On Thursday, September 9th, we had two political leaders speak to our class about their political affiliation in relation to their religious identity as a Muslim. The first was Suhail M. Khan who served under the Bush Administration, and is a current member of the Board of Directors of the American Conservative Union. He wrote a very interesting article in the Foreign Policy Journal (http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/08/23/americas_first_muslim_president), discussing the voting trends in the Muslim-American population. While he made the strong point that the general Muslim vote swayed from Republican to Democrat between the Bush administration and the Obama administration, President Obama has essentially failed to reach out to the Muslim-American community, which has caused a lot of dissatisfaction among this population. I watched the entire video of his speech in Cairo last year, and I admit that President Obama made a very moving speech, filled the prospect of hope for creating unity between the East and the West (among many other issues such as nuclear weapons, the Arab-Israeli conflict, etc.). Unfortunately, anyone can take a look at the past year and realize that virtually nothing has been done to accomplish any of the progress he discussed in his speech. I would love to stand by our President's side and support his every decision, but he is in such a sticky situation right now that is holding him back from making the best decisions. Suhail Khan spent some time discussing the current challenge of many Americans truly believing that Obama is truly a Muslim, and associating this with negativity. He told us that this is the main reason that Obama has failed to genuinely reach out to the Muslim community and failed to meet with Muslim leaders. Within his administration, there is such a strong political consensus that he honestly cannot afford to reach out to the Muslim community because of the continuing high suspicions that he is a follower of Islam. I asked Mr. Khan what he believed the Obama Administration was realistically capable of doing to clarify any suspicious activity in his personal life. He believed that Americans need to see Obama publicly attending Church in order to break these suspicions, and for him to make a significant speech in Jerusalem (as he did in Cairo last year) to reinforce the United States' legacy to support Israel. Whether I agree with his statements or not, it was a good reality check and really reminded me how complicated the politics of Washington DC are. As easy at it may sound for the President to reach out to Muslims across America, there is a huge restraint on his public image that needs to be taken into account. With out country so divided right now, every single statement, speech and action must be so carefully analyzed to ensure that nothing is taken the wrong way.
After this guest speaker, we had Assad Akhter the Legislative Director to Congressman Bill Pascrell (D-NJ) speak about being a Democrat and his religious identity as a Muslim. It was interesting to hear from Democratic and Republican leaders back to back.
Later that afternoon, Imam Johari Abdul Malik spoke to our class on the principles and practices of Islam and the environment. We learned that the sources of environmentalism within Islam are taken from the Qur'an, Hadith, paradigm based reasoning (ijtihad and the struggle to implement Islamic ideals in a modern day context) and Ijima (consensus). The imam emphasized how crucial environmentalism is within the faith of Islam. He gave the example of Somalia in the 1990's. Superpowers in the world attempted to persuade Somalia to allow waste dumping near their coastline in exchange for large amounts of financial compensation. He described the actions of fundamental Islamic figures who fought against this, because it went against Islamic environmental principles. This really got me thinking back to a segment of my Moral Problems course at NDNU when we spent a couple weeks discussing John Stuart Mill's theory of utilitarianism. I understand how crucial it is for some Muslims to be aligned with their fundamental principles in preserving the Earth, but in cases similar to Somalia's, it is really worth it? I'm not speaking specifically about Somalia, and under no circumstances am I for polluting the coastlines of Africa. In a case like Somalia though, there has been no stable government in nearly 2 decades, extreme poverty, high child mortality rates, disease and overall poor living conditions. In a situation where the greater good could be accomplished with large amounts of finance to solve internal problems, wouldn't one think that this would trump Islamic beliefs in being environmentally responsible? As I said, I am completely against oceanic waste dumping, but I would be curious as to whether the violation of certain Islamic principles is ever acceptable in order to truly benefit the greater good in a time of crisis.
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