"UNVEILING" ISLAM:  NEW ROLES AND RESOURCES TOWARD THE
REVITALIZATION OF URBAN COMMUNITIES

Jaleel Abdul-Adil  PhD

A

The Religion of Islam: A Surging Socio-Political Phenomenon

Islam has recently been recognized as the fastest growing religion in the world,
including in the United States (America, Oct. 13, 1990; U.S. News & World Report,
Oct. 8, 1990; Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, May/June 1996). Despite mainstream media blaring stereotypical headlines about "barbaric amputations,"
"female oppression," and "Middle Eastern terrorism," Islam has emerged over the
past ten years to include an estimated 1 billion adherents worldwide and 8 million
followers in America.  Moreover, half of the Muslims in the U.S. are African-American converts with increasing numbers of Latinos and other ethnic groups (L.A. Times,
April 12, 1999). Dr. Ahmed Totonji of the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT)
in the Washington, DC area, projects that the number of Muslims in America will
reach the 10 million mark by the turn of the century, and Dr. Hisham Al Talib, also
of the IIIT, says: "At their present rate of growth, their number will double in 28
years' time" (Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, May/June 1996).


Islamic Activism: Implications for the Field of Community Psychology

What are the implications of these trends for the field of community psychology?
While stunning demographers with its rapid growth, Islam also offers community
psychology a vital resource for the inspiration, mobilization, and transformation of
indigenous communities. The role of spirituality-based social change strategies
have been discussed by non-psychologists according to activist-oriented constructs including: 1) "liberation theology," popularized by Latin American clergy conducting politicized outreach to oppressed populations in Latin America; and 2) "liberation psychology," cited by Azibo (1994) as the synthesis of Black liberation theology
and African (Black) psychology.

Indigenous Muslims have also historically been initiators and partners in social
struggle, particularly among historically oppressed urban African-Americans through grass-roots organizations such as the Moorish Science Temple, Nation of Islam,
and W.D. Mohammed's Ministry (American Visions, Dec. 1988). While many of
these early Muslim movements were admittedly "non-Orthodox" sects, the role of
the Quran and the Islamic faith among indigenous Muslims in striving toward self-development, self-determination, and social change has demonstrated Islam's
powerful pro-social impact on indigenous communities. Moreover, each of these
communities shared a belief in the Quran as the central characteristic of their identity
and activities which consequently enables community psychology a readily accessible resource for establishing shared language, mutual understanding, and subsequent
solidarity when seeking social change with Muslim and pro-Muslim communities.  For example, the "El-Rukns" are a notoriously powerful street gang in Southside Chicago
whose members' conversions and exposure to the Islamic faith since 1975 instilled
a current respect for and adoption of certain tenets of the Islamic religion, including
the current reference to their neighborhood as "Moe Town" (i.e., "Muslim Town").

Despite the growing popularity and historic influence, Islam is represented in a mere
paucity of scholarly resources and approaches to applied research and
community-based mental health which is derived from and rooted in the Islamic
exegesis. I was the first author in a previous article on "Community Psychology and
Al-Islam: A Spiritual Framework for Social Change" that appeared in the community psychology literature which discussed the potential productivity of an Islamic
paradigm (The Community Psychologist, 1991). My recent literature search of the
1967-99 PsycINFO Database, however, identified 973 articles that included the term "community psychology" yet only 6 of these articles referred to "religion" and none of
these articles included even the words "Islam" or "Muslim." Thus, community
psychology and its practitioners should begin examining and developing new concepts
and practices for service delivery which are rooted in an Islamic-centered paradigm that embraces the views and values of indigenous Muslim communities.

                     The Inner-City Muslim Action Network (I.M.A.N.):   An Exemplar of Islam
in Action

As many other indigenous communities have historically generated their own
community-based programs in response to chronic urban crises, a small group of
twelve Muslim undergraduate students from assorted Chicago-area universities led
by Rami Nashashabi of DePaul University joined hands with local residents in an
oppressed section  of Southside Chicago in 1995 to found the "Inner City Muslim
Action Network" (I.M.A.N.). Choosing a title whose acronym "IMAN" also means
"faith" in the Islamic lexicon to emphasize that this type of activism is an Islamic
obligation, these students and local families established IMAN as a self-initiated and
self-subsistent grass-roots organization to confront the escalating inner-city crises of violence, poverty, alienation, frustration, and disillusionment. In addition, despite
working in a predominantly impoverished African-Americanand Latino neighborhood
and having various "ethnicities" ("Black," "White," and "Arab" Muslims), these
Muslims in IMAN relied on their Islamic identity to unify as "Muslims" and to
transcend their respective racial backgrounds.  Thus, IMAN enabled Muslims
from various backgrounds to coalesce in a cohesive pan-Islamic organization
whose atmosphere of "transracial" activism enabled acknowledging and embracing
the local residents as a multi-racial, multi-faith community in solidarity for social
struggle.

