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Muslim culture in the Bible Belt

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published January 21, 2007

JACKSON, Miss. - This mid-size Southern city with its thriving Baptist, Methodist and Catholic churches may seem an unlikely home for one of the only museums in the United States devoted to Muslim culture.

Still, the International Museum of Muslim Cultures opened in April 2001, an attempt by organizers to educate their churchgoing neighbors about a faith that many viewed as mysterious, possibly violent.

The museum is right at home in Jackson's downtown arts district, which hosts an international ballet competition every four years and, for several years, was home to traveling exhibitions of culture and art treasures from around the world.

Since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, museum executive director Okolo Rashid said, the project in Mississippi has taken on added significance, particularly since many people have misconceptions about Muslims and their culture.

"And, of course, after 9/11 and even prior to that, the whole thing about terrorism - that Muslims are terrorists and Muslims are violent - and really not understanding any of the contributions or the significant influence that Muslims have had on the Western world," Rashid said.

The museum was born of an idea to create a companion to the "Majesty of Spain" exhibition - featuring works from the Prado and other prominent museums - that was showing at the Mississippi Arts Pavilion, Rashid said.

The Muslim museum (www. muslimmuseum.org) opened near the Arts Pavilion with an exhibition titled "Islamic Moorish Spain: Its Legacy to Europe and the West." Rashid said the response to the show encouraged her and museum board chairman Emad Al-Turk to keep the museum open past its scheduled closing date at the end of September 2001.

"As we traveled and promoted the exhibit nationally, we found that we were the only Islamic museum in the country," Rashid said.

Rabiah Ahmed, communications coordinator for the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Washington, said most Muslim exhibitions are relegated to portions of existing museums. She said she knows of no other museum in the United States dedicated entirely to Muslim culture.

"In this day and age when there are so many misconceptions about Islam, establishing a museum about Islam's history in America and Muslims in general is another way for Americans to learn about their neighbors and the history of our country," Ahmed said.

Only one act of violence has occurred at the museum: A brick was thrown into the front window days after 9/11.

Organizers said the museum's education objective began to pay dividends as public schools started bringing children to learn more about the culture.

"It was fortunate because it helped create a different image and a dialogue," Rashid said.

Abdul Kasem, 15, who attends the Muslim Academy in Gretna, La., recently visited the museum with his ninth-grade class. Abdul and several other students enjoyed trying out traditional instruments, including Djembe drums. Fellow student Salah Salem, 16, said the museum expanded on topics he had learned about in school.

An estimated 30,000 people have visited the museum.

Its first home, a small, one-story building, was razed to make way for a new city convention center. Now the museum is housed about a block away, on the second floor of the Mississippi Arts Center.

The museum's current exhibit, "The Legacy of Timbuktu: Wonders of the Written Word," opened in late November. The "Islamic Moorish Spain" exhibition also is being reinstalled in the new facility.

The Timbuktu show features handwritten manuscripts donated from the city's Mama Haidara Manuscript Library. The documents, some more than 700 years old, help establish the literate culture of Africa, Rashid said.

Library manager Abdel Kader Haidara traveled from Timbuktu, a city in the western Africa country of Mali, to attend the exhibition's opening. Haidara said it was important to reintroduce the manuscripts to the world. He stressed a message of peace, equality and tolerance.

The manuscripts, written by various authors, including some women, show ideas for government and conflict resolution.

The show also includes an interactive portion featuring the Muslim roots of Mississippi's traditional blues music by identifying some similar tone and melody changes.

[Last modified January 20, 2007, 21:03:18]