By
Garrett Troy
October 30, 2007
Before a crowded room of Muslims and non-Muslims alike, an open and unrestricted discussion about Islam as a religion and Islamic culture developed into what many in the audience saw as a constructive, educational dialogue.
The four panelists represented a wide range of backgrounds and viewpoints, illustrating one of the main ideas the panelists and the Muslim Student Association (MSA) hoped to convey: Islam is an expansive and inclusive religion, not a singular monolithic entity.
"This panel is indicative of the diversity within Islam," said graduate student Ken Stewart, a captain in the U.S. Army.
Stewart's fellow panelists included Psychology graduate Qasim Hatem, who played football for the Huskies for three years. Hatem traveled to Yemen planning to study Islam for a year, but ended up staying for three years. He is in Seattle until December, when he plans to return to Yemen for another two years.
"I want to devote my life to Allah and to be a servant to him," Hatem said. "I want to improve humanity and help people."
Audience members were allowed to write their questions down anonymously on index cards or walk up to the front of the room and ask a question directly to the panel. The questions covered many topics, from the theological to the political to the cultural.
The theological questions raised covered Sharia law, what paradise is to Muslims and if Islam and Christianity are mutually exclusive or if one can believe both are true.
"I don't think you can believe both at the same time," said Mary Najdzin, a comparative religion and international studies major who converted to Islam five years ago. "The Trinity is counter to what Islam says about God."
Stewart agreed, but was quick to provide a caveat.
"Obviously there are disagreements, but the point here tonight is to show where the similarities are [and] to find common ground," he said.
Much of the discussion during the event focused on women in Islam and gender relations within Muslim countries.
"To suggest all Muslims and all Muslim countries separate their men and women is a complete fallacy," Stewart said, in regard to the segregation of men and women in Islam, and the wearing of the hijab, or head scarf. "When this is done, it is done out of respect for women. It is not sexist; in fact, it is quite the opposite. We don't relegate women to a second class status, nor raise men to a higher status."
Najdzin also pointed to modesty as being a central value, one that factors heavily in relations between men and women in Islam.
Even with a limited number of people in the room, a debate initiated on whether a hijab should be worn by every woman out of obligation or if it is a personal choice.
Panel member Amal Eqeiq, a graduate student in comparative literature, said she does not wear a hijab because her father would fear for her safety.
"This issue exemplifies the diversity within Muslim discourse," Eqeiq said.
Later in the discussion, questions touched on current events. Stewart said the events of last week did little to accurately portray Islam.
"[They] drew so much attention to that which is evil, you lose sight of what is beautiful and what is good," he said. "The overwhelming thing to remember is to treat each other as fellow human beings."
Hatem echoed these remarks a few moments later, reiterating that the Quran does not endorse or condone the violence being perpetrating in the name of Islam.
"This is a religion of peace, not a religion of terrorism. The killing of innocent civilians is not allowed, and the killing of women and children is outlawed," Hatem said.
Following the event, many people stayed around to further the discussion with friends and others in the audience. The panel members expressed their pleasure with how the event turned out.
It was very interesting; a lot of the dialogue that took place was good, Eqeiq said.
"We can't live in our own bubbles," auidence memeber Faysil Dahir said. "We're interdependent with one another so we can't close ourselves off to each other. Tonight, people raised legitimate concerns and questions and were given answers that opened up a dialogue."
[Reach reporter Garrett Troy at news@thedaiy.washington.edu.]
9 Comments
#1 Matt
on October 30, 2007 at 12:17 p.m.(UW Campus | Unverified Name)
Consistent with the Daily's ridiculously cliche, and left-biased coverage of Islamofascism Awareness Week this story fails to point out several pertinent facts.
1) There was so much interest in the College Republicans' events that the rooms were filled to capacity. No one was selectively turned away, it was strictly first come first serve except for the CR Officers who organized the events.
2) The reason there was unrestricted admittance to the MSA event was because nobody showed up. How profound can a discussion be if there is no dissent. There was certainly dissent at the CR events, it sounds to me like this rebuttal from the MSA was nothing but a politically correct gush-fest.
Bottom line. If you are a woman, life is better in a country with Jeudeo-Christian values like the US than a predominantly Muslim country. Anybody who denies this is either deluded, or tainted by some sort of agenda.
Keep up the bias Daily, it keeps me amused. BTW next time you do a four part series on some group on campus sponsoring events, maybe your readers would like to see some picture of that group instead of just pictures of the opposition. I for one am tired of seeing pictures of Hala Dillsi.
#2 Pragmatic Moderate
on October 30, 2007 at 1:15 p.m.(None, None | Unverified Name)
Agreed. Matt speaks for the silent majority. The Hala Dillsi's may be loud, obnoxious, and self-serving--especially when trying to obfuscate what was essentially a very progressive week of events by the CRs--but the rest of us know better.
#3 Ella
on October 30, 2007 at 4:14 p.m.(Atlanta, GA | Unverified Name)
Progressive?
You call CR, IFAW progressive? Groups that endorse and supports Bush's legalization of torture, justifies an illegal Iraq war that has slaughtered a million Iraqi's, and is looking to install a Christian theocracy, progressive?
You don't speak for the majority for people here or around the world.
hardly...
Your speaker Medved many times over condones slavery,
"THOUGH BRUTAL, SLAVERY WASN'T GENOCIDAL"
Do you think black people came over here on fucking yachts?
