July 10, 1999
The NYPD's New Ambassador to Islam Expresses Hope of Healing Racial Animosity
By Arun Kristian Das
While the spiritual leader of a Harlem mosque sermonized yesterday about the unimportance of dress in being a good Muslim, a crisp, new dark blue uniform hung in his closet. The spiritual leader, or imam, is El Hajji Izak-El Mu'eed Pasha; the mosque, or masjid, is Malcolm Shabazz on 116th Street; and the uniform is a New York Police Department standard-issue with shiny eagle inspector's rank pips adorning the shoulder boards.
Last month, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani appointed Pasha the Police Department's first Muslim chaplain in apparent sensitivity to the department's and the city's growing Islamic population.
"The police department has been seen as an oppressive force," Pasha said. His orthodox mosque, named after the late Malcolm X, is affiliated with the Muslim American Society, a group headed up by Imam W.D. Mohammed, a former head of the Nation of Islam. "Except for the unfortunate circumstances around Abner Louima and Amadou Diallo, the history of 'policing' meaning 'oppressing a people' is not as prevalent today as it was yesterday," Pasha said, referring to two recent cases of police brutality. Louima is a Haitian immigrant tortured in 1997 by police officers in the bathroom of a Brooklyn precinct house. Diallo was an unarmed West African immigrant shot 19 times in February by four plainclothes officers who said they thought he was reaching for gun when they approached him standing in the vestibule of his apartment building. In fact, Diallo was reaching for his wallet.
Although Pasha had no concrete plan for his new role as a police chaplain when it was bestowed upon him, he said that his hope is to foster a greater understanding between the Police and the Muslim communities of the city and to encourage Muslim police officers, who number upward of 100 according to the New York Times, to come to him for confidential spiritual guidance. By examining why people of color have been "targeted by the police" more than whites, he said, and working toward preventing such practices, Pasha hopes to ease the historical animosity between police officers and African Americans.
Pasha, who has two children who serve or have served in the military, expressed great respect for the Police Department. "Noble men and women have taken on the cause of being police officers," said Pasha, and while the imam acknowledged that many in the black community believe that he has signed a deal with the enemy, he asks for their trust, patience and faith in God. He also had further words for the community: "You must reduce the blight yourself, rebuild the neighborhood yourself. You must police yourself to have a better life."
Pasha, who has been given a police badge and ID, sees all his roles -- father, husband, spiritual leader, community leader, plumber, policeman -- as inextricably connected to his spiritual life. "Muslims don't have a separate religious life and professional life," he said in his sermon on Friday, the holy day on which it is customary for Muslims to visit a mosque. "We are Muslims. What is important is how we live our life as a Muslim."
"The Imam is a compassionate father and individual," said Dawud Muhammad, 44, assistant director of the Harlem Business Center, a program that promotes the commercial revitalization of Harlem and is sponsored by the Masjid Malcolm Shabazz. By serving as a police chaplain, said Muhammad, Pasha can convince people to get involved in the community, perhaps even to join the Police Department.
"It's a great job," said Muhammad, who has been a member of the mosque since 1974. "It pays well, has good benefits, and can allow people to make a real difference in the neighborhood."
An NYPD recruitment poster adorns the storefront window of the business center and applications are available at the counter inside. "Islam, like this mosque, is for everybody -- people of all colors," Muhammad said. "So is the Police Department. Thinking in terms of color -- that's not divine. The imam teaches us that."
A popular sentiment in these post-Diallo and Louima times seems to be that the city needs plenty of healing and peace. By having a chaplain from a faith in which the traditional greeting as salaam a laikum means "peace be unto you," perhaps the mayor has chosen his de facto ambassador to New York Islam wisely, a choice that couldn't be timelier.
"God is the best of healers," Muhammad said. "And the imam will use God." ###