Aug 14

A Ramadan Adventure: 30 US Mosques in 30 Days

By Missy Gluckmann International Education Tools, International Education Week, Middle East, Muslims, Uncategorized 1 Comment »

I am so excited to blog today, as this is one of the most fun and informative adventures I have read about in some time!  Two young men, Aman Ali and Bassam Tariq, are on a Ramadan road trip. Their goal is to visit 30 mosques in 30 US states in 30 days, crisscrossing the US to break fast with a new mosque each day and to blog about the experience.

These two young men visited 30 mosques in the New York City area in 2009 and started a blog at the request of friends and family.  They were stunned to learn that people all over the world were following their journey and learning about the diversity within the Muslim community and foods that are eaten to break fast.  Check out this interview about their 2009 New York experience was covered by the Brian Lehrer radio show in NYC.

What I particularly love about Aman and Bassam’s journey is that they are Muslim, but they write about their mosque experiences as anyone visiting for the first time would.  And they’re FUNNY guys – blunt, honest and playful in their writing.  They started in NYC and decided to visit the controversial Park 51 (the Cordoba House) for evening prayer.  Their observations are definitely not what the mainstream media is covering, and it is downright refreshing:

“I’m standing in prayer expecting to feel something considering I’m inside the Ground Zero mosque. I don’t know what I’m supposed to feel, but for some reason I’m confused why I’m not feeling some mythical sensation.

Then I realized, it’s just a mosque, just like any other place of worship in the country. So the only thing I was feeling was an earache from all the screeching on the microphone from the sound system — just like every mosque in America. :)“

(Note: Park 51 has not been built into a cultural center yet. The site is NOT at Ground Zero, but 12 blocks away in the old Burlington Coat Factory building. I clarify this because calling it the “Ground Zero mosque” supports the misinformation that has floated around about the plans for an Islamic cultural center.  It is NOT on the Ground Zero site!)

and

“After the prayer, I walked outside and said goodbye to the security guard. His name was Rohan and he spends his days working security outside the building on a regular basis. I asked him if there’s been any kind of problems outside the building, considering all the protests. He said there hasn’t been any incidents at all, except for a random homeless guy that walks by asking people for marijuana. He joked, ‘Yeah but it’s New York City, if I didn’t see a homeless guy walking by asking for weed, I’d be surprised.’ “

and perhaps most humorous:

“An announcement is made that the toilets are broken and people should go across the street. You can’t have a community prayer without the standard hilarious housekeeping announcements…”

The 30 mosques web site has some great photos of their travels and the inside of mosques they’re visiting – as well as the people they’re meeting along the journey.

Al Jazeera news interviews congregants at a NYC mosque

A handful of people attend evening prayers at Park 51 (the Cordoba House site, NYC)

Aman Ali (right) speaks with a local Muslim in Augusta, Maine (USA)

This site is particularly important, as there is so much emotion and anger around the building of mosques and Islamic cultural centers in the US. For those raising ‘objections’  (code word for FEAR in my humble opinion) about Park 51 (the Cordoba House), I immediately ask the following questions:

1) have you ever been to a mosque?

2) spoken with a Muslim person about their faith?

3) read or heard anything about their faith that didn’t come from a mainstream news outlet?

The answers are usually no, no and no – and “I don’t need to – I ‘tolerate’ them.”  (Of course, the easiest way to manifest tension is to create an enemy using the “us/them” paradigm). Forgive me world, but I have high expectations.  I don’t want societies to simply ‘tolerate’ others. Tolerating isn’t enough in this fragile world we live in. I want us all to attempt to respect others whenever possible.  Lofty idea? Perhaps.

This usually means that we have to ask hard questions and put ourselves in others’ shoes to truly communicate effectively and to have an understanding of the lens that one sees the world through. It also means that we need to be willing and open participants in conversation and we must often tune out the media.

I recently had a conversation with some folks via Facebook about the Islamic Cultural Center that will be built 12 blocks from the World Trade Center site.  It went like this:

Person A:  I have decided that I’m ok with this center.  But the Muslim community has to come out and be more clear that they are moderate in their religion.

