Berkeley dialogue with Muslims shatters some myths

"Before 9-11, I was just a regular Muslim and a regular American," said Sabra Suharwardy, whose activities include Boy Scout and PTA meetings. She now feels the need to let people know she is Pakistani and Muslim, and not "someone from an alien land and an alien village."

That's why the Danville woman spoke out at "A Dialogue With Muslim Leaders," held Nov. 30 following a meditation service of Kehilla Community Synagogue in Berkeley.

"Islam is on the line right now," Iftekhar Hai, president of United Muslims of America, acknowledged after the discussion. Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Hai said he has been invited to speak at many other synagogues and churches.

As a Muslim, "I also feel a sense of collective guilt by association," he told the group of about 100 congregants, who submitted questions before the dialogue. But "there is a lot of difference between extremist Muslims and Muslims who are moderate."

Islam prescribes clear roles for women, but the persecution and powerlessness they suffer in Afghanistan is cultural and not religious, contrary to some media portrayals, said the three speakers. While addressing a wide array of topics, from Palestinian issues to homosexuality, the panelists also shattered some myths about Islam.

Just as Reform, Conservative and Orthodox Jews interpret the Torah differently, the Koran also is open to different interpretations. Those differences, the panelists said, explain how terrorists justify their actions while other Muslims condemn them.

Suharwardy, a United Muslim Alliance speaker, argued that terrorism "has got nothing to do with Islam." The only time Islam allows a Muslim to hurt someone is in self-defense, she said.

She also attacked several myths about Islam's treatment of women, pointing out that the wife of the prophet Muhammad, for example, was a businesswoman who employed Muhammad before they married. "She was the one who proposed to him." Men and women, she said, "are supposed to be equal in all ways."

Discussing women's attire, Hai said that nothing in the Koran requires women to cover themselves from top to bottom, Hai added. "The Koran talks about modesty," he said. "Millions and millions of Muslims do not cover."

Hai blamed the media for supporting misconceptions about Muslim women. "You never hear about women being president in other countries," he said. "In Indonesia, the president is a woman. Do you ever hear that?"

Aisha Farooq, a recent graduate of U.C. Berkeley and a new speaker with the Islamic Network Group, said Islam does define distinct roles for men and women. Part of a woman's role, for instance, is to raise her family, while the man's role is to provide for the family. But Islam does not require women to marry, she said.

Whether feminism has a role in the Muslim world was a thornier question relayed by Rabbi Burt Jacobson, the congregation's founding rabbi.

"Feminism, it may be difficult from Afghanistan," said Suharwardy. Moreover, she noted that being a Muslim is not easy because one has to resist anger, even when someone else inflicts hurt, and merely accept it. In that context, she said, "I don't think you can be a feminist." Still, she added, in Pakistan women are fighting for equal rights.

Overall, the panelists seemed to share many views with the Renewal congregation, which Jacobson said is one of only three congregations in the United States that supports both a Palestinian and Jewish state.

"For a long time, I have been an advocate of the state of Israel," Hai said.

Suharwardy criticized U.S. media coverage of the Mideast conflict, contending that news of one Israeli death lands on the front page of a newspaper, while 180 Palestinian deaths are buried on the back page. "You're giving one an unfair advantage over the other."

The panelists, however, did take issue with the congregants' beliefs about homosexuality. Jacobson noted that one founding principle of Kehilla, which includes many gay and lesbian members, is that the Torah says everyone is made in God's image and therefore deserves respect. He called religions' treatment of homosexuals "atrocious."

Hai provided a straightforward reply: "What the book says, I can tell you very honestly, is that this is not part of the natural order." But the Koran does not say homosexuals should be persecuted and marginalized, he added. "It is between you and God."