In closing for Islam Awareness Week, the Muslim Student Association (MSA) hosted a Poetry Slam, themed “Faith and Struggle.” I was 15 minutes early to the performance. There were three people in the room, setting up, checking the portable microphone, arranging the table of desserts. I debated leaving and coming back, but decided to sit through the slight awkwardness. I felt intrusive.
I expected a crowd. There were about 20 or 25 people there but all of them stayed for the duration of the event. It was scheduled to go from 6-8 pm but started a little late (waiting for more people to come) and ended early (because no one else wanted to perform).
A female student I had seen around campus occasionally walked up to the front of the room and said, “As-Salaam-Alaikum,” (Peace be unto you) and she was met with “Wa alaikum As-Salaam” from the audience. She explained the purpose of the event and thanked everyone for coming.
Then the emcee introduced the first performer. He explained what his poem was about—Moses coming to a realization that God is all around us. He read in the language it was written in, Persian, and it sounded amazing.
Another performer read a poem in Turkish that was written by his brother. It described his brother’s feelings when he (the reader) came to America and left his family. The title was translated to “The Pain of Loss or of Missing.” It was touching and it reminded me of the meaning of this event, and the purpose of the week—Islam awareness; faith and struggle. The poem bridged the language barrier, cultural divides, and religious differences. It was about missing someone you love, and we’ve all missed someone before.
Tauhirah Abdul-Matin ’07, the current vice president of MSA, reluctantly read a poem at the very end of the Poetry Slam. It was war from the perspective of someone who had been through a war and seen its effects firsthand. Abdul-Matin used the poet’s word to speak to everyone in the room with the line “I’m yearning for humanity and I’m begging for love.” And it became apparent why she chose this poem, preceding its recitation with a slightly hesitant “I felt the most connected with this poem.”
Mahwish Hamlani ’06, broke from the pack that night of religious poems with one that she said made a political statement. It was entitled “I Got Flowers Today” by Paulette Kelly and described domestic violence. The poem ended with the woman’s funeral and Hamlani closed with some statistics about domestic abuse, one being that it is the cause of 30 percent of the disabilities in women. After the performance she explained, “Our goal was to clear up some of those misunderstandings,” referring to the prejudices that so many people have of Islam. One flyer around campus declares “In Islam, men and women are equal.” On one of these flyers I saw scribbled below that proclamation, in pencil, was “no they aren’t.” Regardless of whether or not this person was serious, the fact that Islam has acquired a negative hue after 9/11, the war on terror, and the war in Iraq isn’t really debatable.
Another performer recited a poem, called “Object of Despair,” about what it is like to wear a hijab, a head covering for Muslim women, in American culture. On a similar note, another student read “I’m a Muslim Woman.” It was about the freedoms of Muslim women, despite many preconceived notions that Muslim women are limited and less than men. Another two poems, back to back, were entitled “My Heart is Full” and “Merciful is Our Creator,” and were written by the same poet. They both addressed the topic of radical Muslims as viewed by Muslims who disagree with them. On a more comical note, “I Am Fitna” was hilarious. Fitna is controversy, or the wrong things that are caused by the Devil. It had lines like “Even my cover is too hot for Halal, I’ll send an imam crying home to his mom,” and “I am that last Playboy on the rack.”
The desserts were amazing. Almost all of them were homemade and all were delicious. Most of the people that came were in the MSA. I felt a little uneasy at first, not recognizing many people and not ever having been to an MSA meeting; but everyone was welcoming. After the event numerous people came up to me, thanked me for coming, and encouraged me to take some of the food home. The current president of the MSA, Rami Santrisi, greeted me and told me, “We had a good week and the poems were exactly what we needed to finish it off.”
As stated by Ferheen Shaikh, a participant in IAW 2005, “Islam Awareness Week is held annually to give the Rensselaer community an opportunity to learn a little about something that they may not have known before.” In recent years Islam has been scrutinized in the media, and hence, stereotyped in many ways. As Shaikh later states, “I feel that there is no better way to learn the truth about Islam than to meet real Muslims in your community and see them practicing their faith through acts of community service, education, and art, right before your eyes.”
