REPORTER'S NOTEBOOK

	Reconciling perspectives does not come easy after sheikh's remarks By NADA EL SAWY Posted Monday, April 8, 2002; 7 p.m. EST

Listening to the sheikh speak at the Cathedral Mosque that day was like watching pages of the Qur'an slowly catch flame, slowly burn.

I could not help but think, "Oh God. How many Muslims think this way? How many Muslims talk to Americans this way?"

When I told Muslim acquaintances the story of our visit, they were just as appalled as I was. These Muslims included a Dagestan native in Moscow, an Egyptian in Berlin, a Palestinian student in New York and a group of visiting journalists from Arab countries.

But Farid Asadullin is an official spokesperson for Islam, which made our encounter at the mosque seem especially serious. He meets with world leaders on a regular basis including Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and Iranian President Mohammad Khatami.

Asadullin's current title is head of the Science and Public Relations Department at the Council of Muftis, a group of advisers in Islamic law who can issue fatwas (legal opinions). His job is public relations. And he's educated. He received a degree in Arabic literature and culture at Leningrad University.

In 2000, Asadullin participated at the Millennium World Peace Summit of Religious and Spiritual Leaders in New York. In Russia, as deputy chairman of the Muslim Spiritual Directorate for East European Russia, he helped establish the Permanent Interfaith Council in January 1999. The council's work, he said at the time of inception, would be based on the "principle of equality" of all faiths.

His speech to us was not only offensive and inappropriate, it sounded to me like illogical nonsense.

The exchange started off benign. He began by outlining some of the problems facing Russian Muslims, such as the lack of mosques and educational facilities. He touched on a few political problems, the most obvious being Chechnya, a "source of social instability." He stressed the need for the three world religions to interact and "find a common language."

A lot of Asadullin's comments bothered me from the starting point of "The Pentagon attack may have been staged." He either gave no evidence for his arguments or gave arguments that led to no conclusion. He said that Muslims could not have been responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks citing as proof that "Muslims cannot be the source of aggression" and "cannot attack a house of worship." (Apparently there was a prayer room on one floor of the twin towers.)

Asadullin condemned others for connecting Islam to Osama bin Laden, but he made arguments based on that misconception. If bin Laden was tried and found guilty, the Muslim world would respond harshly. If he was tried and found innocent, he said, associations of Islam with terrorism would finally be proven unfounded.

The manner in which he talked about Islam's appeal disturbed me. He would encourage interfaith dialogue, then say "A Muslim will never become a Christian or a Jew — even in an extreme situation ... Anywhere a Muslim community once emerges, it never disappears."

Because he speaks Arabic, I approached him afterward and spoke to him one—on—one. He welcomed my questions, but it was difficult to get through to him. When I told him I was surprised by what he said, he didn't flinch.

I tried to look at it from his point of view. I told him, "Let's say that there should be evidence of bin Laden's guilt, isn't it unfair that you make accusations for which you don't have proof?" He seemed to understand and nodded. Then he insisted there needs to be a response to the speculations that bin Laden acted in the name of Islam. He kept trying to tell me, "Bin Laden and Islam are not equal." I kept telling him, "I'm Muslim! I know!"

Bin Laden has confused a lot of people. How, I wonder, can some Muslims applaud bin Laden for speaking up for injustices in the Muslim world, condemn him for terrorist acts, deny that any Muslim could have committed such a horrific attack and then blame American foreign policy all at once? Where is the logic?

There are other thoughts that have gone through my mind since that day. If I explain or clarify the sheikh's position, am I defending him? Should I ignore his views or refute them? Although the experience at the mosque was unpleasant, I can learn from it as a Muslim and as a journalist.

In the last several months, I've gone through many reactions to what I hear from and about Muslims. Sometimes I'm shocked. Sometimes I feel a sense of comfort, anger, disbelief or hopelessness.

