The Tampa Bay area has emerged as a hotbed for Muslim and anti-Muslim activity. The local director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations says he's trying to cool things down.
Just in the past few months:
- A Hillsborough judge said he would use Islamic law to help decide a lawsuit against a mosque -- and then backed off.
- The arrest of a Tampa imam on suspicion of aiding the Pakistani Taliban triggered a protest by religious leaders demanding that his mosque be shut down.
- Most recently, the Tampa-based Florida Family Association threatened a nationwide boycott of sponsors of a cable-TV show, "All-American Muslim."
Amid the roiling religious-cultural clashes, Hassan Shibly says he wants to calm the troubled waters.
"Conflict is ultimately the result of hatred resulting from misunderstanding. By learning about each other we can come to appreciate and respect each other," the local CAIR director told 500 students at Tampa's Steinbrenner High School last month.
"The beauty of American diversity is that we may disagree on issues of politics or faith, yet such differences need not prohibit us from working together for a better society," he said.
Shibly appeared at the invitation of Steinbrenner's social studies department. Hillsborough School District spokesman Steve Hegarty said similar invitations are issued to other faiths, including Hindu, Buddhist and Methodist.
Hegarty said such programs are within district guidelines, "So long as it's across the board and a diverse set of religions are represented."
A conservative activist in Central Florida said she would hold the district to that policy.
Saying she was "sadly disappointed" in Steinbrenner's decision to invite Shibly on campus, Diane Kepus said the others will demand "equal time."
Further, Kepus requested "a list of every social studies/history book ... at Steinbrenner High School and a copy of the email, newsletter or note that was sent to the students' parents notifying them of [Shibly's] visits."
Teachers at Steinbrenner declined to comment, but Shibly said he was well-received by the students in the school's advanced-placement world history classes.
"We're not incompatible with American values. We pray five times a day. We believe in the same God and the Abrahamic prophets. We teach tolerance of minorities," Shibly said in an interview with Sunshine State News.
But the CAIR director isn't necessarily so charitable toward those who oppose Islam, including Zionist-backed organizations and politicians.
Shibly derides "the $42 million Islamophobia industry" as "hate groups," and he downplayed concerns that his faith's Sharia law is embedding itself in America.
"If Muslims were as bad as these people say we are, we'd all be at Guantanamo," he said.
Still, Shibly's message of peace and conciliation can be a tough sell in the post-9/11 era.
Only 37 percent of Americans have a favorable opinion of Islam -- the lowest rating since 2001 and the lowest of any religion, according to an ABC News/Washington Post poll last year.
As for Sharia, Shibly, who earned a law degree from SUNY-Buffalo, describes the Islamic law as a "moral traditional code" that establishes five goals to protect religion, intellect, health, wealth and honor.
"Sharia law has been misinterpreted. It forbids imposition in a non-Muslim country," he says, pointing out that "the establishment clause of the U.S. Constitution prohibits it."
Hillsborough Circuit Judge Richard Nielsen evidently reached the same conclusion last month.
After saying he would use "ecclesiastical Islamic law" to decide a dispute between a local mosque and several ousted trustees, Nielsen determined that the Constitution barred the court from getting involved and dismissed the suit.
While defending his faith, Shibly can be equally critical of his hard-line brethren within Islam.
"I find a lot in common between Muslim extremists and Islamophobe extremists. Both are a loud but small minority that call us evil and misguided for our efforts to engage in outreach and dialogue, and neither truly represents the ideals they claim to hold sacred," he said.
Calling Islamic hard-liners to account, Shibly says, "By claiming we want to overthrow and replace American values with Islamic values, they are stating that Islamic values and American values are incompatible, and thus they are exposing their bigotry and prejudice."
"People are hijacking our system to promote a religious agenda," he alleges, asserting that the infusion of politics results in terrorism.
"We stay out of politics," Shibly says of CAIR, which, he adds, "has a track record of condemning terrorism."
CAIR's detractors disagree. They note that since 9/11, three of the organization's associates in the United States have been indicted on terrorism-related charges.
Acknowledging there can be bad actors inside and outside the Islamic community, Shibly issued a challenge to well-traveled Muslim critic Pamela Geller.
"If Geller was sincere in her concerns, she would not target those promoting outreach, diversity, integration and religious tolerance like myself.
"Rather, she should be concerned with the real extremists who have attacked me and called me an infidel for my outreach efforts."
Meantime, Shibly asserts that CAIR is mending fences and building bridges in the Tampa area. He noted that the organization's banquet last month was attended by Mayor Bob Buckhorn, the local U.S. attorney and a school board member.
Expanding on the work of his local CAIR predecessors, Shibly relates that "by the grace of God" he is invited to give talks in the community on almost a weekly basis. Speaking venues in the past month included Strayer University in Tampa and the Ringling College of Art and Design in Sarasota.
Arriving in this country at age 4 from his homeland in Syria, Shibly recalls, "I got a lot of bullying growing up in Buffalo."
"Education about Islam is substandard at best. It's critical that people know about all aspects of their society, because ignorance leads to the destruction of our values and the erosion of freedom of religion."
This is an opinion column: Contact Kenric Ward at kward@sunshinestatenews.com or at (772) 559-4719.
