Muslim-Christian Relations in America

In the wake of the utterly senseless and grievous killing of three young American Muslims in Chapel Hill, NC last week, a new urgency has entered the conversation about Muslim minority communities in the West. The discussion went global, with thousands worldwide posting the hashtag #MuslimLivesMatter and weighing in to various media outlets. Even President Obama made a statement about the shooting and offered his condolences to the families. Some members of the victims’ families, as well as some leaders of the American Muslim community, called on the FBI to investigate the killing as a hate crime, which has now begun.

The Raleigh News & Observer ran a story on Sunday, February 15 about Muslims living in the Triangle area (Raleigh, Chapel Hill, and Durham). The article included interviews with several Muslims of various ages and backgrounds. I was struck by two comments in particular. Ahsan Shaikh, a lawyer who was friends with the family of Deah Barakat, said: “Right now, it’s our turn to be the most hated community in America.” And Adeel Zeb, Muslim chaplain at Duke University, said, “At the end of the day most Muslim Americans…[w]ant to be treated like everybody else.”

These statements raise vital questions: What in fact has been the experience of American Muslims? Are they really hated? And what does it look like for them to be treated like everybody else? The answer to the first two questions is long and complex, like most histories of immigrant communities in the U.S. And the answer to the second is still evolving, in part because American ideals are doing the same, but also because American Muslims (like other immigrant communities) re-envision inclusion as certain milestones are passed. But stepping outside of the American milieu for a moment, what is certain is that the establishment of substantial, permanent, and participatory Muslim minority communities in Christian majority countries constitutes an altogether unprecedented and precious opportunity in Muslim-Christian relations.

I raise this fact to highlight what I think is a key to greater peace and mutual prosperity for both great faith communities, a way to create more goodwill between Muslims and Christians, and a profound exercise in the basic spiritual commands of religion. My proposal is simply that American Muslims in the West can and should apply their experience of struggling for religious and civil rights into advocacy for Christian minorities in Muslim-majority countries.

It may be difficult for Muslims in the West to understand, but many Christians feel that the rights and privileges granted to Muslim citizens in Western countries are not reciprocated to Christian citizens of Muslim-majority countries. In fact, Christian minorities in Muslim-majority countries undergo a wide spectrum of repression and persecution, not to mention being denied basic freedoms that are taken for granted in the West: freedom of conversion; freedom to proselytize; freedom to assemble for worship. These problems are well defined and reported by numerous organizations including the U.S. State Department Office of International Religious Freedom. Not that Muslims in America have not also suffered: arbitrary arrests and detainments; infiltration of mosques by government agents; denial of freedom of expression and worship. And yet the perception of a double-standard exists, and I believe it will continue to breed resentment until American Christians see and hear American Muslims holding up the rights of Christian minorities in Muslim-majority countries. 

How might American Muslims do this? The experience of living, thinking, worshipping, voting, and building families in America has given Muslims valuable space and time in which to formulate religious freedom advocacy. On the theoretical side, prominent American Muslim academicians and thinkers such as Khaled Abou El Fadl, Abdulaziz Sachedina, Mukhtedar Khan, and Feisal Abdul Rauf have articulated a vision of Islam that embraces and endorses religious freedom, albeit from different schools of thought, whether juridical, theological, or political. More practically, building communities and institutions such as MSA, ISNA, CAIR, and other organizations has trained generations in grass roots advocacy. Participating with government officials in law enforcement and international public diplomacy programs has helped American Muslims articulate a vision and identity for their communities that includes civic engagement. The simple fact of the diversity of Muslim communities in America, in terms of nationality, ethnicity, and creed, proves definitely false such ideologies which would build boundaries along those lines. Lastly, as an immigrant community, both relative to other groups in the U.S. and in comparison with countries of origin, the American Muslim community is wealthy. They can fund religious freedom advocacy in Muslim-majority countries where such funding is either non-existent, or, if it came from non-Muslims, would be received with reticence or even suspicion.

American Muslims face many challenges today and tomorrow. I want them to have freedom of worship and expression. I do not want them to be, or feel that they are, “The most hated community in America.” To that end, I believe that one of most immediate and impactful things they can do as a community to generate goodwill with Christians in America is to begin vocally and forcefully advocating for the rights of persecuted Christians and other minorities in Muslim-majority countries. I believe too that this is not simply pragmatic; it is righteous. Did not Muhammad say, “None of you has faith until you love for your neighbor what you love for yourself”? Christians hear in this saying an echo of the words of the Lord Jesus Christ: “Love your neighbor as yourself. That means it is incumbent on Christians too to resist injustice done against Muslims. We have to do this together, for our neighbors both here and abroad.