The RIS conference ended with a powerful message from the majority of scholars in attendance of "United We Stand." Many people from Southeastern Michigan drove the three and a half to four hour drive to hear the lectures of the last three days given by illustrious scholars from around the globe. There were attendees from around the globe as well. A couple from Denmark, men from Australia, South Africa, and on and on. The conference was diverse in thought and in attendance.
With more than 17,000 people in attendance the conference seemed to move along smoothly and without incident. There was a hopping bazaar where along with clothing and other household items, attendees got to look at art and have book signings with their favorite scholars.
With each progressive day of the conference the lectures did not diminish in their effectiveness. The morning started with lectures from Sr. Aisha Al Adawiyyah and Dr. Abdal Hakim Murad speaking on "Freeing Our Mosques." Sr. Aisha, a native of New York City, New York, spoke of the needs of the communities and their relationship with the mosques. One particular note was the need to deal with no tolerance toward issues like domestic violence. Dr. Abdul Hakim Murad, a native of Cambridge, Great Britain, spoke on what mosques are supposed to be. He elaborated that mosques are not supposed to be hyphenated with some tradition, race or ethnicity, i.e., this is the Somali-mosque. But, rather, mosques are supposed to be freely attended with the diversity of all communities and not at the exclusion of anyone. He suggested that mosques that are not built with the right intention may not flourish, like those particularly that seek to serve only one group of people and decorate their mosque to do so with particular art and decoration alienating others. He mentioned grandeur of the great mosques of Istanbul, i.e., the Blue Mosque, and how most tourists like to visit them. But he found that where most Turkish people go for Friday prayer was a smaller less well-known mosque because the people believe its financing was halaal, and so they believe it to be the best place to worship. He concluded discussing the mosque in his own town of Cambridge. He said they are blessed with an ideal mosque there. It is one where even those who are not Muslim like to come and sit for the peace they feel there. It is diverse with nearly 70 different nationalities all praying there. And it has been blessed to the point where in the last few years it has more than doubled in size, largely due to an indigenous population and so they are building a new one down the road.
The next morning session speaker was Professor Tariq Ramadan who spoke on "Read: A Simple Command of Profound Implications." In his speech Professor Ramadan focused on the attributes of God and how we need to access them. He discussed the need for critical thinking and to not follow anyone blindly. "If you like what someone has said, don't just take it because you like it" he said, "but rather find out for yourself. " Dr. Ramadan recently published a book entitled What I believe. Many of his thoughts from his speeches at RIS can be found in the pages of this book.
The last morning lecture was given by Southeastern Michigan's own Dr. Sherman Abdal Hakim Jackson who spoke on "He Made You into Nations and Tribes to Know One Another: The Social Implications of Race Relations." This was a powerful speech to end the morning sessions. Dr. Jackson did not hold back any from speaking the truths that many do not want to face. He spoke of the differentiating between white supremacist and white racist. He was asked to elaborate on the question of the increase in white supremacist groups after September 11, 2001. He said that groups like the KKK were not, to him, white supremacist groups, but rather white racist groups. To be a supremacist group you have to be able to effect the people's own self-image and feelings of worth. If the KKK shows up at your door with hoods and burning crosses, you can fight them and that is that. But, white supremacy is something different. He recalled that in his parents lifetime they experienced first hand what white supremacy was. It was not the signs above the water fountains reading whites only and coloreds, but rather the disparity in the size of the fountains themselves that humiliated colored people and made them feel inferior. In the United States, he suggested that white supremacy has come between Muslims and their practice of Islam. He suggested that many small minorities, one of which includes Muslims in the United States, are used to keep the elite from the masses. To empower the masses would risk takeover. So, in lieu of this, many smaller minorities like immigrant Muslims will be given a carrot of checking off the box on the census as white to be legally white, but will never be socially white and should stop fooling themselves. He was not advocating for a post-racial society as he indicated that race is what keeps governments in the West honest. "We have seen what they can do," he said. To eliminate race discussions would take away our ability to keep one another honest. He quoted Dr. Cornell West and said that he thinks we all still have some of that white supremacy in ourselves. And if black people have it, then he is pretty sure white people do too. He continued to point out that white people themselves have been some of the biggest critics of white supremacy, and directed the audience to the writings of Theodore Allen. He asked people to understand that the majority of whites have been victims themselves to white supremacy, especially poor whites.
The afternoon started out with laughter created by the"Allah Made Me Funny" crew: Mohammed Amer,Preacher Moss and Uzhar Usman with a special appearance by Omar Regan They created laughter and showed just how funny Muslims can be by using comedy from everyday life even new material about the so-called Nigerian terrorist in Detroit, by stating that he was such a bad terrorist that even a terrorist organization like al-Qaeda didn't want to claim him.
The evening sessions started with Sheikh Hamza Yusuf speaking on "The Muslim World: A SWOT Analysis." Sheikh Hamza encouraged people to know one another and try to understand one another before reaching conclusions about one another.
This was followed by Sheikh Abdalla Idris Ali andSheikh Sulaiman Mulla speaking on "Is the Generation Gap Real?: Social Reality or Anarchist Myth." The night continued to build with a lecture from Imam Zaid Shakir on "Overkill: How Many Times Do We Need To Destroy The Earth?" He spoke to the environmental destruction of the Earth. After Imam Zaid, Dr. Tareq Suwaidan spoke on "A Quest for Dialogue: Islam's Contribution to a New Civilizing Discourse."
In the finale session of the night Sheikh Abdallah Bin Bayyah translated by Sheikh Hamza Yusuf offered many advices to the Muslim community. And then for an explosive finish Sheikh Abdalla Idris Ali , Dr. Jamal Badawi, Dr. Abdal Hakim Murad, Sheikh Sulaiman Mulla , Dr. Sherman Abdal Hakim Jackson, Imam Zaid Shakir, Dr. Yusuf Islam, Dr. Tareq Suwaidan, Habib Ali Al Jifri and Sheikh Hamza Yusuf each spoke for about 5-7 minutes with a message on "United We Stand."
Attendees so enjoyed the event they had fellowship into the wee hours of the morning. DVDs can be purchased of the conference.