Here's Hadia Mubarak's response to online Question No. 2.

First the Question:

2. Here's my questions on Islam in America. Boy, I sure wish that I were there to ask them in person.

Can Islam in America ever be consistent with our values on women's rights? It's clear from the Islamic texts that women are worth less than a man, it's OK for husbands to beat their wives, men can divorce their wives easily, men can have multiple wives, women are stoned to death for adultery, etc. etc. etc. Please don't tell me that my perceptions are mistaken and that Islam really values women, because the textual material and how Islam has treated women in fact speaks otherwise. We only need to look at Islamic countries to see how women are treated. Or look at the photos posted on the website FaithFreedom.org.

It seems a contradiction to have a panel discussion on Islam, because that implies freedom of speech. Yet Islam has shown itself to be quite intolerant to any criticism, to the point where Fatwas of death are issued against those who criticize Islam or riots can start with the printing of a cartoon. Can Islam ever be consistent with freedom of speech to allow itself to be subjected to public scrutiny? Can you cite any Islamic country where a person can speak out freely, criticize Islam, and not have some fear for their lives? Be honest.

Thanks.

Kim

Mubarak's response:

Dear Kim,

Thank you for your very pertinent question. I agree that there tends to be a democracy deficit in the Muslim world. Why that is the case, however, has less to do with Islam and far more to do with the history of colonialism, the persistence of authoritarianism, and limited avenues for political participation, among many other socio-economic and political factors. That tends to be the case not just in so-called Islamic countries like Saudi Arabia and Iran, but even in blatantly secular countries (ruled by secular governments) like Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, and Syria. So to assume that the lack of democracy and freedom of expression in the Muslim world today has anything to do with Islam is to miss the point. As long as we confound political, economic and historical issues with religious ones, we won't help the Muslim world get anywhere.

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4. Is there a mechanism by which Muslims in America and Muslims worldwide are in dialogue together? Was this in place before 9/11 and all that has occurred since then and is it still viable? How has it changed? How are American Muslims viewed by Muslims in other parts of the world? Are they considered a strong part of the faith as a whole or are they considered lesser in some way because of their strong ties to the westernized world?

Shalom,

Barbara Vann
Memphis

5. If Americans find it difficult to understand Muslimism, isn’t it true that Muslims also find it hard to understand the benefits of either being a Shia Muslim …or a Sunni Muslim in America?
What is the percentage of Sunni Muslims in America vs. Shia Muslims?

In the February 3, 2007 issue of The Economist and their article on “The Widening Gulf” from their Cairo bureau and Subheads of the article is the following…”Amid Sunni fears of a growing ‘Shia Arc,’ tensions between the main Muslim sects are widening, while some governments are exploiting them."

Will America permanently be in the middle, with our presence in Iraq and after we leave?

Compton S. Jones.
Georgetown

6. A lot of coverage has been given recently to the Somali Muslim cab drivers in Minneapolis who refuse fares that carry alcohol, and the airport's reaction to them. Keeping that in mind, my question is this: to what extent should employers seek to accommodate Muslim beliefs and customs and to what extent should Muslims seek jobs that would not require them to break Koranic commandments?

Jeff
Cary, NC

7. What can be done to have more Muslim and Muslim-American writers and other artist introduced to American public? I am an European Muslim living here for 11 years,, and I can say only that American school system, media, and politics had ignored Islamic Culture more than any other. Americans are totally ignorant about Islam and Muslims. Does anybody have a data base with Muslim artists in the US to try to promote their work? Art is the best way to reach people.

Sanja

Thanks to everyone who sent questions online for the Georgetown/On Faith symposium on "What it Means to be Muslim in America."

More than 200 people attended the 90-minute event Thursday at Georgetown and many were still standing in line waiting to ask questions when it was over.

We're going to try to get the panelists to answer as many of the online questions as we can in the coming days. Be patient and watch this site.

Meanwhile, here's a look at some of the best online questions we received by email. You'll find others in the 'comments' below.

1. Here's my question for the panel:

Do you think that the number of college students interested in Islamic studies has been increasing over the past couple of years and if so, why in particular?

How do you judge the level of knowledge, enthusiasm, preparedness of American students of Islamic studies?
(perhaps that'd be question for university professors in the panel).

Thank you.

Katarina Svitkova (Slovakia)

2. Here's my questions on Islam in America. Boy, I sure wish that I were there to ask them in person.

Can Islam in America ever be consistent with our values on women's rights? It's clear from the Islamic texts that women are worth less than a man, it's OK for husbands to beat their wives, men can divorce their wives easily, men can have multiple wives, women are stoned to death for adultery, etc. etc. etc. Please don't tell me that my perceptions are mistaken and that Islam really values women, because the textual material and how Islam has treated women in fact speaks otherwise. We only need to look at Islamic countries to see how women are treated. Or look at the photos posted on the website FaithFreedom.org.

