Group aims to dispel Muslim stereotypes

Howard University Professor Sulayman Nyang is clear about the true tenets of Islam.Militant extremism is not one of them, he said, even though ultra-conservative Republican Rush Limbaugh and his followers have tried hard to scare voters away from Democratic Party Presidential nominee, Barack Hussein Obama, by tying the two together.Limbaugh's reasoning is that Obama was born to a Muslim father, Barack Hussein Obama Sr. It doesn't matter that Obama was not raised by his Kenyan Muslim father. It doesn't matter that Obama identifies himself as a practicing Christian. Islamic law states that if your father is a Muslim, so are you, Limbaugh and Obama's other detractors insist. He is a Muslim and therefore a militant extremist.

But Prof. Nyang, a Muslim from Gambia who has written three books about religion, said that Limbaugh followers are displaying the kind of Islamphobia that has been going on in Europe for nearly 110 years. That hostility toward the religion of Islam is based on misconceptions about the tenets of Islam.

"The Five Pillars of Islam are widely known to scholars and individuals trying to understand what Islam is," Professor Nyang explains. "In order for you to be a Muslim, you must declare, you must testify that there is only one God, and the Prophet Muhammad was His messenger. You can't be a Muslim unless you believe in this invisible God who is the source of everything that you experience in this world."

Prayer five times a day, pilgrimage to Mecca, and zakat, which is likened to a Christian tithe, are three other pillars, he added. "Every Muslim, man or woman, must pay zakat, an obligatory act of charity that you must make," Prof. Nyang said.

Another pillar, Ramadan, the fasting period, began Monday and will last throughout September.

But violence is not a basic tenet of Islam teaching, he insists. A big debate going on now in the Muslim community is how we can dissuade Muslims who are not happy about the state of the world, politically or economically, from engaging in any kind of violent actions. Violence is not welcome, he explains, because those who wish to see peace within the household of Islam and beyond would discourage people from using violence.

"You just cannot inflict pain on another human being simply because they are different from you," he said.

Like Prof. Nynang, four young men in Grand Rapids, Michigan, are trying to get the word out about true Islam to non-Muslims and other Muslims. They aim to do so through Sunnah Publishing, an educational nonprofit they formed four years ago.

"Living in America, we're the ones who suffer" from misconceptions about Islam, said Maaz Qureshi, 27, a Pakistani and Grand Rapids resident since 1997. "It is our religious obligation to clarify what our religion stands for and what it doesn't."

Hamza Kantarevic, like Qureshi, sometimes wears the flowing robe, long beard and skullcap of traditionalist Islam. He knows he looks exotic, and perhaps threatening, in conservative West Michigan.

"They might see us and know we are Muslims and live amongst them," said Kantarevic, 24, a Bosnian who has lived here since 1999. "But do they really know who we are?"

Sunnah Publishing aims to provide answers by "turning back to Islam in its original form," Qureshi said.

Ali Metwalli, a leader at this city's Islamic Mosque and Religious Institute, said the young organizers have a "peaceful mindset" but are more conservative than most Grand Rapids Muslims.

Qureshi accepts the conservative label, but said traditional Islam unequivocally condemns the militant extremism that has "messed up the image of Islam. The idea of committing suicide and (making) a plane crash into a building or strapping a bomb on your chest has nothing to do with Islam," said Qureshi, a data specialist at Pitney Bowes Software Systems.

Though not formally educated in Islam, he and his colleagues say they have studied and consulted with top scholars.

Salaahudeen Ali, a lifelong Grand Rapids resident, and Muhammad Muridi also are publishing partners. They formed the publishing firm with their own funds, selling books and CDs and building a Web site including articles and audio recordings. They also teach Arabic classes.

Though they said top Islamic scholars have consistently condemned terrorism, the publishers believe local Muslims have not been vocal enough about their beliefs. "Nobody else is going to do it," Qureshi said. "You kind of have to put yourself out there.