Muslim St. Louis

According to data released by the Pew Research Center last September, 58% of Americans know little or nothing about the practices of Islam, a percentage that has changed very little since 2001.

When I met with Melissa Matos, director of the St. Louis chapter of Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a civil rights advocacy group for Muslims in North America, I started the conversation with questions that I hoped were basic, but not misguided.

“Can you clarify the terms Islamic and Muslim?” I asked.

“Islam—that’s the religion,” she said. “A Muslim is the believer, equivalent to a Christian or a Jew. Islamic is what you would probably call an object or an action, but Muslim is just a person.”

Broadening non-Muslims’ understanding of Islam is part of Matos’ job. With thirty-three offices in the United States, CAIR promotes a balanced image of Muslims and Islam and supports victims of civil rights abuse, more often employing intervention and education strategies than legal action.

“Our mission, first, is to educate Muslims about their rights,” Matos said, “that they are here, that they have just as much right as anyone else to fair and equal treatment, to not feeling afraid, being able to do what they want, say what they want to say, just like anyone else has the right.”

“On the other side of that, we work with the St. Louis community at large to demonstrate that Muslims are part and parcel of this state, of this city, of this country, and are hardworking Americans that love America just like everyone else.”

The U.S. Census Bureau does not survey religious demographics, but the Muslim population of St. Louis is estimated to be between 50,000 and 65,000. The majority are Bosnian, but this population also includes African-Americans, Pakistanis, Indians, Bangladeshis, Afghanis, Arabs, and recent refugees from Somalia.

Having never spoken with a Muslim woman at any length, I asked Matos about her headscarf, or hijab, which she said is pronounced he-jab, except that the j sounds like the s in confusion.

“The majority of Muslim women do not wear the head cover,” Matos said. “The idea in general is modesty for both men and women. It’s a personal choice for every woman.”

Aftab Ahmad, who teaches at the Islamic center in the Daar-Ul Islam mosque in Ballwin, also addressed the issue of modesty. The Friday worship service had just concluded, for which women ascended to an upstairs balcony for the sermon and prayers.

“Not because they are less than us,” Ahmad said. “In the eyes of God, men and women are equal. But, even in the house of God, there is an uninvited guest, which is Satan. If there was a woman praying in front of me, then she would be uncomfortable. If there was a woman praying behind me, then I would be uncomfortable. So it’s best to keep us separate when we are here to worship.”

Another finding in the Pew Research Center’s poll was that 70% of non-Muslim Americans believe that their own religions are “very different” from Islam.

“From the Muslim perspective,” Ahmad said, “we will say that Islam really comes from the time of Adam because the word Islam means, ‘submission of your will to that of God’s through peace.’”

“So, from that perspective, all of the prophets submitted to the will of God through peace and are therefore, by definition, Muslim. Except that the Qur’an was revealed to Prophet Mohammad, being the last of the messengers of God in a line of 124,000 prophets.”

“Jesus is a prophet of God, not a son of God. From the Muslim perspective, if we don’t believe in Jesus, then we’re not Muslim.”

For Dr. Khaled Hamid, a private physician who has volunteered for CAIR in the past, the perception of difference expressed in the Pew Poll and other public misconceptions of Islam are the result of willful deception. He said it would be difficult to comprehensively address this ignorance, which is compounded by emotional reactions to issues of war and terrorism, but began with some disputed terms.

“The phrase holy war has no root in Islamic culture,” Hamid said. “The word infidels has no root in Islamic culture. These two terms actually evolved and appeared for the first time as Christian terminology during the time of the Crusades and even later amongst fighting factions within Christianity itself.”

“The Qur’an uses a term for Christians and Jews collectively and it’s not ‘the infidels’ or anything that would translate close to that. It’s ‘the people of the book,’ referring to people who believe in divine revelation that came before the Qur’an was revealed to Prophet Mohammad, peace be upon him.”

Hamid believes that issues of religion are overplayed in the media.

“All the evils that we either know for a fact or are sometimes led to believe are done by Muslims, are they done because of the way they fulfill the religion or is it done because of something else?” he asked.

Hamid cites the American occupation of Iraq and the fact that over a million Palestinians remain in refugee camps as examples, underscoring that injustice must be recognized, but that terrorism can never be condoned.

“Civilians are definitely protected in the Qur’an. Even fighters at war, once they drop their weapon, you are obliged as a Muslim to protect them. ”

“That’s the part that is very mysterious for most people in the Western world.”

Although such Qur’anic teachings unify the Muslim identity, it may not be accurate to refer to the Muslim population of St. Louis as a single community.

“You’ll find that there’s an agreement in language and principles,” Imam Samuel Ansari said, “but I think each community has their own unique situation and concerns.”

Ansari serves a predominately African-American community at the Masjid Al-Mu-Minun Islamic Center on Grand Ave. He said that the two Eid celebrations, at the end of Ramadan and in connection with the Hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca, do bring the larger community together across language barriers and ethic lines.

“Other than that, the communities pretty much work on whatever their goals and objectives are,” Ansari said.

Unlike Daar-Ul Islam in West County, a large off-white mosque with a bronze dome, Medina Masjid in South St. Louis is an assuming, single-story structure, primarily attended by Bosnian-Americans.

“We didn’t get any grants,” Imam Muhamed Hasic said, describing the mosque’s formation in 2001. “It was basically the local community—those people who work very hard at low-paying jobs who paid for the mosque. We collected, around two hundred thousand for this place.”

In March, construction was completed on a 107-foot minaret that is visible from S. Kingshighway Blvd.

“It’s kind of symbolizing the freedom of religious expression in America, which is very important for the refugees,” Hasic said. “They’re building identity and they feel they are part of the society.”

While acknowledging the social divisions within the Muslim community and the larger society, Imam Ansari perceives a message of unity in his religion.

“To me, Islam says that there is one humanity,” Ansari said, “and if what I believe does not recognize your freedom to believe what you choose, then I need to question my belief. God gives us this freedom.”

“I think we just have to come to grips with the reality that whatever we want to believe in or practice should enhance the decency and the integrity of every human being.”