Religious Bigotry In A US Educational Institution -- The Sowing Of Discontent Among People Of Different Religions And Faiths?
10 February 2016By Tariq A. Al
Maeena
Who really benefits from the sowing of
discontent among people of different religions and faiths?
Religious bigotry in the United States has reached unprecedented levels based
on the increasing number of racially provoked crimes against Muslims and
minorities of other faiths. In some instances, Sikhs and Hindus have been
singled out.
This rise is undoubtedly fuelled by the outlandish claims of some of the US
presidential contenders, chief among them being Donald Trump. In the case of
people who follow the Islamic faith, it's not enough to read or hear of
Muslims being marginalised because of their faith in scattered cases across
America or singled out during rallies and booted out, as was the case recently
of a Muslim woman who had attended a Trump rally, but in an election year,
politicians will say anything to win votes. Votes mean power and that is the
game they are currently playing.
Such public outbursts, however, have a profound effect on all those whose ears
they fall upon. They create suspicion and division, which can eventually lead
to acts of violence. That is why a great deal of trust is placed in
institutions of learning to prevent that; to carry forth the message of the
democratic principles of the United States of America.
Unfortunately, some institutes of higher learning have lost that direction.
Last month, Wheaton College, a Protestant college in the state of Illinois,
started termination procedures against an associate professor of political
science, Larycia Hawkins, for very strange reasons. She was placed on
administrative leave in December when she decided to wear a headscarf during
the Christmas season to show solidarity with Muslims during a strained period
when more and more reports of targeted violence against Muslims had begun to
spring up all over.
At the time she had posted a message on social media that Muslims and
Christians ''worship the same God'' a fact that did not sit well with the
college administration. ''I stand in religious solidarity with Muslims because
they, like me, a Christian, are people of the book,'' Hawkins wrote on her
Facebook account. ''And as Pope Francis stated last week, we worship the same
God.''The excuse put out for the move by college officials was that they needed
time ''to determine whether her statement puts her at odds with the faith
perspective that is required of those who are employed by the school''.
Hawkins was not impressed by the school's response. ''It felt really
devastating to receive that news, given that I've committed nine years of my
life to teaching in an institution that I really believe embodies the spirit
of the liberal arts in a Christian context.'' Her post was not actually a
theological treatise but rather a statement that meant ‘I stand in solidarity
with women wearing the hijab, as I think Jesus would, as he came to embody
what it means to love thy neighbour and love God and love yourself,'' as she
explained.
''I've spent most of my adult career committed to being a professor, a scholar
and doing so in a Christian context. I'm not the ‘hijab professor'. I'm the
professor that's trying to teach my students to move beyond theoretical
solidarity, sitting on our laurels in the classroom, towards embodied
politics, embodied solidarity. That's for all of us.''
Parting of ways
The matter appears to have been settled earlier this month when Hawkins and
Wheaton College issued a joint statement that said the two sides had ''reached
a place of resolution and reconciliation''. It included an apology by Wheaton
College's president to Hawkins and a mutual agreement that the two part ways.
Wheaton College also committed to creating a scholarship in Hawkins' name ''for
interns to conduct summertime peace and conflict studies''.
For various reasons, strangers to Islam have come to believe that Muslims
worship a different God than Christians and Jews. This is totally untrue,
since Allah is simply the Arabic word for ‘God' — and there is only one God.
Muslims worship the God of Noah, Abraham, Moses, David and Jesus — peace be
upon them all. However, it is certainly true that Jews, Christians and Muslims
all have different concepts of Almighty God. For example, Muslims — like Jews
— reject the Christian beliefs of the Trinity and the Divine Incarnation.
This, however, does not mean that each of these three religions worships a
different God — because there is only one true God. Who really benefits from
the sowing of discontent among people of different religions and faiths? What
is the ultimate goal? Many in the West think it is an Islamic mission to force
Islam down their throats. Balderdash I say! The Quran specifically states that
''You have your religion and I have mine''.
To witness respected institutions of learning fall to such levels of
petty-mindedness in disguised Islamophobia is a tragic consequence of the
false alarms being raised. The college officials should have read up on Islam
before falsely maligning one of their own tenured professors who spoke the
truth as she saw it. While there was plenty of smiles, tears and heartfelt
expressions of support at a press conference earlier this month, the truth of
the matter was that Larycia Hawkins was forced to walk away.
Tariq A. Al Maeena is a Saudi socio-political commentator. He lives in
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. You can follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/@talmaeena.
©
EsinIslam.Com
Add Comments