Educating American Muslim Leadership (Men and Women) for the Twenty-First Century Amir Al-Islam

8/8/2019 Educating American Muslim Leadership (Men and Women) for the Twenty-First Century Amir Al-Islam

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2006 The AuthorJournal compilation 2006 Blackwell Publishing Ltd

Educating American Muslim Leadership (Men and

Women) for the Twenty-First Century

Amir al-Islam

Medgar Evers College

The City University of New York

Teaching Theology and Religion, ISSN 1368-4868, 2006, vol. 9 no. 2, pp 7378.

Abstract. Educating and training Muslim men andwomen leaders who are capable of effectively navigat-

ing the multi-ethnic and multi-religious terrain in

America particularly in the post 911 milieu requires

the development of a new critical American Muslim

pedagogy. This new pedagogy, centered in Islamic epis-

temology and ontology, should selectively appropriate

the best of traditional Muslim educational paradigms

and modalities used over time. However, the traditional

Muslim model must not be reified, but rather be sub-

jected to a sharp critique which maintains the richness

of its spiritual and intellectual legacy but rejects teach-

ings and interpretations used to create false dichotomies

resulting in binary constructs, particularly those which

pit Muslims against the west. Finally, the new critical

American Muslim pedagogy must embrace all of the

best discursive practices (e.g., pedagogies of Freire and

others) that engage us in a critical analysis of the way

in which power and privilege, even in religious com-

munities, operate to marginalize and suppress women,

minorities, and people of color.

Introduction

Islam is the second largest religion in the world, and

contrary to popular belief, the majority of Muslims arenot Arabs; they are in Asia, in countries like Indonesia

and Malaysia. Moreover, within the last fifty years,

Islam has gained a significant presence in most western

countries, with rapidly expanding Muslim populations

in France, England and the United States. It is the Amer-

ican landscape that provides the context for this article.

Currently, it is reported by the Council on American

Islamic Relations (CAIR) that there are approximately

six to seven million Muslims in the United States, com-

prised of immigrants from over fifty countries and a

substantial population of converts, primarily African

Americans (40 percent) but including a significantnumber of white Americans and Latinos. Surprisingly,

the large population of African American Muslims are

often overlooked and discounted in scholarly writings

and research.

During the latter part of the twentieth century,

American Muslims have established a formidable pres-

ence on the American religious, social, and political

landscape. They are actively engaged in every sphere of

American society and have established over 4,000

Islamic organizations, including Muslim student associ-

ations, intellectual and professional organizations, civil

rights and political advocacy groups, social service agen-

cies, over 1,500 mosques, and schools in every major

city in America. There are also at least six national

umbrella organizations that coordinate their activities

and promote Islamic understanding.

However, the exponential development of Muslim

institutions and organizations in the U.S. has not, for

the most part, included Islamic institutions of higher

learning. While there have been a few modest but note-

worthy efforts by Muslims to establish Islamic colleges

and advanced studies programs within the last few years

(e.g., American Islamic College in Chicago, Islamic

Internet University, Hartford Seminarys Muslim Chap-

lains Program), currently there are no accredited Islamiccolleges, universities, or seminaries to educate and train

American Muslim leaders.

Even though there are a number of American

Muslims functioning effectively in leadership positions

within Islamic organizations, the present system of edu-

cating and training American Muslim leaders is woe-

fully inadequate and does not address the contemporary

challenges facing Muslims in twenty-first century, post

911 America. It is encouraging to note that some

American Muslim scholars are already in dialogue

about the critical need for a new educational paradigm


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American Muslim Leadership 75

dents organizations, advocacy organizations, profes-

sional associations, and so forth. Because the mosque or

Islamic center continues to serve as the primary locus of

individual and community life, mosque leadership is the

most important and includes both types of leaders:

1) The Imam (spiritual leadership) entails leading

prayers, performing weddings, burials, teachingclasses, counseling, and so on.

2) The President/Director (administrative/managerial

leadership) entails supervising all administrative and

managerial operations of the mosque/Islamic center.

Approximately 81 percent of immigrant mosques have

an imam who functions in one or sometimes both of

these categories of leadership. Others have presi-

dents/directors who serve as leaders. It is important to

note that mosque leaders are exclusively men. However,

there is a significant movement led by Muslim women

scholars, intellectuals, and activists to contest the privi-leging of males in leadership positions and the overall

tendency to marginalize women. Scholar and university

professor Dr. Amina Wadud recently led a mixed gender

congregation in prayer in New York (New York Times

2005). American Muslim women do, however, serve in

leadership and executive positions in various local and

national organizations which tend to focus on advocacy,

social services, family life, and education. The issue of

Muslim leadership among men and women is an

ongoing debate fueled by differing interpretations of

Islamic exegesis and traditional Islamic practices.

