[IslamCity] Scouting a cultural bridge

Sat, 02 Jul 2005 01:01:15 -0700

http://isna.net/index.php?id=35&backPID=1&tt_news=207

All-Muslim groups in Sharon reflect growing popularity nationwide


The topic before Sharon's Cub Scout Pack 111 last Saturday was how to use a compass. But the lesson offered by Cubmaster Nabeel Khudairi involved more than just the usual tips about how to find north, or plot a route home.

No matter where you are, he said, even in the woods, a compass can help you determine the ''qibla" -- the location of Mecca. That was good practical advice for the scouts, since, like Khudairi, they are practicing Muslims. They bow and kneel in prayer facing Mecca five times a day.
The pack is part of an all-Muslim scouting program based at the Islamic Center of New England's mosque in Sharon. In addition to the Cub Scout pack, the program includes a Boy Scout troop, a Venturing Crew, and a Girl Scout troop.

The Sharon Boy Scout groups began several years ago, but only recently has the program begun to pick up steam, gaining new members and leaders. It also for the first time has a dedicated space -- a former downstairs classroom set aside by the mosque. And a year ago, the Girl Scout troop was formed.

''We are going to become part of Americana," said Abdul R. Samma, a member of the Islamic Center who works as senior district director of the Boy Scouts' Annawon Council. He envisions Sharon's Islamic scouts marching in Memorial Day and Independence Day parades.

Samma said the scouting and Islamic traditions go nicely together. ''What scouting is all about is what Islam is all about," he said, noting that they share values such as loyalty and trustworthiness.

Muslim-based Boy Scout groups are on the rise across the country, according to Brandi Mantz, a spokeswoman for the Boy Scouts of America National Council. As of the end of 2004, there were 112 chartered Islamic Boy Scout, Cub Scout, and Venturing Crews, up from 94 in 2002 and 107 in 2003.

In Massachusetts, there are 12 Islamic Boy Scout troops, Cub Scout packs, or Venturing Crews (all come under the Boy Scouts). The Islamic Center runs six of them: the three in Sharon are active. Three others at its mosque in Quincy are dormant. Others are run by the Islamic Society of Western Massachusetts in West Springfield, the Greater Worcester Islamic Center in Worcester, and Alhuda Academy in Shrewsbury.

Mantz said her organization, which also has Christian and Jewish-based scouting groups, encourages the establishment of Muslim ones.

''We try to embrace all faiths and provide programs to as many boys as we can -- and young ladies in the venturing program," she said.

Ellen Christie, media services director for the Girl Scouts of the USA, said the organization does not keep statistics on the number of Muslim-based Girl Scout troops and groups. But she said anecdotally it knows they exist.Continued...

Leaders of the Sharon program say that scouting offers a way for Muslim children, many of them from immigrant families, to socialize and form bonds with one another while learning more about Islam.

Muslim-based scouting groups engage in the same activities as regular scouting groups, but weave Islamic customs into those activities.

''You try to teach them scouting skills and also get them flavored with their religion at the same time," Khudairi said.

An equally important goal of the program is to better connect those young people and their families to the culture at large by immersing them in a distinctly American activity.

''What we are trying to do here is provide these youths . . . a platform where they can not only relate to their own backgrounds, but to the culture and the activities that happen around them," said Nadeem Afridi of Sharon, a Pakistani-born cardiologist who is in training to become a Boy Scout master at the center.

The Islamic Center's involvement with scouting dates back to the late 1970s, when Samma introduced it at the Quincy mosque. He ran the program for about eight years before leaving to work full-time for the Boy Scouts of America. Since then, the Quincy program has operated off and on. Samma plans to volunteer to reactivate the Quincy scouting program when he retires from his job with the Boy Scouts. The Sharon scout programs, meanwhile, have been growing.

Khudairi -- an Iraqi-born optometrist and cubmaster of Pack 111 -- took an interest in scouting because ''my son was reaching an age where I wanted him to have a chance to interact with boys his age and faith background." He also wanted to ''introduce him to an Islamic social setting, and to have him learn some good skills."

Twenty children take part in the Cub Scout program, six to eight in the Boy Scouts, and approximately 15 in the Girl Scouts. The Venturing Crew, which is being revived, has several members.

Reflecting the membership of the mosque, the children come from a variety of ethnic backgrounds, including Pakistani and Moroccan.

Seated around the table at the center last Saturday afternoon, Cub Scouts listened to Khudairi describe the function and workings of a compass, and then huddled around a globe and maps, using the device to pinpoint various places. When the lesson was done, the scouts headed outside to take turns riding on Khudairi's go-cart.

Adil Khan, 11, whose family roots are Indian, has been a member of the troop for a year and a half. He and his friends enjoy scouting for the same reasons any 11-year-old might.

''I like the go-carting and the hiking. I get to hang out with my friends," Khan said.

''We get to do fun stuff . . . like bowling or going go-carting," said Hussain Dar, 11, of Sharon, whose parents are from Pakistan.

Both Khan and Dar recognize Islam as a part of their scouting experience, and say they like that.

''At around 5, we go for prayers upstairs," Khan said.

''He teaches us" about Islam, Dar said of Khudairi. The Scout also said it is good to be around other Muslim children because, ''They're nice and they're respectful."



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