Person B:  They (Muslims) have no respect wanting to build so close to Ground Zero -  3000 people died and they shouldn’t build a site near that center. That is disrespectful.

Me:  Regarding the media – I have seen many interviews where Muslims speak about their religion being hijacked by terrorists.  I also think that many Muslims died in the 9/11 attacks, so I’m not understanding why they are somehow not allowed to be mourned in the same way. I also don’t understand what you mean by “too close” to the Trade Center.  What is “far enough” – the east side?  uptown?  midtown? Queens (across the East River)?

In the end, we all agree to disagree on the subject.  I don’t disrespect these people – I welcome the dialogue as it inspires me to write on this blog and share my opinions and findings.

I hope that Melibee readers will check out 30 Mosques 30 States.   Content is more quickly uploaded to their Facebook page – so feel free to check that out too!


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Nov 05

“Crossing Borders” – A Must See Documentary

By Missy Gluckmann International Education Tools, International Education Week No Comments »

This posting must begin with the recognition that the Yankees were playing last night (and ultimately won) the World Series last night.  Now keep in mind, that I do realize that it is incredibly ethnocentric for the US to call the North American baseball series a “World Event”.  However, I was born and raised in NY and have not missed a World Series Yankee game in my life.  So last night, while at the NAFSA conference, I debated whether to slip away from the TV to watch a 72 minute documentary about 4 Moroccan and 4 American students who spend a week traveling together.  Boy am I glad that I did.

The film “Crossing Borders” by Arnd Wachter is POWERFUL.  I cried and I laughed.  It moved me to my core and reminded me why I usually cannot believe that someone pays me to create opportunities for dialogue across cultures, for better understanding across people and nations, and for the joy of watching students see the world through different lenses.  As my friend and colleague James Leck, from Boston University, often says, ”international educators are the quiet revolutionaries.”  This film reminds me that there is nothing more true or important than the work that we do.

“Crossing Borders” is a documentary that follows 4 Moroccan and 4 American University students as they travel together in Morocco and in the process of discovering “The Other”, they discover themselves.   This film is the brainchild of Director Arnd Wachter, who was raised in East Germany.  It was his response to the events of 9/11 and the Iraq war – when we all asked ourselves the impossible question – how can I deal with living in a world with such violence and hatred? What can I do to change this?  How can I make sure that I am not sitting by silently?

One of the challenges of being in international education is you often don’t get to experience, first hand, those “a-ha” moments that the students experience when they are in their host country.  We know that they are happening, constantly, but we usually hear about them when they return, or if we’re lucky, via an email or skype conversation.  What is remarkable about this film is that we witness 8 young people from 2 markedly different cultures experience those “a-ha” moments about each other as if we are sitting side by side with them.  They bravely address 9/11, the media, stereotypes, dignity and respect, wealth and poverty, religion, their commonalities, ignorance, loneliness, family and so much more in such an incredibly honest and  humorous way. Wachter does a magnificent job of representing the Moroccan culture.  The transitions he uses between scenes, editing of 70 hours to a mere 72 minutes while effectively getting the message to the viewer, along with the quotes that he strategically places throughout the  film, are nothing short of masterful.

That Wachter is anxious to bring the film to campuses around the world is particularly exciting.  This film will be a very effective tool to create dialogue about religions and how they can better understand each other and create opportunities to dispell myths and work together.   Wachter will provide materials about intercultural tension prior to each campus screening, will present the film and answer questions and will assist in the facilitation of dialogue about religion and culture.  I cannot think of a more appropriate time in our history to advocate for this film to be seen.

After the screening, while wiping away tears, I thanked Wachter for his deeply meaningful, witty and educational film.  I did not regret missing the final game of the World Series – as I watched something much more genious than Matsui’s 6 RBIs!  Needless to say, I committed to spreading the word about this film. My hope is that you will do your part in helping to educate others about the opportunity to experience how these youth, with nothing but 7 days to spend together, were able to break down the supposed “clash of civilizations” between Islam and the West.

Please enjoy the trailer of the film and I look forward to your comments:

http://crossingbordersfilm.org/

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