Islam in Athens

By Josh White

The Al Huda Islamic Center sits on South Milledge Avenue, tucked between a car wash and a shopping center. The single-story building is a mosque, the house of worship for Muslims, and it’s the only one in Athens. This is the place for local Muslims to attend prayer services with their fellow worshippers, people who work, pray and live in the famed college town.

A group of Muslim international students at the University of Georgia began Al Huda in 1987 after befriending sympathetic area supporters. The building has since gradually expanded, as has the congregation - the center estimates three times more worshippers attend services than when the mosque began. The Muslim community also has become more diverse, comprising men and women from over two dozen countries and different social classes, income levels and occupations. These differences haven’t divided the Muslim community. Their shared faith brings many worshippers together at Al Huda, said Hasan Ahmed, president of the Muslim Students Association (MSA) at UGA and a longtime practicing Muslim in Athens. Immigrants and Americans worship at the center. University students drop by. Lifelong Muslims and the converted faithful pray together. They say Athens is a great place to practice Islam.

A Good Ambiance

“It’s an excellent environment. A welcoming environment,” said Yassim Mohamed, a worshipper at Al Huda and a UGA agricultural economics doctoral student. In his experience, the locals, including law enforcement and members of the Athens-Clarke County government, have shown support to the Muslim community. Mohamed knows fellow Muslims who say they enjoy practicing in Athens more than in their own countries because of the town’s greater religious freedom.

Ahmed attributes the tolerant environment in Athens to its college town status and to its diverse population. The presence of UGA helps ensure a decently-educated populace with knowledge of Islam. People in town accommodate other faith groups and seem aware of the multiplicity of world religions, Ahmed said.

“I think it’s an excellent place,” Dr. Kenneth Honerkamp, an associate professor of religion at UGA, said. He’s observed much student interest in Islamic and Arabic classes taught at the University, an institution which offers students a safe environment for asking questions about Islam and a chance to get beyond mass media depictions. The ambiance of the University spreads to the rest of Athens, Honerkamp said.

The positive student response to “Fast-a-thon,” an outreach event the MSA held in the fall of 2008, pleased Ahmed. The idea of Fast-a-thon began in 2001 at the University of Tennessee as a venue for its MSA to address questions and concerns about Islam in the wake of the September 11 attacks. In 2008, the MSA at UGA invited friends and classmates from the University to a dinner during Ramadan, a holy month for Muslims involving daily fasts, and explained to the large turnout who they were and what Islam meant to them. Ahmed was surprised and delighted when many of the attendees of Fast-a-thon, including young people going into the military, approached him after the event to offer compliments.

Al Huda prayer attendee Sajid Ahmed, a Winder-Barrow High School teacher and native of India who has lived in Athens for two years, grew up in a multi-faith environment among Muslims, Hindu and Christian friends. He has found an accepting and multifaceted environment in his new home.

“It’s so friendly,” Sajid Ahmed said. “Very welcoming, I would say.”

As an educator, Sajid Ahmed has noticed that American students don’t know much about Islam. He’s also seen the curiosity many Georgians have in the religion.

“People really want to know,” said Ahmed, who enjoys living among inquisitive people willing to learn more about Islam directly from Muslims. When colleagues at his school ask where to go for more information, Ahmed directs them to the Islamic Center. Al Huda is a welcoming environment for such questioners, he said; over the years Ahmed has seen many visitors at the mosque improving their knowledge of Islam.

Religious leaders in Athens also engage in interfaith dialogues; Honerkamp has worked with local religious men, including members from Al Huda, for these outreach efforts. For example: representatives of the Muslim, Jewish and Christian communities have teamed with Habitat for Humanity on certain weekends to build houses, converse with each other and eat lunch for the last few years in an effort they call The Abraham Project.

Al Huda also recently hosted an interfaith discussion between Muslims and local Jewish and Christian leaders, said Muhammad Badaway, an independent biology researcher in Athens and one of the original members of Al Huda. Badaway said he is pleased with how the mosque and its community have grown over the years, but feels that members of the mosque still need to educate others on who they are and what they stand for – and that the mosque preaches a message of compassion, not hate.

