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Muslim Leaders of Tomorrow (MLT)
Every Muslim Leader of Tomorrow (MLT), regardless of which urban center they came from, had to drive or take a train through the same windy, hilly and beautiful New York coastline before they entered into the still narrower, forestry roads lead to the Garrison Institute. The 100+ Muslim Leaders of Tomorrow were coming to Garrison, New York from everywhere from Los Angeles to Chicago to Washington D.C. to Atlanta, but the serenity and beauty of the Garrison Institute's location caused many to forget the grind of their everyday lives and relax, rejuvenate, and plan for a better future for our community.
The MLT's are a diverse mix of young American Muslims (25-45), hailing from all parts of the country. The MLT's are ethnically diverse, affiliated with several different sects within Islam and have varied ideological leanings. The characteristics all the MLT's share in common, however, is their demonstrated commitment to the Muslim community, whether it's in the area of political engagement, interfaith work, social work, community service, religious service, academia, journalism, or a slew of other professions and interests. All the MLT's are bright, have innovative and useful ideas, and are committed to improving the conditions for Muslims not only in America but throughout the umma and within the community itself.
The conference opened on Friday, November 19 with sign-ins beginning at 6pm. The front hall of the majestic Garrison Institute - a former monastery with a stained-glass meditation room and a sweeping view of the Hudson River - began to fill as more and more MLT's arrived by car, train, bus and airplane. By 8:00 pm Daisy Khan, the Executive Director of the American Society for Muslim Advancement (ASMA Society) welcomed the participants and urged them to take this weekend to contemplate where the Muslim community needed to go in the future, to network, and to have fun and enjoy this respite with new friends and colleagues.
The following morning, Saturday, the MLT's either participated in fajr prayer followed by spiritual dialogue, or took a nature walk around Garrison's grounds. There was a sense of calm that permeated the day's activities because of the way the morning's started - either in reflection and remembrance of God, or outside with the crisp air among the towering, fragrant trees, tranquil river and stillness. After breakfast - the meals were delicious, fresh, organic and made almost completely from scratch, and were the scene of the bulk of conversation, de-compressing, laughter and fun -- the MLT's assembled to hear Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf's opening address, which set the tone, strategy and vision for the MLT retreat. Imam Feisal drew comparisons between the history of the American Muslim community and the history of other religious minorities in America (Catholics, Jews), and highlighted the similar time-lines and challenges that presented themselves in the evolution process of those groups.
Mino Akhtar, a professional dialogue leader, then facilitated a conversation designed to create a safe space for the participants to honestly discuss their thoughts, feelings, fears, anger and happiness about the Muslim community and it's post 9-11 direction, setting a tone of honesty and constructive conversation for the weekend.
Mino asked the MLT's to break into groups and write down on large posters what they were tired of, worried about, upset about and excited about. Majority of the MLT's responded that they were tired of Muslims being judgmental of one another, and that Muslims did not have a civil method of dialoging with one another. MLT's are also worried about hatred/backlash and security concerns in the US for future generations of Muslims, and extremists defining the global Islamic agenda and rise in violence by extremists.
The MLT's are tired of a vacuum in Islamic leaderships and institutions that do not reflect the issues that concern the "next generation" of Muslims. They worry about how they are relating to the global Muslim community. They worry that stereotypes about Muslims will become more entrenched, and they are worried about 4 more years of US administration that is insensitive to local and global Muslim concerns.
But there wasn't only bad news. The MLT's are excited about what they see as new efforts at interfaith dialogue, and the continued outreach of many non-Muslims to the community. They are excited by signs of a long-awaited ideological reformation that has been a long-time coming, viewing 9-11 as its major catalyst. They are excited that there has been an opening of dialogue in the Muslim community, and that Muslims have been self reflecting, debating and becoming more tolerant. Most profoundly, perhaps, a few MLT's even commented that they were excited that the retreat showed them that, "God is compassionate."
