Photo Essay: Islam in Madagascar (2)

Just last night I finished writing a thirty-page paper on Islam and how it’s lived in Diego Suarez. Besides the plethora of ‘Diego-Suarez’s,’ ‘Qur’ans’ and ‘Muslims,’ the next most common words were ‘harmony’ and ‘peace.’ This project’s theme was overwhelmingly about harmony. My last three weeks were spent taking notes on harmony. Harmony, harmony, everything was about harmony. “And there has never been any conflicts between your mixed religious student population?” No, never. “Why is it so peaceful here between Muslims, Christians, and traditional religion believers?” People looked at me like I was crazy. One guy’s answer was a correction of my question: “Peace is not constructed. It’s automatic. It will continue until the end of the world.”

Every single person I spoke with mentioned the importance of respecting each other’s values, opinions, and religious choices. This place was all about harmony. “We live together, we dance together, we eat together, go to school together, party together – we’re all Malagasy!” More harmony. When my grandmother called to share some thoughts with me when I wasn’t feeling well the first thing she mentioned was the harmony existent in God’s kingdom. I laughed. I know! I know all about it!

“Ny fiarahana eo amin’ny tsy fitoviana” one Imam (or Muslim preacher) told me. Unity in Diversity. That’s why there’s peace in Diego. The more we know about someone, the better we will be able to understand them; and ultimately help them. Though this blog didn’t include everything I learned about Islam – much more than thirty pages could be written about that – I hope it opened a few more windows of understanding about Islam. Feel that breeze! It’s a mighty ingredient of peace!

I am also going to share a sad secret with you. After waiting silent paper-rustling moments to ensure the end of the official interview one Muslim man said, “Now between us…” and then asked this question: “Why do Americans hate Muslims?” This scenario at the end of the meeting happened more than once. I will repeat that in another form: this question was asked by several different people. I am going to close this blog with the very same paragraph that I closed my paper with:

When I first heard that question my lips went tight together in sadness. I knew at that moment exactly why I was doing my independent study project on Islam. I sat there and told them that it wasn’t true, and that Americans were just ignorant – they didn’t know anything about the religion. I sat there and looked at people that love God, love peace, love, love, love, and answered their question in my head: “If only America knew! If only America had met you!” I did my project on Islam because of that question. Because of that misunderstanding between people that share the same planet but know nothing about each other. Because I think that a world where diversity can also mean unity would be a pretty cool thing.