Education

People of different backgrounds and viewpoints, including Jews, Christians and Muslims, should educate one another to move beyond intercultural ignorance, Honerkamp said. It’s easy for people to distance themselves from different groups, and therefore easy to treat these groups unfavorably, even violently. “Lack of understanding usually leads to a dehumanization,” he said.

People generally misperceive that Muslims are terrorists, and that they’re not good Americans, Honerkamp said. People reading or watching the news see wars and well-financed marginal groups who don’t represent the majority of Muslims – after all, news stories often focus on death and suffering, he said.

Terrorism is the most common topic about which people question Sajid Ahmed, along with Muslim prayer practices, polygamy, and the concept of “Jihad,” which he said does not mean the taking of innocent life. He points to a verse in the Quran that states a Muslim will never see Heaven if he or she kills an innocent person and that a believer saves all of humanity by saving the life of one person. It has occurred to Ahmed that Americans tend to go along with media hype, including the association of Islam with terrorism. Ahmed suggests curious people conduct research from actual Islamic texts. If people don’t read about the religion, he said, they won’t get it. “What I say mostly is read, read.”

The role of women in Islam also emerges when discussing preconceptions with Muslims. Visitors to Al Huda can see that men and women separate themselves during worship ceremonies. The separation, however, does not imply inferiority, but modesty, Hasan Ahmed said-- women, who are considered spiritually equal with men, have equal access to the imam to answer any questions or concerns.

Nadine Aarag and Sena Arpinar also consider Athens a good place to practice Islam because of the diverse population.

“When you go out you don’t feel you are different,” Aarag said.

Many ideas regarding Islamic women float about in the public, Arpinar said. But in Islam, and in Islamic marriage, women play big roles.

Married Islamic couples act like other married couples in the U.S., said Aarag, who adds that women have the right to work and to improve their education like other women. Islam does teach that a husband should take care of his wife. That doesn’t mean a wife has no rights, or that she cannot work and provide for her family, Aarag said.

Hasan Ahmed wants the MSA to discuss positive Islamic teachings the media often don’t cover - ideas like women’s rights in Islam, the compatibility between Islam and democracy, and wars in the Middle East. These issues, Ahmed said, really are complex topics one cannot generalize over or simplify.

An important point that Muhammad al-Sharif, the newly-hired imam for Al Huda, said he wants to explain to the public is that Muslims are very loyal to their country and to their neighbors just like other Americans. They just happen to practice Islam. “They have loyalty like anyone else.”

September 11

The Muslim community in Athens has, in the past, encountered fear and distrust. The Sept. 11 attacks caused a change in some local peoples’ attitudes, said Hasan Ahmed. Positive messages about Islam in the American press became rarities. Ahmed also noticed a strained relationship between Muslims and local law enforcement. The mosque has, over the years, gotten law enforcement agencies to talk to the Muslim community in order to strengthen ties between the groups.

“And basically our message was: ‘We’re living in this community,” Ahmed said. “We’re living in this city. We’re a part of this city, you know? We want to help you guys establish the rule of law here, you know? We want to work hand in hand with you. If there’s something wrong going on, we want to help you, because it affects us too.’” Even now, Ahmed sometimes feels uncomfortable about speaking too vocally on Muslim issues for fear of attracting negative attention.

Imam Muhammad, originally from Egypt, has served in Muslim communities in Michigan and Connecticut. He has encountered supportive law enforcement agencies and local governments in those places, an experience he’s relived during his few months in Athens.

“The local government itself is so supportive,” Imam Muhammad said.

Ahmed said he doesn’t want to generalize about area citizens. He witnessed an open house at Al Huda a few years back, for which hundreds of diverse local residents attended.

“That kind of amazed me: that people were willing to take that step and go out and learn about other people,” he said.

Ahmed was impressed that they explored without fear or prejudice. “We’re hoping to put up another event like that, because it’s just so amazing,” Ahmed said. “We take people inside the four walls of the mosque, and we show them, like, this is where we do the ablution, this is the prayer hall. Just look around…nothing crazy is going on here.” People should consider the mosque as open to the public, Ahmed said. It’s not just some private place for Muslims.

