“Attack on any religion discredits all religion.”

This was the sentence that hit me like a truck. With all of the chaos going on in our world right now, one can get muddled in emotions and allow them to muddle truth and rationale. This was a speech that was highly relevant considering current events. With one of our presidential candidates speaking outright about barring entry of muslim immigrants into the country temporarily, this was a talk that would do a great deal of opening people’s minds.

The media misconstrues so much of our reality. Mix this with catastrophic events whose authors cloak themselves under the other wise peaceful religion of 1.2 billion people, and the result is a toxic animosity towards the general mass of people who call to Allah. However, in this speech we learned that Islam is not in any way anything to do with ISIS. There is a great disconnect within the two entities.

Prior to 9/11, anti-muslim talk would have been the minority. However, now it is a growing sentiment within the American people.

Professor Sherman Jackson from the University of Southern California was brought to Cornell to give a lecture on Islam and the Common Good.

To be completely honest, I was exhausted during this lecture and did not give it the attention it deserved. It also did not help that the whole lecture was delivered by the professor reading his work instead of a it being a  more unscripted and engaging lecture. However, there are some points I picked up on. I learned that Black Americans make up at least 20% of all Muslims in America and as Professor Jackson said, this makes America unique among Western nations. From what I understood, he explained how loyalty to the Islam religion does not conflict with loyalty to the State and that the values practiced in Islam can be used to uphold the values of common good in America.

Overall, I wish I had been less tired during the lecture and had paid more attention… Sorry!

I was really excited to go to this past Tuesday’s Rose Scholars event: “Islam and the American Common Good”. The speaker, Professor Sherman Jackson, is a very acclaimed scholar, and I was looking forward to hearing his insight on such a powerful and relevant topic.

However, I was slightly disappointed that he simply read his speech from a paper. Word for word. This was unfortunate, because the thoughts he brought to the table were so brilliant, yet the delivery hindered the message.

Delivery aside, Professor Jackson made some really powerful points. Towards the end of his lecture, he noted that after the tragic event of 9/11, American ceased to be an ideological playground.

I would agree with this. Unfortunately, Islam suffered a collective indictment for the terrorist attack. ‘Islamophobia’ spread throughout a lot of the United States, and unfortunately, the repercussions are still visible.

I really wish that Professor Jackson looked away from his script to elaborate and expand on his ideas and feelings, because I feel like I really would have been able to learn something from him.

Professor Sherman Jackson’s lecture last week was mind-opening in the sense that I experienced a scholarly perspective on Islam and it’s role and position of opportunity in America. With what little I know about Islam and its people from often biased media viewpoints, it was interesting to hear the professor not speak defensively about Islam in light of global news, but speaking as one who looked past such events. From what I understood, his lecture was primarily about what followers of Islam should do as disciples of their religion, in the context of American society.

The professor spoke much about the American common good, and how Muslims could also contribute to it without abandoning their religion. One of his intentions seemed to be to dispel the notion that it is difficult for Muslims to both maintain the pillars of their religion and be proactive Americans. Instead, he promoted the idea that the pillars of their religion could also help uphold the common good and interests of America. I appreciated this idea, as it seemed apparent that this concept could be seen as a cooperative link between the major religions of America.

One thing that I would have liked to be different about the lecture, was Professor Jackson’s method of delivery. Given his experience, he definitely seemed to be a charismatic speaker. I felt that I would’ve had a better experience and would’ve been able to understand more if he had delivered an unscripted lecture, as opposed to reading directly from his papers. I felt as though he were reading one of his books to us, rather than giving a lecture.

Professor Sherman Jackson, the King Faisal Chair in Islamic Thought and Culture and Professor of Religion and American Studies and Ethnicity at the University of Southern California, came to speak to us on the American Common Good in terms of the Islamic faith. He wrote numerous books and is an instrumental people for shedding light on not only what it means to be a Muslim, but also a black Muslim.

His talk was extremely profound. His messages were applicable to, in my opinion, everyone. Even though he spoke mainly to Islamic ideals and beliefs, I saw many opportunities for it to apply to others of various religions. His one sentiment that I agreed with the most was his idea that we do not need to hide our faith in order to contribute to the “American common good.” He spoke mainly to the Muslim community that is post 9-11, saying that after this world-changing event, many Muslims felt the need to hide their beliefs in order to contribute to the American common good as they were “smeared with collective guilt,” which is not the case. True Muslim values are in fact aligned with the American common good.

