Islam’s teaching and history are not always explained properly to those with with the strongest fear of the religion, said Rashid Ahmad at Wednesday’s lecture at Stamp Student Union.
“Unfortunately, the teachings of Islam are not portrayed correctly,” Ahmad said. “In the media, all we see is violence in the Muslim world.”
Ahmad, a visiting scholar and an assistant professor in Islamic Studies at the University of Peshawar in Pakistan, spoke at a lecture hosted by the Baha’i Chair for World Peace, focusing on breaking down misleading opinions people in the West may have of Muslims.
“I immediately agreed with this topic because of misconceptions,” Ahmad said. “I hope to create new questions and not doubts.”
Ahmad explained to an audience of around 30 students and staff how Americans are indirectly fed misinformed perceptions about Islam through the lack of quality media coverage.
“This is my seventh time in the U.S. and I know how humble and good people are,” Ahmad said. “But the media does not promote peacemakers. The media needs to start doing this.”
Media coverage was also important to attendees.
Noor Ahmad, a sophomore chemical engineer talked about the way people get their information about Islam is vital.
“It’s about getting it from the right source instead of getting it from the media,” Noor said. “The media conveys the message in their own agenda. It’s like going to a doctor for a disease. You consult different doctors. It’s the same thing here. You want different opinions and different angles.”
Ahmad also discussed focused on madrassah schools, often thought of as terrorism training camps, and what they teach. Ahmad was quickly to dispel the negative notions many in the U.S. share about these schools.
These institutions do not solely teach radical extremism for use against the Western world, Ahmad said. Instead, the Arabic term simply translates to school.
“Unfortunately, there was no problem with madrassah before 1970,” he said. “We should take it as a whole and not in components.”
In many cases, the issue is simply a misunderstanding or aberration that becomes a generalization.
“They mentioned that the personal motives of western cultures is to spread their ideals across the world,” senior community health major Nevina El-Leithy Jakopin said. But while Islam’s goals are the same, Western media grip on the small fraction of extremists like those in the Islamic State who do this violently and generalize that to the entire Muslim population, she said.
Sophomore business student Sihrish Noureen, who attended the program with fellow sophomore Ayesha Ahmad, said Ahmad effectively contrasted the roots of radicalism with the message of Islam.
“Islam means to submit or surrender to God,” Noureen explained. That comparison of prayer and submission, she says, “clearly conveys the foundation of peace in our religion.”
Ahmad explained that societal and political issues that bring violent extremism to religion, she said.
“I also think that Dr. Ahmad effectively brought the importance of education and knowledge in to the picture of discussing the issues behind violence and extremism in Islam,” Noureen said.
For example, she said, Pakistan’s education system “is highly in need of reforms, restructure and unification,” which has contributed to the rise of extremism.
Only dialogue and media can convey these messages, Ahmad told audience members.
“[Ahmad said that] to achieve understanding, the true word of Islam must be spoken with more frequency and effective understanding in the Western world,” Jakopin said. “This can be done by avoiding any conversations that have to do with conflict and focusing on the essence of Islam.”
