Co-operation between Judeo-Christian
US and Muslim World Stressed at GWLaw
By John Murphy
Left
to right: Daniel Sutherland, Ambassador Touqir Hussain,
Umar Akbar Ahmed, and Dr Nawar Shora |
Washington,
DC: Cooperation and understanding between a predominantly
Judeo-Christian United States and the Muslim world is imperative
for the future of the country, and the rest of the world.
This was the theme at one lecture in Washington, DC, USA,
during The George Washington University Law School’s
Annual Human Rights Conference titled, “Democracy and
Human Rights in the 21st Century: reviving the Jinnah vision.”
The distinguished panel included Daniel Sutherland, a member
of the Department of Homeland Security’s Office for
Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, Ambassador Tourqir Hussain,
former Ambassador for Pakistan to Spain, Japan and Brazil
and current visiting scholar at the Center for Globalization
at The George Washington University, Dr. Nawar Shora, Director
of the Law Enforcement Outreach Program with the American-Arab
Anti-Discrimination Committee, and our own Umar Akbar Ahmed,
a current LL.M. student at GW Law.
Mr. Ahmed participated in the panel to convey the message
to law students, who study alongside Muslim law students everyday
and many of whom will work with them in their future careers,
that more affirmative effort needs to take place between Americans
and Muslims to reduce the current conflict between the cultures
and to ensure a lasting peace based on mutual understanding
and respect.
That is not to say there are not efforts like these already
taking place.
The panelists address the gathering |
Mr.
Sutherland emphasized the Bush Administration’s continued
efforts to fight the war on terror in a way that is respectful
of Muslims in the region and throughout the world. From the
beginning, Sutherland emphasized, the Bush Administration
has realized that winning the “hearts and minds”
of Muslims was important in preventing the cause of hatred
and terrorism.
Mr. Shora highlighted his organization’s goal of educating
those in America who will have the largest impact on our domestic
Muslim community. Mr. Shora spends his time educating government
agencies (including the FBI), private corporations, churches,
and academic institutions about diversity and cultural awareness.
Since founding the organization in 2002, he has reached many
thousands of individuals here at home and educated them about
misunderstandings of Muslims and Islamic culture.
Ambassador Hussain has put his many years of experience with
the government of Pakistan towards education at academic institutions.
In addition, he regularly contributes op-eds to American and
Pakistani newspapers on South Asian security issues, the Kashmir
dispute, US–Pakistan relations, political Islam, terrorism,
and US relations with the Islamic world. He spoke of how simple
dialogue between people from different walks of life, such
as the panel he was sitting on, was an important step towards
a mutual understanding between Muslims and the West.
Mr. Ahmed wanted to bring together this panel for just that
reason. “Talks such as these are the kinds of things
we need to do to begin the dialogue that is essential to mending
the relations between the United States and Muslims worldwide
that have been strained over the past few years. The panel
was an opportunity to hear moderate voices speak on issues
that are usually dominated by extreme opinions on both sides.”
Ahmed points out the fact that only 16% of Muslims are Arab,
a statistic that may surprise many in the US. With the War
on Terror on many Americas’ minds, Muslims of all ethnicities
in the US have been targeted with fear and suspicion. “With
knowledge comes understanding, with understanding comes trust,
and only with trust can fellow nations truly be allies.”
Ahmed also believes that Muslims need a symbolic figure to
lead them to greater freedom and democracy. As an example,
he played a clip from “Jinnah,” a film documenting
the life of Mohamed Ali Jinnah, founder of the modern state
of Pakistan.
The film characterizes Jinnah as a peaceful man who was trusted
by his people, and one who valued many of the principles Jefferson
spoke of in the Declaration of Independence. In fact, he managed
to include provisions protecting human, women, and minority
rights into Pakistan’s Constitution.
Ahmed notes there is a long way to go to bridge the divide
between the US and the Muslim world, but, through events like
these, we can see a significant change within our lifetimes.
He stresses that fellow law students can play a significant
role in their daily lives. Just being open, communicative,
and honest with visiting Muslims at school and in the city
will make goodwill ambassadors of them when they return to
their countries.
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