Text from Ibrahim Hooper Interview 1993
By Lou
Gelfand; Staff Writer |
Minneapolis
Star Tribune
Published:
April 4, 1993
Section: NEWS
Page#: 31A
Ibrahim
Hooper, who says his Islamic Information Service
represents Minnesota’s estimated 15,000 Muslims, has reiterated his
request
that “fundamentalists” not be used to describe those charged in the
World Trade
Center bombing in New York.
To be a
Muslim you must believe in Islam’s sacred text, the
Koran, and that makes every Muslim a fundamentalist, Hooper says.
Roger Buoen,
Star Tribune national editor, agrees that
“fundamentalist” is an imperfect term to describe the alleged bombers,
but
says, “I’ve yet to hear an alternative that’s better.”
Typical of
the “fundamentalist” usage was a March 27
Associated Press article that said, “The suspects appear to be
fundamentalist
Muslims, which raised the prospect of anti-Western zealotry.”
R. Scott
Appleby, who headed a six-year study of
fundamentalism for the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, defends
the use
of “fundamentalists.”
He says it
describes those committed to an Islamic state.
“They feel that Islamic law must be implemented as the basis for all
legal
decisions, for all courts, for all legislation,” he says.
The academy’s
study, reported in London’s Economist, said,
“Fundamentalists may have started as traditionalists but have been
forced, by
events or history or the world at large, into activism. All see
themselves as
‘fighting back,’ using violence if necessary, against the forces of
secularism
or modernism.”
Hooper
objects. “That’s a standard non-Muslim
interpretation. Most non-Muslims believe in the separation between
church and
state. To have an Islamic society you must have Islamic rulers. We
aren’t
allowed to take over (the United States and) other governments. What we
fight
for here and in the remainder of the world is to practice our beliefs.
“I wouldn’t
want to create the impression that I wouldn’t
like the government of the United States to be Islamic sometime in the
future,”
Hooper says. “But I’m not going to do anything violent to promote that.
I’m
going to do it through education.”
Buoen said
the Star Tribune uses “fundamentalist” to
“describe individuals and groups who favor and seek an Islamic
religious state.
The term may be imperfect, but I’ve yet to hear an alternative that’s
better.
Our news services use the term, and many scholars favor its use.
“Still,”
Buoen says, “I agree with critics that the term is
loaded with negative connotations and can be misleading. I think it’s
best to
avoid the label when possible, and instead use more specific
descriptions of
individuals or groups.
“We have
attempted to do this when reporting on the arrests
arising out of the World Trade Center bombing. Our stories will often
say the
suspects ‘have links to a Muslim cleric who advocates the overthrow of
Egypt’s
secular government,’ or something along those lines. But unfortunately
this
level of detail is not always practical - in headlines, cutlines,
briefs,
passing references in stories - and we’re forced to use the shorthand
term
‘fundamentalist.’ “
****************
END Text from
Ibrahim Hooper Minneapolis Star-Trib
Interview 1993