Good Morning! It's so wonderful to be back here at Channing and see your lovely faces. Not only is today Sunday Dec. 16th, it is also the first of Shaawal (the Islamic month following Ramadan). It is an auspicious day in that nearly 1.3 billion people, consisting of numberless gatherings of families and friends, all over the world join to celebrate Eid al Fitr. I usually describe this holiday to my high school students as something like Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter all rolled into one! I stand before you today as someone who joins in the spirit of the Eid celebrations spanning the globe. I stand here as someone who affirms our Unitarian Universalist principles and purposes in that I chose to worship with a community that embraces the critical intellect and the poetic heart. I also stand here as someone who has devoted her professional life to studying and teaching about our world's faith traditions. This study has taken me on many journeys: from Jerusalem to New Dehli, from climbing the Egyptian pyramids and the Himalayas to exploring the mountains of Utah and the beauty of the southern seas. Today I'm here to share with you my personal reflections on "encountering Islam". I thank you all for the invitation to do so.

Whether it's by purchasing the new 2002 Rumi calendar or by watching images of the battle against Al-Queda on CNN, we as a nation and a world find ourselves with greater and greater frequency "encountering Islam" in all of its various forms. The history of the Ummayid, Abbasid, Fatimid, Safavid, and later Ottoman empires has captivated the minds of numerous gifted scholars. These dynasties represent more than an expression of a faith which Muslims believe dates back to Adam. They represent an interweaving of various political, economic, and cultural contexts as well. A useful distinction I would like to establish from the get go differentiates between what is often called "cultural Islam" from what is called "Qur'anic Islam". As U.U.'s we tend to view the phenomena of religion from many angles, not just the theological. So it doesn't surprise us to see culture wedded so deeply to the teachings of any faith as it modifies and adjusts to new contexts over centuries. But since the understanding of Islam is so minimal in America as a whole, explosive headlines and political forces that threaten "us" present Islam as a scary, misogynist, primitive "other". Asma Hasan, a 25 year-old American Muslim author laments this fact in her autobiographical reflections on growing up Muslim in America.

When, for example, Mrs. Ida Smith, out in Idaho, hears of Muslims, she thinks of the World Trade Center bombing, the hostage crisis with Iran, the protests against The Satanic Verses, and she probably imagines that Muslims are downright un-American. Admittedly, if that was all I knew about Muslims, I would think they pose a threat to our way of life, too.

Not only is Hasan interested in educating her fellow Americans about the teachings of Islam, she often takes fellow Muslims to task for mixing culture into Islam and using religion to justify practices she opposes. For example, she confronts her grandfather's patriarchal attitude and challenges him to find proof in the Qur'an that women are inferior to men. She writes:

The debate over the status of women in Islam is probably the best example of how culture affects interpretation. Men like my grandfather have taken a few Qur'anic passages and coupled with a patriarchal culture, have interpreted them in the most literal and self-serving way. It happens in all cultures, not just among Muslims, and such chauvinism existed before Islam, perhaps before organized religion itself. There is no Islamic basis for demeaning women or oppressing them. Culture is the culprit here and no one really is immune from that.

I've used Hasan's text "American Muslims: The New Generation" in all of my Islam classes at The Lawrenceville School. On the cover of the book one finds Hasan with her sister surrounded by snow in their home state of Colorado. She is holding her snowboard in her right hand. Hasan describes herself as a "self proclaimed Muslim feminist cowgirl" a category that she created. My students are quickly drawn to her story, her adventures, her reflections on faith, religion, sexuality. She is, like many 2nd generation American born Muslims wrestling through Islamic texts and teachings in order to distinguish between cultural and Qur'anic Islam. I've seen this process carried out during the 1st Iowa Muslim Conference I attended last spring, during my two week stay at the Dar al Islam Madrassa in Abiqui, New Mexico, and in many of the local mosques that I have visited in New Jersey. I'm personally inspired by the courage such a process takes. In many ways, the rise of Islam in the west is challenging and reshaping the global Islamic landscape.

I contrast this with a recent experience I had at my local post office in Lawrenceville, New Jersey. I went in to buy some of the beautiful Eid stamps that just came out this month. Perhaps you have seen them, they are a royal blue color enscripted with Arabic calligraphy. I didn't expect to find myself encountering an angry postal worker who tried to convince me that our government is making a big mistake in selling these stamps. She feels betrayed. Why are we selling stamps commemorating the holiday of our enemy she wonders? Are Muslims our enemies? I wonder if she knows what Eid is about? I wonder if she holds all of Islam responsible for the fear and dread filling her days when three of our local post offices were closed down due to anthrax contamination. Is Christianity responsible for the crusades I ask? Words are exchanged. The conversation stalemates. I leave with my stamps and wonder how I could have reached out to her more effectively? What if I had been Muslim? Would it help to allay her fear?

From the beginning of the secular study of religion, certain thinkers have argued that religion is to be blamed for its misuse. In fact, some thought that religion could only be misused. Karl Marx blamed religion for duping or drugging the underclass preventing their successful uprising. Sigmund Freud felt religion was something one would eventually grow up out of. Here God is like an imaginary playmate for millions of adults who refuse to face their own mortality. Personally, I reject these theories even while I openly acknowledge every faith tradition that I've studied has had blood spilled in its name. For myself, there is a transcendent mystery, wonder, presence, yes, call it "god" at work in all of our lives. Planets, stars, the ocean's creatures, our beloved friends, the winds, the mountain's wisdom are all signs to me of such a power. I think Islam can and continues to offer adherents a doorway through which they can walk and touch and know this wonder. As they walk through this doorway, Muslims bow to the glory of this wonder and feel its tender awesomeness. To be certain, it isn't the only doorway. Even the Qur'an is not exclusive in its claim.

