Press Release:Leaders, Public Invited to Sept. 29 Mosque Open Doors Event in San Martin
Letters attacking the local Islamic community's aspiration to build a mosque and community center make many dubious arguments, and share an underlying problem: the writers have no personal experience with the South Valley Islamic Community.
In 2005 I joined a group of other Gavilan College faculty in a unique effort: we brought together the SVIC and Congregation Emeth, the area's synagogue, for dialogue centered upon an extraordinary art exhibit called the Piece Process. The exhibit, which originated in Chicago, included artists of Jewish, Muslim, Israeli, Palestinian, U.S., and Arab descent. Our extraordinary dialogue lasted all fall with seven public meetings and many private ones. For some of us, the exploration is ongoing. Since the day I first phoned a member of the SVIC board to ask whether SVIC might be interested, I have been learning about this community. The first thing I learned was that SVIC is eager to reach out. "Yes, we want to work with you'" he said, five seconds into my invitation, despite the serious commitment of time and resources the project demanded. And work together we did. As an historian, I must say that the suspicions and prejudices towards Muslims in our community that have been expressed on the pages of the newspaper evoke a wry and weary sense of deja vu. Letter writers of French, Irish, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Japanese, Chinese, Russian, Hungarian, Mexican, Native American, African, Southeast Asian, or Filipino descent may not realize that identical stereotypes were fixed, just as unfairly, upon their ancestors. Religious prejudice is likewise well-worn in the Americas. The colonial trial and banishment of Anne Hutchinson, however, and the tarring and feathering of peaceable Quakers were remembered with shame and dismay by our nation's founders. That's why the first guarantee in the First Amendment is a guarantee of religious freedom.
As an American, I would hope that this guarantee be enacted beyond grudging tolerance. The United States has no state religion. There is no legal norm from which Muslims, Catholics, Protestants, Jews, Mormons, Buddhists, Sikhs, pagans or other religious devotees deviate. Like people of other religious faiths, Muslims in our midst wish to instruct their children in their faith, have a place where they can worship, and put down roots to become part of the community.
As an American, I welcome religious pluralism. What American would not? And I sympathize with a group that has had to make do so far with meetings in peoples' homes and in a converted barn. I am glad SVIC has chosen San Martin because this gives us all a chance to put into practice the universal religious dictate to welcome the proverbial stranger. But I hope no one stays strangers long. To that end, the SVIC is holding its annual open house on Saturday, Sept. 29 at 5pm at the Lions Club, 12415 Murphy Ave, San Martin. Everyone is invited. Writers of unfriendly letters may be surprised by what they find.
As a member of the broader South Valley community, I am impressed by the wonderful cross section of American Muslims - a veritable stew of people from all walks of life and all occupation groups. There are people from families who have been Muslim since ancient times, there are recent converts, there are Egyptians, Palestinians, Lebanese, Syrians, Indians, Malaysians, Pakistanis, U.S. citizens, Saudis, and others. There are doctors, realtors, teachers, florists, housewives, college students, toddlers, the usual mix. There are Republicans, Libertarians, and Democrats. Talk about diversity!
And lest I be accused of being naive about terrorists lurking in our midst, perhaps I should mention that since 911 members of SVIC have cooperated graciously with federal intelligence agencies when asked to do so. In fact, FBI employees were guest speakers at last week's gathering.
While I am personally critical of the FBI for stepping over clearly established lines that protect civil liberties, I think the SVIC is aiding the really important intelligence work - grassroots, communicative, and relationship-building - that has been neglected for too long.
As a professor I am grateful to SVIC's members, who have visited my U.S. history classes to talk about immigration issues, and my World History classes to discuss Islam with my students. I've learned that SVIC hopes to name its new mosque and community center The Cordoba Center.
Cordoba, Spain was in the 10th century a great center of learning, poetry, philosophy, art, beauty, and trade. It was a diverse and thriving marketplace of religious and political ideas. That is the kind of legacy the local Islamic community wishes to invoke with its center. Like any good neighbor, SVIC hopes to share by inviting other groups to use the Cordoba Center as well.
As a human being I am saddened that such decent, productive, positive people are subjected to attack in this newspaper. Where, I wonder, are the religious leaders, elected officials, and educators whose leadership could - and should - change the tenor of this discussion from "Don't let the terrorists near me" to "What can I do to encourage these human beings to stay and enrich in my community?"
Guest columnist Leah Halper is a Gilroy instructor.
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Dr. M. Bakri Musa is a trim, smiling man of 63 who works as a surgeon in Gilroy and lives on a ranch in Morgan Hill with his wife, Karen. He has his own blog (http://bakrimusa.com) in which he writes thoughtfully about politics and economics in the developing world. Like the majority of Malaysians, he’s a Muslim. He’s also an American who treasures the freedom of the USA. He’s about as far from being a terrorist as I am.
Nonetheless, because of Osama bin Laden, Musa has to answer the stupid question about whether Muslims are prone to violence. As a leader in the South Valley Islamic Community, he’s part of an effort to build the “Cordoba Center,” a mosque and community center in San Martin.
Though it should never come to it - not in the USA, not in San Martin - the South County has just enough flag-waving yahoos to make the proposal controversial on its face. The Gilroy Dispatch ran an online poll that showed that 30percent of respondents believed the mosque should be denied because it’s Muslim.
If you believe some of the letter writers and correspondents, people like Musa (the Muslim version of “Moses”) are about to forcibly convert them or slay them. In this view, a mosque will unleash jihad.
So as Musa and I stood with the president of the Islamic community, Sal Akhter, at the site of their planned mosque - a 16-acre plot bordering Monterey Road just north of California Avenue - I had to ask him my own version of the stupid question. How did he react when he heard these predictions of violence?