This cathartic, interactive session was followed by a delicious lunch, where the conversations continued. The group then flowed into the lovely meditation room, with the oak, built-in chairs and amazingly high ceilings, to witness one of the weekend's most provocative panels, entitled, "Intra-Muslim Dialogue." The idea behind this session was to get a wide spectrum of Muslims together on a stage from different sects (Shi'ia, Ismaili, Sunni) and ideological leanings and modes of practice (progressives, sufis, traditionalists, secularists) to hear each other out and try to develop a methodology for improved communication. The organizer's premise behind putting on this panel was that it is impossible for the Muslim community to move forward as a collective "Ummah" until Muslims themselves learned to respect their differences and identify common ground.
The participants on the panel were Imam Rasheed, Precious Muhammed (Imam W.D. Muhammed's community), Behrooz Karjoovary (sufi), Samina Ali (shi'ia), Ahmed Nassef (progressive), Eboo Patel (Ismaili) and Asif Padela (Sunni). Imam Feisal was a respondent, and the panel was moderated by Ahmed Younis of the Muslim Public Affairs Council.
The panelists gave short opening statements describing where they were coming from, and their experiences within the wider Muslim community. As the conversation continued, it became heated at times, and through this process of expressing frustration and difference openly and in a safe space, the MLT's were working through modes of communications with each other, perhaps for the first time in any formal setting in the Muslim community. Samina Ali told the audience that at lunch, she conducted an informal survey of how MLT's felt about shi'ias, and reported her shock at some of the vitriol and intolerance she heard in response. The audience, for its part, was shaken out of a certain slumber regarding this issue, realizing that even among the enlightened attendees of the retreat, there was a disturbing amount of stereotyping, and even takfir, of fellow Muslims. Ahmed Nassef cited statistics that reflect American Muslims profound alienation from existing institutions in the United States, showing the need for Muslims to better understand the needs of the entire spectrum of the Muslim community. Asim Padela expressed concern that Muslims are turning away from the accepted practices, norms and prescriptions of their faith, particularly in the progressive movement.
The panel was unprecedented in the courage it took to take the bull by the horns and allow this previously taboo conversation to happen, and MLT organizers are now seeing this form of conversation being emulated in other American Muslim settings around the country. We think this is a tremendous accomplishment, and that these difficult conversations are necessary bumps in the road toward a stronger Muslim community.
The MLT's then broke out into small workshops about leadership, culture and arts, civil rights and law, political and civic engagement, governance, interfaith dialogue and women.
The program was packed and there was little in the way of idle time, but MLT's still found time to linger in the cafeteria, engrossed in conversation, take walks outside to debrief about the conversations they were hearing, and even gather for nightly meetings at the grand hot tubs in the (gender separate) bathrooms. Here the highly talented MLT's discussed activism projects they were doing outside the MLT or ASMA society context, and made valuable friends and allies for work in the future.
The media panel, which brought together Paul Barrett from the Wall Street Journal, Carol Eisenberg from New York's Newsday, Abdel Rahim Foqarah from Al Jazerra TV, and Stephanie Thomas from The Charlie Rose Show was a unique opportunity for the MLT's to speak frankly to prominent members of the media about the media business, how decisions are made, and what the environment of a news room is like. The panel was moderated by documentary film-maker Alex Kronemer and Sarah Eltantawi, Program Director at the ASMA Society, was a respondent. MLT's asked the media panel tough questions about the media writing more and more about Iran, perhaps reflecting a future government policy of aggression toward that nation, and coverage of the Arab-Israeli conflict and the Muslim community.
On Saturday night after dinner, the MLT's were treated to an evening of contemporary and traditional music. Singer, songwriter and producer Ani Zonneveld performed catchy, original songs from her album, "Umma Wake Up", encouraging Muslims to stand up for justice within their community. Ani was followed by a Amir Vahab and his wonderful ensemble that performed original music from Turkey, Iran, and the Arab world.
The retreat ended with a hilarious comedy routine from Azhar Usman, from the comedy group "Allah Made Me Funny", and ended with a beautiful cake in the shape of the letters M, L and T.
Organizers of the retreat repeatedly heard that that the retreat was "rejuvenating", "unprecedented" and totally uplifting for the attendees. According to the evaluations, the majority of attendees thought that the best development to have come out of the retreat was, "new networks and friends." The three biggest takeaways were networking, hearing about other people's work, and the sense that a path has been defined, and that people can see a way forward for Islam in America.
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