It seems a contradiction to have a panel discussion on Islam, because that implies freedom of speech. Yet Islam has shown itself to be quite intolerant to any criticism, to the point where Fatwas of death are issued against those who criticize Islam or riots can start with the printing of a cartoon. Can Islam ever be consistent with freedom of speech to allow itself to be subjected to public scrutiny? Can you cite any Islamic country where a person can speak out freely, criticize Islam, and not have some fear for their lives? Be honest.

Thanks.

Kim

3. In the West, Christianity and secular authority have been working out their respective power sharing for the last 1000 years.

Here in America, and indeed in most "Christian" countries, secular authority came out on top, but allowing great latitude for religious expression and authority.

In the Muslim world, things are still quite mixed. Turkey, Egypt and Pakistan have always been secular, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and (formerly) Iraq are Monarchy / Dictatorship, and Iran and parts of Northern Africa are theocracies under Sharia.

In the long run, do you foresee any "equilibrium" type of Muslim government such as all theocracy or all secular?

Neal Jettpace
Indianapolis, IN

After the question-and-answer session, Salman Ahmad, who started the popular Asia rock band Junoon, took the stage with his guitar.

He told a short story of a student in an Islamic school. The student asked his teacher why he should wash his hands and feet if his heart wasn't clean.

The teacher replied that it was important to follow religious rituals and that such questions would be answered in the next life.

The student left the school, grew his hair long and began singing poetry.

The story was captured by Punjabi and Sufi poet Baba Bulleh Shah. Ahmad turned them into lyrics he sang:

"Water nor dust are neither what makes me.

"I am not flame. I am not wind.

"I am not pure. I am not vile.

"I’m no Moses and I’m no Pharoah.

"But, Bulleh, who is it that I am?

"Bulleya, who am I?"

The standing-room only crowd gave Ahmad a loud ovation.

"This opportunity will continue," Esposito said, noting that On Faith will host other discussions at Georgetown.

Quinn thanked everyone for coming.

"We will on On Faith devote one week to the good imams," Quinn told Hendi.

The last question from the audience was another question about the media:

Why does the media focus so much attention on wrong Muslims?

"Media is not ideologically biased. We're biased toward conflict. The culture of the media is that conflict is the most inherently dramatic story," Meacham said.

"People who draw attention to themselves are going to get more attention than people who don't," Quinn explained.

"Good Muslims do speak out but we just don't know about it... They do it in a gracious way rather than screaming and yelling."

Hendi said he's disappointed that the media doesn't pay more attention to Muslims who are speaking out about terrorism. For example, in 2005 hundreds of American Imams endorsed a fatwa against terrorism.

"I know many Muslims have been speaking very loudly... But no one shows up, no one comes out. Hundreds of good Imams meeting in Chicago speaking out against terrorism don't get covered."

The next audience member asked why don't more Muslims speak out against terrorism?

Mubarak said that's another misperception. She said Muslims everywhere are condemning terrorism. She said there's a fatwah against terrorism that says terrorism is absolutely forbidden. She said we need to look closer at problems in Islamic nations and realize "it has nothing to do with religion," but rather with political, economic and historical forces at work -- from colonialism to globalization.

The next question was about the influence of the fundamentalist Saudi form of Islam -- Wahhabism.

Mattson said it's not true that Saudi Muslims fund most mosques and Muslim organizations in America. It is true that in the 1980s many Muslims looked to wealthy donors to help them build mosques and schools here.

"I don't think that meant influence," she said. The views of American Muslims "are nothing like anti-women, anti-democratic Muslims" in other parts of the world.

Hendi, who is imam of the Islamic Society of Frederick, Md., said "local Muslims really try to depend on local funding."

The next audience question was about Muslims and money.

"Are Islamic rules against borrowing and lending keeping Muslims from becoming middle class Americans?"

Hendi said that's another misunderstanding people have about modern Islam. He said nothing in Islam prevents Muslims from being American citizens, homeowners, professionals and business owners.

Mattson explained that Islam prohibits the charging of interest, but that most Islamic scholars have ruled that even that is permissible in economies where there are no alternatives. She also said "Muslims are developing alternative lending schemes" that help the very poor.

The next question was from the On Faith online audience: "If I converted to Islam and then changed my mind, would I be allowed to leave?"

