Trust, tolerance between religions

The first things I noticed as I approached the Islamic Institute of Orange County were its golden domes, dazzling under the morning sun.

As I pulled up to its gate on State College Boulevard, I saw two uniformed guards, standing like human metaphors for the current relationship between Western non-Muslims and Muslims everywhere.

Guarded. At best.

If you’ve forgotten about the dozen cartoons of the prophet Muhammad that sparked widespread fury and, among some Muslims, violence last month, the umma ? the worldwide Muslim community ? hasn’t. And it’s not soon going to.

Several hundred Islamic scholars and clerics from as many as 50 countries made that clear on Wednesday last week when they met in Bahrain for what they dubbed the “International Conference for Supporting the Prophet.”

According to Saudi Sheikh Salman al-Awdah, its purpose was “to guide the anger among Muslims ? which should be neither a passing [anger] nor a blind one,” Reuters reported.

In response to the controversy driven by the cartoons of Muhammad originally published in the Danish newspaper Jyllands Posten, the Council on American-Islamic Relations earlier had launched a half-million dollar, yearlong campaign called “Explore the Life of Muhammad.” The promotion offers a free DVD or book about the prophet’s life to visitors of CAIR’s website, www.cair-net.org.

Several Orange County mosques have sponsored community educational programs in an effort to combat what they see as ignorance about how Muslims view Muhammad.

I spent a morning and an afternoon at the Islamic Institute in Anaheim and the Islamic Society of Orange County in Garden Grove, and I found the hospitality enthusiastic, if at times a bit self-conscious.

A flier from the Islamic Society advertised quite accurately “lectures in a friendly environment.” The society’s religious director, Muzammil H. Siddiqi, told its guests the talks weren’t intended “to preach or convert,” only to inform. “People become enemies of things they do not know,” he said.

Each mosque offered a variety of deeply discounted educational materials. Many, including English-language translations of the Koran at the Islamic Institute, were free.

The official speakers were practiced, personable and informative. Some time was allotted following their presentations for questions and answers, and questions occurred to me that never had before.

For instance, it is said that before Muhammad received his revelations preserved in the Koran, he often retreated from the world to pray and fast. But to what God, I wondered for the first time, did he pray?

Likely, I learned from Siddiqi, it was the god of the Hanif, a group of pre-Islamic Arab monotheists. Neither Jews nor Christians, they nevertheless rejected Mecca’s idol worship.

Siddiqi, along with Hussam Ayloush, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations of Southern California, addressed visitors to the Islamic Society. At the Islamic Institute, its imam, Muhammad Faqih gave several presentations throughout the day.

The unimpeachable character of Muhammad was stressed, as was Islam as a religion rooted in mercy, justice and peace.

Freedom of expression was expounded not merely as a right but also as a duty, to be used for good ? never for the sake of insulting others.

The Danish cartoons of Muhammad were revisited, the pain they caused explained: “The one who saved us is Muhammad,” said Ayloush.

As we look at Islam and Muslim sensibilities, surely we’re hindered by blind spots. Yet in their views of the West and other faiths, Muslims are hampered by blind spots, too.

For instance, at the Islamic Institute, a short multimedia presentation titled “Islam: The Noble Path” was shown between lectures each hour. A copy of it on a DVD was given to attendees as part of an information package. It can also be viewed online at www.theistsunited.com/ noblepath.html.

In a segment of the production called “Islam and the People of the Book,” its narrator declares: “In the Holy Koran, God strictly forbids any forced conversion or forced worship.” A quote from the Koran, chapter 2, verse 256, is read and appears on screen: “There is no compulsion to religion.”

The narrator continues. “When Islam started to spread beyond Arabia, many Jews and Christians came to live under Muslim rule,” he says. “Muslims respected their faiths. They protected their rights, freedoms and sanctuaries.”

The idea of Islam, the faith, spreading benignly is one thing. What’s not explained is how, then, did Jews and Christians become subject to Muslim rule?

The narrator continues: “During the whole of the Middle Ages, when Christendom was unashamedly anti-Semitic, xenophobic and dark, Islamic-ruled lands were havens for Jews and Christians of all denominations?. Throughout history, Islam has been tolerant, civilized and merciful.”

Why, then, is that not true in so much of the Islamic world today?

In e-mails sent to me last month, Maneck Bhujwala, a local Zoroastrian priest, explained some of the religion’s history to me. By his account, Islam at times dealt with its captives and subjects in ways different than those portrayed in the video. “Our ancestors left Iran for India over 1300 years ago to escape religious persecution from the Arab invaders who were converting them by force to the Muslim religion of Muhammad of Arabia,” Bhujwala wrote.

“There were [a] large number of forced conversations at the threat of death. There were other means, such as taxing non-Muslims very heavily, discrimination against non-Muslims in jobs?. At times Zoroastrians were forced to wear certain identifying clothes ? to humiliate them.”

Non-Muslims who have lived in Muslim countries have mentioned similar job discrimination and heavy taxes to me. The war in Iraq and other current events have called attention to some of the inequities and dangers faced by Christians living under Islamic rule.

I’m lousy at math, but something doesn’t seem to add up.

Some of the trouble between Islam and the West today might well stem from the West’s ignorance of Muhammad’s life and character. Maybe the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ campaign and local educational programs will help that.

But I suspect more of the trouble stems from the same source as much of the trouble between Christianity and the West: The distance between the religion’s ideals and the character and behavior of too many of its adherents is too great.

Even in the United States, where so many say they believe in God, there’s scarce trust of religion in the West. Muslims, I think, are taking that much too personally.