By: Antoinette Grajeda
A recent Middle East Studies research conference featured topics ranging from sexuality to religion. Teaching others about the religion of Islam is important to Naseer Naseem, president of the Al-Islam Students Association, which formed on campus after the September 11 attacks.
“After the attacks there were so many negative stigmas about Islam and who Muslims were,” Naseer said. “And in America not a lot of people really knew what it meant to be Muslim.”
The organization combats these stigmas by hosting seminars and an annual blood drive in honor of September 11 victims. Hameed Naseem, Naseer’s father and the faculty advisor for the group, said they need to continue to teach others about Islam.
“There are people who have ignorance in them because they don’t know,” Hameed said. “If they are told, I think they will learn.”
When terrorists commit violence in the name of Islam, Hameed said it’s natural for people to compartmentalize the situation.
“When somebody does something, people start to associate it with the group or with the color or with this or with that,” Hameed said. “But we have to teach ourselves to know that this is not the case.”
In the wake of terrorist attacks, it’s common for some to lash out against Muslims. While Naseer Nassem has never been discriminated against, his family has. When they were in high school, his sisters were bothered when they wore their hijab.
“One of my sisters had a rock thrown at her and that’s just extremely inappropriate,” Naseer said.
Although some terrorists claim to Muslim, people need to realize that the issue isn’t Islam, Naseer said.
“It’s this political movement and that they’re not anything to do with Islam because all religions are religions of peace,” he said. “No religion is going to tell you to go and kill these people.”