Religious Diversity: Muslim

Trauma in Muslim Student Populations

Sadaf Rauf Shier, PhD

Associate Chaplain, Islamic Faith

University of St. Thomas

Global Religious Landscape

Percent change in global population size shows Muslims as the fastest growing population

Where do Muslim Immigrants Come From?

Demographics U.S.A.

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/09/01/muslims-are-a-growing-presence-in-u-s-but-still-face-negative-views-from-the-public/

Projections for Minnesota!

Muslim student population in the Twin Cities in 15 years, according to Pew Research 25% of the undergraduate student population

One of the fastest growing population based on birth rate as well.

One of the only few populations that have a large number of young people

https://mn.gov/admin/demography/data-by-topic/ age-race-ethnicity/

Muslim Demographics in Minnesota In another study, based on the birth rate and migration rate Pew Research Center has been reported to have predicted that in 15 years 25% of college and university student bodies in the Twin Cities will be Muslim. That was before the Afghans began arriving

One of the fastest growing population based on birth rate as well. https://mn.gov/admin/demography/data-by-topic/age-race-ethnicity/

Discrimination against Muslims

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2021/09/01/muslims-are-a-growing-presence-in-u-s-but-still-face-negative-views-from-the-public/

Perceptions about Muslims

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/08/09/muslims-and-islam-key-findings-in-the-u-s-and-around-the-world/

Some Muslim Concerns

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/08/09/muslims-and-islam-key-findings-in-the-u-s-and-around-the-world/

Factors that may cause trauma for New Muslim Immigrants

Intersectional identities associated with the many differences faced by immigrants coming here:

• Religious

• Race

• Language

• Immigration (national origin) issues

• Socio-economic status

• Loss of professional identity

• Many, if not most, Americans lack familiarity with the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the First Amendment and SCOTUS limitations on separation of church and state.

Factors that may cause trauma for New Muslim Immigrants

• Islamophobia • History of war, destruction, and forced displacement • Circulating Discourses, media rhetoric about Muslims • Witnessing negative treatment of other Muslims • Sense of surveillance • You can’t buy vitamins and some drugs come only in gelatin

capsules. All pharmaceutical gelatin is pig gelatin, unless specifically indicated on the label. Kosher is not Halal.

• Restaurants and grocery stores you can find have lots of pork and no Halal offerings, except if you have a car and know where to go.

• Where is the nearest Mosque?

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jun/20/islamophobia-funding-cair-berkeley-report

The beer mug attack on a Somali woman in a Coon Rapids, Minnesota, Applebee’s are rare.

Trauma both Psychological and physical

Source: www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4056266/Muslim-Somali-woman-smashed-face- beer-mug-Applebee-s-speaking-Swahili-forgives-attacker-court.html

Attacks on Mosques In the U.S. (2005-2019)

https://www.aclu.org/issues/national-security/discriminatory-profiling/nationwide-anti-mosque-activit y

How does that penetrate into our schools?It penetrate into our Schools!

Islamophobia on college campuses

Manifests in 3 major ways:

• Victims of targeted harassment or discrimination (verbal, non verbal, online, or physical attacks)

• Feelings of discomfort and vulnerability (lack of representation

• College administrators often fail to provide reasonable religious accommodations (i.e., as required by the Expression Clause of the First Amendment.

(https://static.ca.cair.com/reports/campus-islamophobia.html#anchor)

A usual excuse that we hear

• This is state funding and hence it should not be spent on religious needs of Muslim students due to the separation of church and state

• This is a secular space and hence no religious activity should happen here

• Islam or Islamic practices are unconstitutional

What are the Religious Obligations of Muslims? The Five Pillars of Islam 1. Faith (Shahada) – The belief in one God, the

same God as Christians and Jews. 2. Prayers (Salat) – Five times a day, but not any

five times. The exact time windows are prescribed in the Holy Quoran.

3. Giving (Zakat) to Charity and Social Justice 4. Fasting (Sawm) for the 30 days of the Blessed

month of Ramadan – the daily abstention from food and water begins and ends at times prescribed in the Holy Quoran.

5. Hajj – if you can, once in your life. Dietary Needs: - no pork

- no alcohol - vegetarian is OK, if no cross

contamination

How the Media Presents Hijab

According to a Fox News anchor:

Wearing Hijab = Adherence to Quran = Adherence to Sharia law = Unconstitutional

These are attacks on all Muslim Women and our religious identity

Source: www.cnn.com/2019/03/10/media/jeanine-pirro-ilhan-omar/index.html

Rep. Ilhan Omar

The First Amendment to the US Constitution

• Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

• Although the First Amendment speaks of “Congress,” the 14th Amendment makes its provisions applicable to the states.

What About Separation of Church and State?

• Most Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) decisions have related to the “Establishment clause” of the 1st Amendment.

• Best known is Everson v. Board of Education, 330 U.S. 1 (1947) in which SCOTUS rules that including of Catholic students in reimbursements to parents who sent their children to school on public transportation buses does not violate the Establishment clause.

• One of the few rulings related to the “Exercise clause” is Lemon v. Kurtzman, 403 U.S. 602 (1971).

What About Separation of Church and State? • If the "Lemon" test is applied to hijab-wearing women in a

College or University, government can assist religion only if: 1. The primary purpose of the assistance is secular - OK,

the purpose is to provide a supportive educational environment for all.

2. The assistance must neither promote nor inhibit religion - OK

3. There is no excessive entanglement between church[religion] and state - OK

• Lemon v. Kurtzman, plus the many cases the SCOTUS has refused to consider, make it clear that the universities in Minnesota are not exempt from the 1st Amendment based on separation of Church and State and that the SCOTUS considers it settled law.

• https://www.oyez.org/cases/1970/89

Recent Supreme Court rulings further limit the ability of state governments to limit the

First Amendment “free exercise clause” • Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn, New York v.

Andrew M. Como 592 U. S. __ (2020): the Supreme Court held that the Governor of New York could not limit free expression of religion at their institutions when secular businesses deemed “essential” were permitted to remain open in those zones, subject to different restrictions.

• Tandon v. Newsom, 593 U. S. __ (2021): the Supreme Court held that the Governor of California could not prevent the exercise of religion indoors, because it allowed people to gather indoors to get a haircut, eat, or take a bus.

It follows that if the Governor of a State can’t limit the “free exercise clause” of the First Amendment for legitimate reasons based on separation of church and state, then neither can employees of a U.S. University.

Most Muslim Women in US schools represent four classes

protected by the Civil Rights Act of 1964

• Race • Religion • National Origin • Gender

The Student as a Whole Person

• If my hijab is part of my identity, you cannot expect me to leave part of myself outside classroom.

• This is exclusion which leads to erasure

• This forces students to live two lives

• This breaks bonds between students, their culture/religion, and their families

Source: www.sportshop.com/en/nike-pro-hijab-njnj3010ml.html

What can be done? • Enhanced Religious Literacy about Islam

• Support services, accommodations

• Specialized training of professionals focusing on the needs of Muslims

• What else…