Bloodless Coup

Our Own Town Goes National

I guess we've made the big time. Prompted by a tacitus post which links to an op-ed in the New York Times I sent an email to the Dominion Post (local newspaper) to see if they had further information. An op-ed is not usually the best source of facts from which to make comments (though that didn't stop Bird Dog over at tacitus from doing just that). The local paper replied that they had covered this story (here) as long as four months ago. The article makes interesting reading (full disclosure: the author of the article is likely a friend and neighbor, unless there are other Jon Gevers in town who are journalists).

The article seems to imply several things different from Ms. Nomani's point of view. While it is clear that there are different points of view regarding the interpretation of Islam at the local mosque, the Ms. Nomani in the op-ed writes that the "moderates" are more numerous,

Even though a majority of the mosque's membership, which is largely made up of West Virginia University students and staff members, is moderate, passivity by it and the board has allowed extremism to take hold.

while the Dominion Post article implies a different ratio,

Since last November, Nomani, accompanied on occasion by other female relatives, has been defying a mosque policy that women must pray in an upstairs balcony room. (highlights added)

that seems at odds with Ms. Nomani's characterization. The article implies that Ms. Nomani has often been a force of one in her attempts to change local mosque policy.

Additionally, at least in the article, Ms. Nomani's suggested changes seem at odds not only with local Islamic custom, but even world-wide custom:

Asra Nomani -- a former The Wall Street Journal reporter who has traveled throughout India, Pakistan and the Middle East and has written for The Dominion Post -- conceded that separate rooms are common in the United States and throughout the Muslim world. But some mosques in the United States (including Pittsburgh) and elsewhere allow women to pray in the same space as men, separated either by a curtain or simply by distance.

Nomani admits that what she requests (which seems reasonable to these ears) is not the norm in this country, or anywhere in the world.

Moreover, Morgantown being a college town that draws it's student population from all over the world, there is an argument to be made (rightly or wrongly) that given the geographic and cultural disparity of the local mosque members, a least-common-denominator approach with respect to customs would draw in more of the local Islamic population:

"When you have people from 40 or 50 countries," he said, "the question really is to find a common denominator. ... Some people will be happy and some will be unhappy, but we (should) have a majority that say this is a reasonable arrangement." [quote from Mohammed Choudhry, a mosque board-of-trustee's member]

Lastly, Ms. Nomani decries the lack of reaction by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR):

Christian and Jewish leaders offered to meet with the takeover leaders to discuss promoting tolerance in Morgantown, a city where people from more than 100 countries coexist peacefully. Their offer stands in contrast to the reactions by the Islamic Society of North America and the Council on American-Islamic Relations to complaints I filed. The society said it was available to mediate but would prefer disputes like this be resolved locally. The council, which recently started a "Hate Hurts America" campaign to counter anti-Muslim rhetoric, initially said it did not want to get involved in an "inter-community" issue, but now says it will investigate.

But is CAIR the right organization to undertake this role? From the Dominion Post article:

CAIR normally focuses on protecting Muslims from discrimination by non-Muslims, not on what might be considered doctrinal disputes among Muslims.

From CAIR's own website, their mission statement:

CAIR is dedicated to presenting an Islamic perspective on issues of importance to the American public. In Offering that perspective, we seek to empower the Muslim community in America through political and social activism.

Nothing in the CAIR on-line documentation argues that CAIR works to solve inter-islamic disputes. CAIR's mission is to introduce and defend Islam in America through explaining Islam to America. One could argue that turning to CAIR for redress of local differences is like turning to a lobbyist to mediate between two members of an interest group - it's not their job. A square peg in a round hole.

(Though it is worth noting, not to let CAIR completely off the hook, that in searching their website, there are no results for either "nomani" or "morgantown". If CAIR is in fact getting involved in this issue, as Ms. Nomani argues, they are being awfully quiet about it.)

This is a difficult subject, or at least not a simple situation. What Ms. Nomani requests seems reasonable to Western norms - neither Judiaism or Christianity has separate rooms or makes any gendered discrimination until you start talking about who is eligible for the priestly function. The op-ed piece by Ms. Nomani argues that the "moderates" are a majority and seek only reasonable and rational actions. The local article calls into question just how large a "majority" Ms. Nomani represents, and asks how "rational" those requests are in the context of her religion and the norms that the rest of the congregation brings to Morgantown, and the appropriatness of the organization she has turned to in order to fix the issue.

