While the media coverage that many people believed was divisive and rooted in fear-mongering about the proposed Islamic community center and the suspended plans by Florida pastor Terry Jones to burn a Qur’an has died down, the issue of Islamophobia in America remains an important topic.

In response, the Muslim Student Association at the University of Michigan-Dearborn held an event entitled “Park 51, Qur’an Burning and Islamophobia: The New Battles in the Great American Culture War” on Tuesday, September 28.

Saeed Khan (L) and Haaris Ahmad

The forum was moderated by Ann Lampkin-Williams, the assistant to the chancellor for multicultural affairs at UM-Dearborn, and speaking at the event were Saeed A. Khan, a lecturer at Wayne State University on Islamic and Muslim History and Political Islam and board member of the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding, and former Council on American-Islamic Relations-Michigan Executive Director and current board member Haaris Ahmad.

Khan said that the Muslim community in America remains a target of politicians engaging in demagoguery in large part because of a 2007 survey from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life which stated that there were only about 2.5 million Muslims in America, a number some have questioned as being too small, instead of an older measurement of 6 to 8 million.

“They (essentially) said that there aren’t enough to count, after all they’re a statistical anomaly and can be written off,” Khan said.

“It became an easy (target) for political and corporate ambition agendas.”

Ahmad talked about how fear of Islam is propagated for political gain.

“You look at Newt Gingrich, Sarah Palin, Islam is the demon to them, before it was socialism or communism, there always has to be a demon to create a climate of fear.”

Ahmad believes that there will be a “lull” after the November elections regarding divisive practices of Islamophobia in the media and said that the best way to combat such campaigns is to open the channels of communication and to get alternative viewpoints out in the open.

Ahmad also addressed the Cordoba Islamic Community Center in New York City that has been proposed a few blocks away from Ground Zero.

He said that there are thousands of Muslims on Wall Street in the area who need a place to pray necessitating the center and added that the “sacred ground” argument does not hold up considering the strip clubs and liquor stores in the area and that both the interfaith nature of the center promoting unity and peace should be taken into account as well along with the faith of Islam itself’s peaceful nature.

Regarding the problem of opening the lines of communication with non-Muslims to combat the problems caused by the media giving so much attention to Qur’an burning events and the opponents of the Cordoba Center, Khan had a similar take to Ahmad’s.

“We need to do more outreach and not be isolated because frankly we are going to be forced to get out there,” he said, adding that Muslims shouldn’t make the mistake of assuming that everyone is not on their side just because of the way certain issues are portrayed in the media.

Ahmad believes that the events have mobilized the American Muslim community to hopefully make sure these kinds of divisive tactics aren’t effective in the future.

“(Muslims) have the wealth and education, what they lack is organization. The irony here is that the motivation is now there to become politically active,” he said.