A Pilot Series on Diversity:

Being Muslim in the post 9/11 world

Rasa - Terrorists and groups like the Islamic State group may have brought the Muslim faith to the front page of American news, but they do not represent it.

News ID: 425879

Date: 18 December 2016 - 17:22

RNA - Terrorists and groups like the Islamic State group may have brought the Muslim faith to the front page of American news, but they do not represent it.

That was the message of Dr. Debra Majeed, speaking to an overflow crowd of Buena Vista University students.

In a society where Islamophobia is on the rise, and anti-Muslim hate crimes are five times more common than they were prior to 2001, Majeed told the students she is an “unapologetic” Muslim, and sought to explain the religion and what its believers are experiencing.

With many Americans treating the faith as synonymous with terrorism — given credence by a president-elect who has called for a ban on all Muslims entering the U.S. — Majeed and other American Muslims are “seeing the importance of getting more visual,” she told the students. “Here we are, here we are.”

It is necessary to counter those who have turned to violence in the name of Islam, who she said are completely misrepresenting the faith. In some places, “Muslim on a Corner” campaigns are going on, in which representatives of the faith simply set up a chair on a corner and invite everyone to speak to them or ask questions.

Majeed said she had taken part in such a program in Wisconsin. As she sat there, a white Christian man came to sit with her, saying he was afraid for her and wanted to make sure she would be safe there. She smiled, clearly picturing this as progress.

BVU psychology faculty member Jessica Mendel had invited Majeed to the campus. Mendel said she had studied under Majeed at Beloit University, and felt her powerful presence would be enlightening for the students in Storm Lake.

Majeed said she appreciated the “calm” atmosphere of BVU, and the fact that it welcomes people of various ethnicities and religious backgrounds.

Muslims are the fastest-growing body of believers in the world, representing nearly 25 percent of the global population, the speaker said. Some in the U.S. are born into the faith, others marry into it or transition in from other religions, as she did, she noted.

The term “convert” is not used in Arabic — African-Americans in particular often speak of a “rebirth.”

Majeed is a former fervent, conservative Christian, and in fact had been a Christian minister. She said she had led everyone in her own family into the Christian faith.

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