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The Islamic Bulletin

Issue 18

By Monique El-Faizy andMichele

Comandini

A decision by Paterson (CA)

school district officials to rec-

ognize the two major Islamic

holidays is the first of its kind in

the country, community leaders

say, and reflects the growing in-

fluence of Muslims in America.

Paterson’s schools will close next

year for the two most important

Muslim holidays -- Eid al-Fitr on Jan. 7, which marks the end of

Ramadan, and Eid al-Adha on March 17, which commemorates

the Prophet Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son Ismael at

God’s command.

“We have a growing Muslim presence in Paterson, and this was a

way to recognize that,” said school board President William McK-

oy. “It’s important in celebrating our diversity that we also have an

understanding of holidays.”

“On the district level, that is the first time in the United States,”

said Shabbir Mansuri, founding director of the Council on Islamic

Education, based in Fountain Valley, Calif. “This is welcome news

to the 6 [million] to 8 million Muslims in the United States. It also

sends a signal to the rest of the United States.”

Paterson’s Muslim groups also praised the decision, saying it was

“long overdue.” “We have a large number of Muslims in the school

system and we should be entitled to our holidays as well as oth-

ers’ holidays,” said Riad Mustafa, president of the Islamic Center

of Passaic County (California). “It shows how great we are in this

country that we can accommodate everyone’s religious beliefs.”

McKoy said the Paterson district also will begin to incorporate the

meaning of holidays in its curriculum so that “students can celebrate

with more purpose rather than just having a day off.”

The district recognizes Jewish and Christian religious holidays as

well as Thanksgiving, Memorial Day, and Martin Luther King Jr.’s

birthday. District officials said Eid al-Fitr was included as a holiday

this school year, but the holiday fell on Jan. 18, which was also the

observance of Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday.

The second Muslim holiday was added last week after the board

was approached by parents, students, and members of the Arab

and Muslim communities.

New Jersey law allows students to be excused from school during

religious holidays recognized by the state. Eid al-Fitr is one of those

holidays, so students are allowed to take the day off in other districts.

IbrahimHooper, spokesman for the Washington, D.C.-based Coun-

cil on American-Islamic Relations, said that has been a struggle in

other states. “Our main goal in this area has been to have Muslim

students allowed to go to Eid without being marked absent,” he said.

Paterson’s decision is the latest in a series of steps toward recogniz-

ing the rights of Muslims in schools and workplaces, something the

Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has worked hard for.

“I think that Muslims are finally coming on people’s radar screens,

both the general public and officials, and these kinds of things are

beginning to be addressed,” Hooper said.

Hooper said the council has received thousands of requests for

its educators’ guide to Islamic practices, which was released in

late 1997, and has sent out 20,000 copies of a similar guide for

employers.

Opportunity Commission is handling many more complaints from

Muslims, and an increasing number of disputes are being resolved

in their favor.

Most recently, seven Dulles International Airport workers won the

right to wear head scarves to work in conformance with Muslim

tradition,

and in March a federal appeals court ruled that two Newark police

officers had the right to wear beards for religious reasons.

atinos

mbrace

slam

By Margaret Rameriz, Times Religion Writer

Slipped inside a strip mall across from Exposition Park where the

smell of incense mingles with Arabic swirls on the wall, Muham-

mad Gomez absorbs the message of Allah. Sitting beside him in

this storefront Islamic center, Domy Garcia raises her hand and

asks why she and other Muslim women are obliged to cover their

heads with the hijab. Mariam Montalvo takes diligent notes at the

Sunday afternoon Islamic lesson with the holy Qur’an by her side.

Here at the ILM Foundation, a new Islamic movement is being born.

Yet it lies far from Mecca, where the faith was founded more than

1,400 years ago. And the language of choice for this group of Islamic

followers is not Arabic. These Muslims worship Allah in Spanish.

Montalvo, who immigrated to Los Angeles from Mexico in 1996,

left the Catholic faith three months ago, frustrated by what she

called contradictions within church teachings and preoccupation

with the saints. After research and contemplation, she took the

Shahada, the simple declaration of faith by which one becomes a

Muslim. “I had a lot of problems with the church. One Bible says

one thing, and another Bible says something different. Then there

are people who call themselves Catholics and drink and smoke,”

said Montalvo, 21. “With Islam, it was so pure. I found there were

no intermediaries. Everything goes straight to God.”

Last month, 30 Southern California converts founded the Lati-

no-MuslimMovement with the intent of educating Spanish-speaking

Muslims and spreading Islam to other Latinos. After meeting for the

past seven years, the group appointed officers and elected to meet

at the ILM Foundation once a week.

Scores of Latinos throughout the country--specifically in New York,

New Jersey, Chicago, and Miami--have fled the church of their birth

and embraced Islam as their newfound faith.

In New York, a group of Puerto Rican Muslims opened an Islamic

center in the heart of East Harlem called Alianza Islamica, where

hundreds of Latinos have converted since 1992. The center, the

first of its kind, includes a small mosque where the Friday sermon is

heard in Arabic, English, and Spanish. Islam has adherents through-

out Latin America and the Caribbean as well, with especially strong

followings in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, and Panama.

Reymundo Nur, a Panamanian who became Muslim at the age

of 12 and studied Islam in Saudi Arabia, helped organize the Los

Angeles group. Two years ago, Nur co-founded a national nonprofit

organization called Asociacion Latina de Musulmanes en las Amer-

icas, which focuses on translating Islamic books and literature into

Spanish. He said one of his group’s main projects is translating the

Qur’an into contemporary, conversational Spanish. At least two

Spanish translations of the Qur’an exist, but Nur said they use a more

formal, Castilian Spanish. “There have always been Latino Muslims.

It’s only now that they’re coming to the forefront,” said Nur, vice

president of the Latino-MuslimMovement in Los Angeles. “We have

a strong Islamic legacy, and people are rediscovering that part of

their heritage. Many learn about it and say, ‘Hey, I have more of this

in me than I ever realized.’ “Islamic ties to Hispanic culture date

back to 711, when the Muslim general Tariq ibn Zayid conquered

Spain, and the Christian Visigothic domination of Roderick came to

an end. Under Moorish rule, Christians, Jews, and Muslims coexisted

in Spain. Conversion was encouraged but never forced. Because the

Arabs did not bring women with them, they took Spanish wives, and

within a few generations the Muslim population was more Spanish

than Arab. For the next 700 years, Al-Andalus, as the Muslims refer

to Spain, enjoyed an era of political and cultural splendor, becom-

ing one of the most intellectually advanced countries in medieval

Europe. Islamic influence penetrated almost every facet of Spanish

life, especially music, architecture, and literature.

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