من مراسلاتي مع أخ مسلم كان يدرس في جامعة نيويورك

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

29 ThulQi’dah,1416 (April 17,1996)

 

Dear Brother Isa

Assalamu Alaikum

 

 

     Your letter came after a very busy week. I offered two intensive courses in “Orientalism”; one consisted of four lectures while the other was for five days one hour and a half every day. On the last day there was an exhibition of books both in Arabic and English about the subject along with newsletters and other information materials about Arabic and Islamic studies in the West. The number of students was about fifteen students and all of them were graduate level. One of them was a Ph.D. holder in English Language.

     I also gave a lecture titled: “A Dialogue with an Orientalist” The attendance was a landmark, the lecture hall was full to its capacity that was about one hundred and fifty seats. A fine discussion followed and a good number of questions were passed on to me. I think this awareness is promising. We are told that people are interested in sports and music and here is a lecture that draws all this audience.

     When I started  this letter with my  mood was very bad because I lost my last letter to you  from the computer. The reason for this is that I learned using this device by my self to a great degree. Anyhow if you  still have my letter please rush me a copy, I think I put some effort writing it; if not mentally I spent so much manual work. Enough for the bad mood I do not like to worry so much since worrying keeps you from working and you cannot turn the wheel back any way.

     The dilemma you are in now because of the decision you have to make about the university to go to is something interesting. When I was a student in the USA during the period  from 1968 to 1973 I really longed to go to one of these big names: Harvard, Stanford, Berkeley ...etc. I was not up to the expectations of these schools, eventhough my potential was high, there was no body to guide me how to best utilize this potential. An old lady teacher in the English program at Portland State College in 1969 commented on a homework paper: “ I wish you would live up to your potential you could be an "A" student".

      In the coming months I hope to be able to attend three conferences: the first in Tunis about the Methodology of the Studies of Human Sciences of the Arab Countries and Turkey in Western Universities. The Second will be held in Leiden by Leiden University titled  “Islam And The Twenty-first Century," and the third in Tatwan (تطوان )in Morocco about Orientalism and the Islamic Studies. I will be busy in the coming months keeping up with all these activities.

      Few months ago I started on a project to put out a new encyclopedia of Arabic and Islamic specialists in the West. More than fifty letters were sent and abut fifteen biographies have been obtained already. I need the information about the Israeli scholars and have no way to obtain this information directly. So I need your assistance to obtain the necessary information and I shall provide you with their names and addresses. This very moment I must stop writing the letter and go to join my sister and her children for a an hour or so. So bye for now.

    Good morning , it is now fifteen minutes to seven of Thursday April the 19th, 1996. Last night’s picnic was very enjoyable,  my mother was happy and therefore I am happy.

   To get to business I am interested in teaching or doing research at any American University preferably one of the big and famous ones. I believe we-Muslims- should get equal chance to present our views about ourselves and about our religion in the West. I am sending you my curriculum Vitae. I think that in America as it is in other countries it matters so much who you know. I proposed to Professor Claster to offer a course on modern intellectual trends in Saudi Arabia in the last twenty years. Maybe this summer I will be able to write down an outline for this course or a syllabus.

    As  for the names and addresses of the Jewish scholars these are to be found in the “ International Directory of Middle East Specialists” published as a supplement to the IJMES. Examples of these are: Mordechai Abir, Butrus Abu- Manneh, David Ayalon , Yoram Ben-Porath, Alexander Bligh ...etc. I will provide with letter my covering letter and the questionnaire sheet. If you agreed to help I will bear the costs.

    When I gave the public lecture no news paper reporter was present so I wrote the report and sent to one of them who sent in his turn under his name and it was published exactly as I wrote it except they did not have enough space so they cut the last two paragraphs. I will enclose a copy of my report published under somebody else’s name. I did this not for the purpose of wanting to see my name in the Newspaper, it was because the subject should be given its due attention.

    Has anything been published about our panel discussion? What is the address of MERIP? Since they are so important I should know more about them. I have a sheet containing the names of major University Based Middle East Centers in the United States and it mentions that the funding of these centers is under Title VI of the Higher Education Act. What is this Act? Whom should I ask?  I wanted to chat with you more but I have to rush and prepare my presentation for the Tunis Conference. Please write. Wishing you the best of health and peace of mind and soul.والسلام عليكم ورحمة الله وبركاته     

Mazin Motabbagani