Muslims in the United States need to build a common culture that doesn't lead to broken psyches, said Umar Faruq Abd-Allah, chairman of the board and scholar-in-residence at the Nawawi Foundation in Chicago. He was delivering the keynote address April 13 in Goldwin Smith Hall as part of Islam Awareness Week.

In his talk, "Cultural Jihad: The Role of American Muslim Culture in Today's World," Abd-Allah spoke about the imperative of building a "Muslim culture" in the United States. He discussed the elements of such a culture and whether it would be compatible with other religions.

Other Islam Awareness Week events on campus, April 9-14, included a lecture on the basics of Islam, a panel discussion on the status, rights and roles of women in Islam as well as an Islamic tile painting and calligraphy workshop. Abd-Allah's lecture was organized by the Muslim Educational and Cultural Association.

"After President Johnson amended the immigration law in 1965, most Muslims who immigrated to the U.S. were highly educated and already Westernized to certain extent," he said. "This resulted in making this population, and its consequent generations, one of the greatest success stories of America. Fifty-nine percent of them have diplomas, and they are by far the wealthiest and most educated Muslims in the world."

Born to Protestant white parents in Athens, Ga., Abd-Allah saw unique aspects of the Muslim population in the United States, among them that "20 to 30 percent of American Muslims are African Americans."

Influenced by "The Autobiography of Malcolm X," he said that he embraced Islam while studying English literature at Cornell as a Woodrow Wilson Honorary Fellow in the early 1970s. In 1972 he then transferred to the University of Chicago, where he received his doctorate in 1978 for a dissertation on the origins of Islamic law.

"Since our generation is going to be the first effective Muslim settlement in the U.S., the tones we set and the cognitive patters we create will affect the history of Islam in decades to come," he said. "This is an issue which cannot be put off."

Describing the nature of a successful "indigenous" culture, he said, "Such a culture is one which unifies us, yet enables us to be who we are. We can build on the positive aspects of the culture that Muslims have already formed by virtue of having been here for a while by supporting Muslim-American poets, hip-hop artists and stand-up comedians."

Abd-Allah also focused on the need for American Muslims to build bridges with other cultures. For example, Chinese Muslim scholars, he said, were innovative and creative, in that they opened communication channels with Buddhists and Confucius followers.

Warning American Muslims never to allow popular culture to define them, he said, "Islam is clear like a crystal river. It takes the color of the bedrock. Being Muslim does not mean being an Arab. American Muslims must strive for unity in multiplicity by taking interpretive control of their own unique culture."

Graduate student Kanika Arora is an intern at the Cornell Chronicle.