Library program provides context for understanding Islam

LACONIA — Robert Azzi says his purpose in bringing his program “Ask a Muslim Anything” to libraries and other public venues is to provide the proper context for an understanding of Islam.

Since the terrorist attacks of 9/11, many Americans have grown suspicious of the Muslim population in the United States and a religion they don’t understand. Some groups have exploited that concern by citing specious sources and relying on translations of the Qur’an that deviate from the original text to portray it as a religion of hate and stoke fears about an American jihad.

Azzi brought his program to the Laconia Public Library on March 21, just days after the mosque attack in Christchurch, New Zealand, that killed 50 Muslim worshippers. As at the other sites where he has spoken, Azzi found the majority of those attending Laconia’s session were interested in learning more and engaging in the conversation, even if they did not agree with the theology. Some, however, expressed just the kind of biases he has been trying to eliminate.

One attendee quoted the Clarion Project, one of many sources claiming Muslims are engaged in a stealth conspiracy to bring America under Islamic law. Azzi dismissed that as Islamophobic misinformation.

Much of the hysteria arises from a so-called master plan by the Muslim Brotherhood to establish Muslim dominance in the United States. The document, dated May 1991, “is real,” according to journalist Arnold R. Isaacs, “but there is no evidence that it represents the view of anyone other than the single Brotherhood member who wrote it. For that matter, no one has found any indication that anyone other than the author even saw the text, written in Arabic, until 13 years after it was completed, when it was coincidentally unearthed in a storage box during an FBI search of a home in Annandale, Virginia.”

When speakers at the Laconia Public Library characterized the Muslim Brotherhood as extremists, Azzi did not directly address the charge but later, in an email exchange, he elaborated on his views: “While certainly some members of the MB are extremists (especially in some parts of the Middle East — witness the first elected government in post-Mubarak Egypt) — I don’t believe, especially as the questioner was suggesting, that they are some sort of threat in the United States. I don’t know anyone who is a MB adherent and I don’t believe that the overwhelming number of Muslims in this country would embrace any sort of radical or supremacist agenda for Muslims in this country … and that may have been the point I was making — dismissive — it is not an issue in this country in spite of Islamophobes trying to define the American Muslim community as monolithic (and anti-American) when in part it is as widely diverse as any other faith community in this country and is overwhelmingly supportive of this country and its institutions and values.”

Muslims have resided in the United States since its earliest days, and they have embraced American values, he said. “They are as much of the American fabric as anyone else,” he told his audience.

Background

Azzi said he was raised by Christian parents — one Protestant, the other Catholic — and had been both baptized and confirmed before taking an overseas job where he became friends with a Muslim family. It was years before they discussed their religion, but Azzi said he had been impressed with the way they lived their lives and he became curious about Islam. He eventually converted.

Azzi does not see it as a religion of violence, but one of beauty.

When asked about some of the oppressive laws that arose from the religion, he likened it to some of the passages in the Bible.

“Look at Deuteronomy,” he said, referring to God's punishment of those who failed to follow the law.

Azzi said it is important to bear in mind the historical context of some passages, and the ways politics have played a role.

There are many versions and translations of the Qur’an, he noted, some of them with embellishments intended to give the rulers more power.

“As in many faith traditions, there are multiple translations, ranging from the most literal to the most liberal,” Azzi said. “I prefer the thoughtful sort of center-left translation by Muhammad Asad, for example, to one that was published for years by the Saudi Government — Hilali-Kahn, that was used by Salafists and Jihadists on one side and by Islamophobes on the other. That Hilali-Khan is hateful, supremacist, anti-Semitic, anti-Christian, misogynistic, and militaristic in a way that is not supported by the Qur-an. Indeed, in places, H-K inserts its own words and opinions directly into the religious text.”

His declaration that Islam is not anti-Semitic was met with skepticism and shouts by some attending the Laconia event, prompting Librarian Randy Brough to step in to restore order.

Azzi said the killing of 600-900 Jewish members of the Banu Qurayza tribe, often cited as evidence of Muhammad’s hatred of the Jews, was due to that tribe’s violation of a pact with the Muslims which left them vulnerable. The tribe was charged with treason and, when they surrendered, their men were beheaded.

Today

Carol Pierce of Laconia noted that some Muslims have left the city because they were bullied about their attire.

Azzi said some traditions that continue today, such as women’s wearing of hijabs, or head scarves, originated as a way of honoring Allah, and said those who wish to adopt that dress should be free to do so. At the same time, he denounced those who force women to cover their heads.

The Charlie Hedbo shootings in France, in which cartoonists were killed for depictions of the prophet, are likewise reprehensible, Azzi said, adding that the original prohibition on portrayals of Muhammad were intended to avoid idol-worship. That prohibition is no longer exists for most Muslims, he told the audience.

He also addressed the recent controversy over comments by U.S. Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, calling them “unfortunate.”

Omar had been speaking about the influence of lobbyists in Congress, and called out AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, for its influence-peddling in Washington, D.C. Her remarks were seen as anti-Semitic, but she elaborated by saying her objections apply equally to the NRA and the fossil fuel industry.

Azzi said he will be watching her to see that she does not stray into anti-Semitisim but noted that she is young, an American of Somali origin who, as a refugee, came to the United States in 1995, becoming an American citizen in 2000.

On his blog, TheOtherAzzi.com, he said, “Omar needed to be confronted — and was.”

Azzi affirmed that Jews, Christians, and Muslims worship the same God, and said he is not alone in that opinion.

"Try too, to give some thought to the opinions of those — Muslim and non-Muslim — who know the issues and the Muslim world well — journalists, historians, academics and even theologians — from Francis of Assisi to Billy Graham to Pope Francis and Jim Wallis to Presiding

Bishop Michael Curry — that are more ecumenical and less hateful.

“There are many problems, with terrorism, intolerance, and racism, but fearing a takeover of the U.S. by Muslims is not one of them,” he concluded.