Islamic Awareness Week

Islamic Awareness Week began with an “Ask a Muslim booth” on Apr. 19.

The idea was to give Hamline community members an opportunity to get their questions about the Muslim community and the religion of Islam answered.

First-year Guled Said, who helped organize the week’s event together said, “The goal of the tabling today is [to have] a table set up for people who aren’t Muslim to come and ask us questions about Islam. Whether it pertains to Islamophobia or the Quran, or any of the prophets.”

Most of the questions asked were about the basics of Islam.

“[We’ve gotten] questions like what are the five pillars, how many times a day do you pray? How do you pray in school?” Said said. “People have come up and asked to look at the Quran, to see the definitions and translations within the Quran.”

The booth was preceded by a lecture on Apr. 10 given by the President of the NorthWest Islamic Community Center, Tamim Saidi. Saidi talked about the basics of Islam, terminology and the different sects of Islam. There was also an opportunity to ask questions after the presentation.

An Islamic Gallery Exhibition followed the lecture on Apr. 11 in the old library located in Giddens Learning Center.

“One of the reasons we wanted to do that [the gallery] was to basically showcase Islam through words. So we had quotes from Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, who is one of our main prophets,” said first-year Abdihamid Badri, who also helped MSA with the week’s events and was a panelist during Islamic Awareness Night. “We try to fashion our lives the way that he lived and having his quotes and quotes from other. . . contemporary Muslim leaders, like Linda Sahir , who’s an activist … showcased how Islam isn’t really this crazy religion [and] ideology… It’s actually a beautiful religion.”
The week concluded with Muslim Awareness Night held in Anderson Center on Apr. 12 The night began with a recitation of the Quran by first-year Yusuf Awyusuf… This was followed by a presentation from Islamic Teacher Eman Haymour.

“Islam is [less of a religion and more of] a way of life because it’s something I do everyday,” said Haymour.

Haymour’s presentation focused on the five pillars of Islam: Shahada (belief), Salah (prayer), Zakah (charity), Siyam (fasting) and Hajj (pilgrimage).

Time was taken for Maghreb (prayer) for it was sunset and that is one of the five times during the day that Muslims pray.

The night concluded with a panel of Hamline students. Panelists were asked question about their identity in relation to their religion, how being Muslim affects their life on Hamline’s campus and advice they would give to their allies.

Panelist and sophomore Ruweida Sheikh-Mohamed expressed what the night and week meant to her.
“This night means a lot to me personally because the political climate especially in this sense of being a Muslim in America, in 2018, in this presidency, the hostility continues and continues to grow,” said Sheikh-Mohamed. “I feel like personally events like this seem to not only engage but also educate and bring a sense of community and allyship.”

The panel was  most helpful to sophomore Anna Belz.

“I thought that the panel was really helpful and they told their perspectives in more detail than presentation. . .and they gave ways people could help and be allies,” Belz said.

One of the reason non-Muslims attended the event was to get informed.
“I came to this event because I didn’t know much about Muslim people and wanted to learn more so then like I won’t disrupt part of their culture if i’m trying to make friends,” sophomore Amanda Chen said .

Another reason was to gain better understanding.

“What impacted me was knowing what it actually means to be a Muslim. . .,” first-year Emily Luo said. “It helps us understand more about their culture rather than assuming something that may or not be true.”

EXTERNAL LINK :https://fivepillarsof-islam.com/