Christmas with the Brotherhood

Over the weekend following Christmas 2015, as many as 10,000 Muslims convened at Chicago’s McCormick Place for the 14th annual Muslim American Society-Islamic Circle of North America (MAS-ICNA) Convention. Neatly bearded men, typically in casual western clothes were much in evidence, along with a few in business suits and some in traditional, billowing cotton tunics and pants. As for the women, the overwhelming majority, including adolescents, wore modest, lose-fitting clothes and headscarves (or hijab). A few, roughly equal in number, stood out, either because a niqab covered their faces, except their eyes; or because their lack of any head-covering typically revealed long, dark – even voluptuous – hair. A non-Muslim visitor was reminded that the headscarf hardly inhibits female vanity, which on this occasion asserted itself with eye make-up, colorful prints, stylish footwear, and painted toenails. While the majority of attendees were immigrants of Arab origin and had mostly American-born children in tow, not a few South Asian families were evident. So, too, was a small but noticeable number of blacks, typically African Americans but inevitably a few Africans. Encountering any one of these types would by itself hardly be a surprise in any major American city. But the unfamiliarity of such an array gathered together in one place was evident as I walked through the convention’s huge bazaar, featuring scores and scores of vendors touting all variety of goods, services, organizations, and causes. On sale were exotic honeys, sweets, and other Middle Eastern foodstuffs; traditional and not-so-traditional men’s and women’s clothing and fashions, all conforming to Islamic standards of modesty; the inevitable arrays of religious and non-religious books; and Qur’an recitation and study-guide software. Also present were various disaster relief efforts soliciting funds for projects directed both domestically and overseas, especially in Syria; publications about interest-free, Sharia-compliant home mortgages; guides to establishing Boy Scout troops for Muslims; information about weekend seminars conducted by the Salafist Al-Maghreb Institute; recruiters for Hizb’ut-Tahrir, an extremist group out to reestablish the caliphate through reputedly non-violent means; and finally, orthodox rebbes with Jews United Against Zionism, whose biggest problem at their booth appeared to be keeping their bowl of kosher candy filled. Lectures and speeches in the main assembly hall accommodated several thousand attendees at a sitting, while smaller break-out sessions – mostly in English but also in Arabic and Spanish, with simultaneous translations – addressed topics ranging from Islamic religious practices and piety, domestic politics and foreign policy, media relations, breaking into Hollywood filmmaking, and dealing with marital and family problems. In addition to a Qur’an recitation competition, there was an inflatable playground for young kids, a basketball tournament for teens and up, a matrimonial banquet for prescreened singles in search of a mate, and an interfaith lunch and panel discussion (which presumably explains why, unlike in previous years, the convention began the day after Christmas, not the day before!). Finally, at the end of each day, around 11 PM in the main auditorium, a few thousand well-behaved, mostly young fans responded enthusiastically * Peter Skerry [email protected]