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New Jersey High School Social Studies Classes Confront Islamophobia
Lacey Township High School is attempting to break cultural boundaries as guest lecturer Engy Abdelkader, a Muslim American, spoke to students about Islamophobia.
Social Studies teachers Julie Ferenc and Joe Humenick hosted Abdelkader in an effort to increase tolerance and reduce bullying, Humenick said. Although previous classes have learned about intolerance and a holocaust survivor is scheduled to speak before the school year ends, Abdelkader is the first person invited to speak on the topic this year, he said.
Abdelkader is a Monmouth County attorney of Egyptian descent. She was born, raised, and educated in the United States. Her goal for the event was to reduce conflicts, misunderstanding, teasing, and bullying, and to build trust and supportive relationships so that a more effective learning environment is created for all students, she said.
Abdelkader opened the discussion by asking students what stereotypes they have heard about Muslims and/or Arab Americans. Students said they have heard members of these groups labeled as terrrorists and identified with working at 7-11. One student msidentified the origin of a Hindu bindi (forehead decoration) as Islamic. Abdelkader added descriptions like uneducated, fanatic, foreign, unwilling to assimilate, anti-American, un-American to the list of common stereotypes.
“Oftentimes I think of myself as an antidote to the stereotypes about Muslim Americans,” she said before briefly describing her personal history, including how she came to wear the hijab, which she called a head scarf throughout both lectures.
The hijab is misinterpreted as a tool of female oppression, Abdelkader said, but she was not coerced into wearing it by either a male relative or anyone else in her immediate ethnic or religious community.
“I believed as an American Muslim that this is what my faith prescribed for me. I felt that it was important for me to maintain a sense of modesty as an American Muslim,” said Abdelkader.
She did this in part as a response to negative perceptions of Muslims that emerged after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington D.C., she said
“I felt at that moment personally that my religion was being hijacked by the terrorists. They did not only damage and wreak havoc on innocent Americans at the World Trade Center, and not only did they instill fear in Americans across the United States, but they also caused great damage to their own religious community,” said Abdelkader.
“It does not mean that I have to stay at home and not be educated. It does not mean that I don’t have a voice. It does not mean that I cannot be friends with other people in my neighborhood, in the community, at school, or at work. I get to choose what it means to be a Muslim,” she said.
After the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, charges of bias, hate crimes, and religious discrimination claims increased 1600 percent and while it has declined, bias persists, said Abdelkader.
For example, last month a male student punched a 12 year old girl in Staten Island, demanded to know if she was a Muslim, and tried to tear off her head scarf. He was arrested and charged with a hate crime, said Abdelkader.
Another example she gave was opposition to a proposed Park 51 Islamic center near the World Trade Center site in New York City.
“One of our cherished freedoms here is freedom of speech and people should be allowed to express whether or not they have concerns about any project that may be undertaken,” said Abdelkader.
However, the response went beyond speech to actual violence against Muslims, she said.
“Advocacy organizations that cater to these affected communities saw a spike in reporting incidents, so we don’t even know how many incidents are occurring that are not reported,” said Abdelkader.
“What we see is this direct correlation because people are coming out and saying really hateful, vehement things about Muslims and what happens is that it’s translated on a very real level and practical level in workplaces, school, on the street,” she said.
She also mentioned the burning of a Koran by a “fringe pastor” in Florida.
Months ago, the fringe pastor planned another event, which was not as widely publicized in America but heard about internationally.
“Unfortunately it does effect our image as a country and people internationally who don’t have the opportunity to interact with Americans on a regular basis start to believe this is what America represents and this man who is really such a fringe element of our society,” said Abelkader.
“Internationally he starts to become a symbol of America. So what we saw in Afganastan, for instance, there was violence against institutions that were perceived to be American, like the embassy or whatnot, which should be condemned. No violence should be supported regardless of the cause, but it’s all cause and effect. It’s like a vicious cycle,” she said.
Muslims believe the Qur’an is the literal word of God, so it should not be handled carelessly, but with respect, she said.
“I think it’s wrong to desecrate or destroy any religious book…And I don’t think that any person who subscribes to any faith and outwardly says, ‘I am Muslim, I am Christian, I am Jewish,’ that it does any service to their respective religion to burn a religious text, said Abelkader.
It is also a form of intimidation, she said. It makes you wonder what is next?
“They’re burning my religious text today, what are they burning tomorrow? Is it going to be my house? Is it going to be my place of worship? Is it going to actually be human beings? Because that has occurred in history… and it’s usually a progression of events that occurs,” said Abelkader.
She compared the misuse use of religious texts by Muslim extremists with the misuse of the Bible by members of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK).
“When I think of Christians, I don’t think of the KKK. I don’t think of cross burning people in white hoods trying to terrorize African Americans and immigrants and other people they think are inferior. I can differentiate between Christianity and extremists who self-identify as Christians who are using religious texts to justify their behavior and know that the two are different,” said Abdelkader.
“I would argue that the same holds true for Islam and Muslims and terrorists extremists. It’s the same thing. The KKK are terrorising individuals. There are hate groups and neo-Nazis throughout the United States and they are growing unfortunately. Many of them commit their crimes in the name of religion or they make racist comments and statements in the name of religion, but it’s important to differentiate between the two,” she said.
Unless people have a Muslim neighbor or coworker, they may identify Islam with terrorism, but the Qur’an condemns killing, she said.
“If you take a life unjustly, it is as if you killed the entire of human kind,” she said. Likewise, “If you save the life of one person, it is as if you saved all of human kind.”
Jihad is an Islamic term that is often associated with holy war by the media, but in Islam there are higher and lower types of jihad, said Abdelkader.
The higher form refers to internal striving against habits like shopping or gossip.
“My jihad, my internal struggle would be to actually overcome that habit of shopping and that’s considered noble,” she said.
“The lesser form of that striving or struggle is actually self defense, to prevent oppression, to prevent injustice. It is in the context of self defense. It is not in the context of flying two planes into the World Trade Center or the Pentagon,” she said.
After the lectures, Patch asked Abdelkader how the bias she described as a response to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks compares to the violence that she said was incited by the Qur’an burning incident in Florida.
“I think there are accountability issues within the Muslim American community. I can say as a member of that community that there are religious leaders, community leaders who are speaking out and have been speaking out for the past ten years about radicalism, about terrorist actions, about violence, how it is antithetical to the religion,” Abdelkader said
Still, she believes there was Islamophobia before September 11, 2001.
“The terrorists attacks exasperated the situation. It almost made people more comfortable to say out loud what they were thinking and feeling about Muslims. I think Islamophobia is real. It’s pervasive,” she said.
Christine A. Scheller
Lacey Patch