"Yes you would have the right to leave the faith," Hendi said, acknowledging "there has been abuse of that in Islam."

Jackson said a few Islamic countries still have laws against apostasy -- which includes leaving the faith and also converting to another faith. But once again, he said, most Muslims don't agree with those laws or support them.

He also said such questions are unfair to Muslim Americans.

"Muslims in America today are under such pressure," he said. "Any time such a question is asked, one feels this pressure to apologize," for the acts of all Muslims everywhere.

"Among American Muslims, apostasy is not a capital offense."

Ahmad said that many Muslims, like many Christians and Jews, have a very open and liberal view of Holy Scripture.

"The Koran says there is no compulsion in religion" and he takes that seriously, he said.

The next question from the audience was about the separation of church and state. Does Islam allow for and accept that concept? Is Islam a religious movement only or is it also a political movement?

Jackson said all religions also are political, and Americans needs to appreciate the political, historical and cultural differences of Islam in various parts of the world.

He said Muslim Americans "are very at home" with the concept of the separation of church and state, and shouldn't be linked to cultures and nations that don't value that separation.

"If Muslims living in America are going to take responsibility for everything that happens in the world, no one could stand up to that."

Ahmad said Islam has a long history of embracing people of different cultures and religions, from the time of Muhammad.

"Pluralism is the oxygen Islam has always had, historically," Ahmad said.

Mattson said it's wrong "to think that Muslims want to make American into an Islamic state. Muslims are constantly being viewed as a collectivity and we have this secret agenda .. .and it's just not true."

Meacham picked up the thread of Quinn's question and said it's important for people of faith to honor each other as Americans.

"I think there is a long and noble tradition in this country .. about people of divergent faiths coming together and finding a way to live together and worship as they please . . .It is the duty of the religious person to defend that liberty," he said.

Esposito began taking questions from the audience.

Q: Why is it when Muslims in America are presented in the media, indigenous Muslims are seldom represented?

Miller said the focus in Muslim Americans has changed since 9/11 and shifted from indigenous Muslims to immigrants. "The African-American Muslims were the only Muslims we knew until 9/11," she said.

Meacham said the media is often slow to see and understand the diversity within faith traditions.

"It took a long long time for most newsrooms to understand that Christianity might have a denomination or two within it," he said.

"The coverage of Christianity is better than it was 10 years ago... It's going to take a long time (for the coverage of Islam to improve), but people's hearts are in the right place in those newsrooms."

Mattson said she thinks the media's focus on immigrants and Muslims overseas is a reflection of the culture's focus.

"Most Americans when they think of Muslim they think of foreigner," Mattson said.

Quinn said the media's focus changes and follows the news: "You cover what the story is and since 9/11 the story has been about Muslims not in this country."

Esposito next turned to Sally Quinn of the Washington Post, who with Meacham is co-moderator of On Faith.

Quinn said that she, like many Americans, has been trying to learn as much as she can about Islam.

"I had a very different view of Islam before I started learning more about it, and it was a negative one," she said.

"Now I see how difficult it is to be a Muslim in the world and a Muslim in America."

She said she has learned that it's important to distinguish between Islam and the actions of individual Muslims, both good and bad.

She said it's also important to recognize the perceptions and concerns many Americans have about Islam.

She read an On Faith reader's response to a guest column posted April 11 by controversial Muslim scholar Tariq Ramadan.

The letter read, in part:

"Islam is not compatible with the contemporary values and Human Rights. Present civilization based on human rights,secularism and rationality. Islam rejects all of them.

"Islam doesn't respect Human Rights. Islam pursues sharia law that's based on desert rules.

"Islam doesn't respect Christianity and other beliefs, on the contrary Islam insults Christian values.

"Islam doesn't respect man and woman equality, Islam degrades women.

"Islam doesn't respect rationality, but advocates 'literalism' and dogma. . .

"Islam doesn't know what Democracy is."

Quinn said Muslim Americans must take these perceptions seriously, however incorrect or exaggerated they might be.

"The problem many non-Muslims have is they feel these questions are not being answered," Quinn said.

Mubarak agreed but wondered if non-Muslims will really listen to and accept the answers.

"Until we address this idea that Islam is alien to American culture we'll never be part of American culture," she said.

Jackson suggested that Muslims are being held to a different standard in America, a nation of countless cultures.

"Who's America are we talking about? Snoop Dog's or Jerry Falwell's? ... There's not one American culture, there are several and we have to make our contribution" to American pluralism.

Esposito then turned to Salman Ahmad, the Sufi rock star from Pakistan who grew up in New York City. Ahmad also has a medical degree.

