January/February 1995 | Contents

Resource
Covering the World of the Muslims

Worn stereotypes, inaccurate references, less than informed sources -- the media have had their problems covering Muslims, especially militants. Yet the stories, foreign and domestic, will not fade. The world has more than a billion Muslims and their religion, Islam, has undergone massive upheaval. In parts of the Middle East, Africa, and Asia, political Islam has become a major force, if not a revolution waiting in the wings. In the U.S., due to steady immigration from the Muslim world and the popularity of Islam among African-Americans, Muslims have stirred America's religious mix. And with the bombing of a New York skyscraper in 1993, Americans were more closely introduced to Islamic extremism's grim reality. In the interest of better coverage, here are some issues that the news media will continue to face, along with some sources for covering them.

MILITANT ISLAM

One view is that militant Islam as seen in such places as Iran and Algeria is a well-organized threat to the West as well as a backward sp for Muslims. The only way to deal with militant Islam, this thinking goes, is to contain it or suppress it. Two experts who generally hold this view: Daniel Pipes, historian, Middle East specialist, expert on Syria and Islam, of the Middle East Forum (215-569-9225, ext. 15), and Martin Kramer, expert on Islam and Middle East politics, associate director of the Moshe Dayan Center at Tel Aviv University, for the 1994-95 academic year at Georgetown University, Government Department (202-687-6094).

Another view is that militant Islam is far more complex than it seems, that, for example, the goals of fundamentalists vary across the Muslim world. Similarly, some argue that the West can gain more by dealing with militant Islamic groups than by isolating them. Experts with such views include: John Esposito, Director of the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, Georgetown University, (202-687-8375); John Voll, professor of history, expert on Islamic trends, Egypt, and the Sudan, University of New Hampshire (603-862-1764); and Graham Fuller, Rand Corporation, Washington, D.C., a former U.S. Foreign Service officer and policy analyst for the CIA, and a specialist on Islam, the Middle East, and Central Asia (202-296-5000, ext. 5301).

For expertise on the Middle East and Islam, try the Middle East Studies Association, University of Arizona (602-621-5850, or via the Internet, mesa at ccit.arizona.edu).

UNDERSTANDING ISLAM; ISLAM AND HUMAN RIGHTS; ISLAM AND WOMEN

Islamic nations are often portrayed in news reports as uniformly intolerant and anti-democratic. Another view is that freedom in the Muslim world varies widely from place to place. Some contacts are: Azizah al-Hibri, an expert on Islam and women, professor of law at the University of Richmond Law School (804-289-8466); John E. Woods, professor of history, Middle East Center, University of Chicago (312-702-8343).

MUSLIM IMMIGRANTS IN NORTH AMERICA

After the World Trade Center bombing, some experts on terrorism quickly suggested that Muslim immigrants are carrying their religious disputes to the U.S. Another view is that most Muslim immigrants, including militants, tend to shed their political beliefs as they adjust to life in North America. A well-informed scholar on Muslim immignts is Yvonne Haddad, professor of Islamic history at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. She edited Muslims of America, 1991, Oxford University Press, and Muslim Communities in North America, 1994, State University of New York Press (413 545-4256). Two major Muslim groups in North America are the Islamic Society of North America, Plainfield, Indiana (317-839-815) and the Islamic Circle of North America, Jamaica, New York (718 -658-1199). The Council on American-Islamic Relations, Washington, D.C., focuses on the image of Muslims in the news media (202-638-6340).

ISLAM AMONG AFRICAN-AMERICANS

More people are familiar with Louis Farrakhan and his Nation of Islam than the seventeen different Muslim groups within the African-American communities, most of which, according to experts, are far larger. (Most traditional Muslims, meanwhile, do not accept the Nation of Islam as a branch of Islam.) African-Americans account for nearly half of the Muslims in the U.S.

An expert on Islam in America is Aminah McCloud, professor of Islamic Studies at DePaul University, Chicago. She is the author of African-American Islam, 1994, Routledge (312-362-8744). Imam W. Deen Mohammed, son of the late Elijah Mohammed, leads one African-American Islamic community that aligns itself with traditional Islam (708-862-5228). Imam Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, formerly known as H. Rap Brown, leads another community based in Atlanta (404-758-7016).

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