Religon- Grill the Muslim

The Muslim Student Association hosts a week of events on campus to celebrate their own culture and expose the public to their religion. One of these events was “Grill the Muslim,” an information session and Q&A that allows people to learn more. While I did learn a lot about something very foreign to me, I also felt a sense of alienation while at the event. I was in the minority group in attendance, which is something that I do not experience frequently, and allowed me to understand how minorities involved in everyday life must feel.

Throughout the evening I noticed many things that are different from my own religion. Although this experience was not exactly a ritual, some behaviors mirrored what they would do during a ritual. I noticed that as people entered, the young men and women (who I assume are students at UAB) were all very social with one another but when they sat down, the separation between male and female was obvious. Genders only mixed when they were older couples. Also all of the informants who spoke about Islam were male. It seems that leadership positions within this culture and only for men.
We were briefly introduced to Islam and terms within it. Then, the speaker read from the Qur’an. I had never heard someone speak Arabic before, and it almost seemed melodic in the way he read, almost like a song. They explained the role of prophets in their religion. I was surprised to hear the mention of Jesus, and reverence toward him. Because I have never had any encounters with Muslims, I assumed that they all hated and went exactly opposite of Christianity. Muslims believe that Jesus was a prophet, but not the son of God and that all the glory was placed on him by men, not by God.

I also learned that Allah is the same thing as God to us, and that they just call it a different name. Another difference is that Muslims believe faithfully in Muhammad, the prophet who received the first revelation, organized the early church, and developed the Qur’an. Also, they believe that people should dress as modestly as possible, especially women, who should only show the face and hands. I did notice, however, that as the generations go on, more and more girls are choosing to dress in western attire instead of their traditional garb.

I was a little leery to attend at first, I was really glad that I decided to attend. While I felt a little out of my comfort zone, but that is the point of the culture blog. I was able to learn a lot about a culture that I am constantly around, but never knew anything about. I think that events like this are a good idea because it creates an environment where everyone can come to learn more, and I would have liked to see more people in attendance. If people took an effort to learn more about those who are different from them, acceptance and coexistence might be a little easier.