Enter Here in Peace and Security”

American Religion 2, no. 1 (Fall 2020), pp. 30–35 Copyright © 2020, The Trustees of Indiana University • doi: 10.2979/amerreli.2.1.07 “Enter Here in Peace and Security”: The Risks of Making Islam a North American Religion Sajida Jalalzai Trinity University, San Antonio, USA “Enter here in peace and security.” Several stone inscriptions above the gates of Masjid al Nabawi (“the Prophet’s mosque”) in Medina bear these words from Surat al-Hijr in sweeping Arabic calligraphy, surrounded by the floral sprays and arabesque designs often associated with Islamic visual arts. Over six-thousand miles away, artwork displaying the same Qur’anic verse hangs at the entryway of the Muslim prayer space in the basement of Emmanuel College, a theological school affiliated with the United Church of Canada in Toronto, Canada. At the center of the piece, the large, Arabic calligraphic design visually replicates the inscriptions on the Medinan plaques. Underneath the Arabic, however, a smaller, English translation of the verse appears in serif font. A clean, minimalist pattern of interlaced star polygons frames the text, hinting at an “updated” take on classical Islamic geometric motifs. This artistic piece was commissioned from a local Muslim artist1 as part of Emmanuel College’s construction of a Muslim prayer space and ablutions facility. The creation of this prayer space accompanied the establishment of a new Muslim Studies Program at Emmanuel College, which, in the words of then-Principal, 1 For more information, visit “Seharshazad” (website), http://www.seharshahzad.com. Sajida Jalalzai 31 Mark Toulouse, was founded upon the “belief that the concepts of justice, goodness and love are much larger than any particular religion or tradition can fully define.”2 The inauguration of the prayer space was commemorated with a public lecture by Ingrid Mattson, renowned Canadian Muslim leader and founder of the Islamic Chaplaincy program at Hartford Seminary, the first accredited graduate program for Muslim chaplains in the United States, entitled “Rooting a Canadian Muslim Identity.” As indicated by the title of Mattson’s lecture, the founding of Muslim leadership programs, and the subsequent designation of Muslim spaces in Christian seminaries (physical and otherwise), raises important questions about the framing of Islam within a North American Religions paradigm. My research focuses on the creation of Muslim leadership programs in historically liberal Protestant institutions, including Hartford Seminary, Bayan Claremont (a division of Claremont School of Theology), and Emmanuel College of Victoria University in the University of Toronto. In my larger project I ask: Why would Christian seminaries invest in the education and training of Muslim leaders? Why would American and Canadian Muslims choose to attend these schools rather than creating independently accredited “Islamic” institutions and programs? And, what are the long-term impacts of constructing forms of Muslim authority in spaces dominated by Protestant Christian norms? I reflect here on the creation of these programs as a concrete way of addressing the abstract question, “can Islam be a North American religion?” The founders of these programs—both Christian and Muslim—argue that it is indeed possible to include Islam and Muslims in spaces that, like the discipline of religious studies itself (and the subfield of North American Religions within it), were originally constructed by and for Protestant Christians, and that centered Protestant Christian ideals. Furthermore, the programs represent a belief that multifaith theological education is not only possible, but preferable to religiously homogenous institutions, for the reason that the multifaith seminary prepares future religious leaders to navigate the reality of American and Canadian religious pluralism. A consideration of the Muslim leadership programs at Hartford Seminary, Emmanuel College, and Claremont School of Theology not only moves the theoretical question of Muslim belonging into lived reality; it also provides scholars in the field of North American Religions an opportunity to explore the potential challenges and costs of inclusion. While it is assuredly to our benefit to challenge the ways in which our field was built upon (and continues to privilege) Protestant Christian hegemony, we must nonetheless attend to the potential dangers of even 2 “Newsletter,” Emmanuel College, October 2, 2013 https://issuu.com/vic_report/docs /ec_news_autumn_2013. American Religion 2:1 32 the most well-intentioned efforts to include religious “others” into existing

Arabic · Arabic script · Archaeology · Art · Calligraphy · Islam · Linguistics · Painting · Prayer · Theology · Visual arts · Education and Islamic Studies · History · Philosophy · Religious studies · Religious Studies

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