How does pop culture define Islam?

Ahmad said that he moved to America when he was 11 and he immediately noticed the diversity of the culture and the freedom of expression that played out in the culture.

He said he thinks music is one way people of different cultures can come together to learn about each other and appreciate each other.

"When you see with the heart, all walls fall down," Ahmad said.

Esposito then asked Imam Hendi, who U.S. citizen who grew up in Palestine, if Muslims in America can be a bridge to other Muslims around the world.

Hendi said it's important to refer to him and others on the panel as American Muslims or Muslim Americans.

"Calling us Muslims in America may suggest Muslims are in America temporarily and they are going to go home," Hendi said.

"Muslims are here in America to stay and we're going to be here forever...The majority of American Muslims are here to stay. This is our country, too."

Hendi said "American Muslims" are using their knowledge of America and their experiences here to build a bridge between Islam and other faiths.

"(Muslim Americans) care about both worlds because they know both worlds," he said.

Esposito's next question went to Lisa Miller, Newsweek's Society Editor and former religion reporter for the Wall Street Journal.

Does the media do justice to Muslims?

"I think we do better than we used to," she said.

Miller said few American journalists (or Americans for that matter) knew anything about Islam before 9/11. But now more mainstream journalists are paying attention to Islam and learning more about it and other faiths.

After 9/11, "we have learned a lot about Islam .. .The Muslim community is as diverse as Catholics, as concerned about assimilation as Jews ... We're paying more attention to nuance and complexity."

Esposito directed the next question to Dr. Sherman Jackson, University of Michigan professor and a convert to Islam.

Can Muslims assimilate into American culture and is that the goal?

Jackson said there is a difference between assimilation and integration. He said the answer also depends on whether "we look at America as a political arrangement or as a culture.

"That question would not be asked of an African-American Christian preacher," he said, suggesting that Muslims should not be viewed as outsiders -- not as "one black box entity" -- but as just another of the many diverse peoples that make America.

"Muslims are Americans like everyone else."

Esposito asked Dr. Ingrid Mattson, a professor at Hartford Seminary, about how Muslim women are portrayed in America.

Mattson said they tend to be viewed as a stereotype, a collective, rather than as unique individuals. That's especially true for Muslim women like her who choose to wear head scarves.

She told brief stories about half a dozen Muslim women she knows, each of whom is most concerned in their day to day lives with things that have nothing to do with Islam -- just like women everywhere.

"Each (Muslim) woman has a different issues," Mattson said.

"But when we interact we're being treated as a collectivity. We want to define ourselves."

After Hendi's prayer, Newsweek editor Jon Meacham welcomed everyone to the program and made introductions.

Then Georgetown's Dr. John Esposito, the moderator, began with an instruction.

"This is not an academic lecture," Esposito said. "This is a dialogue . . .We have an absolute ban on speeches"

He began by asking each of the eight panelists a different question. Each panelist was given no more than two minutes to speak.

First, he asked Hadia Mubarak, a Georgetown graduate student who grew up in Florida, how the Muslim-American community experienced 9/11.

Mubarak said she and other American Muslims she knew felt two overriding emotions -- sad and estranged.

"American Muslims were confronted with a sense of psychic separation," Mubarak said.

"Our very sense of identity as Americans was seen with distrust."

Mubarak also said she and other Muslims began to realize they couldn't just blend into the culture. They had a responsibility to speak up and educate America about Islam, especially those who think Islam is inherently violent.

Imam Yahya Hendi of Georgetown began the symposium with a moment of silence and prayer, in memory of the victims at Virginia Tech.

He spoke in Hebrew, Arabic and English.

"Blessed is the name of God, the Lord of the Universe . . ." Hendi said.

"We can still join those voices of sanity and overcome those voices of hate.. . Almighty God, to you we belong and to you we do return. Almighty God, comfort us all and lead us with your wisdom and love, here at Georgetown, there at Virginia Tech and all over this great nation of ours."

Looks like more than a full house at the 200-seat Copley Formal Lounge at Georgetown.

According to Imam Hendi, one of the panelists, there are people here from the State Department, the Defense Department, the local Muslim community and Georgetown.

The audience includes Rev. Jennifer Butler of Faith in Public Life, Nawar Shora of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, Rev. Welton Gaddy of the Interfaith Alliance, Achmad Younis of the Muslim-American Public Affairs Council, and Cynthia Schneider, former ambassador to the Netherlands.

Media covering the event include the Washington Post, Religion News Service, the Pakistan Chronicle, VOA TV and the Maghreb Arab Press.

