Community Experiences of Diverse Jamats

In the last two decades, families from previously more remote areas have arrived in the US, increasing the diversity within the Jamat and its pluralistic nature. As with any new immigrant group, they have to assimilate in a new country with its different culture and language; this challenge is compounded by having to integrate simultaneously into a faith community that has different traditions and rituals, maintained by a more established group. Issues of cultural transformation, accommodation, education and understanding, between these different communities united by a common bond—their faith—take time to resolve.

 

Individuals from different traditions were asked about their views on the community here, and their experiences. As can be expected, their encounters have left different impressions on them, but are instructive in considering other opportunities and initiatives that may be useful in accelerating the momentum towards greater inclusivity.

It is the new arrivals who are in need of immediate assistance and often turn to the Jamat for guidance. Coming as a refugee from Afghanistan, Amin Mirzai went first to Memphis. He recalls: "The Jamat helped us to move from a bad neighborhood, enroll in good schools and to find a car to buy so we could work." Today, he is an accountant in Richmond, Virginia.

 

A high school senior in Birmingham, Michigan, Leen Sharba came from Syria when she was thirteen, and is grateful for the help given to her family. She enrolled in the REC system and recalls that "at Camp Mosaic, I came out of my shell as an Ismaili for the first time, and realized that the Imam is really looking after me. Being an Ismaili is a unique part of myself."

 

Shima Eidi's family came to the USA in 2001 from Iran. Her father was able to connect with the Jamat by noticing a photograph of Hazar Imam in a store. The Jamat here helped her find employment, provided transportation to Jamatkhana, and her daughter now attends weekend classes there. Because of the support given to her family, Shima decided to become a social worker, and works at the Ismaili Council for USA office in Houston, assisting the Jamat. She attended a Council-sponsored management training program, and now counsels newly-arrived families.

 

The experience of Shiva Eidi, Shima's sister, is somewhat different. With a Master's degree in Public Health and living in Atlanta, she is a member of the Council for the Midwest, and did a ten-week internship at the Aga Khan Hospital in Mombasa. Asked about her adjustment to living here, she says some in the Jamat assisted her, and served as role models, while others disappointed her in some ways.

One would expect the traditional cultures of immigrants to be less influential over time as they adapt to a new environment. But ties to their homeland can remain strong. Although she came here 15 years ago and sees herself as an American who was proud to vote recently, Seattle's Lola Kassamali is still Tajik at heart and connected to her culture, "wearing Tajik clothes, listening to Tajik music, dancing Pamiri dances, speaking Shugnani, and even celebrating Tajik festivals such as Ruz i-Nur (the Day of Light)." However, in Amin's family, retaining their culture has been more difficult as his siblings are less fluent with their language and culture.

 

Living in smaller cities alters the way one looks at community. Purnur Ilolova's family is of Badakhshani, Tajik, and Russian backgrounds. She and her husband work at Indiana University, in Bloomington, far from a Jamatkhana; as a result, their connection to the US Jamat is limited and the notion of community is very far from their experience in Tajikistan. So they have had to create their own community of people with a shared history, culture and language.

 

A member of the Ismaili Tariqah and Religious Education Board, Purnur says, "When it comes to the ethics of our faith, the Imam's guidance, blessings, and the opportunities he has made possible for my family to serve in different capacities, is what gives me the strength and the confidence to carry out life in the West without losing touch with my roots, heritage and history."

Jamati institutions have made an impact on all of these individuals, however. "Here in US, we have Jamatkhanas and a lot of resources that we can use for our community, and be a role model for the rest of the world's Ismailis," says Amin. "I feel lucky," he continues, "having a community that cares. People in Afghanistan feel the lack of central institutions." Currently, Amin serves on the Council for the Northeast, responsible for the Quality of Life portfolio.

 

The sense of community also differs between these individuals. Lola feels the nature of the community is different from Tajikistan, where "your neighbors became your family. In America, I have hardly met my neighbors. In Tajikistan, faith was not separate from daily life, and in Khorog particularly, everyone is Ismaili. You didn’t have to connect to community—the community was you."

 

Leen finds the west more individualistic, whereas "Syria was more of a 'we' culture." They had less of a community organization and feeling, she says, yet they were united in their status as a minority, despite having less appreciation of their faith. She realizes that some Jamati practices in the US are different from the Syrian ones, and wonders how the diversity within the Jamat's cultures can be better shared, understood and celebrated. Her comments are echoed by Shiva, concerned about the separation between the "Khoja and non-Khoja community," and wishes more of the minority Jamat's cultures were presented at celebratory events. Her family makes an effort to retain her Iranian heritage and culture. And Lola recounts that when she first came to Seattle, it took a while for her to be truly accepted because her tradition and culture were different from that of the majority. But over time, she says, "the Jamat learned about me and I learnt about them. Further, I have had the privilege of volunteering, and all of this has enabled me to integrate with the Jamat."

 

The Jamat and the institutions continue to work hard in understanding and reaching out to the different traditions within the Ismaili community. But as the Imam has said, pluralism is a work in progress and the institutions will continue their efforts to unite the global Jamat in the USA, while respecting and celebrating their diverse cultural identities.