Rather than regurgitate the same solutions stemming from mainstream
secular institutions, IMAN adopted an Islamic-centered paradigm that paralleled
the "liberation theology" prism which actively challenges the severe impoverishment
and entrenched discrimination against the indigenous African-American, Latino,
and Arab populations in the local sphere who suffer from the usual "urban obstacles"
of unemployment, homelessness, gangs, substance abuse, police brutality,
domestic violence, ill-equipped academic facilities, etc.

These public health issues are powerfully addressed in the Quranic and
Prophetic traditions, and the encompassing obligation to confront and eradicate
any inequities in surrounding society are captured by the Quranic verse
(Chapter "The Women," verse 135) which became the rallying cry of IMAN:
"O you who believe! Stand out firmly for justice as a witness to God, even
against yourselves, your parents, your relatives; and whether it be against rich
or poor: For God can best protect both. Don't follow the desires of your hearts or
you will deviate, and if you distort or decline to do justice, surely God is well
acquainted with all that you do."  Thus, IMAN avoided the common conceptual
quagmires of "nature vs. nurture" explanations or "individual vs. legislative" emphases
in addressing inequities through this Quranic-based approach that concurrently
emphasizes self-help strategies and socio-political struggle.

After two years of planning and piloting its activities, IMAN formally introduced
itself to the greater Chicago-land area in the summer of 1997 by a heavily-publicized
"kickoff" event termed "Takin' It to the Streets," a street fair and youth event aimed at
"takin'" the Message of Islam to the surrounding drug and gang-infested community to redirect the energy and attention of youth toward prosocial behaviors. Rather than the
usual antagonistic approach of "cleaning up the neighborhood" by partnering with
policemen or sponsoring confrontational demonstrations shouting "down with,drugs
and gangs," IMAN employed a style of humility that openly declared the residents of
this impoverished Marquette Park community to be suffering the historic and ongoing
pains of institutional racism, discrimination, and other chronic inequities. At the same
time, IMAN's emphatic exhortations to "stand forth for justice" was combined with
the other Quranic verses cautioning "Allah will never change the condition of a people
until they change what is within themselves" (Chapter "The Thunder," verse 11)
which urged self-generated solutions rather than simply "scapegoating" larger
society by inviting people throughout Chicago to channel their "frustrations" into
IMAN's "grass-roots" programs to practically resolve these problems without passively waiting for help from "the government." IMAN extends these self-help strategies into the social sphere by synthesizing the age-old etiological debate of "nature vs. nurture" by stressing individual accountability as a springboard toward societal change.

According to Islam, self ("nafs") and society ("mujtama'ah") are indivisible spheres of individual activity which must be constantly monitored and strengthened. Programs
share the central goal of increasing piety ("taqwah" or God-consciousness) such that
people feel a Higher Power will hold him/her accountable and decree the requisite consequence for each action in the Hereafter (ex., drug dealer won't sell crack
because Allah forbids drug-dealing irrespective of police presence). Thus, IMAN
sponsors programs designed for individual development in pursuit of collective
advancement through various successful service strategies in collaboration with
community residents and concerned supporters that adopted Islamic-centered
approaches to address an array of urgent issues including reduction of domestic
stressors ("Family Support Program"), deprivation from chronic poverty ("Food
Pantry" and "Clothing Drive"), pro-social mentoring of high-risk female adolescents
("The Sisterhood Program"), prosocial mentoring of high-risk male adolescents
("The Bonds of Brotherhood"), pro-social peer groups as alternatives to
gang-involvement ("After-School Program"), remedial support for scholastic
shortcomings ("The Academic Support Program"), and general Islamic awareness
and outreach to the predominantly non-Muslim surrounding areas ("Ramadan High
School Workshops"). While never having received any financial support from any
local, state, or federal agencies to this day, IMAN has continued its ambitious
"liberation theology" agenda despite facing acute conditions without the luxury of
paid employees or stable funding (the "shoe-string budget" survives solely on charity donations from community residents and supporters) because the Islamic ethos
encourages "exertion" ("jihad") against internal and external obstacles despite the
sacrifices and setbacks because "oppression is worse than death"
(Chapter "The Cow," verse 217).

Rather than becoming confused or constrained by questions of "primary,"
"secondary," or "tertiary" focus that often plague community psychologists,
IMAN incorporates elements of each dimension to present a multi-faceted
methodology.  The Islamic concept of "tawbah" (sincere repentance) affords
opportunities for reformation in changing current conditions, including by those
people who once were perpetrators of the crimes. For example, IMAN solidified
a business partnership with a local resident "Harun," a convicted drug dealer and
gang "chief" who converted to Islam in federal prison and returned to his Southside community with a pledge to use his leadership and credibility to "build" rather
than "destroy" his community (a close parallel to Malcolm X). IMAN and Harun
subsequently collected donations to enable establishment of the "Inner-City
Islamic Center and Market," a neighborhood grocery and youth center which enables providing practical Islamic-oriented services (ex. residents' employment, fresh
food, non-alcoholic beverages, etc.) through a self-subsistent, community-controlled
institution rather than relying on short-term "grant" funds based on data collection by non-resident academics from "outside" the neighborhood. These and other community partnerships have prompted IMAN's rise into a pan-Chicago repository for Muslim and non-Muslim activists to "serve-and-struggle" in the organization's targeted South and Southwest areas through various community service activities.


