Friday, 4/11/97
Muslim groups work to clear misconceptions
Islam Awareness Week aimed to educate about true meaning of the
faith
By Hector Ronquillo
Daily Bruin Contributor
The young man speaking Arabic is not a terrorist. The young
woman wearing a head scarf is not a victim of oppression and
tyranny. And as Muslims, they are as victim to stereotypes as any
other campus group.
For years, Muslims have had the misfortune of falling victim to
media-fed misconceptions, causing the American public to have a
negative view of Muslims as outsiders who do not dovetail with the
Western world.
Rather than passively allow these misconceptions to be
perpetuated, the Muslim Student Association (MSA) and the Muslim
Union (MU) responded with Islam Awareness Week, dedicated to
educating UCLA students about the true meaning of Islam.
This week, MSA and MU manned a table along Bruin Walk where
students could ask questions about the religion. The groups also
displayed Islamic paraphernalia as well as literature concerning
various aspects of Islam.
"The media talks about Islam only in the context of the
political realm," said Masood Khan, a fourth-year history student.
"We hope to clear any misconceptions and stereotypes and inform
people about as many different aspects of Islam as we can."
One of those stereotypes is that Islam’s followers are
terrorists – a misconception brought forth by the entertainment
industry, where Muslims are often portrayed as hostile criminals
engaged in a "holy war" against Western culture and society.
The news media also presents false perceptions of Muslims, said
Talha Rizvi, a third-year computer science student. Most notable
are the media’s quick suspicions of Muslims as suspects in the
bombing of the World Trade Center in New York and the Oklahoma City
bombing in 1995.
MSA and MU hope to dispel such stereotypes and demonstrate to
the public that Muslims who have a strong understanding of their
faith do not kill others, but rather search for peace by submitting
themselves to God – the true meaning of the word Islam.
In Western culture, the wearing of the hijab, or head scarf, by
women is perceived as a sign of oppression where Muslim women are
forced to surrender their liberty of expressing themselves. But to
Muslim women, wearing the hijab is a matter of choice and an
expression of one’s faith.
"Wearing the hijab is a symbol of modesty. It does not matter
how I look on the outside, I just want to show that I am
Muslim,"
said second-year psychology and Arabic student Sawssan Ahmed.
"It is a reminder that I am Muslim and (it) forces me to hold fast
to my faith."
The week also featured five seminars aimed at educating the
public about different components of the religion.
The goal of the seminars was to bring to the public’s awareness
the role that Islam plays in millions of people’s lives around the
world, even to those of different religions.
One misconception about Islam is that all Muslims come from the
Middle East. In reality, Asians from the far East comprise the
largest percentage of Muslims worldwide, said Omar Mahmood, a
third-year psychobiology student and communications director of
MSA.
"Islam has a long history in the Far East, especially in
Indonesia, which has the largest concentration of Muslims in the
world," said Ben Wang, a third-year microbiology and molecular
genetics student and MSA president. "Islam was brought to that
region by Arab fur traders, where it quickly became the dominant
religion."
But the racial diversity of Islam also stretches through Eastern
Europe, Southeast Asia and Africa. South America, a region
dominated by Christianity, also has a large population of
Muslims.
"Islam had a major influence in Spain when Muslims ruled that
country in the 15th century, especially in the Spanish language and
architecture," Mahmood said.
When the Spaniards later conquered the indigenous people of the
Americas, the settlers brought some of the Muslim traditions with
them. These traditions had a significant impact on some people in
Latin America, spreading the religion even further.
The wide range of ethnic groups who practice Islam also came to
a surprise to 1960s civil rights leader Malcolm X. A seminar
Thursday night revealed how Malcolm X came to realize that every
man and woman was the same under the faith of Islam.
The event dealt with how his pilgrimage to Mecca, the birthplace
of the Prophet Mohammed, dramatically altered his belief from that
of a racial hierarchy and a need for the separation of races to a
belief that Islam could unite people of all colors and ethnic
groups.
The Malcolm X seminar was held in conjunction with another
discussion earlier that day dealing with the difference between
Islam and the Nation of Islam.JAMIE SCANLON-JACOBS
Suhail Hasan Multa discusses differences between Islam and the
Nation of Islam.