I also heavily agreed with his notion that all religions need to work together. It is essential that religions don’t slander each other or to pass judgements. I do believe that if religions set aside the key differences, they will see the same basic beliefs match up: be a good person in the eyes of God. I think that working together rather than fighting over these differences could solve a lot of problems, and essentially contribute to this American common good.

Overall, this was a great talk and definitely informative. It raised several good issues and led me to think more about the issues of politics and how they intertwine with religion, even though church and state are supposed to be separate.

Last week, Professor Sherman Jackson delivered a lecture on the possible role of Islam in American society, offering nuanced opinions on how to balance religious principles and priorities with the interests of fellow citizens who follow entirely different faiths, if at all. Particularly striking was his vision of how religious groups could act politically outside the traditional model of liberalism. Since the Enlightenment, most Western though tends to treat religion as a personal choice that is to be confined to the personal realm. Such a perspective may fend off any theocratic impulses, yet it also can obfuscate the communal aspects of religious behavior.

This reminds me of Saia v. New York, a court case concerning whether Jehovah’s Witnesses had the right to project their sermons to the public with the audio equipment tied to their cars. It was almost frustrating reading the legal discourse between the Witnesses and the state, as the mainline Protestant perspective of the latter could comprehend the view of religion held by the former. Time and time again, a state lawyer would ask why Witnesses could not simply keep their religious practices private, to which the Witnesses responded that being loud and disruptive was part of their religious practice. To them, religion was not something that could be confined to discrete sanctuaries and personal prayers before bed, but rather it is something integral to a person’s daily life that must be shared with others.

But Professor Jackson’s view on how religion should act in the public sphere is also rather distinct from that of Jehovah’s Witnesses. While putting the community above the individual, he likewise also places nation above the community (or at least he honors it such that community concerns do not become restricting and isolating). Muslims do not have to surrender their religious beliefs in order to serve their fellow Americans; these duties can compliment each other quite well. He also recommends that all people of faith, whether they be Shi’ite and Sunni or Jain and Mormon, should unite together. As gargantuan as this task is, I agree with the sentiment behind it. As the world becomes more secular and globalized, religion would do well to set aside theological arguments in favor of preserving and promoting the value of the numinous experience in order to secure and maintain its place in contemporary society.

This past week, I was proud to attend an event as a Rose Scholar as I also had a lot of vested interest in with another organization (Muslim Educational and Cultural Affairs). As a American Muslim myself, some of the things Professor Jackson discussed really hit home with me. He mentioned that American Muslims are often called upon to prove their loyalty to the American common good, and blamed for being insufficiently American if they balk at standing up.

This point is a very real reality for me. Every time a terrorist attack occurs, my heart sinks. Beyond sorrow and grief for the victims and their families, and a heightened sense of fear of discrimination and safety for myself, I feel like I have to apologize for the heinous, deplorable, and inhumane crimes committed in the name of my religion. The Islam I know and have been raised with preaches love, tolerance, kindness, being good to your neighbors, charity, respect, and loyalty–so it is difficult to see my religion being synonymous with terrorism. All I see in the media or in comments of articles are people asking, why don’t the “supposedly good Muslims” stand up and get rid of ISIS and other terrorist organizations. I stand up as much as I can. I provide my condolences to the aggrieved, I apologize and actively denounce the crimes of terrorism, spread the teaching of the Islam I know to be true and peaceful, and even attend rallies held by Muslims to denounce terrorism. I do not know what more I can do, except to enlist in the U.S military. However, I, like other Americans, have dreams in life that I want to keep pursuing, such as attaining my degrees, having a successful career, and a loving family. In the eyes of others, by doing this, I am not proving my loyalty to America. This ties back to Professor Jackson’s point that we get blamed for being insufficiently American if we balk at standing up. So when I do what I can to denounce terrorism and keep working on my very normal dreams, I get accused of not doing enough to stand up to terrorism because I am not actually out there fighting them on the battleground.  I hope his lecture gave the people attending a more clear picture of Islam and what its true values are, as opposed to what they hear on the media.

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On a side note, while it is a difficult time to be a Muslim in the world, I am humbled by the support I have received by the wonderful human beings around me who are quick to stand up for me in light of recent events in the news and the political spectrum. This may not mean much, but truly, thank you from the bottom of my heart.