Currently, the majority of immigrant imams and

presidents who are mosque leaders do not have formal

degrees in Islamic studies. According to the 2001

Mosque Study Project, the mosque leader, in the major-

ity of cases, is a volunteer, works part-time, and is

employed outside the mosque (Bagby, Perl, and Froehle

2001). However, there are notable exceptions. A

number of mosques established and attended by immi-

grant Muslims have imams educated and trained in

Islamic universities abroad. Also, it is often the case that

many Imams and leaders of Islamic organizations who

have not attended Islamic universities have, however,

studied with individual Muslim scholars and received an

Idjaza, Arabic for an Islamic certification that thestudent completed a course of Islamic studies and has

permission to teach. Still other immigrant Muslims are

selected as leaders by their respective communities

because they have distinguished themselves through

independent study and research.

Islam and the African American Encounter: Originsand Trajectories

African American converts to Islam constitute the

largest group of Muslims in America. Many of them

prefer to be called reverts rather than converts

because of an extensive Islamic heritage which began in

Africa and continued after their arrival in the New

World (Curtin 1967). Ironically, many slaves, despite

every attempt by their masters to eradicate their cultural

and religious past, maintained their Islamic practice

(Austin 1997).

The records of African American Muslim activityafter the abolition of slavery in 1865 begin with the

dawn of the twentieth century emergence of what could

be characterized as new world proto-Islam. This

period is extremely significant because it marks the

genesis of a new Islam which is not historically African

and orthodox, but a reconceptualized derivation of

Islam centered in new world black liberation ideology

and theology. This proto-Islam was constructed prima-

rily to address white supremacy and racial oppression.

The two most influential messianic leaders of early

proto-Islam were Noble Drew Ali, founder of the

Moorish Science Temple in 1913, and later ElijahMuhammad of the Nation of Islam (NOI). Using a syn-

cretic combination of the teachings of Marcus Garvey,

Islam, Christianity, and Freemasonry, these dynamic

social actors captured the imagination of poor, unedu-

cated blacks who had been affected by the scourge of

white racism. However, it was in the 1950s when new

convert Malcolm Little (Malcolm X) joined the NOI,

that proto-Islam experienced its meteoric rise. Malcolm

X became one of the NOIs most prominent spokesper-

sons and a close confidant of its founder, Elijah Muham-

mad, until he recognized the contradictions in the NOIs

racialized teachings of Islam and split from the organi-

zation in 1964. Malcolm X, who had been introduced

to orthodox Islam by Elijahs son Wallace, made pil-

grimage to Makkah and converted to Islam, but was

assassinated shortly after his return. Malcolms life and

death had a tremendous impact, igniting the interest of

thousands of African Americans in orthodox Islam.

Elijah Muhammad died in 1975 and his son Wallace

Mohammed emerged as his successor, having already

embraced orthodox Islam. He immediately initiated a

process of Islamization that totally changed the NOI,

now called the American Muslim Society (AMS), theo-

logically and politically. Wallace led AMS away from its

radical criticism of America towards a more universalIslamic posture that included embracing American iden-

tity. While most followers of the NOI accepted the

sweeping changes, a small number of followers, led by

Minister Louis Farrakhan, separated to reestablish the

old-style NOI. Their membership is reported to number

approximately 20,000.

While Wallace Mohammed was transitioning the

NOI into the orbit of orthodoxy, his actions were

monitored by a relatively large number of African

American Muslims who were never followers of Elijah

Muhammad, but had always been orthodox Muslims.



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These historically Sunni African American Muslims

(HSAAM) sought a more authentic form of Islam and

contested the teachings of the NOI from its inception

(Taufiq 1960) and included Sheikh Dawud Faisal who

founded the first Islamic Center in Brooklyn; Professor

Ezeldeen who established the Addeynu Allahe Univer-

sal Arabic Association in the 1930s in New Jersey; Wali

Akram, founder of the First Cleveland Mosque; andlater Darul Islam and the Mosque of Islamic Brother-

hood of New York.

