The Muslim Students Association will sponsor Islam Awareness Week beginning Monday in an effort to educate students about issues relating to the Islamic faith.
Next week's events differ from those held in October during the last Islam Awareness Week. The emphasis last semester was on world Islam and Islam in the United States through the history of African-American slaves. The focus next week will be on the basics of Islam and explaining what the religion is all about.
Monday's event, titled Islam 101, will provide a forum for students to learn about Islam and ask questions about the religion, MSA President Zeenat Iqbal said.
"I think a lot of people don't know what we have in common with other faiths, such as Christianity and Judaism," she said. "We want to create more awareness of our faith around Grounds."
With the United States teetering on the brink of war with Iraq, MSA Council member Bilal Qureshi said he anticipates questions about the war and the Middle East.
"We don't have a political agenda," he said. "But in the context of what's going on, it's important to challenge misconceptions and be better informed."
Despite the current international climate, Iqbal called the timing of the events coincidental.
"This war has been looming for the past month and a half," she said. "Islam Awareness Week was planned in accordance with our annual schedule."
The discussion topics will depend on the audience, and the forum will not necessarily focus on political issues, Iqbal said.
"There are a lot of issues to address," she said. "One of those is a message of peace. That is what is Islam is all about."
Wednesday's event will feature a lecture by Siraj Wahhaj, a minister and national Islamic spiritual leader from Brooklyn, NY, and Benjamin Kareem, a former assistant minister to Malcolm X. The lecture's purpose is to educate students about Malcolm X and how his ideas relate to the current political and racial situation, said Michael Townes, an MSA executive board member.
"Many people write him off as being violent and preaching hate, but it's not that simple," Townes said. "He's influenced so many people to come into this faith and struggle against worldwide oppression."
To end Islam Awareness Week, the MSA will sponsor an event Friday that focuses on women in Islam. History Prof. Farina Mir will moderate the panel. The goal of the forum is to quell a lot of the fallacies that exist with women and Islam, Mir said.
"We will address veiling as a religious and social custom and discuss questions of women's rights," she said.
Iqbal agreed that it was important to emphasize that Islam does not encourage the oppression of women.
"All our posters and any references to Islam show women wearing scarves, so we felt like we needed to address that," she said. "The fact is, a lot of women wear these scarves on their own. They are not forced to."
Other events include lectures on the prophets of Islam Tuesday and a spiritual discussion about the Quran Thursday.
Qureshi said the goal of Islam Awareness Week activities is to educate students about both Islam and it's adherents.
"The Muslim community is not a homogenous group," he said. "There's a real cross-section of people who are part of the community and the faith."
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