Monday, April 4, 2011

Reluctant Fervor

Last week, the Muslim Student Association (MSA) at SMU held Islamic Awareness Week (IAW).  Everyday, there would be people in Hughes-Trigg, presenting posters on a subject within Islam, inviting people to the free food in front of them, and encouraging them to come to the afternoon lectures.  There was one afternoon lecture a day, held by a different speaker than the day before.  Yet, for all of the advertising and work done by the students, few people came to see the posters, and there were almost no non-Muslims who came to the lectures.

In a time when America is having Muslim hearings by Rep. Peter King, when anti-Muslim fervor is at a bit of a high in America, when people are asking "What is Islam about, and can it coexist with American culture?", the MSA was holding lectures on Islam.  The first lecture was about the Islam and culture, and how they coexist.  Yet, absolutely no non-Muslim came to that one.  People claim that they just can't wait to hear from Muslims about Islam, and that they want to see the Muslim community acting to prevent radicalization, but do not come to these events.  They then speculate that Muslims have been quiet, and that mosques are becoming training centers.  The one mosque/masjid in the world that is closed off to non-Muslims is Masjid-al-Haram, the masjid that holds the Kaa'bah.  All other masjids are happy to see non-Muslims take an interest in what they are saying, at least in the US, yet few people take 20 minutes out of their days to check them out.

Instead, at SMU, non-Muslims take Intro to Islam with John Lamoreaux, a class which has both its merits and its shortcomings.  Mr. Lamoreaux, at the beginning of the semester, made many remarks that all of the Muslims in the class disagreed with.  Once, he talked about some supposedly viable tradition amongst Muslims.  When all of us argued with him, he said that it is a viable tradition that no Muslim in the world actually follows.  So, by his reasoning, I guess that I can say that all Christians hate Jews, because there has been a lot of anti-Semitism in Christianity's history.  Or, I can say that anyone who declares he is rich in France is going to the guillotine, because it once happened.  Ridiculous assertions are made with no solid proof, and everyone eats it up, because everyone loves looking for dirt on others, but the incredible efforts to show the truth are swept aside as boring, or conflicting with previous schedules.  (By the way, Mr. Lamoreaux gives extra credit to his students if they write amazing reviews on Ratemyprofessor.com.  Go ahead, check it out).

There are lots of Muslims in the world who are uneducated.  Illletracy rates are high in most Muslim countries.   These people cannot read or write anything about their religion, and must take the advice of any random person who can provide information.  In America, however, some of the smartest Muslims in the world live.  Here, we can and do try to show what our religion is truly about.  When a group of people is subjected to such slander and libel, and all of its efforts to help its country are swept aside, it is both the love for the religion and the love for the country that suffer.  Alienation is not the way to integration.