Both of these groups, AMS and HSAAM, have a dis-

tinguished Islamic legacy in America and are respon-

sible for transforming the social and economic lives of

hundreds of thousands of African Americans. This has

been achieved despite decades of racial oppression and

discrimination, often at the hands of U.S. governmental

officials who, over time, have targeted their leaders and

community activists via harassment, surveillance, and

arrests (Cointelpro programs, FBI, 1967).

Presently, the largest numbers of African AmericanMuslims and the majority of African American mosques

(56 percent) are affiliated with the American Muslim

Society (AMS), formerly the NOI, which maintained

their national organizational structure. The HSAAM,

which represents the remaining 44 percent of mosques,

have remained fragmented over the years in spite of

several efforts to unify them. The historical trajectories

of both groups have defined the way that leadership is

conceptualized and shaped the contours of its architec-

ture and functionality in patterns significantly different

from the immigrant experience. There are also im-

portant differences between the two groups that are

essential to consider in the development of a critical

American Muslim pedagogy.

African American Muslim Leadership

Historically, charismatic leadership has been one of the

hallmarks of successful black leadership in America. In

African American Islam, while charisma has not been

the only quality determining the success or failure of

leadership, it still has currency. Unlike their immigrant

Muslim counterparts, the overwhelming majority of

AMS and HSAAM Imams function as both administra-tive/managerial leaders and spiritual leaders of mosques,

and 95 percent do not have degrees from Islamic uni-

versities abroad. AMS members are not encouraged to

study abroad because the interpretation of the religion

is seen as the exclusive province of its national leader

Imam W. D. Mohammed. However, HSAAM members

are encouraged to study abroad. Over the last decade,

there has been an increase in the number of African

Americans traveling abroad to attend Islamic univer-

sities, though a large percentage of them only learn

Arabic and do not complete the degree program.

Currently, the majority of AMS Imams once served

as either leaders of the Fruit of Islam (FOI), a para-

military arm of the NOI, or served in another leader-

ship capacity within the organization. After the

dismantling of the FOI in 1975, these former captains

and officers of the Temples became Imams, in most cases

without any formal training. While they had demon-

strated innate leadership qualities, their Islamic educa-tion was limited to brief Imam training programs, with

very little training in organizational administration and

management. On the other hand, HSAAM leaders in

local African American Muslim communities were

chosen by their community members to lead by virtue

of demonstrated leadership qualities and a commitment

to Islam and community service. Some had been leaders

in college, in community organizations and social

reform movements, or leaders of gangs or in prison

before their conversion to Islam.

Thus, historically, the African American Muslim

leadership model, particularly during the early proto-Islamic period, was reminiscent of certain aspects of

Christianitys Great Awakening. Leadership was in

the hands of charismatic messianic African Americans

who felt calledby God and felt they did not need formal

religious training. They gained their social currency by

speaking out against white racism and oppression and

by demonstrating a commitment to the uplifting of the

black community. These characteristics of leadership are

still prevalent among AMS and HSAAM leaders.

In many ways, Islam has played a critical transfor-

mative role in their lives, freeing many of them from

alcohol and drug addictions and other forms of subcul-

tural lifestyles. Like their earlier counterparts, they do

not feel that knowledge of Arabic and the Islamic sci-

ences (while valuable and desirable) should be the deter-

mining factor in authenticating their faith or the level

of their commitment to Islam. They liken themselves to

the first generation of Prophet Muhammads followers.

However, this perspective is problematic to immigrant

Muslims and causes tension and dissention between

the groups. Immigrant Muslims and some HSAAM

members consider formal Islamic knowledge and train-

ing as the main criteria for Muslim leadership and view

African American Muslims who do not have this train-

ing as inauthentic and unqualified to lead. This resultsin essentializing interpretations of Islam as the authen-

tic Islam which are, all too often, simply Muslim inter-

pretations of Islam. Ultimately, this binary opposition

results in a kind of othering of large segments of the

African American Muslim community who hold more

moderate views.

Another issue, which causes divisions among African

American Muslims, is the difference in the degree to

which they identify with their American nationality. The

AMS have expressed their loyalty to America in numer-

ous ways, including adding the American flag to their



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American Muslim Leadership 77

national newspaper, the American Muslim Journal. On

the other hand, many members of the HSAAM, many

of whom were militant Black Nationalists and Pan

Africanists before converting to Islam, often maintain

aspects of their militancy and are critical of America,

particularly its foreign policies relative to the Middle

East and its unjust treatment of Blacks. In the past,

sharp differences have permeated the African AmericanMuslim community that have led to conflict and even

death (Smith 1999). Presently, despite these ongoing

differences, the African American Muslim groups have

succeeded in working together to resolve conflicts. A

critical American Muslim pedagogy designed to educate

African American Muslim leaders must include training

in conflict resolution and peace-building, which should

be applicable locally and globally.