Salman Ahmad is sound-checking his guitar. The Sufi rock star will perform a song near the end of the 90 minute program.

The program will begin in a few minutes.

Join us at 4 p.m. today at Georgetown/On Faith's symposium on "What it Means to be Muslim in America.

The Georgetown/On Faith event will be held from 4-5:30 p.m. April 19 at Georgetown University's Copley Hall Formal Lounge.

The discussion is free and open to the public. On-campus parking is available. Georgetown University's front gates are at the corner of 37th and O streets in the Georgetown section of Washington DC.

The symposium will be moderated by On Faith panelist Dr. John L. Esposito, Georgetown University professor of religion and founding director of the Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding.

He will lead a discussion that includes:

-- Salman Ahmad, a Pakistani-born rock star who started the wildly popular South Asian band known as Junoon.

-- Dr. Ingrid Mattson, a Canadian convert, a professor of Islamic Studies and Christian-Muslim Relations at Hartford (Conn.) Seminary, and the first woman to be president of the Islamic Society of North America.

-- Dr. Sherman Jackson, a native of Philadelphia, and professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies and Afro-American Studies at the University of Michigan.

-- Imam Yahya Hendi, Muslim chaplain at Georgetown University.

-- Hadia Mubarak, senior researcher at Georgetown's Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding.

-- Lisa Miller, Newsweek's Society editor since 2000, former religion reporter for the Wall Street Journal, and an "On Faith" panelist.

-- Sally Quinn of the Washington Post and Newsweek Editor Jon Meacham, both co-moderators of On Faith.

What does it mean to be Muslim in America?

Is the answer political? Social? Cultural? Spiritual?

On Faith is going to ask some experts at a symposium Thursday afternoon at Georgetown University.

What questions do you have?

We'll take time during the 90-minute symposium to ask the panel some of your questions.

You can email them now or during the discussion. I'll be blogging the discussion live.

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"The Face Behind the Veil" by Donna Gehrke-White.

"Islam, The Straight Path" by John Esposito.

"Caucasus: A Journey to the Land Between Christianity and Islam" by Nicholas Griffin.

"1453: The Holy War for Constantinople and the Clash of Islam and the West" by Roger Crowley.

"Harem: The World Behind the Veil" by Alev Lytle Croutier.

"Istanbul: Memories and the City" by Orhan Pamuk.

"What Everyone Needs to Know About Islam" by John Esposito.

"The Great War for Civilization: The Conquest of the Middle East" by Robert Fisk.

"Scattered Pictures" by Zaid Shakir.

"Islam, Fundamentalism and the Betrayal of Tradition" by Joseph Lumbard.

"Mecca and Main Street: Muslim Life in America After 9/11" by Geneive Abdo.

"Being Muslim" by Haroon Siddiqui.

"The State We Are In: Identity, Terror, and the Law of Jihad" by Aftab Malik, Hamza Yusuf Hanson, and David Dakake.

"The Rights of Women in Islam: An Authentic Approach" by Haifaa A. Jawad.

"Muslim Women in America: The Challenge of Islamic Identity Today" by Yvonne Haddad, Jane Smith, and Kathleen Moore.

"The Girl with the Tangerine Scarf" by Mohja Kahf.

--"American Islam: The Struggle for the Soul of a Religion" by Paul M. Barrett.
--"Islam: Past, Present and Future" by Hans Kung.
--"Journey into Islam: The Crisis of Globalization" by Akbar Ahmed.
--"Mecca and Main Street: Muslim Life in America after 9/11" by Geneive Abdo.
--"Islam: A Short History" by Karen Armstrong.

--"American Islam: The Struggle for the Soul" of a Religion by Paul M. Barrett.
--"Mecca and Main Street: Muslim Life in America after 9/11" by Geneive Abdo.
--"Servants of Allah: African Muslims Enslaved in the Americas" by Sylviane A. Diouf.
--"A Muslim in Victorian America: the Life of Alexander Russell Webb" by Umar Abd-Allah.
--"Covering Islam: How the media and the experts determine how we see the rest of the world" by Edward Said.
--"Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Villifies a People" by Jack Shaheen.
--"The Heart of Islam: enduring values for humanity" by Seyyed Hossein Nasr.
--"God is One: the Way of Islam" by R. Marston Speight.
--"What's Right with Islam: A New Vision for Muslims and the West" by Feisal Abdul Rauf.

Several Georgetown/On Faith panelists have handed out reading lists -- just in case you'd like to learn more about Islam before or after the symposium.

Fortunately, there will be no tests.