While working on my master's thesis about the connection between Islam and violence in the American media, I looked for mistakes, inaccurate assumptions and hostility, and had no shortage of material. Yet, I realized from Asadullin that, by being defensive, some Muslims are attacking others and stripping themselves of sensitivity or perspective. Instead of acting out the true tenets of our religion, they tell others "Don't associate Islam with terrorism." Asadullin did not display the patience, tolerance or kindness that should be associated with Islam. Maybe he should learn from the journalism adage: "Show. Don't tell."

As a journalist, I learned a few things, too. I don't consider myself a conspiracy theorist, but I do have unanswered questions about what happened on Sept. 11. Was there any prior knowledge of the attacks? Did the suicide hijackers know what they were doing? Was the plane maneuver the work of a novice pilot? What was the purpose? Why didn't President Bush produce the "undisputed evidence" when the Taliban said it would turn over bin Laden? Why did this happen?

I think we're bad journalists if we do not continue to ask these questions. If the FBI had not found Timothy McVeigh to be responsible for the Oklahoma City bombing, would we have always believed it was the work of Islamic militants?

It is naïve to assume that Americans are not making a connection between bin Laden and Islam. The focus of this "war on terror" is Islamic extremism. If government officials and policy makers are not making a connection between bin Laden and Islam, why all the questions about teachings in Islamic schools, Wahhabism and the meaning of jihad? If people are convinced that Islam plays no part, why all the scrutiny of Qur'anic verses?

In a class discussion following the event, classmate Noah Haglund said, "As journalists, we do need to see where he's coming from." What we should also learn from this experience is that one perspective cannot be taken as truth. There are many ridiculous generalizations in the American media, like "the Muslim mind," "the Arab street," "Islamic rage" and "Muslim violence."

Like all human beings, Asadullin is a product of his society. I am surprised that many of my classmates felt that he was "anti—American." Again, this is not to excuse his behavior. But when students asked "Who is making the connection between bin Laden and Islam?", Asadullin did not point to Americans. His first answer was "the Russian media."

According to an Oct. 21, 2001 article in The Warsaw Voice ("Russia and Islam"), the Russian media and the country's political elite "have largely been unable to differentiate between terrorism and Islam" since the mid—1990s. They view the revival of Islamic religiosity as an extremist threat.

The article cited erroneous statements made about Muslims in contemporary religion textbooks used in Russian classrooms. "Muslims are wild people. They often ate the livers and hearts of their enemies killed in battle" and "Islam is the only religion in the world which does not accept the existence of any other religion. Those who follow Islam must always be ready to fight infidels." Where is the logic?

Since Sept. 11, Russia's Muslim leaders have made an effort to distinguish between Islam and terrorism. Ravil Gainutdin, chairman of the Russian Council of Muftis, said: "[The] Qur'an evaluates a person who killed another one as having killed the whole [of] mankind." Of the Taliban, he said, "If they had thought of Islam, they would have taken care of the purity of the religion, instead of harming the rest of the Muslim world."

Russia has a history of government—sponsored violence against predominantly Muslim ethnic minorities. Islam may be one of the official religions welcomed by the 1997 religioun law, but it seems that "Islamophobia" is on the rise. On Sept. 15, 2001, Dmitri Ayatskov, governor of the Saratov region of Russia, called on local officials to struggle against "adherents of Islam, Hare Krishna, and other sects." On Nov. 9, 2001, The New York Times featured an article on Islam in Russia titled: "Shackles Off, Russia's Muslims Are Still Chafing."

This ultimately should not have been a discussion of bin Laden at all. It should have been an examination of how Russia's Muslims are connecting to their faith when the practice of Islamic principles raises fears of extremism.

Asadullin's comment to us about Islam's fast growth was "One should not be afraid of this." His comment sounded threatening and ominous and it made me squirm.

I am not afraid of Islam. I am not ashamed of being a Muslim. I don't feel threatened by "fundamentalism" — if that means adhering to the five pillars and following the example of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). I don't see any connection with "extremism" in the fundamentals of my religion.

It is unfortunate that Asadullin was our only encounter with Islam in Russia. And it is unfortunate that he represented Islam with the same fear, confusion and callousness he claimed to speak out against.