Expanding the American Muslim Leadership

From our review of the historical development ofIslamic institutions and leadership among Muslims in

America, four typologies predominate: (1) immigrant

Imams, (2) immigrant western-educated professional

administrators/managers, (3) African American Imams

of the American Muslim Society (AMS), and (4)

Historically Sunni African American Muslim Imams

(HSAAM). As stated earlier, with few exceptions these

leadership positions are held by men. Presently the con-

sensus of the majority of Muslims is that women be

equally included in every category of leadership with

the exception of Imam. Thus, for the purpose of

developing a new critical American Muslim pedagogy

which focuses on training American Muslim leaders,

functional leadership positions should be expanded to

include the following:

Chaplains in prisons, hospitals, and the military, Intellectual leaders in academia and the public

sphere,

Muslim daeyyah (Muslims who promote, propa-gate, and recruit new members to the faith),

Principals of Islamic schools and educationalinstitutes,

Muslim activists who represent Islam and Muslims

in various social and political forums, meetings, andso forth.

In Search of a New Critical AmericanMuslim Pedagogy

A new critical American Muslim pedagogy should

embrace the best educational practices informed by

Freires theory of critical pedagogy, as well as contem-

porary postmodernist, feminist, anti-racist, and post-

colonial theories. The following pedagogical constructs

are meant to serve as an overarching conceptual frame-

work which could be used to guide the development of

the new pedagogy and ensure that it embraces best

practices:

1) The student-teacher relationship reconceptualized so

that the classroom becomes a site where student and

teacher become partners in the learning process and

new knowledge is discovered through meaningfuldialogue, grounded in the experiences of both teacher

and student alike (the dialogical method, Freire

1970). This process inspires critical thinking, cre-

ativity, and inspiration which liberate the students

thinking.

2) Power and privilege monitored to ensure that they do

not marginalize and suppress women, minorities and

people of color when exercised in religious context

(critical pedagogy; Freire 1970).

3) The meta-narrative deconstructed to expose and

subvert the totalizing effects of the way canons and

exegesis are sometimes disguised as absolute truthsfalsely attributed to the religion.

Using these constructs, the following are recommended

content of the new critical American Muslim pedagogy.

I. Knowledge of the Religion and its Doctrines such

that potential leaders acquire proficiency in Islamic

studies, which include Islamic theology (tauheedor

doctrines in the ideal) and Islamic and Muslim

sciences (jurisprudence and interpretation of the

Quran, etc.).

II. General Education that incorporates the latest

knowledge and research in subjects such as Ameri-

can history, comparative religion, business, law,

history of Islam in America, education, and the

liberal arts.

III. Leadership Expertise that includes best practices on

leadership developed by American think tanks and

research institutes that focus on topics such as

organizational development, prevention of domes-

tic violence, counseling, peace-building and conflict

resolution, and so forth.

IV. Understanding of the American Social, Cultural,

Political and Religious Landscape, including both

Americas significant contributions to human devel-opment and its complex legacy of exploitation and

discrimination. Special emphasis should placed on

issues of women and gender studies.

V. Formal Teaching and Learning Methodologies

which have proven effective, for example, active,

integrative, and service learning; interdisciplinary

approaches; and critical thinking.

VI. Particularities Relative to Specific American

Muslim Communities to address the special needs

of each. Immigrant communities may need to learn

more about their American context, especially



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al-Islam78

American race relations: African American com-

munities may need more help in overcoming the

consequences of systemic injustice.

To summarize, in order to ensure the successful

development and application of a new critical American

Muslim pedagogy, it must be drawn from the experi-

ences of the lives of those it is intended to educate andtrain, namely American Muslims. The new pedagogy

must be contextually relevant in order to address spe-

cific needs and challenges of the American landscape.

It must embrace all of the best practices in education

and leadership training which have been developed by

Muslims and non-Muslims alike. Finally, the new

pedagogy must be critiqued and monitored to ensure

women and minorities their histories, stories, truths,

and contributions are not overlooked, erased, dis-

counted, or marginalized. These are the philosophical

underpinnings upon which the new critical American

Muslim pedagogy should rest. Its urgency is self-evident.

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Documents

Educating American Muslim Leadership (Men and Women) for the Twenty-First Century Amir Al-Islam