A Change in Tone

Some local Muslims criticize the Bush administration’s stance on Islam, as well as the culture of fear President George W. Bush’s words and actions have perpetuated against Muslims. One can draw a line beginning with Bush’s tenure, Muhammad Badaway said, before which Muslims perceived less discrimination.

“It was really a turning point,” Badaway said, who feels Bush wanted the American people to hate Muslims.

The Bush administration propagated war rhetoric that seemed to indict Muslims in general as enemies of the U.S., Hasan Ahmed said; Bush did not distinguish between Muslim extremist terrorists and the Muslim community worldwide. Anti-Muslim sentiments also presented themselves during the 2008 presidential election, during which political opponents tried to smear then-Senator Barack Obama by alluding to false Muslim ties, thus exploiting American fears of Muslim culture.

“And you know people were painting [Obama] as a Muslim as if that’s some kind of curse, as if that’s the worst thing you can call someone,” Ahmed said. The campaigns to discredit Obama through his alleged Islamic connections spread the message that people shouldn’t vote for a Muslim, since Muslims are bad, radical people, Ahmed said.

Unlike Bush, newly-elected President Obama speaks to Muslims in general, differentiating between the mainstream and the extremists. Obama doesn’t ignore the extremists, but he’s showing that differences exist between terrorist groups and most Muslims.

“I’ll tell you, this whole Muslim community is optimistic about this new administration,” Ahmed said, indicating with his head the empty prayer hall of Al Huda.

“I think the tone is going to be totally different with Obama,” Imam Muhammad said.

Inside Al Huda

The men gather on the carpeted floor before an evening service, sharing food and tea in the Al Huda prayer hall. These are the people, Imam Muhammad said, who support their fellow Muslims in Athens. They care for sick members. They do little things like help one another move. They all have food at home, and could just eat there, but they want to spend time with each other and build supportive relationships.

“This is the best thing in the Muslim community in Athens,” he said.

To Yassim Mohamed, the Muslim community in Athens is a beautiful example of how people from different backgrounds, regions and countries can enjoy social lives together. The mosque presents a situation in which people of disparate backgrounds and cultures support each other, acting as brothers and sisters, he said.

“It’s a harmony that can be an example for the larger world,” Mohamed said.

A row of men stand as Imam Muhammad leads the evening prayer. Fidgety kids giggle behind them. A worshipper excuses himself to take a phone call. At the end of a prayer the worshippers turn to each other to say salaam alaykom (“peace be upon you”). Imam Muhammad concludes the evening with a cordial valediction: “Thank you so much for your time and for listening.”

Imam Muhammad discusses afterwards the message he wanted to convey: Muhammad, the prophet of Allah – the Muslim name for the singular deity worshipped in Judaism, Christianity and Islam - said no one can become a true Muslim unless he loves his fellow man, even his enemies, as much as he loves himself.

“If I don’t have this kind of belief in my heart, I cannot be a true believer in the Muslim community,” Imam Muhammad said.

During the Jumu’ah, the Muslim Friday prayer service, a large crowd drifts into the worship room to hear Imam Muhammad. Worshippers tolerate restive children’s rambunctious behavior as they listen and pray. People leisurely filter in over 40 minutes. One tardy man barely has room to kneel. After the service, the imam concludes with a message for worshippers to make their local community a better place.

Though Muslims in Al Huda have helped organize outreach efforts to local Christian and Jewish communities, their lack of civic involvement in Athens has disappointed Yassim Mohamed, who is persuading them to become more active. Professors, medical doctors, engineers and people experienced in management and public administration attend the mosque. Mohamed doesn’t know how many of them participate in elections or attend commission meetings, things he considers important since they affect everyone in town.

Muslims have in the past treated Athens as a transitional place. Now many are settling here, establishing businesses and buying homes, which is why they need to get involved with the town, Mohamed said. Many worshippers at the mosque are now American citizens, the meaning of which they must internalize, Mohamed said, because regardless of one’s race or religion, one should make himself or herself part of the local community. And being a positive influence on one’s community is part of Islam. Muslims can practice their faith and please Allah by doing things around town, like helping the poor, the homeless and needy children in the greater Athens community. “There are so many things that can be done, I think,” Mohamed said.