Peace and Pluralism

Razi Hashmi '06 enhances outreach and understanding for Muslims in the Midwest.

by Lauren Davidson

December 30, 2008

Razi Hashmi '06

Razi Hashmi ’06 started from scratch after graduation. A new town, a new job, a new branch of a national organization—all the elements he needed to effect positive change. As executive director of the Oklahoma branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), he is building bridges between the Muslim community and the rest of America.

“CAIR is a grassroots civil-rights organization that empowers American Muslims, promotes justice and encourages dialogue and understanding of the Muslim population,” Hashmi explains.

There are 35 chapters nationally with the headquarters in Washington, D.C. The Oklahoma branch is the newest and smallest (about 30,000 Muslims reside statewide), and Hashmi stepped in as its first leader in August 2007. So far, he’s the whole staff.

“I’m also the accountant, membership coordinator and photographer,” he says. “I do the newsletter too. My role is quite a handful and made up of many, many hats!”

Hashmi is just right for the job, coming as he does from such a diverse background. He and his three siblings grew up in Connecticut with a very strong Islamic faith tradition. Two of them, Siraj ’09 and Anisah ’11, attend Dickinson. Their father is Pakistani and mother is American. In 1995, Hashmi’s physician father moved them to Pakistan.

“Pakistan is a Third World country, and my father felt a need to give back,” Hashmi recalls. “He and several colleagues from medical school went back together to start a hospital.”

But after 9/11, all Americans were forced to flee Pakistan, and the family returned to Connecticut.

“It was a dangerous time in the Muslim world,” Hashmi recalls. The turmoil encouraged him to major in international studies with a focus on the Middle East. “I have a different perspective, having traveled to Europe, Pakistan and Asia before going to college. We need more American Muslims to be involved, to be leaders in the international realm and in American politics.”

Hashmi’s first foray into leadership was to create the Muslim Student Association (MSA) at Dickinson.

“Working with the MSA and with community-service organizations helped bring me to where I am today, both with my spiritual growth and my outlook on things,” he recalls. “It was all with the support of John Miyahara [director of religious life & community service], who is probably the best thing that happened during my Dickinson experience. Imagine, a Japanese Methodist minister mentoring an American Pakistani Muslim … that’s something!”

By the time Hashmi graduated from Dickinson, his parents had relocated to Oklahoma. Not enthralled by the prospect of moving to the Midwest, Hashmi first did service work in New Orleans. Eventually, he accepted an entry-level position with a small law firm in Oklahoma.

“I started attending a mosque there regularly, more than I ever had before,” Hashmi says. “It’s a great way to make friends, and I started to see what a great community this was. When the job opening at CAIR was announced, I decided that if I got it, I’d stay in Oklahoma. When I got it, it was like a blessing—God’s way of saying I was meant to be in Oklahoma.”

Blessing or not, Hashmi had no idea what he was in for as a statewide spokesperson battling the post-9/11 mistrust of the Muslim community.

“Through my interviews, articles and op-eds, I make sure we keep good relationships with the media and work to combat myths and stereotypes and provide a good, positive understanding of who Muslims are,” he says.

Some of Hashmi’s other initiatives include working with interfaith organizations, diversity training with local law-enforcement agencies, a campaign to stop unfair Muslim citizenship delays and prison outreach that seeks equality for all religious minorities.

“We’re striving for peace and pluralism,” he says. “Pluralism means that people of different faiths, cultures or ethnic backgrounds are able to find mutual understanding.”

One of the hardest parts of Hashmi’s job is dealing with discrimination cases. Most recently, a young girl in Tulsa was denied a job at Abercrombie Kids because she wore a Muslim headpiece. According to Hashmi, “She was told, ‘You can’t work here with that thing on your head.’ I gathered all the facts, filed a discrimination charge against the store, did several media interviews reaching international news, issued a press release and requested diversity training for the employees and an apology for the girl.”

What bothers Hashmi about these situations is how amazingly un-American they are.

“When people learn about Muslims, they realize we’re just like them,” he explains. “Muslims are as diverse as America itself—white, black, Arab, Pakistani, Indonesian, Asian, African, European, Native American, mixed. The diversity is amazing. It’s great to see the American experience in the mosque.”

Hashmi plans to remain at CAIR for several years, until the branch has a solid foothold and he has made visible progress in the community.

“After I leave, I want to focus on law again,” he says. “I want to continue to serve the community in one way or another.”

Whatever he does, he has grown to appreciate Oklahoma. “This is one of the best Muslim communities I’ve been in, and I’ve traveled quite a bit. There’s a sense of family here because it’s so small—that’s how Islam is in general, but you really feel it here.”