Maine Muslim works to dispel misunderstandings

It has been hard, Mahmoud El-Begearmi admitted, being a devout and practicing Muslim in the year since Sept. 11.

But El-Begearmi looks on the bright side of the last year, a year in which many Americans have directed hatred at the followers of Islam in the wake of the terrorist attacks.

“We feel that there is a little bit more understanding,” El-Begearmi said, that Muslims “are not painted with the same broad brush.” Soon after Sept. 11 of last year, the attitude he observed was that “all Muslims are terrorists,” he said.

El-Begearmi, a native of Egypt who is a professor and consultant in the University of Maine’s Cooperative Extension program, spent every weekend after the attacks speaking to groups throughout Maine, dispelling what he sees as the myths and misunderstandings that abound about Islam.

Two billion Muslims – most of whom are Asian – were blamed for the actions of a few, he said.

“In every corner of this world, there are good people, and people who are not so good,” he said.

Because there was little general understanding about the tenets of Islam, a vacuum was created that was filled easily by poor images of the religion, he said. Still expressing optimism, El-Begearmi noted that some people have understood that the attacks are not necessarily related to religion or race.

About four months after the attacks, El-Begearmi and fellow believers in the Bangor-Orono area moved into a building in Orono that serves as their mosque.

“It was quite pleasing to me, when we had the open house for the mosque, many people in the community just walked right in there,” he said.

Bangor Theological Seminary invited El-Begearmi to teach a course on Islam, and twice as many students as the minimum required registered, he said.

“That’s something that I look back at that’s a very positive development,” he said.

of the interest in the class.

El-Begearmi is not sure what thoughts will run through his mind on the anniversary of the attacks.

“It’s really very difficult to say what thoughts will come,” he said. “The loss of so many lives is something that is bound to be a factor.”