Indeed, be they Muslims, Jews, Sabians, or Christians, The Qur'an states, those who believe in God and the final day and who do good have nothing to fear and they will not grieve.

I love how Unitarian Universalism encourages us to study these doors, to draw upon the wisdom in their construction and to wrestle with their teachings. This is especially important now. I truly believe if we, like Asma Hasan, take the time to sort through what is cultural or political in Islamic contexts from what is Qur'anic, we will find unexpected common ground with our Muslim sisters and brothers. I believe this, because I know that I have.

So what do we share theologically with Qur'anic Islam? It is a loaded question since I can make very few theological assumptions about the vision of the Ultimate held (or not held) within each person in this room. Therefore, I will frame my comments around classical Unitarian theology. I think you will be surprised to discover the common ground our tradition shares with basic Islamic beliefs. I will focus on three points.

We share an assertion that people are born good, pure, with "original blessing" and not with an "original curse". The Qur'an has a fall story too. There's a forbidden fruit, a primordial human couple, and a jinn (creature of fire) named Ibliis who refused to bow to humankind made only of clay. Ibliis is condemned but granted respite until Judgement Day with the aim of tempting humankind. And tempt humankind Ibliis does. The primordial couple eats of the tree, they fall to earth. Hence we are all born into a realm of time, change, birth, death, pleasure and pain. But note that neither sex is created before the other. Neither sex is blamed for this fall. In fact, both error and both are forgiven. The Qur'an insists that humanity was created from a single self. In fact, one of the most profound signs of God's existence is the love and kindness placed between the hearts of men and women. The Qur'an states: Surely this is a sign for a reflective people.

Unitarians also share the historical rejection of the Trinitarian vision of Jesus. Our roots date back to 4th century Arianism and the vivid debate against the notion of an incarnate God. God is one, not three in one our ancestors declared. Jesus was inspired, in fact many felt he was the messiah but not God in human form. Or at least, as many U.U.'s currently assert, no more God then we are God. This rejection of the Trinity correlates with the prophetic tradition found within Islam. There are 25 prophets mentioned by name in the Qur'an and thousands of others alluded to. Indeed it is said that all nations and peoples were given prophets from God's mercy. Jesus is mentioned more times in the Qur'an then Muhammed. An entire sura (or one of the 114 chapters) is devoted to the story of Mary who miraculously conceives this son. Nevertheless, the oneness of God is not reputed. Consider this passage from the Qur'an.

People of the Book, do not go to excess in your religion, and do not say of God anything but the truth. The Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, was only an envoy of God and a Word of God bestowed on Mary and a Spirit from God. So believe in God and the envoys of God, and do not speak of a trinity, for it would be better for you to stop. God alone is the One worthy of worship: Glory to God, exalted beyond having a son. To God belongs all in the heavens and the earth; and God is sufficient to manage it all. (Quran 4: 171)

Finally, Muslims are encouraged to embrace the study of science and nature. From its onset, Islam did not suffer from the painful divorce between science and religion found in Christian Europe. Hence many discoveries in science, medicine, math (like algebra), and seafaring are attributed to the scholarship of rich and vast Islamic civilizations. The renowned translator of Buddhist scriptures, Thomas Cleary, writes in his introduction to his translation of essential selections from the Qur'an:

…the Qur'an offers a way to explore an attitude that fully embraces the quest for knowledge and understanding that is the essence of science, while at the same time, and indeed for the same reasons, fully embraces the awe, humility, reverence, and conscience without which "humankind does indeed go too far in considering itself to be self sufficient" (Quran 96:6-7)

Let us not think our own superficial knowledge of any faith is sufficient. Let us be mindful of the broad and careless generalizations we all can make about any faith, but especially now about Islam. Although I have only begun to touch on the many powerful points where Islamic teachings dovetail our own U.U. heritage, this is not to say there are not teachings wherein we differ as well. I certainly have encountered differences through powerful conversations and debates with Muslim friends. But these differences do not compel me to conclude we don't share a common vision. For I have prayed in lines facing Mecca with these friends. I have been moved to tears by the beauty of various sections of the Qur'an even as I see the text as an historical work. I stand beside my Muslim sisters in their fight to reinterpret and study Islam and make it their own. Like all of you, I have been deeply troubled by the turbulent and painful struggles within the Middle East and Afghanistan.

I began this talk by reflecting upon the significance of today and I would like to close by telling you of another event occurring right now at our new "home" U.U. church in New Jersey. As we gather this morning, children at the Unitarian Universalist Church at Washington Crossing are performing three holiday plays. One celebrates Hanukah, the festival of lights, one celebrates Christmas with the traditional Joseph, Mary and Jesus in a manger story, and one celebrates Ramadan. I am inspired by this commitment on behalf of our tolerant and open minded tradition. I stand beside all of you and encourage you to come to know Islam in its own light, in all of its complexity, in both its Qur'anic and cultural aspects. Let us continue my friends. Let us continue the journey.