Islam and Democracy

From unfathomable tragedy has emerged a rare opportunity for a religion and a system of government to openly confront what each means to the other.

Osama bin Laden has repeatedly tried to position America as an enemy of Islam. “The American regime,” he declared in 1996, “ ... is against every Muslim.” President Bush in his Sept. 20 speech to Congress effectively contrasted this fanaticism with Islam’s constructive role in American society. Amid distinctions more likely to be heard in religious studies seminars than Congress came this presidential observation: “The terrorists are traitors to their own faith.”

Many true followers of Islam have chosen the United States as a home precisely because they were disappointed in someplace else. Islamic leaders here say they appreciate this country because its political and social system comports with the real teachings of their religion by aspiring to equality in its ideals, its legal system and its Constitution. But they tend to speak softly, making it hard to compete for media attention with the radicals who preach contempt for the United States even in a handful of American mosques.

This stark contrast speaks volumes about the United States as democracy’s political and religious proving ground. At a 1993 celebration in Hollywood of the world’s religious traditions, Maher Hathout, a spokesman for the Islamic Center of Southern California, identified several American core values as central to Islamic thinking: diversity, equality and human dignity.

Muslims have engaged in ecumenical dialogue, with special attention to exploring common roots in Christianity and Judaism. And, as Huston Smith wrote in “The Religions of Man,” even Islam’s obligatory pilgrimage to Mecca reflects the egalitarian sentiment that “rank and hierarchy are removed; prince and pauper stand before God in their undivided humanity.”

Once the pilgrimage ends, many return to Islamic countries that lack these democratic ideals or to societies that proclaim such standards but nurture prejudice. Since they began coming to America in significant numbers after passage of the Immigration Act of 1965, Muslims have found a political system compatible with what many scholars say is their religion’s true values. These tenets are abused in many nations, where leaders parlay religious authority into political power. But many imams, scholars and ordinary followers in this country have learned to appreciate the separation of church and state as the principle of American democracy that protects their right to practice their minority faith freely.

Nearly two centuries ago, the author Alexis de Tocqueville toured America and characterized its national experience as one in which religion served to strengthen the young democracy. That process continues. The attacks on New York and Washington have forced all Americans to grapple with their commitment to such democratic principles as tolerance, justice and liberty. Conversely, with the nation a bit older and reshaped by many tides of immigration, the democratic experience is also strengthening religion.

How ironic this is in view of what a few murderous zealots trumpet about America’s supposed hostility to Islam. As imams and President Bush alike point out the differences between real faith and fanaticism, tolerance and bigotry, a window has opened. Someday history books will recount how the fires of Sept. 11 refined and strengthened both Islam and America.