COMMENTARY: Campus Effort Teaches the West and Islam to Hope, Not Hate

c. 2004 Religion News Service (Professor Akbar S. Ahmed, Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies at American University in Washington, D.C., is author of “Islam Under Siege: Living Dangerously in a Post-Honor World,” Polity Press (2003). (UNDATED) More than 1,000 American soldiers and countless Iraqis have died in Iraq. Growing alienation between the United States […]

c. 2004 Religion News Service

(Professor Akbar S. Ahmed, Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies at American University in Washington, D.C., is author of “Islam Under Siege: Living Dangerously in a Post-Honor World,” Polity Press (2003).

(UNDATED) More than 1,000 American soldiers and countless Iraqis have died in Iraq. Growing alienation between the United States and Islamic countries has become an election-year issue, referred to in the presidential debates. In parts of the Muslim world, the face of Lynndie England, the 21-year-old reservist who abused prisoners at Abu Ghraib prison, has become the face of America.


It doesn’t have to be this way.

Seth Green of Yale University _ earlier he was at Princeton and the London School of Economics _ has been deeply concerned about relations between the United States and the Muslim world.

The state of U.S.-Islamic relations today is “dangerously tense,” Green believes. “In America, Islam is increasingly defined by terrorism, while in the Muslim world the U.S. is increasingly defined by Abu Ghraib. But these images do not represent the character of our people.”

Green says that on both sides there is a vast population committed to peace and mutual understanding _ a middle ground increasingly silenced by a media looking for oppositional messages.

As a response, Green helped set up Americans for Informed Democracy (AID). George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin inspire the creators of AID.

One of the major planks of this organization is a series of town hall meetings, lectures and seminars under the title “Hope not Hate” (http://www.hopenothate.org).

The “Hope not Hate” series was launched in September 2004 on the three-year anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. It was a call to action out of the ashes of tragedy. As the recently released report by the Sept. 11 commission stresses, the United States must “act aggressively to define itself in the Islamic world” and to share America’s “vision of opportunity and hope.”

“Hope not Hate seeks to give moderates on both sides an opportunity to speak out and reaffirm the immense common ground that unites us. It is a chance for Americans to demonstrate respect toward Islam, and an opportunity for Muslims to express their concern for America and its security,” says Green.


“Today, we find ourselves at a historic crossroads: Either the U.S. and the Muslim world continue to live with mutual suspicion or we seize this opportunity to build a relationship based on mutual respect and understanding.”

Hope not Hate encourages students to carry out this task with the hope of inspiring a new generation based on understanding and mutual respect. The students seek to build bridges of understanding between non-Muslims and Muslims on campuses in the United States, and then extend this bridge of understanding from U.S. universities to universities in the Muslim world.

The town hall meetings are picking up momentum all over the United States and _ equally important _ Muslims from the Muslim world are joining in. There is an atmosphere of give and take in the discussions. People have come to the point where they want to explore alternative ways of reaching out to each other and move away from the impasse that seems to have developed.

Most important, the young generation _ both American and Muslim _ is involved in these discussions. Usually they organize and drive the town hall meetings; and always leading, guiding and encouraging is Seth Green.

Green asked Ambassador Karl Inderfurth, who served as assistant secretary of state for South Asian affairs in the last administration, and me to co-chair the Hope not Hate series. As both of us believe in dialogue and are committed to building bridges, we readily agreed.

“Today,” said Inderfurth, “support for the United States has plummeted, especially in the Muslim world. Through the Hope not Hate series of town hall meetings and dialogues, we have an opportunity to engage, as the Sept. 11 commission recommends, in `the struggle of ideas’ and perhaps, over time, recapture that sense of oneness and of common purpose that defined the immediate aftermath of the terrorist attacks on America.”


Inderfurth underlines the need “to build bridges not only to Muslims abroad but Muslims at home.”

If with her obvious pleasure in inflicting sadistic pain on Abu Ghraib prisoners Lynndie England has come to symbolize hate in U.S. relations with Muslims, then, with their charm, intelligence, warmth and indefatigable efforts to reach out, Green and Inderfurth symbolize hope.

MO/PH END RNS

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