BY ALEX HO

In print | January 31, 2008

In the reality TV series “30 Days,” Morgan Spurlock strolls along the streets of a small American town and stops random people for a quick game of word association. Spurlock offers the word “terrorist”, and the responses he receives are all too often “Muslim” and “Islam.” Since 9/11, misunderstandings of Islam in the U.S. have been greatly exacerbated, which is why the many issues discussed at Swarthmore’s first Islam Awareness Week, hosted by the Muslim Students Association, are more important than ever.

A screening of “30 Days,” held on Monday, Jan. 28, was part of the first event for the week. The episode places Dave, an all-American, Christian family man from West Virginia, in the household of a young Muslim couple living in Dearborn, Michigan, the U.S.‘s most densely populated Muslim community. Through the first half of the episode, Dave squeamishly follows the customs of his host family, learns about the Qur’an from the local mosque’s imam and takes Arabic lessons. By the end, Dave is petitioning for legislation against racial profiling and going on a radio talk show to quell ideas that Muslims in suburbia are engaging in terrorist activity.

There was a lively discussion afterward, in which some grimaced at the cute animations that the show used to briskly introduce the basic tenants of the Islamic faith and some of Dave’s comments like, “They’re really great people and really productive.” But overall, some felt the episode was valuable in reaching Middle America. Omar Ramadan ’08 said, “I saw the show as a crash course in Islam.” For Humzah Soofi ’10, watching the episode brought up the struggle that the young generation of Muslim-Americans face between preserving their culture and faith while also legitimizing their voice in mainstream America. “Muslims in America need to fully embrace that they are American,” Soofi said.

Monday’s event also showed the first episode of the Canadian sitcom “Little Mosque on the Prairie.” The sitcom depicted a struggling Muslim community in a small Canadian town that has to set up a makeshift mosque in the local church. Though the show doesn’t hit all of its comedic notes, it’s nonetheless daring, holding a mirror up to prejudice against Muslims by exaggerating it with such broad slapstick. Some at the screening also liked that the show portrayed a diversity of ethnic backgrounds and beliefs within the Muslim community.

On Tuesday, MSA showed the PBS documentary “Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet”, which looked at the life of Muhammad and his influence since then. The documentary followed contemporary Muslim Americans that find much significance in how Muhammad led his life. One of the documentary’s subjects is a fireman in New York, who felt, Ailya Vajid ’09 recalled, “his saving people … is his way of connecting with Muhammad and doing something right for the world.”

On Wednesday, MSA invited Saint Joseph’s University professor Isra Yazicioglu to hold her lecture “The Ventures of Adam and Eve in the Qur’an.” Professor Yazicioglu explained the importance of the story of Adam and Eve in the Qur’an and where it agreed with and differed from Judeo-Christian tradition. Yazicioglu discussed the absence of original sin and the admission of free will in Islam, stressing that Islam was very much about self-realization. Later, attendees got to look at works of Islamic calligraphy.

The final event will take place today at 6:30 p.m. and features a panel with members of MSA and with Religion professor Tariq al-Jamil and Sociology/Anthropology professor Farha Ghannam, who will be answering questions from the audience about the Islamic faith and the Muslim identity in America. Additionally, “we also want to open it up to the audience … and see what they think and what they’ve learned and what they’re curious about,” Vajid said. For Vajid, the political sensitivity of these issues makes it all the more urgent for them to be discussed “because people don’t want to be offensive and everything’s so PC at Swarthmore.” With Islam Awareness Week and its culminating panel, MSA hopes to bring a greater understanding of what it means to be Muslim in America.

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