The First
Abrahamic Conference at Palm Beach
By Umar Akbar Ahmed
Washington, DC
As a young Muslim studying the law I have just
returned inspired and enthusiastic after a few
days in Palm Beach. Attending the first ever Jewish,
Christian and Muslim Conference I was witness
to the birth of an important idea that seeks to
solve the problems of our world.
I was privileged to be part of history and I wish
to share my experiences with the reader. I spent
a remarkable weekend in Palm Beach, home to only
a few thousand residents who are one of the most
influential concentrations of people in the country.
The few residents of Palm Beach own about 12%
of American wealth. They have achieved success
and fame and lead a highly affluent life. The
events of the weekend showed the world that these
economic leaders are also capable of taking the
lead in trying to solve the problems that the
world is facing. The Abrahamic dialogue that took
place at the Conference created the most important
initiative that could be built between America
and the Muslim world.
Two years ago during the visit of my father, Professor
Akbar S. Ahmed, an Islamic scholar who holds the
Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies at American
University, to Palm Beach some friends met at
the home of Dr. Lachlan Reed. This diverse group
included Nasser Kazeminy, a Muslim; John Goodman,
Jewish; and Michael Ainslie, a Christian. They
responded to my father’s appeal to launch
an Abrahamic initiative by forming an Abrahamic
group called the Center for Workable Solutions.
The population of Palm Beach is divided between
Jewish and Christian communities who had formed
a Jewish and Christian Fellowship. Together the
Fellowship and the newly formed Center, for the
first time, decided to have an “Abrahamic”
world level conference. This was revolutionary
because the Jewish-Christian dialogue had just
begun but there was no sign of a Muslim presence
in the dialogue.
The weekend began for me when I accompanied my
father and family to the Royal Poinciana Chapel,
one of the oldest and most prestigious places
of worship in the area. The church was full to
capacity with about 400 people in attendance as
the historic event had been advertised in advance.
The Reverend Dr. Robert Norris spoke from the
pulpit and in a very passionate and moving sermon
welcomed my father and his family, asking us to
stand up in the Church, and the people welcomed
us most warmly. Dr. Norris compared my father
to the prophet Jeremiah, quoted from the Qur’an,
and then asked my father to speak. This was the
first time anything like this had happened in
this church. My father quoted the great Sufi poets
Rumi and Hafez to show how much Muslims loved
and revered Jesus. The people in the church were
undoubtedly amazed to hear the following extracts
from Rumi’s famous “Jesus Poems”.
“Where Jesus lives, the great-hearted gather.
We are a door that’s never unlocked.
If you are suffering any kind of pain,
Stay near the door. Open it…
Christ is the population of the world,
And every object as well.”
At the end of the service, Dr. Norris presented
his stole/vestment, which was a beautiful tapestry
of children from all over the world, taking it
from his own shoulders and putting it around my
father as a gesture of friendship and respect.
We later discovered it was Dr. Norris’s
favorite stole. This was widely appreciated by
the congregation. This gesture of Abrahamic love
had never before been demonstrated in the church,
nor had a Muslim ever been invited to speak from
the pulpit. I could see my father was overwhelmed
with emotion and deeply touched because he could
hardly speak after that. I can testify that the
magnificent gift has a place of honor in our home.
Later, Dr. Norris wrote to my father, “I
continued to hear wonderful words of thanks and
encouragement for having invited you to speak
to the Chapel membership in worship on Sunday.
I must say that your participation in worship
with me was one of the highlights of my 25 years
of ordained ministry and as you noted a heralded
first for the Chapel in its 115 years of worship
on the island.”
The next event was the big dinner at night organized
by the Fellowship and the Center. Over 400 guests
attended the dinner and my father was invited
to give the Keynote Address, the first Muslim
ever to do so. My father explained why it was
necessary to understand Islam: It has a population
of 1.3 billion, of which 7 million live in the
United States, and there are troops stationed
in Afghanistan and Iraq. He strongly argued for
a dialogue of civilizations as against the clash
of civilizations. He picked up the themes of Abrahamic
unity while pointing out the problems on the ground
and the ways to move forward. At the end of the
talk he was given a standing ovation.
The second half of the Conference began the next
day in earnest with some very distinguished speakers
coming from all over the world. The Keynte Speaker
at lunch was Jehan Sadat, the wife of the former
President of Egypt, Anwar Sadat. Zeenat Ahmed,
my mother, introduced Jehan Sadat. Earlier my
father and Nafees, my sister, were on a panel
talking about family values in Islam. Nafees was
a big hit with the audience, which was made up
of 200 or so 8th graders from schools in Palm
Beach. Most of them had never seen a Muslim student
before. I felt especially proud of my mother and
sister who were stepping up to the plate in these
difficult times to build bridges.
There was a great deal of coverage on television
and in the media of the Conference and I was proud
to see the pictures of both my father and mother
on the front pages of the local papers. I felt
that we had as a family made a small contribution
to the Abrahamic dialogue at a time when there
is so much misunderstanding in the world between
the faiths.
I was privileged to be able to talk to some of
the most distinguished people in the land: Nasser
Kazeminy and Lachlan Reed, for example, our hosts,
who not only shared their wisdom but their dream
of bridging the gap between America and the Muslim
world. I also had long talks with Michael Ainslie
and his charming wife Suzanne Ainslie, Bob Monks
and Lord Slynn, the former Law Lord of the House
of Lords in the United Kingdom, who “introduced”
my father at the official dinner along with Lachlan
Reed.
While each of these distinguished people made
a strong impression on me, I was particularly
inspired by the ideals of Nasser Kazeminy, as
he has always encouraged the younger generation
and I too am passionate about the importance of
this. Nasser is an extraordinary, intelligent
and compassionate man and he told me his extraordinary
life. To start with, he is probably the only Muslim
living in Palm Beach and he has one of the most
impressive houses there. He is the best Ambassador
for Muslims in Palm Beach as he comes from a very
rich Muslim culture of which he is always proud
and it allows him to feel confident in his identity
as a top American public figure.
Dale Coudert, a charming lady who heads the Coudert
Institute, gave a Peace Award to my father in
the form of a beautiful statue. She invited us
to her home along with Edwina Sandy, the granddaughter
of Winston Churchill. I was amused to hear my
father saying that both my mother and Edwina were
not aware that their grandfathers had fought in
the famous Malakand campaign at the end of the
19th century which resulted in Churchill’s
first famous book, The Malakand Field Force. Later,
the two became friends and Churchill strongly
supported his opponent who established the royal
house of the Wali of Swat.
Even while finishing my law degree at Oxford Bookes
University in Oxford I accompanied my father to
many of his interfaith conferences. A particularly
memorable occasion was our meeting with the Archbishop
of Canterbury, in Canterbury in 2002 for an international
conference on interfaith dialogue. But I felt
that here at Palm Beach I was witnessing the actual
shifting of the ground. For the first time there
was a full-fledged Abrahamic discussion between
the three great faiths, and as part of it, I truly
felt I was a witness to history.
We stayed as guests of the conference at the legendary
Breakers Hotel on the Atlantic beach itself. The
ordered streets with the beautiful palm trees,
the marvelous houses and the kindness and generosity
of our hosts left a lasting impression on me.
I have come back as a young Muslim inspired to
dedicate my work to building bridges between peoples
of different faiths and cultures. With the violence
around us and the gaps growing between civilizations
I believe that this work must be given priority.
If Islam was introduced through dialogue and discussion
as part of the Abrahamic tradition in Palm Beach
and such a mood of harmony prevailed, then why
could this not happen in other parts of the world?
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