Here's Sherman Jackson's list:

--"On the Boundaries of Theological Tolerance in Islam" by Sherman Jackson.
--"Islam and the Blackamerican" also by Jackson.

Lisa Miller, Newsweek's Society editor since 2000, has joined the panel for the April 19 Georgetown/On Faith symposium.

Miller, an "On Faith" panelist, edits the magazine’s reporting on religion, education, family and health. She edited Newsweek’s “Spirituality in America” double issue, which looked at the rise of spirituality and why many Americans are choosing to seek spiritual experiences outside traditional religions.

In addition to editing several award-winning articles, she has supervised publication of major cover stories including “Sex, Shame and the Catholic Church,” (March 2002), “The Bible and the Qur’an,” (February 2002), “Fighting Addiction,” (February 2001), and “God and the Brain,” (May 2001).

Miller came to Newsweek from the Wall Street Journal, where she was an award-winning senior special writer covering religion for the paper’s front page since 1997. Prior to the Journal, Miller worked at the New Yorker, Self magazine and Harvard Business Review.

In 1998, she won a New York Newswomen’s Club award for feature writing. She earned a B.A. in English from Ohio’s Oberlin College. Miller is writing a book about contemporary beliefs and conceptions of heaven.

Opening Statement from Hadia Mubarak:

“So, where are you from?” sounds as familiar to my ears as the crashing of waves on Panama City Beach and the echoing of the adhan (call to prayer) from the minarets of Jordan’s mosques.

My mother’s heritage resonates in Jordan’s sky-piercing mountains and the Syrian wind carries my father’s roots. But I am neither Jordanian nor Syrian, for tradition rules that you belong to the soil that testifies to your birth and childhood.

This country has witnessed my birth, shaped my perceptions and informed my upbringing. She knows me as well as I know myself, for my memories evoke her history and my dreams live in her future. I capture her history by writing my own. She is the needle that holds my thread, interweaving my story in her all-encompassing quilt. I have fallen in love with her way of life, her personal freedom, her respect for individuality, her cultivation of diversity and tolerance. My appreciation for these ideals is reinforced by my religion, Islam. A belief in one God and in humanity’s ultimate accountability before the Creator, Islam has been central in shaping my identity as an American.

What does it mean to be an American Muslim? The concept of an American Muslim has not yet crystallized in the American public consciousness. In the post 9/11 climate, American Muslims were confronted with a sense of perpetual displacement in the American public psyche. Although we were born and raised in this country and knew no other place to call home, we American Muslims came to realize for the first time that we were not in fact perceived as American in the eyes of a large swath of the general public...

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At "On Faith," moderators Sally Quinn and Jon Meacham get to ask the questions.

This week at Georgetown University, they'll be answering them as well.

Quinn and Meacham will be two of the seven panelists discussing "What it means to be Muslim in America," a symposium that begins a new partnership between On Faith and Georgetown.

"Their role is to shine a harsh light on the gap in understanding between non-Muslims and Muslims in America, including citing actual comments and commentary from 'On Faith,' and to elaborate on the enormous, complicated, far-reaching consequences of this gap," said Kyle Gibson, who will be directing the symposium.

Quinn was a reporter for The Washington Post’s “Style” section in the 1970s and 1980s, producing irreverent and often controversial profiles of celebrities and politicians. Before long, she was one of the paper’s most celebrated writers.

At age 32, she left The Post to become co-anchor for “CBS Morning News.” It was a frustrating and short-lived experience that she chronicled in her first book, We’re Going to Make You a Star…

Quinn returned to Washington and continues to write for the Post. She also has written three other books: Regrets Only, Happy Endings, and The Party. Quinn is married to Benjamin Bradlee, retired executive editor of the Post who currently is vice-president at-large for the company. They live in Washington with their son, Quinn.

Meacham was named editor of Newsweek in October 2006. His book, American Gospel: God, the Founding Fathers, and the Making of a Nation, has become a bestseller since its publication in early 2006.

Meacham began his journalism career as a reporter with The Chattanooga Times from 1991-1992. He was an editor for two years at The Washington Monthly. After arriving at Newsweek in January 1995, he became National Affairs editor in June of that year, supervising coverage of politics and breaking news. He was Newsweek’s managing editor from 1998-2006.

Hadia Mubarak has felt like an outsider here in America, where she was born, and in the Middle East, where her parents were born.

She writes that she didn't feel comfortable in her American Muslim identity until she went to college and visited a nearby mosque. There she felt part of something universal.

"My American Muslim identity, like that of many others, is one that cannot be contained within geographic borders," Mubarak wrote for Azizah magazine in 2004.