Breaking New Ground: Community Psychologists as "Organic Intellectuals?"

In addition to understanding the Islamic ethos with respect to interventions, community psychology can also broaden its professional paradigm to include the role of the
"organic intellectual," coined by Italian Communist Antonio Gramsci as a scholar
who actively participates in the social struggles of their constituents (Inschausti, 1986; Moore, 1995).  Despite being a non-resident, clinical-community psychologist, I
have worked with IMAN from its origin and I currently serve on the Board of Directors
 because part and parcel of "liberation theology" which moves professionals from the
"ivory towers" of academia to the "urgent tasks" of service and development in
conjunction and collaboration with the indigenous residents of the oppressed
communities. Although my role is different from the traditional role of community psychologists, I subscribe to the Islamic-centered approach of social change which
parallels the "liberation theology" principle that professional do not just "speak for" the oppressed but struggles side-by-side with the oppressed in "standing forth firmly for
justice" (Friere's intro to James Cone's book - A Black Theology of Liberation;
Convergence). In addition, Hunt (Journal of Afro-American Issues) argued that the
task of professionals who advocate liberation theology includes applying these core
values on the administrative dimension that enables joining theory and practice
(i.e., "praxis") in a manner which binds the administrator to the activist aims
of the "client."


A Promising Future for the Field: Islamic-Community Psychology in the
Millennium?

In accord with its social activist ethos, community psychology can courageously
challenge mental health professionals as well as mainstream society to shift from "sensationalism" to "social development" in dealing with Islam and Muslims. The
field can transcend possible personal differences among community psychology
practitioners with the certain tenets of Islamic faith in pursuit of their stated values
of diversity, collaboration, and empowerment.  The field can also begin to address
the glaring shortage of scholarly examination of Islam, whose inherent assertiveness
and activism toward social issues has paradoxically been a historic resource in the mobilization and empowerment of oppressed communities yet a neglected topic
within the community psychology creed and literature whose stated ideals advocate
these same goals. Although the concepts and practices related to an Islamic-centered paradigm will require rigorous empirical documentation and development in the future, community psychologists (whether Muslim or non-Muslim) can collaborate and
participate in service delivery with local people, indigenous movements, and
established Islamic institutions like masjids (Islamic houses of worship) and
madaaris (Islamic schools) to establish stable linkages between empirical
scholarship and practical application as well as permanent community institutions
such as IMAN and the Inner-City Islamic Center and Market.

While different interpretations of Islamic tenets continue to exist within and between
different Muslim communities (similar to the diverse and often discrepant
understandings of "community psychology" and "empowerment" within our
own professional "faith"), each of these Muslim communities refer to the Qur'an
as the central doctrine which enables a set of shared concepts and characteristics
that can be examined by mental health practitioners. Moreover, the acknowledgment
and incorporation of these Quranic-based world views by community psychology is an important element for delivering culturally-sensitive mental health services to a rapidly increasingly large Muslim population, especially in underserved or unserved urban
areas (ex., a Muslim who makes the obligatory five daily prayers may be incorrectly diagnosed with "obsessive-compulsive disorder," the grass-roots organizations and
services stemming from local masjids may be neglected when assessing community strengths and resources, etc.). Thus, the field of community psychology can boldly
consider sensitizing and ultimately "Islamicizing" the current notions, standards, and methods of the field to be on the vanguard of sensitivity and service to address the
distinct notions and needs of an expanding segment of American society .... then
the field and society can move from "sensationalist" media headlines to sincere
social development.

References

Abdul-Adil, Jaleel .K. & Jason, Leonard A. (1991). "Community Psychology
    and Al-Islam: A Spiritual Framework for Social Change."
    The Community Psychologist, 25(1).
Azibo, Daudi Ajani ya (1994). "The kindred fields of Black liberation theology
    and liberation     psychology: A critical essay on their conceptual base and destiny."         Journal of Black Psychology, 20(3).
Engineer, Asghar Ali (1990). Islam and Liberation Theology: Essays on Liberative
    Elements in Islam. New Delhi, India: Sterling Publishers.
Inchausti, Robert (1986). "Lech Walesa: organic intellectual." The Christian
    Century, v.103,    pp. 554-556.
Lewis, Linden (1995). "Richard B. Moore: the making of a Caribbean organic
    intellectual: a review essay." Journal of Black Studies, 25, pp. 589-609.
Thomas, Linda E (1998). "And still we rise: an introduction to Black liberation
    theology."  Journal of Religion, 78(4), pp. 642-3.
Williams, Preston (1996). "James H. Cone and Black liberation theology." Journal
    of Religion, 76, p.137