More than 30,000 Muslims from across America attended the 46th annual convention of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) July 3–6 in Washington, where they heard calls for building bridges of understanding and for increased involvement in community service programs.
The ISNA meeting is described as the largest annual gathering of Muslim Americans. Also included were parallel conventions by the Muslim Students Association of North America, Muslim Youth of North America, the Islamic Medical Association of North America, and many smaller groups associated under the umbrella group ISNA.
In addition to building bridges of understanding and cooperation between diverse Muslim communities, ISNA now plays a pivotal role in extending those bridges to include all people of faith in North America. Various speakers illustrated this new, broader agenda.
Valerie Jarrett, senior adviser and assistant to President Obama for public engagement and intergovernmental affairs, commended ISNA for addressing critical issues such as “increasing civic engagement and interfaith cooperation, protecting the rights of the disabled and elderly, addressing domestic violence, improving education and health care, expanding renewable energy and protecting the environment.”
“As this convention demonstrates,” she said, “gone are the days of describing distinct sets of ‘Muslim issues’ and ‘American issues.’ Your work here is crucial in confronting the challenges that all Americans are facing. And you help advance the new beginning between the United States and Muslim communities around the world that the president called for in Cairo.” (See A New Beginning: Engaging with Muslims Worldwide.)
ISNA President Ingrid Mattson talked about the diversity of Islam and Muslims’ changing place in American society. “Many Muslims were relieved to be recognized in President Obama’s inaugural address as being an important part of the fabric of American diversity,” she said.
Mattson also emphasized the importance of the annual convention. “Muslim Americans have, in recent years, decided that they have the major responsibility to counter the extremists’ views of Islam with their own mainstream views, and so have put time into public education and outreach to their neighbors on a local and national scale.”
The convention’s focus on community service in America promoted the idea that Muslims should serve in their communities and engage in all spheres of American life. Hamza Yusuf, founder of Zaytuna Institute, a nonprofit educational institute, said, “We have to be living at the highest standard of moral observance” and called on Muslims to “serve the underserved and the needy ones.”
Rick Warren, founder of Saddleback Church, an evangelical Christian “megachurch” in Lake Forest, California, also addressed the convention. He asked, “How do we deal with our deepest differences? It is a fundamental question we have to wrestle with. How do we live together in peace and harmony, and not only that, how can we actually work together, maintaining our separate traditions, maintaining our religious convictions without compromise, by working together for the greater good for everybody in the world?” Warren called on Muslims and Christians to work together to create respect, restore civility to civilization, promote peace and tackle major world problems.
Dalia Mogahed, executive director of the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies, speaking at the community service luncheon, said President Obama’s initiative on community service, called “United We Serve,” is “an opportunity for every Muslim American to be part of a nationwide movement to bring about positive change.”
More than 70 sessions at the annual convention provided participants with the opportunity to address issues of Muslim and national concern, plan future projects, and engage in interreligious and intergenerational discussions.