"It does not begin nor end on a stretch of land, for an identity lives within the heart and the consciousness. I am at home in any land or place that reminds me what it means to be insan (human)."

Mubarak is senior researcher at Georgetown’s Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim Christian Understanding. She will share her American Muslim perspective at an April 19 symposium on "What it means to be Muslim in America.'

Mubarak was born in New Jersey but grew up in Panama City, Fla. Her parents are from Syria and Jordan.

She is the first woman and first native-born American to be elected president to lead the national Muslim Student Association. She helped organize the Brookings Institute’s U.S.-Islamic World Forum in Doha, Qatar, in 2004.

She is a 2003 graduate of Florida State University where she majored in international affairs and English creative writing with a minor in Middle Eastern Studies. She has a Master's degree in contemporary Arab studies from Georgetown and is pursuing a PhD in Islamic studies.

Georgetown University was the first university in America to hire a full-time Muslim chaplain.

The man they hired in 1999 is Imam Yahya Hendi.

"Muslims in America are very frustrated with the way Islam has been portrayed. Muslims do not see Islam as a religion of violence. On the contrary, Muslims believe Islam is a religion of peace that teaches forgiveness and love," Hendi said in a 2002 interview with Religion & Ethics Newsweekly.

"We are misunderstood, and therefore, the challenge has been how we can reintroduce ourselves in a language that is familiar with our fellow American neighbors."

Hendi will be one of two members of Georgetown's Islamic community who will participate in the April 19 symposium on "What it Means to be Muslim in America."

Hendi, a U.S. citizen who was born in Palestine, speaks fluent Arabic and Hebrew. He is imam of the Islamic Society of Frederick, Md., and the Muslim Chaplain at the National Naval Medical Center, Bethesda, Md.

He earned a bachelor's degree in Islamic law and theology from the University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan. He holds two Master's degrees, including one in comparative religion from Hartford (Conn.) Seminary. He is a doctoral candidate in comparative religion program at Temple University, Philadelphia.

Hendi has spoken about Islam and its relations with the West all over the world. He was one of the Muslim leaders who met with President Bush in the aftermath of 9/11.

He has a given name he uses as an American college professor: Sherman A. Jackson.

He also has a Muslim name: Abdul al-Hakim.

As a self-described "Blackamerican" convert to Islam, he hopes his two names will be one of the topics of discussion at the April 19 symposium on "What it Means to be Muslim in America."

"I think it is relevant to the topic, and I think the audience may learn something of value from such a discussion," Dr. Sherman Jackson said.

Islam in America is complicated by the diversity of the Muslim community here, which includes homegrown converts, Jackson argues.

"American-born converts (the majority of whom are African-Americans) are a product of American history, as are their hopes, fears, fantasies and proper ambition," Jackson has written.

"They are both repelled by the American experience, by virtue of their history as a marginalized minority, and attracted to it, by the virtue of their connection to a uniquely rich Afro-American historical and cultural tradition. Their search for a boa fide Muslim identity is still in its exploratory stage."

"On Faith" panelist Jackson, a specialist in Islamic law and theology, is professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies and visiting professor of Law at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor.

Jackson, who grew up in Philadelphia, received a doctorate from the University of Pennsylvania, Department of Oriental Studies in 1990. He has written many scholarly articles and books including: Islam And The Blackamerican: Looking Toward the Third Resurrection.. He is co-founder of the American Learning Institute for Muslims (ALIM) and a former member of the Fiqh Council of North America.

Salman Ahmad is lead guitarist and founding member of Junoon, South Asia's most popular rock band.

Because of that, and because of his work for peace and justice, Ahmad is often referred to as the Bono of Asia.

Truth is, Bono is a big fan of Ahmad:

"Just wanted to write you a quick note to say how much we here in the rest of the musical world appreciate what you are doing in your own region for peace," Bono wrote in a letter posted on Junoon's web site.

Ahmad, an "On Faith" panelist, will bring his unique experiences and views to the April 19 symposium, "What it Means to be Muslim in America," co-sponsored by On Faith and Georgetown University.

"If you look at Islamic history, the Prophet Muhammad lived a really tolerant life,” Ahmad explained in an interview with What Is Enlightenment? magazine. "He married a woman who was fifteen years older and a divorcée. He imbibed information from Christianity, from Judaism. He was a very open man."

Ahmad, a Muslim in the Sufi tradition, was born in Pakistan but grew up in New York. He was a physician before he became a rock star. With Junoon, he has gotten involved in a number of humanitarian efforts, raising funds for Hurricane Katrina victims and earthquake victims in northern Pakistan.

