According to a Sept. 26 Buffalo News report, Ibrahim Memon, the secretary of the Institute of Higher Islamic Education, wants to open a Muslim boarding school in a former juvenile detention center on Buffalo's East Side. Local residents are up in arms about the possibility of an Islamic institution teaching the Koran, among other things, to Muslim boys who are legally residing in the U.S. from fourth to tenth grade.
Presently, the building's hallmark is a tall brick wall with razor wire at the top that encircles the perimeter of the property. Residents want the wall torn down once the school starts and a portion made available for block meetings. Memon, who agreed to remove the razor wire, has not committed to taking the wall down. The wall is more than something that keeps people in or out; it is symbolic of the separation and mistrust that exists between mainstream America and its Muslim communities.
Local Muslims turned in the six men now in police custody under charges of being an al-Qaida sleeper cell in Lackawanna. The Muslims in Buffalo should be associated with law-abiding members of the community, rather than the alleged terrorists. Memon says he is part of a peaceful group dedicated to spreading the wisdom of Islamic teaching. His school is state certified, which means that New York State believes his organization to be legitimate.
The residents of the Best Street area are suspicious, but whether the suspicion is justified or merely because of what people read in the news or preconceived notions of Islam is questionable. If a Catholic school were to open in the area, chances are there would not be this level of tension.
If the locals want to force the school to take the walls down and open a public space within the institution, they must provide a reasonable explanation as to why they want Memon and his school to remove the walls and they need to be willing to pay for at least part of the cost of tearing the bricks down.
Financially, the school will be a limited benefit for the surrounding neighborhood, but will provide, at the very least, a taxable institution and a productive member of the Buffalo civic and educational community. While the students will be too young to spend a sizable amount of money in the surrounding area - their freedom to leave the grounds is not known - at the very least, there will be one less abandoned building in one of the city's most fiscally challenged neighborhoods.
Education provides maturity and insight. Unfortunately, many boys around the world are being taught by religious extremists to hate in the name of Islam. America and Western New York could use high profile examples of Islam, a faith based on peace and charity, being taught in its true form and Buffalo can take the lead in shaping this new perspective.
Walls should come down on Best Street in the near future, be they tangible or symbolic. The residents of this community have a responsibility to treat this school as they would any other school, and the school needs to set a good example of educational policy and social responsibility in order to succeed. Memon, the Institute of Higher Islamic Education and the East Side neighborhood need to work together to create a better community, a better city and a better outlook of inter-societal relations.
Religious and cultural discrimination affect all parts of the world. This school cannot be closed off from the world; to do so would be irresponsibly squandering an opportunity to further relations with their neighbors in Buffalo and their neighbors in ideology.
