the encouragement of the freedom in expressing one's mind and belief.

"Being different and not conforming to society, having a difference of opinion, this is what builds character in a person and is what Western society has thrived upon," Rahman said.