State Department Hosts Mainstream Muslim Organizations at Religious Freedom Briefing
Fall 1999
(Washington, DC) At his briefing on the International Religious Freedom Report, Ambassador Robert Seiple reiterated his commitment to ISCA to help foster tolerance between Muslim organizations in America. To illustrate his firm stance, many new, diverse faces were present at the religious freedom briefing held on September 23, 1999, at the State Department.
The department’s recognition of the Muslim community’s diversity is a step toward the government, media and general public realizing that Muslims, in their practice and viewpoints, are not monolithic. Until recently, Washington only heard certain voices in the community – that of a few organizational heads with small representations. Now, voices from the silent majority are being heard from across the country.
The Honorable Justice O’Connor addresses forum at Supreme Court: Discussion on Muslim Women and International Law
(Washington, DC – 9/28/99) In a forum sponsored by The Embassy of Tunisia and The President’s Interagency Council on Women, the Honorable Justice Sandra Day O’Connor addressed a versatile audience comprised of several Muslim, government, legal and women’s representatives, on the evolution of the legal status of women in this country. Dr. Aziza al-Hibri, professor of law, followed with a lecture detailing the legal status of women according to Islamic Law. Enlightening to most of the audience was the fact that many inherent rights given to women in Islam have been the object of an ardent struggle for women in the Western world.
"In the early 1800s," Justice O’Connor relates, "by law, wives could not hold, purchase, control, bequeath, or convey property, retain their own wages, make contracts, or bring legal actions." Regarding marital relations as reflected in the law, men were under a legal duty to support their wives, however, the law rarely stepped in to enforce this obligation. "Judges took a similar stance toward domestic violence," she continued. "Early English law had recognized the husband’s right to discipline his spouse, provided that he "neither killed or maimed her."
Sharing her own life example regarding women in the workplace, Justice O’Connor marveled at the revolution she has witnessed firsthand. "The progress made is truly amazing when you consider that, at my graduation near the top of my class at Stanford Law School in 1952, the only position I was offered at a national law firm was that of legal secretary. In the span of a few decades, my options have blossomed!"
Following her speech, Dr. Aziza al-Hibri, addressed the forum, firstly mentioning the inherent rights of Muslim women in inheritance, keeping their own wages and contractual rights. Amongst the Muslim representatives participating in the Supreme Court event were representatives from ISCA and TMM.
NPC Luncheon with Turkish Prime Minister
On September 29, 1999, members of ISCA and TMM were cordially invited to attend a National Press Club Luncheon featuring Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit of Turkey. During his visit, the PM met with President Clinton and other government officials, discussing security cooperation, energy cooperation, region cooperation and earthquake relief and reconstruction efforts. One main topic of discussion was the situation in Cyprus, whereupon the PM supported President Clinton’s suggestion to send a special envoy to the region to explore chances of moving forward.
In his luncheon address at the Willard Hotel, Prime Minister Ecevit thanked the United States for its relief efforts after the earthquake and discussed the Turkish economy at length, referencing proposals made during his time in Washington. On the subject of international relations, he mentioned very close relations with all of the neighboring countries, as well as close ties with the new Central Asian republics, the majority of whose population is of Turkish origin.
"At the moment, some of these Central Asian countries are facing dangers from fundamentalist circles," said the PM. "But as I said, Turkey’s experience has checked the infiltration of radical religious movements in our region."
Asked about the female Parliament Member who was expelled for wearing a headscarf, the prime minister only mentioned that the woman violated the law by not declaring her dual citizenship before her candidacy. He gave no explanation of why there are regulations of public dress in a country that considers itself democratic.
On a lighter subject, the PM was asked about the occasions he has spent in jail, and how that experience affected him. "A French writer, said that it would be healthy thing for any politician to spend some time in jail," he replied, to a roomful of laughter and applause. After the luncheon, the ISCA and TMM representatives presented the PM with an Islamic book written by Shaykh Muhammad Hisham Kabbani, ISCA chairman.
The Honorable Sandy Berger on Rebuilding Kosova
(Washington, DC – 9/30/99) At the invitation of the U.S. Institute of Peace, ISCA and TMM participated in a current issues briefing on "Winning the Peace in Kosovo," featuring the Honorable Sandy Berger, National Security Advisor. In his speech he addressed the on-going effort to win the peace in Kosovo, the goals that the international community has set for peace-keeping, reconstruction and democracy-building, progress-to-date made on achieving these goals and the challenges ahead.
"Kosovo now is engaged in a struggle of rebirth, no longer a struggle with death," said Berger. "The people have a future again. We have an opportunity to move from success on the battlefield to lasting victory in meeting the goals for which we fought, in Kosovo and in southeast Europe as a whole."
Proceeding to explain the US role in the Balkans, Berger continued, "Having won the war, we must not now lose the peace. Protecting our national interests requires us not only to act in a crisis, but to take advantage of the opportunity our military success created to prevent future crises. Victory will not come until Kosovo and southeast Europe are so tightly integrated into the rest of Europe that another war is inconceivable.
Among the goals Berger discussed for the international community were to establish a secure environment across the province, to allow for all displaced Kosovar residents to return to the region, and to provide enough humanitarian aid to sustain the people and help them build homes. Additionally, he said the UN must establish an effective civil administration to carry out government functions for a transition period, that aid must be provided to the people of Kosova in establishing self-government and building a democratic society, and finally that Kosovo’s ultimate status must be decided peacefully, with the participation of its people. While he stressed that the people of Kosovo should never again be ruled by Milosevic, he relayed President Clinton’s sentiments that the last thing the Balkans needs is more Balkanization.
USIP welcomed ISCA and TMM’s participation in the briefing and looks forward to collaborating on future events.
Middle East Institute (MEI) Conference
On October 1 and 2, 1999, ISCA had the honor to attend the 53rd annual conference of the Middle East Institute in Washington, D.C.
Topics covered at the two-day conference included Arab-Israeli issues, unemployment and instability in the Middle East, and U.S. relations with Turkey, Iran, and Iraq. Highlights from the conference included a keynote address by Professor Elizabeth Fernea of the University of Texas at Austin, author of "The Search for Islamic Feminism," an address by Assistant Secretary for the Near East and North Africa, Martin Indyk, who spoke at a well-attended banquet on Friday night, and a closing adddress by Prince Feisl of Saudi Arabia on Saturday morning.
The conference theme was "Leadership for a New Century," therefore discussion focused mainly on the impact of the new regimes in many countries of the Middle East and North Africa.
