This week, the Muslim Students Association is once again presenting Islam Awareness Week. The event is held annually on college campuses around the country, and is designed to raise awareness of Islam and try to fight negative perceptions that many people have of the religion. This year, the RPI MSA is focusing on one theme—tolerance—as opposed to previous years where many themes have been emphasized throughout many events.
“Since 2001, this has become even more critical since there has been so much negative publicity,” said IAW Co-chair Mahwish Hamlani ’06, citing recent events such as suicide bombings in Israel, the ongoing conflict in Iraq, and the cartoons published in a Danish newspaper last year that caused riots throughout the Middle East.
The first event on the schedule was held Saturday night. MSA and Hillel joined together to sponsor an Interfaith Panel to discuss the similarities between Islam and Judaism. Hamlani said that there was a “great” turnout, with several audience members who were not a part of either group and just looking to learn more.
The next major event on the schedule continues throughout the week, and took the form of a “Jeopardy” game in the Union west lobby on Monday. Candy and other prizes were given out alongside pamphlets on Islam to people who answered questions from various Islam-related categories. The effort continued Tuesday and will continue Thursday with free hot chocolate and pamphlets being distributed.
“We’re trying to initiate discussion with students who might have questions about Islam,” explained Hamlani. “We’re just trying to get our faces out there.”
Tuesday saw 17 non-Muslim women don traditional headscarves in an effort to help other women understand the challenges that confront Muslim women every day. This number has increased from just two women when they pioneered the program two years ago, and 12 women last year.
“People didn’t recognize me. I felt like a different person,” said Pilar Rodarte ’07, who participated this year. “Then they tried to engage me in a religious debate. I didn’t debate and told them I was promoting awareness of the discrimination women go through.”
Sana Butt ’07 had a similar reaction. “I’m a Muslim, but I usually don’t cover my hair,” she explained. “People stared today, looked twice, and my professor who knows me was surprised and asked if it was a special occasion. I had to explain myself to a lot of people.”
One other woman who participated is a physician in Schenectady who serves as a women’s right activist. “This was a good idea because you would know how a Muslim woman feels, self conscious, or how it feels to have people watching you,” Mussarat Chaudhry said.
The keynote address of the week will be given tomorrow night, with an imam from Albany who will speak on the subject of tolerance. He will lecture on the recent cartoon controversy tonight from 6-8 pm in Union 3202, explaining why everyone involved is doing what they are doing, offering his own opinions on the issue, and backing up his arguments with Islamic literature.
Inside Mecca, a movie following four American Muslims through the traditional Islamic pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca, will be shown Thursday from 6 to 8 pm in Ricketts 203. The movie will be followed by a discussion of the film’s themes and other elements of Islam, moderated by Science and Technology Studies Professor Steve Breyman.
The last event of the week is a barbecue that will be held on Friday from 3 to 6 pm outside Warren Hall on freshman hill. Hamlani said the event was designed to both culminate the week with a good social event and lead into GM Week with something fun.
“All of these events are designed to show the Rensselaer community that Islam is a religion of peace,” she explained. “We’re just normal people who believe in a different religion, and we wanted to get that across this year.”
