The Muslim Students Association is hosting a number of events this week in honor of Islam Awareness Week, an annual, nation-wide effort to promote understanding and awareness of Islam.
Rather than just promoting awareness of Islam, though, the goal of this week’s events is also to promote dialogue between Muslims and non-Muslims at the University, said Amir Raja ’18, president of the MSA. He added that one of the main reasons why people have negative perceptions about Muslims is because they don’t know a Muslim.
“We need people interacting with Muslims more. We need to have people see Muslims as their friends, their neighbors, as ordinary people”, said Nabil Shaikh ’17, former president of the MSA and student leader of the University’s Religious Life Council.
Events were organized around specific themes for this week. The week started off with the awareness campaign “I’m A Muslim. What Do You See?” in an effort to highlight what it’s like to be “visibly Muslim” and outwardly practicing your faith. Female students got to wear a hijab and learn the meaning behind it, according to Shaikh.
Student participants also reflected on the impact of discrimination and profiling on one's relationship with faith.
During the second day, an event called “Muslims Believe What?” addressed the beliefs of Islam. The MSA set up a table in Frist Campus Center and distributed hadiths — sayings of the Prophet Muhammad pbuh — meaningful verses and decals.Tuesday night, the MSA offered “Islam 101”, in which speakers came out to introduce the basic tenets and beliefs of Islam and then opened up a Q&A for student participants. In this discussion about the basic tenets of Islam beliefs, core values such as kindness were highlighted as similarities between Islam and other faiths, said Nitasha Siddique ’18.
On Wednesday, in an effort to create awareness about the Muslim community, the MSA set up a “Meet a Muslim” table in the McCosh Courtyard. According to Raja, the MSA researched other Islam Awareness Week events across the country and found out that social events were usually very effective.
“The positive perception towards Muslims increases drastically once you have actually met a Muslim in your life”, said Raja. “So things like these that are purely social are effective — they don’t necessarily have to be about teaching about Islam.”
At night, the MSA held an event called “Searching for Mecca in America: Dinner Discussion on Islam in America”, in which Mucahit Bilici, a Muslim sociologist who has studied the integration experiences of Muslims in America, spoke about finding Islam in America and whether Islam is an American religion.
According to the Facebook page for the event, the MSA is holding an arts and culture day to celebrate the expressions of art that run throughout the history of Islam on Thursday.Students will be invited to color in mosaics at the “Islamic Art and Coloring” table at Frist and then hear from calligrapher Faraz Khan, about the ties various art forms have with the cultures that Islam is present in. After the discussion , students will have the opportunity to practice Arabic calligraphy and other types of Islamic art on their own. At night, there will be a viewing of the film “A Prince Among Slaves,” an insightful look into the historical intersection of Islamic and African identities.
Kennedy O'Dell '18, a participant in this week's events, noted their importance to the community given the current political climate.
"Some politicians would divide us on the basis of religion alone and they would declare all believers of certain faiths dangerous," she said, "Now more than ever it is important to remember that it is our diversity in beliefs and ideas that makes us great as a University and as a country. It isn't just about tolerance, it's about acceptance."
Julia Marie Schorn '17, who wore a hijab to participate in the “I’m A Muslim. What Do You See?”event, said that the occasion allowed her to better understand having a Muslim identity.
"Walking through Frist, I felt people's eyes on me. It could have been in my head, though. I felt intensely shy. It helped me experience, if only for a short moment, an important part of many Muslim women's everyday lives," she said.
The Week will end with a series of interfaith spiritual activities on Friday, withan interfaith concert, entitled “Sacred Sounds.”Read More
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