Speaking out for Muslims

Triangle woman defends her faith and urges fellow believers to engage with the world

Standing 5-foot-2 and wearing a Muslim head scarf, Khalilah Sabra doesn't look like a firebrand.

But the diminutive woman has become the voice for Muslims in the Triangle, and over the past few years has shown she will not be cowed.

She recently took on a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security who came to the Triangle to try to smooth relations with Muslims. When the official described to Muslims the new steps his office was taking to ease their security hassles at airports and to respond to complaints about detentions, Sabra was the first to get up and speak.

"It sounds like Habitat for Humanity," Sabra scowled, conveying that she did not accept the rosy picture he had painted. "Don't you think the laws are directed at Middle Easterners and Middle Eastern-looking people?"

Sabra, who converted to Islam 26 years ago, has emerged as one of the loudest defenders of her faith, locking arms with those who have been harassed, intimidated or discriminated against. As the director of the local Muslim American Society's Freedom Foundation, she sees her role as ushering in a new era of Muslim civil rights activism.

If Sept. 11, 2001, woke up Americans to the reality of Islamic terrorism on their own soil, it woke up Sabra to what she saw as prejudice against Muslim American immigrants. Sabra felt uniquely qualified to serve as an advocate. She is American-born, a convert from Roman Catholicism. And she has lived abroad -- in Pakistan in 1989, and in Lebanon, from 1995 to 1997 with her husband and family.

If anyone understood the complexities of the Muslim Americans, she did.

So Sabra, 41, threw herself into community action.

"The day of isolationism is over," she said. "It's time to get involved."

A lack of participation

But Sabra is not only critical of U.S. policies that deprive Muslims of their liberties, she is also critical of her own faith community.

In the days and months after 9/11, Sabra saw her religion vilified in public and few within the local community rising to defend it. There were no Muslims on the local school board, no Muslims on the City Council, and only one Muslim in the state legislature.

"It was our fault," said Sabra, adding, "We were not involved in the realm of politics or community services, and others defined us."

But Muslim Americans had more than an image problem. Sabra began to hear stories of civil liberties denied. They included women turned down for jobs because of their head scarves, and permanent residents whose citizenship applications were permanently on hold.

As the wife of a Cisco engineer with a comfortable salary, Sabra began challenging fellow Muslims by example. She spoke in churches. She encouraged fellow Muslims to register to vote. She began interfaith conversations with local Jews. She marched in the NAACP's rally in downtown Raleigh against racism, poverty and war.

At one event, state Sen. Larry Shaw of Fayetteville heard her speak and later walked up to her. "Sister, who are you?" asked Shaw, the state's only Muslim legislator. Sabra has since adopted Shaw as a mentor.

"We're trying to educate the Islamic community to come of age in mainstream America," said Shaw, a Democrat representing Cumberland County. "If people understand there's not a dime's worth of difference between us, they will embrace you."

The work hasn't been easy, least of all in a community whose members aren't used to speaking out or getting involved, and in many cases view any kind of activism as compromising their values and corrupting their faith.