To maximize their profits slave merchants carried as many slaves as was physically possible on their ships.Ships built to to carry a maximum of 451 people, but was carrying over 600 slaves from Africa to the Americas.
Chained together by their hands and feet, the slaves had little room to move. It has been estimated that only about half of the slaves taken from Africa made it to America. A large number of slaves died on the journey. Others committed suicide by refusing to eat.
Many of the slaves were crippled for life as a consequence of the way they were chained up on the ship.
These people have an agenda consistent with the waves of denial that have greeted the hanging of nooses from a “whites only†tree outside a high school in Jena, Louisiana.
Today on campuses around the country, these right-wing students are knowingly being organized, and trained, in a dangerous “sport.†Like the Nazi “brownshirt†youth of 1920s and 1930s Germany, groups like Campus Watch, CR and the deliberately misnamed Students for Academic Freedom (SAF) are organizing students to spy on, gather “evidence†against, and report faculty who encourage discussion of controversial subjects in their classes, with the aim of having them silenced, or fired. From elite universities like NYU to community colleges, they organize “games†such as “find the ‘illegal’ immigrant†day. At one school they even held a game of “catch the runaway slave,†with students (and faculty) dressed in blackface! They mock the struggle against the oppression of African-Americans and others, holding “affirmative action bake sales†and Republican “coming-out parties.â€
Micheal Medved and David Horowitz have no more a place in academia than the KKK.
#4 Not a white dude
on October 30, 2007 at 5:29 p.m.(Redmond, WA | Unverified Name)
HAHA, nice copy-paste from the neo-communist magazine "revolution" at the end there! Your originality (or lack thereof) is matched only by your intelligence (or lack thereof).
A century of failure and 100 million dead "enemies of the people" proves nothing, except that capitalist roaders and Jewish bankers still control the media. Wear your Che Guevara shirts with pride, comrades!
/sarcasm
#5 To 'Matt"
on October 30, 2007 at 6:33 p.m.(Seattle, WA | Unverified Name)
Why did'nt any CR's show up for the MSA event? If you guys are so "progressive," should'nt you be seeking answers to all issues that concern you? Should'nt you be seeking THE TRUTH through vigorous DEBATE! The fact taht none of you came to this event is because your minds are already CLOSED to these issues, and you have already figured out your stance on this debate without researching ne wfacts, seeking knowledge, and constantly thinking with an OPEN MIND! It's ridiculous that the CR's have been portraying this event as a "success," and as one "where people were being shut out," and there is "biased coverage by the Daily." Typical Republican/Neo-con tactics in use here my friends! When you lose the battle of ideas, try to spin things with PR tactics to make them appear as if "we're the downtrodden" and "silenced" majority. you're all nothing but BUFFOONS who are the type that would have supported the Confederates during the Civil War, the Nazis during WW2, and Apartheid in South Africa and in Palestine. Your hatred, ignorance, and arrogance, is CLEAR to ALL!!! All I can say to you is that people like you have always failed. history has shown time and again that those that have the purest hearts, and think without hatred and prejudice, are the ones who will always succeed, while your kind perish. I fear people like you more than I fear the "Islamo-fascists!" Oh, and lastly, how many women have you interviewed from non "Jeudeo-Christian values." What polls or research are you using to base your claims? Have you ever visited any coutries with non Jeudeo-Christian values? Do you have any friends from these countries? If you have answered NONE or NO to all these questions, then just SHUT THE FU*K UP!
#6 Non "Jeudeo-Christian"
on October 30, 2007 at 10:19 p.m.(Redmond, WA | Unverified Name)
Reductio ad Nazium plus profanity and random mid-sentence capitalization carry the day once again!
#7 Aya Elayan
on October 31, 2007 at 7:57 a.m.(None, None | Unverified Name)
I think regular Muslims (not just scholars always) should keep orgainizing events/debates/discussion types. It keeps ppl informed,etc. The more we orgainize the more ppl will come. The reason why probably not many ppl came to this discussion was not many heard about it or if they did it was not talked about widely.
#8 Aya Elayan
on October 31, 2007 at 7:57 a.m.(None, None | Unverified Name)
I think regular Muslims (not just scholars always) should keep orgainizing events/debates/discussion types. It keeps ppl informed,etc. The more we orgainize the more ppl will come. The reason why probably not many ppl came to this discussion was not many heard about it or if they did it was not talked about widely.
#9 to :Not a white dude -
on October 31, 2007 at 12:56 p.m.(Atlanta, GA | Unverified Name)
Yeah the last part was cut and pasted from Revolution Newspaper. SO WHAT?
You have nothing to say that is actually refuting the content of what is being put forward in that article, except resorting to name calling and cowardly "mycarthyite" tactics.
And as for communism "failing" this is objectively untrue.
During the Cultural Revolution, China's entire population was clothed, fed and had shelter. This is the first time this has happened in any country in throughout world history.
There were amazing breakthroughs that came about in different communists societies and there is also a need to critically look at the mistakes that were made, and bring forward an even better model.
Critical thinking, dissent and discussion is a part of this process but infantile comments such as the "Wear your Che Guevara shirts with pride, comrades!" offer nothing of any substance.
The majority of people here and around the world want and need an alternative to this rotten system, a system that exploits literally billions of people and sends them plundering into horrific conditions, starvation and death.
This is why THOSE people will be a part of leading revolution, those who have nothing to lose but their chains.
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