Munson: Tiny Iowa town combats Islamophobia The town of Elkader, named after a 19th century Muslim leader, strives against 21st century prejudice.

Show Caption Hide Caption Elkader studies Muslim namesake The Abdelkader Education Project staged its sixth annual forum. On Friday, Sept. 18, that included an assembly with local schoolkids who learned more about the Algerian Muslim leader for whom the town was named.

ELKADER, Ia. — Let me offer a humble Iowa antidote to the sad but familiar anti-Muslim flare-ups of the last week.

It began Monday with Ahmed Mohamed, the 14-year-old aspiring inventor in Irving, Texas. He was handcuffed and interrogated because he brought a homemade clock to school. Officials feared it was a bomb.

Something eventually did explode: Outrage erupted across social media. Many people saw Mohamed's detention as outright Islamophobia. His supporters rallied with the #IStandWithAhmed hashtag. President Barack Obama even tweeted an invitation for the freshman to visit him at the White House.

Cool clock, Ahmed. Want to bring it to the White House? We should inspire more kids like you to like science. It's what makes America great. — President Obama (@POTUS) September 16, 2015

Speaking of Obama, more debate ignited when a man on Thursday at a Donald Trump rally in New Hampshire remarked to the presidential candidate, “We got a problem in this country. It's called Muslims. We know our current president is one. We know he's not even an American.”

Whether Trump should have corrected (or even correctly heard) the man about Obama’s status triggered yet another shrill American argument over Islam. (“This is the first time in my life that I have caused controversy by NOT saying something,” Trump tweeted Saturday.)

This is the first time in my life that I have caused controversy by NOT saying something. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 19, 2015

Time to pause for a dose of sanity from a setting that might surprise you: a town of about 1,200 people tucked into the Turkey River valley among the craggy limestone hills of far northeast Iowa.

Elkader, founded in 1846, was named after a 19th century Muslim leader from Algeria, Emir Abd el-Kader. It was the brainstorm of Dubuque attorney Timothy Davis, who had come to admire press accounts of the chieftain’s 15-year resistance against the colonizing French as an echo of our American Revolution.

During his later exile, Abd el-Kader in 1860 in Damascus also saved 10,000 Christians from massacre at the hands of the Turks.

He had become such an admired cross-cultural figure that upon his death in 1883 the New York Times lauded him as “among the few great men of the century.”

Memory of Abd el-Kader has since faded. Today in America “jihad” tends to be mistaken as a synonym for terrorism rather than a righteous struggle that does not require violence.

But the Algerian Muslim was at the heart of an enlightened — if basic — cross-cultural dialogue Friday inside the Elkader Opera House. A couple hundred local elementary schoolkids sat in rapt attention as a sextet from overseas — with a doctor, actor and architect among its lineup — played Algerian classical music.

Jonathan Carrillo Lopez, a Mexican-American high school junior from Phoenix, also spoke to the students and asked them to name some of their favorite superheroes.

He was peppered with familiar comic-book names: Batman, Wolverine, Wonder Woman, etc.

Lopez then made a case for Abd el-Kader as a hero on par with Superman.

“He was brave,” Lopez said. “He fought for people. And he protected his people.”

John Kiser, one of the leaders of this Iowa-bred Abdelkader Education Project, also took the stage to try to explain the town’s namesake in the simplest possible terms.

“Think of George Washington,” Kiser said. “He’s kind of an Algerian George Washington.”

This forum that takes place annually here has the written word as its spine — both Kiser’s 2008 biography of Abd el-Kader, "Commander of the Faithful," and winning high school and college essays chosen from submissions nationwide. The bulk of the forum features public seminars on Saturday; the school assembly Friday was a new addition.

Lopez was encouraged to write an essay by his honors history teacher in Phoenix. He was awarded the runner-up high school entry and invited to attend this year’s forum.

He’s not Muslim (although some winning essayists are). He’s an agnostic fascinated by history, religion and philosophy. He recently trekked to Israel on a cultural exchange program.

Lopez said he was “completely astonished” by Abd el-Kader's story.

He arrived in Iowa with one of his mentors, English teacher-turned-librarian Sylvia Cox. She helped Lopez learn English just a few years ago. He rates one of the best two students she’s taught in her 30-year-career, she said.

“He’s not a sponge,” Cox said. “He’s a vacuum cleaner.”

Lopez is a prime example of what's happening in Elkader: Impressive young thinkers are being educated about one of history’s best examples as to why our modern culture war is both stupid and futile. The humble seeds planted here could pay eventual global dividends.

Kiser, 72, who now lives on a farm in Virginia, describes himself as a “Chicago WASP” who merely “dropped the rock in the pond” and has seen his enthusiasm for Abd el-Kader continue to ripple.

The education project began between him and Elkader native Kathy Garms, a retired teacher and human resources professional who has been the organizational force behind the annual forum.

A sister-city relationship between Elkader and Mascara, Algeria, had been forged in 1984 but fell dormant.

Then came Kiser’s book and a $150,000 Algerian donation to Elkader’s recovery from the devastating 2008 flood.

Now the Abdelkader Education Project is a registered nonprofit in its sixth year of forums. Attendees this year include the Algerian ambassador to the U.S. and Abd el-Kader's great-great grandson who now works for a construction company in the United Arab Emirates.

Kiser sees his project's push as "a chance for the Algerians to take a leadership role in the Arab world with combating ISIS with this kind of a narrative about the real Islam.”

In some of his own writings, Lopez connected Abd el-Kader with Europe's current refugee crisis:

"Some European countries, including France, are accepting Syrian refugees who are fleeing the violence in their home country," Lopez writes. "This is an amazingly altruistic gesture toward the well-being of these desperate people. This current event reminisces the honorable actions of the Emir Abd el-Kader during the tumultuous Muslim violence toward Christians in Syria, which represents the sublimity and honor of his character and his devotion to the 'cause of God.'"

On Friday, Lopez implored the Elkader schoolkids to write their own stories when they grow up.

"Because perhaps someone will read it," he said. "And you might change their lives, like Abd el-Kader changed ours.”

The high school student from Phoenix praised the Iowa town as "an example for the whole U.S."

Yes it is — certainly a better example than some recent divisive headlines. #IStandWithElkader could work as a hashtag.