I share some of Ms. Nomani's general complaints (I can't speak to specific situation in Morgantown at the mosque). It is clear that fundamentalism is on the rise in many places (as is noted at tacitus in the comments section), and Islam is not immune. Ms. Nomani wishes organization (like CAIR) to involve themselves in defining that which they represent (always a difficult role). She has good intentions, and Islam has failed in a general sense to disavow the acts of fundamentalists like Bin Laden and his followers, but a few hours examination on the web of the issues surrounding this mosque in Morgantown finds that this situation is not a perfect match for the "Islam can't control it's fundamentalists" rants that break out from time to time. While there are stories and examples that fit that mold, this is not one. I suppose I shouldn't pick on Tacitus, but it's generally a good site for discussion and rational debate. Not this time.

As for Ms. Nomani, this story seems to be both more simple and more complex than she makes it out to be. Yes, the mosque has some fundamentalists who push their version of Islam. Yes, the mosque has some members who note the rigidity and lack of progess in Islam (can we call them "reformers" or somesuch?) like Ms. Nomani. Clearly there is conflict in this mosque over these issues. But it seems that both the fundamentalists and the "reformers" are in the minority in this case - and the general congregation is in the middle. It is their voice that we have not heard. And in the end, religion is not open to "fairness" debates: religion is about dogma and faith. The tenets of most religions are provided by "God" (in whatever form), and different interpretations of those tenets lead to different sects. From a political or societal standpoint, one always hopes that the more moderate views prevail - they make living in a civil society much easier - but politics is not supposed to intrude into religion in our society. This is a long path to saying that we can hope Islam rejects the fundamentalist-Wahabist doctrines and adopts a view that reflects the views of Ms. Nomani, but all we can do is hope. It can't be forced.

Ms. Nomani seems to represent just as radical a viewpoint (on the other side of the spectrum) as some of the fundamentalist Islamic positions. While it is a position that resonates more easily to us in the mainstream (read: Judeo-Christian perspective), in the end if Islam is to move in that direction, it must choose to do so itself. It is the unheard voices in this story - the bulk of the Morgantown mosque congregation - that is the truly important actor here. National councils, international conferences, invasions, terrorism - none really matter in the long run. Islam (like Protestantism, but unlike Catholicism) is not a top-down religion, but is bottom up. As local muslims move towards either Ms. Nomani or the fundamentalists, their chapters move that way, and the national and international groups follow. But it is the congregations that choose the path.

What do we draw from all this? I wish Ms. Nomani had choosen to present her position in a more realistic light. She seems to be trying to force reformist change in her mosque far beyond just rectifying the actions of fundamentalists. When she is opposed, she blames her difficulties on the fundamentalists, without recognizing that the extent of her changes may discomfort a good percentage of the entire mosque. Hence, the resistance she faces may not be a facet of the extremism that Bin Laden represents, but instead just plain old normal conservative American "don't mess with it if it isn't broken" status-quoism. If Ms. Nomani is really trying just to right a sinking ship, and return it to the moderate state it was in, in the face of a radicalism that has links to the violence that engulfs the world, then this story is worth of an op-ed in the New York Times and more: headlines, discussion, a national dialog and, least, I would owe her an apology for this post. If instead this is just a story of local religious disagreement between two opposing camps that can both be seen as radical (and an as-yet-unheard middle), this is not a story of national or international importance, and is a story similar to that of hundreds or thousands of churches and mosques and temples over the last hundred years: religion is a touchy subject, and people don't like it when it changes in any direction. When I was a young lad, the minister in our church retired. We had to search for a new one. This was significant trauma for our church. There was not open warfare, or blood in the hallways, but there were some bad feelings and short tempers. When the new minister arrived (with hardly any change in overall attitude, and certainly no shift in religious tone - not a change to fundamentalism), some of the congregation left. They didn't like the changes, minor though they were.

Which version has happened in Morgantown? I don't know, but my suspicious mind notes that Ms. Nomani's voice is the only one heard, and no other members of the mosque have made statements in support (or against) her or the "fundamentalists". There does not seems to be any big stink, hence leading me to think that this is much more local than national. I support Ms. Nomani's position, but I do not think that this is a case of Bin Laden reaching into middle America to foment rebellion and dischord. Fundamentalism, as I noted, is on the rise everywhere, in most major religions. Should be be suprised it is here, in Morgantown? No. Should we be worried? Not until the voice of the congregation is heard. If they choose to move towards fundamentalism, then that is worrying. It is their choice, and it matters more (in both a local and a national sense) than Ms. Nomani's vote. Posted by baltar at May 14, 2004 10:14 AM | TrackBack | Posted to Politics