Discovering the truth about Islam
Campus to host speakers from across U.S. for Islam Awareness Week
Islam Awareness Week started Thursday as students, professors and local residents shared traditional foods at the Islamic Center of Lawrence. Islam Awareness Week continues on Monday with more activities and guest speakers.
By Andrew Wiebe (Contact)
Friday, April 11th, 2008
The Muslim Student Association’s Islam Awareness Week kicked off Thursday with an open house at the Islamic Center of Lawrence.
Students, professors and Lawrence residents came together on the center’s front lawn to eat and drink traditional foods and “discover the truth about Islam.” Eman Shaiwani, Olathe senior, led groups of visitors on tours of the center and its prayer room. She said the main focus of the open house was to inform people about the Islamic faith and Muslims in their community.
Shaiwani said visitors were surprised by how much they didn’t know about Islam, and the manner in which members of MSA and the center made them feel comfortable in unfamiliar surroundings.
Photo by Lisa Lipovac
Eman Shawiwani, Olathe senior, talks with professor Eve Levin during the open house at the Islamic Center yesterday afternoon. Yesterday was the first day of Islam Awarness Week.
“We’re pretty open,” Shaiwani said. “The ability to come interact, talk and spend time together and the chance to learn about Islam through Muslims and not through the media is one thing I’ve been getting from a lot of people. It’s surprising for some because it’s a lot different from what they’ve always known or always heard.”
MSA’s Islamic Awareness Week activities will resume on Monday, as speakers from all over the United States arrive on campus to lecture on topics such as the role of women in Islam and Islamic contributions to art. All lectures will he held at the Kansas Union.
MSA president Ala Abdel-Halim, a first-year pharmacy student from Palestine, said the group wanted to show students the personal side of Islam rather than the view of violent extremists often portrayed in popular media.
He said people have associated Muslims with terrorism and violence because of the events on September 11, even though Islam preaches peace and “submission” to God.
“The image of Islam in the media is very distorted,” Abdel-Halim said. “It often portrays Islam as a violent religion or depicts followers as terrorists or radical thinking. We will show that we are not those things.”
Najabat Abbasi, director of the Islamic Center of Lawrence, said the media had perpetuated the stereotypes that surrounded Muslims after Sept. 11. He said harming innocent people was directly opposed to the preaching’s of the faith, and those who commit acts of terrorism are using Islam for their own personal gain.
“There are fanatics in every religion, but I think we got bad publicity after 9/11,” Abbasi said. “Before that no one had such a bad conception about Islam.”
Abbasi said he thought if people learned more about the true nature of Islam, there wouldn’t be so many negative stereotypes associated with the faith and its believers.
“We are trying to make people aware of Islam,” Abbasi said. “There is a lot of misunderstanding and misconception about Islam.”
The MSA was founded on campus more than 20 years ago and was the sole Islamic organization in Lawrence until the founding of the Islamic Society of Lawrence.
—Edited by Russell Davies
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