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Muslims eagerly spread message
By JOHN PETRIMOULX
© St. Petersburg Times, TAMPA -- In any other year, the events of Islamic Awareness Week at the University of South Florida would be an opportunity for USF Muslims to share what they know about one of the world's great religions. This year, though, the recent terror attacks have created an urgency to get their message out about the true meaning of Islam and counter what they say are misconceptions and distortions being fostered by fears and ill-informed media sources. Take the treatment of women, for example. "I don't know where the Taliban got their ideas about women," said Bisher Tarabishy, president of USF's Muslim Student Association (MSA), one of the sponsors of the Week. "If it comes from Islam, it's a very limited view." He says the Taliban's restrictions on women's education and work are social and political in origin, not based in Islamic belief. Tarabishy adds that Islamic extremists such as the Taliban are outside traditional Islamic teaching and, despite media-fed perceptions, represent a negligible percentage of the world's 1-billion Muslims. "Traditional Islamic scholarship seems to have lapsed in the case of the Taliban," he said. Tarabishy says the MSA and co-sponsor Sisters' United Muslim Association hope the events of this year's Islamic Awareness Week will allow the true essence of Islam to reach the hearts and minds of the USF community. "Instead of learning about Islam from media "experts,' we hope people will come and learn about Islam from the source, from Muslims themselves," he said. Events this week have included talks on human rights and social justice in Islam, an information table and foods from Islamic countries around the world. The events may be opportune. Freshman Lindy Morris, 18, a psychology and pre-med student, acknowledges that she doesn't know too much about Islam and harbored some doubts about Muslims. "At first I was kind of wondering "Are you against us?' she said. "But now I look at it like "They're Americans, too.' " Megan Bachman, 22, a senior business major, says USF students tend to be tolerant because they are used to diversity, but she agrees they don't know much about Muslims. Tarabishy said too many people associate intolerance with Islam. "I saw a recent article entitled "Is Islam really peaceful,' " he said. "Traditionally, Muslims lived peacefully along with people of other religions. The fundamentalist movement (and the intolerance that often comes with it) is something new." He says extremists such as Osama Bin Laden have more in common with groups like the Ku Klux Klan than Islam. "They bend Islam to justify their beliefs and actions in the same way the KKK has used Christianity to justify their hatred and violence." What's more, Tarabishy says, intolerance, and particularly hatred toward Americans, is often allowed to go unchecked in some Muslim countries because it provides cover for the failings of the government. That behavior gets associated with Islam, he says, because these same governments call themselves Islamic to gain legitimacy. "In fact, they are very secular," he said. "No current government really represents Islamic principles." Islamic Awareness Week continues today with a Friday prayer service at 1 p.m. in Marshall Center 106. The USF community is invited to observe. Saturday, there is an open house from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Islamic Society of Tampa Bay complex on Sligh Avenue featuring booths and talks about common stereotypes and the relationship of Islam to science, women and human rights.
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