Ahmad has produced two documentary films, The Rock Star and the Mullahs and Muslims in America: It's My Country Too.

Ahmad is a goodwill ambassador for the UN, acting as the US national spokesperson in the fight against HIV/AIDS. He is also on the board of directors of Breakthrough, an international human rights organization that uses education and popular culture to promote values of dignity, equality, and justice.

In September 2006, Ahmad spoke at the Clinton Global Initiative panel in New York.

Ingrid Mattson was raised Catholic in Canada, but she didn't feel close to God until she prayed the salat for the first time at age 23.

She embraced Islam. Nearly two decades later, she became the first woman, the first non-immigrant and the first Muslim convert to be elected to lead the Islamic Society of North America.

As she told Newsweek in 2006, the journey as a convert "helps me understand what so many other Muslims and visible minorities go through."

Mattson will bring her North American experience to the On Faith Live discussion on "What it Means to be Muslim in America" at April 19 symposium at Georgetown University.

Mattson, an “On Faith” panelist, is professor of Islamic Studies and Christian-Muslim Relations, as well as Director of the Islamic Chaplaincy Program, at Hartford Seminary in Connecticut.

She spent 1987-1988 working with Afghan refugee women in Pakistan. She earned her doctorate in Islamic Studies from the University of Chicago in 1999.

She has written numerous articles exploring the relationship between Islamic law and society, as well as gender and leadership issues in contemporary Muslim communities.

Her forthcoming book, The Story of the Qur'an: Its History and Place in Muslim Societies, will be published by Blackwell Press.

Are all Muslims the same and where do most Muslims they live?

How is Islam similar to Christianity and Judaism?

Does the Quran condone terrorism?

Is Islam compatible with democracy?

Are women second class citizens in Islam?

Those are some of the questions On Faith panelist John Esposito will pose when Georgetown University hosts the first On Faith Live on April 19. The symposium will be held from 4-5:30 p.m.

Esposito is professor of religion, international affairs and Islamic studies at Georgetown University. He also is founding director of the Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown’s Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service.

A specialist in Islam, political Islam and the impact of Islamic movements from North Africa to Southeast Asia, Esposito is editor-in-chief of The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modern Islamic World (4 vols.), The Oxford History of Islam, The Oxford Dictionary of Islam, and The Islamic World: Past and Present (3 vols.).

His more than 30 books include: Unholy War: Terror in the Name of Islam, What Everyone Needs to Know About Islam, World Religions Today (with D. Fasching & T. Lewis). The Islamic Threat: Myth or Reality?, Islam: The Straight Path; Islam and Politics; Islam and Democrac, Makers of Contemporary Islam (with J. Voll) and Islam and Secularism in the Middle East (with A. Tamimi).

Is it a moral compass? A political agenda? A spiritual journey? A culture apart?

These are questions that will be discussed and debated when Georgetown University hosts the first "On Faith Live" event April 19.

The 90-minute symposium will inaugurate Georgetown/ On Faith -- a new partnership aimed at providing On Faith readers a deeper and more scholarly exploration of religion in the news.

The April 19 symposium will be moderated by On Faith panelist Dr. John L. Esposito, Georgetown University professor of religion and founding director of the Prince Alwaleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding.

He will lead a discussion that includes five other On Faith panelists:

-- Salman Ahmad, a Pakistani-born rock star who started the wildly popular South Asian band known as Junoon.

-- Ingrid Mattson, a Canadian convert, a professor of Islamic Studies and Christian-Muslim Relations at Hartford (Conn.) Seminary, and the first woman to be president of the Islamic Society of North America.

-- Dr. Sherman Jackson, a native of Philadelphia, and professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies and Afro-American Studies at the University of Michigan.

-- Sally Quinn of the Washington Post and Newsweek Editor Jon Meacham, both co-moderators of On Faith.

The symposium also will include two other panelists:

-- Imam Yahya Hendi, Muslim chaplain at Georgetown University.

-- Hadia Mubarak, senior researcher at Georgetown's Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding.

The event will be held from 4-5:30 p.m. April 19 at Georgetown University's Copley Hall Formal Lounge.

On Faith producer David Waters will blog the event and forward readers' questions to the panel.

To obtain press credentials for the event, or to schedule an interview with the symposium panelists, contact WPNI's Donna Sawyer at donna.sawyer@wpni.com or at (703) 469-2965, or Georgetown's Jacques Arsenault at arsenauj@georgetown.edu or at 202 687-4328.

And stay tuned for more information.