September 11 is proving to be a watershed event affecting American education. PBS’ “NewsHour with Jim Lehrer” reported on its January 18 broadcast that the events of 9/11 have coaxed Americans to learn more about Islam, Muslim cultures, and the Arabic language. It has led to a spurt of a nationwide campus interest on Islam.
The other afternoon, Professor Akbar Ahmed, who holds the Ibn Khaldun Chair of Islamic Studies at American University, in Washington, D.C., asked me to inaugurate his “Dialogue of Civilizations” course with an opening lecture. The session spread to well over 2 hours. It was a first-hand demonstration of the emergence of Muslim-related issues into popular areas of study.
What I said there is unimportant. More significant, perhaps, was the motivation and response of the class. The course was oversubscribed and the classroom packed. It was a remarkably diverse group originating from Ireland, Greece, Turkey, Israel, the Persian Gulf, India, Columbia, Nicaragua, Korea, Afghanistan, many Americans including 5 from Cleveland, Ohio, and a Muslim girl from Ivory Coast who lost two near ones in the Twin Tower tragedy.
At the end of my talk, when Prof. Akbar Ahmed enquired from his students as to what led them to join his course, their responses centered on: (1) trying to learn more about the Palestinian-Israeli dispute; (2) broadening horizons; and (3) seeking the context of and the causes behind September 11. A striking fact was the open-mindedness and the lack of hostility.
What is now evident is an enormous upsurge of interest in Islam and Muslim world issues, which is spurring new collegiate studies. To grasp this defining event in their lives, students are dispensing with their traditional apathy and “I-don’t-care” attitude about the other. Suddenly, Islam appears relevant.
Students are unsure whether the atrocity on that September morning heralds the much-trumpeted “clash of civilizations” but they do realize that, if left unexamined, it may put civilization, as they know it, in dire peril.
The more the search for understanding grows, the more the onus falls on the American Muslim community to seize the day to reinforce and sustain this outreach.