Journalist: Educate yourself on Islam
By Keith E. Gottschalk
The Gazette
Wednesday, October 27, 2004, 10:21:35 AM
 LECTURE
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Journalist and filmmaker Anisa Mehdi will speak on "Beyond the Intellectual Quarantine: Islam, Muslims and the Media" at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in the Chapel of Mercy at Mount Mercy College , Cedar Rapids . Admission is free. |
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Award-winning filmmaker and journalist Anisa Mehdi has faith that most Americans will someday understand the Islam she knows.
Mehdi, a Muslim of Iraqi heritage, says many Muslim countries are engaged in a renaissance -- of the universality of Islam, its peace elements and its traditional empowerment of women.
"But here in America , we only hear about folks who 'hate our way of life' and threaten us," Mehdi said. "I want my audience at Mount Mercy College to understand that's a real minority out there."
Mehdi, who produced the documentary "Muslims" for PBS, as well as a special on the Hajj, or holy pilgrimage, for the same network, will speak Thursday on the Cedar Rapids campus.
Her lecture is part of the Understanding Islam series presented by the Mount Mercy College Cultural Affairs Committee.
Many Americans believe they know little about Islam, said Mehdi, of New Jersey . "If they know the stories of Abraham, Moses, Job and Jesus, that's all part of Islam as well," Mehdi said, "and 'Allah' is simply God. Islam's not different, strange or foreign; it has the same traditions and principles woven in."
The U.S. media and government have failed to educate Americans on Islam, so people should educate themselves, Mehdi said.
"That's why it's important for me to come and meet people in Iowa ," Mehdi said. "People are reaching out in the synagogues, in the universities and the mosques to learn and give ourselves knowledge. It's through the ongoing gatherings and discussions that improved relations take place."
Mehdi wants her audience to understand that Muslim countries emerging from colonialism are still finding their way as nations and people. Religion, she said, can play a positive or negative force.
Mehdi points to Iraq and the Palestinians, saying that both groups want self-determination, not solutions imposed by outsiders.
"We need to get out of Iraq physically and out of Israel economically. The Palestinians and Israelis need to face each other on a far more equal level, and that's not possible because of the advantage Israel gets from America .
"As for Iraq , they have to work out their own destination. That's democracy," Mehdi said. "We have to understand; we're not the Iraqi people." |
