WASHINGTON, 1 May — American imams gathered this weekend in Washington to learn how to better interact with the US government, politicians, the media and deal with current issues involving the American Muslim community.

The three-day American Muslim Council Leadership Conference drew over 200 imams and principals and administrators of Islamic schools nationwide.

“The importance of our conference was to underscore the fact that if someone wants to speak to the American Muslim community, or any Muslim community, the imam is the main, effective and most trusted channel,” Abdulrahman Al-Amoudi, president of the American Muslim Council told Arab News.

“When the imam tells people in his mosque that it’s all right to be part of the system, and speaks on the importance of the community being involved politically,” this will make a positive difference, he said.

Al-Amoudi said the conference also offered a great opportunity for the nation’s religious leaders to network among themselves. Aside from intense workshops within the conference, AMC also held meetings on Capitol Hill with Muslim staffers working there. “For an imam from the Midwest or the South to learn that a Jumaah prayer is held on Capital Hill — was, well nothing short of mind-boggling,” said Al-Amoudi.

The group also met with ambassadors from Muslim countries, “which is another way to connect them with the Muslim world, and connect the ambassadors with the religious leaders of the Muslim community in the US,” said the AMC president.

Al-Amoudi said the most grueling session, “and I have to give the Imams credit,” was a session with “professional American Muslim sisters who talked about the other half of the Muslim community. It was really great because, frankly, our sisters don’t have much of a voice in the general American Muslim community affairs. So it was quite an experience.

“We had 200 imams captive while their sisters bombarded them with grievances about their experiences and treatment within the general Muslim community. This was a taboo (subject), but we broke it,” said Al-Amoudi.

Imad Benjaelloun, CEO of Justice and Spirituality Publishing in Iowa City, Iowa, said the AMC conference was useful because it created an opportunity for American Muslim leaders to meet and share their expertise in contributing to the betterment of the American society. “It also helped us learn useful ways to be more active and effective in the American political process, and to help us work on uniting our efforts in a way that can make a positive and significant impact on American policies.”

Daoud Nassimi, from the ADAMS Center in Herndon, Virginia, said: “While Muslims in this country and the rest of the world have been under different kinds of pressures in recent months, the AMC conference was a great opportunity for imams from across the country to share their frustrations and channel these frustrations in legal and fruitful ways. It provided some tips for the imams in how to be more effective here in terms of their responsibility and their voice.”

Khodari Abdul Ali, press consultant to the Embassy of Sudan, said the conference was significant to him because “it represented a shift in the thinking of many American Muslims, especially those who are considered immigrants, as a result of the events of Sept. 11.

“We are realizing the need for social activism, the need to build coalitions, the need to consult with the indigenous Muslim population.”

Abdul Ali said that prior to 9/11, many Muslims were “under the delusion that oppressive tactics, such as racial profiling, such as mass round-ups, such as raids on respectable Muslim institutions, couldn’t happen in America.”

Since 9/11, Muslims have had to reassess their positions in the US, he said. “As a Muslim of African-American descent, I was born into this situation. We’ve faced discrimination all of our lives, and as a community we have much to offer our Muslim brothers who have come here from overseas. “For example, we told them to be wary of their wholehearted support for President Bush, and they are realizing now that we were right and it was a mistake,” said Abdul Ali.