Speaking about Islam at a 2003 event in Toronto, the Harvard University legal scholar Dr. Noah Feldman said: “The earliest source of the principle of liberty of religion is the Qur’an itself, which says very explicitly that there should be no coercion in religion.”
At a 2005 event in Oakland, the public intellectual Dr. Cornel West of Princeton University, made the following observation about Islam in America: “[It is] so great to see a young brother reading, reciting the Qur’an. How one wishes that was part and parcel of the image of young black people in American civilization. And there are thousands of young brothers reciting the Qur’an. Reading the Qur’an more and more and they will become more visible in the years to come.”
That same year in Berkeley, the author and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Chris Hedges spoke of his observations of Islam while covering the Palestinian-Israeli conflict as the New York Times’ Middle East bureau chief: “One of the things that strikes me when I’m in the refugee camps and watching the power of Islam is that everything has broken down in terms of structure and control, but people get up for the morning prayers [and pray] five times a day. Islam in its various forms…gives a kind of foundation to the lives of these people and holds them together.”
All three of these prolific speakers had one thing in common—they were all participating in major public discussions with a Zaytuna Institute scholar as the second panelist.
Shaykh Hamza Yusuf spoke with Dr. Feldman about the relationship between Islam and democracy and with Mr. Hedges about religion and fanaticism, while Imam Zaid Shakir joined Dr. West to discuss the respective legacies of the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X.
Sponsoring and participating in public conversations that feature Muslim voices paired with the leading intellectuals of the West is just one of the many ways that Zaytuna is attempting to shape a new, authentically pluralistic America. By reaching out to the West’s most thoughtful voices, like those of Dr. Feldman, Dr. West, Mr. Hedges, and many others, Zaytuna hopes to foster intellectual alliances that promote mutual understanding between Islam and the West.
While such efforts are distinct and separate from Zaytuna’s core seminary project, they cohere with its overall mission of disseminating Islamic knowledge and normalizing Islam in America.
They also require a different kind of financial support—support which provides organizational stability and allows long-term planning of growth in programs. To that end, Zaytuna Institute is launching an ambitious drive to cultivate a base of donors who make a commitment to make monthly donations, however large or small. While large, one-time donations certainly help projects such as the seminary, consistent donations are crucial to Zaytuna’s health and its ongoing programs.
“This is a fundraising initiative that is open to everybody who believes in our mission,” says Ali Hassan, the director of development at Zaytuna. “Almost every Muslim in America can offer to consistently donate $10, $20, $50, or $100 each month, and if enough Muslims support Muslim institutions in this manner, we’ll soon be seeing healthier and healthier Muslim organizations in America.”To learn more about Zaytuna Institute’s new fundraising initiative, please contact our fundraising and development office at 510.549.3391. To make a consistent monthly donation now, please visit: www.zaytuna.org/donation.asp
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