How do Muslims fit into contemporary American society? Members of a project led by former Pakistani Ambassador to the United Kingdom Akbar Ahmed sought to answer this question by traveling across the United States with a research team and film crew. One of the results is the documentary film “Journey into America”, which explores the evolution of American identity as seen through the lens of American Muslims. Journey into America premiered July 4 at the annual Islamic Film Festival of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) convention. The principal investigator, Ahmed, holds the Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies at American University (AU) in Washington, and was supported by a team of his former AU students. The film portrays the experience of Muslim Americans by examining various Muslim communities across America, from big cities in the East to small towns in the Midwest. The film focuses heavily on the voices of ordinary American Muslims and how Muslims fit into contemporary American society. The research team traced the roots of Islam in America back to Sapelo Island, off the coast of Georgia. There they met a descendant of an African slave brought to the country in the 19th century. They also visited the oldest mosque in America in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The film team conducted interviews with Muslim and non-Muslim students, political and religious leaders, and community members to explore the breadth of socio-cultural perception of the Muslim-American community and the attitudes of that community. “The film depicts a nine-month journey we took to over 75 cities and 100 mosques to study how Muslims were fitting into American society and to promote better understanding between Muslims and non-Muslims. Our film was featured as the special event at the Islamic Film Festival,” said Frankie Martin, Ibn Khaldun Chair research fellow at American University's School of International Service. “The goal of our film and the work we've been doing at American University is to improve dialogue and communication between ethnic and religious groups in the US, which is what the Founding Fathers had in mind when they created this country 233 years ago.” A panel of specialists in various fields moderated a discussion on issues raised by the film. The panel included ISNA President Ingrid Mattson, Akbar Ahmed, Imam Mohamed Magid of the Northern Virginia All Dulles Area Muslim Society Center, Rabbi Bruce Lustig of the Washington Hebrew Congregation and Riz Khan of the cable television network Al Jazeera English. Mattson commented: “This is very refreshing … to take away the fear of encountering those people in those places. ... There are many Americans who are really frightened of what might be going on behind the doors of the mosques. So to get in and to hear what's in those people's minds, it takes away the strangeness of it.” “We believe the film gives an unbiased and unprecedented look into the lives of Muslim Americans. We heard stories of hope and compassion,” said Jonathan Hayden, one of the film's crew members. “The film Journey into America is our contribution to education, understanding and dialogue,” Hayden added. Magid praised one scene in the film in particular, where the film crew visited a statue of Thomas Jefferson at the University of Virginia. Jefferson was a passionate believer in a pluralist America. Under the statue, a tablet reads, “Religious Freedom, 1786 — God, Jehovah, Brahma, Atma, Ra, Allah.” The fact that Jefferson had included “Allah” surprised the imam and reinforced the film's theme of American pluralism and interfaith dialogue. “Muslim Americans respect the United States exactly for the values that Jefferson and the other Founding Fathers espoused,” said Hailey Woldt, an Ibn Khaldun research fellow at American University and a research associate at Georgetown University's Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs. “Non-Muslim Americans who we spoke with for the most part expressed tolerance toward Muslims, although many admitted that they simply did not know enough about Islam.” “Journey into America” is a project sponsored by the Brookings Institution, American University and Georgetown University's Berkley Center. In addition to the documentary, information and analyses from the project will be featured in the forthcoming book “Journey into America: The Crisis of Islam” (Brookings Press, 2009).
