Building Multi-Religious Solidarity for Justice
An interview with Chaplain Rabia Terri Harris
Rabia Terri Harris is a Muslim chaplain and peacemaker who visited Marquette during Mission Week 2019. As the Center for Peacemaking’s Peacemaker in Residence, she shared insights from her decades studying and practicing Islamic nonviolence.
Chaplain Harris is the founder of Muslim Peace Fellowship and co-founder of the Community of Living Traditions at the Stony Point Center. As a theorist and investigator in Islamic peacebuilding, she has demonstrated a lifelong commitment to multi-religious solidarity for nonviolence and justice.
You grew up in a multi-religious household with a Jewish father and Christian mother. Then in college you decided to study and convert to Islam. How has your multi-religious background has affected your journey?
Chaplain Harris: During school, I became very interested in problems with translations in general. Not only from language to language, but from world view to world view. It is not so simple to understand where the other person is coming from and if you want to transmit that, it is more challenging than one would think. So, that became very interesting to me.
From there, I did a lot of translation from classical Islamic texts to mystical texts. This investigation through language made me more and more convinced that I wanted a particular way of life. I wanted one that didn’t reject the intellectual breadth I gained from my multi-religious upbringing.
One day I found myself in the living room of a Sufi teacher and I recognized a connection that I could not deny; I felt something profound. I visited a lot of spiritual teachers but this felt like I was struck by lightning.
After studying and spending time with this teacher, he suggested that I convert to Islam. I thought about it for some time, then I made my Profession of Faith and became an official Sufi student. I spent about 25 years concentrating solely on the path of mystical Islam. Because this approach is all-embracing, I didn’t feel like anything that I had grown up with was lost.
While I would continue to study Islam, I didn’t end up marrying a Muslim. There I was, in an inter-faith marriage, coming full circle to my upbringing.
What has been the most challenging aspect of your work?
Chaplain Harris: As a scholar to write in the Islamic tradition is so marginal in the United States. You get zero attention — but on the other hand, this gives you great freedom.
I can say whatever I want in this country as a Muslim. This is an extraordinary opportunity that I like to take advantage of. But while I’m here in this context, people do not care; we are not mainstream.
So, for people who are writing as Muslims, the rest of the intellectual discussion assumes this is a ghettoized experience that has no relevance to the real issues of the day.
I hope in future generations someone will re-discover some of this stuff.
You also maintain a public profile beyond scholarship.
Chaplain Harris: Before 9/11, I had only made a few public presentations. But then, it was all the time.
This changed things for me because from my upbringing, I had perspectives on how things looked from a Jewish position, a secular American position, and a Christian position. I could grasp the conclusions people would jump to and why.
I understood all these positions and it put me in a good place to talk to people.
Now, as a chaplain and with the Community of Living Traditions, my focus is on talking to others about their religious path.
What are ways students at Marquette and other universities can fight Islamophobia and promote inter-religious dialogue?
Chaplain Harris: Make friends with Arab and Muslim students. Invite them over. Have regular good times with them. Make coffee. Share human connections.
Then when you are at ease in this context say, “Look, I understand you are facing problems, I want to help. I would like to support you, what are you up to?”
One of the problems we have with young and not-so-young white people is they think, “I’ve got to lead the way since I represent the majority culture and I am going to protect them from all of this onslaught of hate and antagonism.” But that never works.
The “white savior” idea usually comes from a place of a good heart, especially among young people. If you really want to become a good ally, become a follower first.
The first thing is to find out the real needs of other people — and the only way is from them. If you push your assumptions onto other people and they feel patronized, you will not hear anything from anyone. When you are curious and people trust you, all kinds of opportunities arise.
What advice or wisdom has impacted you the most in your pursuit of nonviolence?
Chaplain Harris: There are four guiding principles that have been very valuable to me and that I would love to share.
1. There are no utopias. The world will never be perfect. However, that doesn’t mean it can’t be better than it is.
2. Human beings cannot change the world. Only God changes the world. Working for change means placing oneself at the disposal of God. Nothing we do can make a single thing happen before it is time. The great question, therefore, is always, “What time is it?”
3. Learn to tell your ego and heart apart. Your heart is your best friend, but your ego is a worse enemy than your opponent.
4. Slow and steady wins the race.
