Building Multicultural Bridges

By Sumbul Ali-Karamali

When I read Three Cups of Tea, my predominant reaction was gratitude for Greg Mortenson. In his book, Mortenson relates Jean Hoerni once cynically stating that Americans would never help the Pakistanis, because they cared about the Buddhists, not about the Muslims. Yet, Mortenson almost single-handedly did care and did help, recognizing – as so few ever do – that education is the key to peace.

As an American Muslim girl growing up in Los Angeles, I had the luxury of education. But I was always aware, even as a child, of how close I had come to not having it. My parents had grown up in India, and my father put himself through school by tutoring children – eventually earning four university degrees. He told me repeatedly, as his grandfather had always told him, that education was the only thing no one could take away.

I grew up Muslim at a time when I was usually the only Muslim in my vicinity – so I got all the questions about Islam. In a way, much of my life has been one, long interfaith dialogue! That’s why it occurred to me one day, after I’d embarked on a career as a corporate lawyer, to write a book for everyone who had ever asked me a question on Islam – and for everyone who had ever wanted to ask but didn’t know any Muslims.

So when my husband’s job took us to London, I earned a graduate degree in Islamic law. To my cultural, practioner’s view of Islam, my degree added a Western, academic viewpoint. And I sat down to write that book!

It just came out in September, and it’s called The Muslim Next Door: the Qur’an, the Media, and that Veil Thing. It’s a fun-to-read introduction to Islam that combines a warm, often humorous, conversational narrative tone with academically reliable substantive content. It’s full of stories and anecdotes about growing up Muslim in America, but it’s deeply informative.

As I read Three Cups of Tea, I reflected that Greg Mortenson touched on, but did not explain, several Islamic concepts. For example, would readers know what he meant by “Sunni,” “Shia” or “mullah”? Or what the religious clergy in Iran have to do with Pakistan? Or what Mortenson is saying or doing when he joins the Pakistanis in their prayers? Or what a fatwa is and what the Wahabis and the Taliban are?

That’s the kind of question I answer in my book, but in a relatable, American context. What does the Muslim family next door believe and what do they practice? What’s the significance of Ramadan and how does it play out in an American Muslim life? What’s the status of women in Islam? I still cringe when I remember a conversation with a young man that culminated in his demanding, “What do you mean you can’t go to the prom because of your religion??”

I hope my book helps build multicultural bridges and, yes, even world peace. I know that’s a lofty goal, but Mortenson began the same way, too, doing what he could do and not worrying about what he couldn’t. Civilizations are not antithetical to each other; rather, it’s the misunderstandings of those civilizations that cause clashes. We can all contribute, in whatever way we can, to the eradication of the “clash of ignorances.” And thus, perhaps even to world peace.

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Sumbul Ali-Karamali is a local author who earned her B.A. from Stanford, her J.D. from U.C. Davis, and her L.L.M. in Islamic Law from the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies. She was a teaching assistant in Islamic law at the University of London and was a research associate at the Centre of Islamic and Middle Eastern Law in London. For excerpts, reviews, and information about her first book, The Muslim Next Door, please visit her website at www.muslimnextdoor.com.