“My reaction is that I don’t blame myself as an American when I see what happened at Abu Ghurayb,” Musa said. “We all know Osama is a bad actor. I don’t have to apologize.”
In fact, the plans for the center do present issues. They are the same land use issues that any development faces: Is there enough water? Will the septic system be sufficient? What about roads?
The community’s president, Akhter, a developer himself, says the community has answers to these questions: The land, once a walnut orchard, has electricity, a well and an old leach field. The surrounding plots are generally 5 to 10 acres. And the community may divide the land, which it has in escrow until next year, into three parts. That could let the Muslims sell off two to finance a 5,000-square initial building.
Noting that the matter would have to go to a public hearing, Akhter added: “We’re going to start talking to some neighbors and get some alliances.”
Well and good: The Muslims should be held to the same standards as any other group. Absent proof to the contrary, Osama bin Laden has no part in the conversation.
Yes, I know that you can find verses in the Koran that sound bloodthirsty. And yes, you can find fatwas that are absurd. But much the same can be said of any religion. Christians, after all, ran the Inquisition and crusades.
It’s worth remembering that the Bay Area has a number of peaceful mosques. In Fremont, a leader at the Sunni Islamic Society of the East Bay, dentist Mohammad Rajabally, told me, “We haven’t had any incidents of violence. Not one.”
Finally, there’s this: The South Valley Islamic Community, which has about 75 registered families and now meets in a private barn, has constituted itself as deliberately diverse, an Islamic mirror of America. Although it’s primarily Sunni, it welcomes Shiites. It has an Egyptian, a Moroccan, a Fiji islander, a Pakistani, a Malaysian and an Anglo on its board.
“The more people learn about us, the more they’ll learn about our faith and values,” says Akhter. “We’ve got 6 million Muslims in this country. Are you going to make us all terrorists?”
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Overshadowed by the avalanche of NIMBY letters from trail opponents in Jackson Oaks have been some letters to the editor and a Red Phone caller decrying the proposed place of worship in San Martin for followers of Islam. Though one letter writer questions the propriety of the size and style of the architecture - a bit odd since no specific plans have been shown for the writer to protest - letter writer Bill Currie from Morgan Hill doesn't bother to hide his bigotry when he challenges, "name one place in the known universe that has had its social environment or quality of life improved by the introduction of Islam."
Unlike Mr. Currie, I am extremely fortunate to be able to name a few: Austin, Texas, Los Gatos, Almaden and South County: Gilroy, San Martin and Morgan Hill.
I was not in Texas for very long when I met Jamila and Tahar Boukhris when their daughter Sarah was in my daughter's class and Daisy troop. We were lucky to be counted among their many, many friends as the years passed and we worked together on projects and Brownies. I am convinced they are human angels sent by God to gently teach everyone they meet how to be as the Divine wants us to be.
Their devotion to each other and their children were trumped only by their love and devotion to God. They are devout Muslims who surely "walk the talk." To people of all faiths, with great sense of humor and hospitality that made you feel at home wherever they were, they modeled how to be a supportive and respectful partner in a marriage, how to be a loving parent with guidance and boundaries, how to be a generous neighbor and friend, how to be an engaged American citizen, how to support education and be charitable to strangers, all with a profound love and generosity that is, alas, too rare.
When I consider how I should live my Christian faith, I honestly don't look to other Christians, but to them.
My brother-in-law in Los Gatos and his cousins in Almaden live their faith in Islam much in the same way: through their gentle and generous love and care of their own families, the people who work for them in their businesses, and their broader community. If only American Christians put as much emphasis on tending to and respecting their elders, particularly the women, as well as they do.
Called by their faith to help to create a just and equitable society, they ensure their workers are well-compensated. They also take time from their families and work to share their wealth with those less fortunate and not just in their own neighborhoods.
Our South County communities have benefited regularly from their individual efforts. They work collectively with others as the Almaden Network, a group about which I've written before, has pulled together cash, goods and services to plug gaps in local services for those families and individuals in need served by our local schools in Gilroy and Morgan Hill.
Mr. Currie was referring to countries that are predominantly Muslim when he complained of their presence, but his statement was a hard swipe at Muslims everywhere, especially as he seeks to block those among us from having their own place of worship.
All of these people I know, who are true followers of Islam, have improved their communities - our communities - and enhanced the quality of life many in ways that are measurable, meaningful and notably, peaceful.
Heck, if all Christians were as Muslim as they were, we'd have a wonderful world. Why would we not want more of this in our midst?
A recent report on Muslims in America show most are moderate, like my friends and family. They are embarrassed and horrified at the way their faith has been bastardized in the hate and violence of the flaming lunatics that are Al Qaeda, just as we Christians are (or should be) by the Ku Klux Klan's gross distortion of the Bible that drives their cowardice and putrid hatred.
In this case as in most, Santa Clara County Supervisor Don Gage has done his job well. The Mosque should go through all the regular planning hoops that all such buildings must go through. If it passes muster through those criteria alone, it should be built - and our community can look forward to the contribution to our local quality of life by the love and justice that followers of Islam seek.
Allah Akhbar, y'all.
Columnist Dina Campeau is a wife, mother of two teens and a resident of Morgan Hill.
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Media: Muslims Reaching Out - 8-30-07 (.pdf)
Media: Bin Laden Has No Place in Mosque - 6-14-07 (.pdf)
Media: Embrace the Islamic House - 5-31-07 (.pdf)
Media: Morgan Hill Times - 5-18-07 (.pdf)
Media: The Gilroy Dispatch - 5-8-07 (.pdf)