The sound of children playing along with the smell of burgers and chicken filled the Clear Bay Point picnic area at the Muslim Student Association's picnic Sunday.

Attending the picnic at Lake Thunderbird was the MSA, the Islamic Society of Norman, the Islamic Society of Oklahoma City and individual families and guests.

Despite the morning rain, the picnic started as planned, opening with a welcome from Essam Faraaq, president of MSA, and other Islamic and non-Islamic speakers and a reading from the Quran. Following opening remarks, a traditional Islamic song was sung followed by prayer and lunch.

Tahir Nasir, president of the Islamic Society of Norman, said despite a busy schedule, the MSA did a good job of organizing the picnic.

"It was good, a lot of people showed up," Nasir said.

Faraaq said the picnic was not only for fellowship between followers of Islam, but also served to educate non-Muslims of Islamic beliefs.

"I was curious to listen to the guests," Faraaq said. "For some of them, it's the first chance for them to interact with the Muslim community."

Faraaq said many misconceptions of Islam come from media misrepresentations of the religion, and that an individual who commits an act of terrorism is at fault, not their religion.

"After Timothy McVeigh, could anyone could say that all of our (non-Muslim) guests today were terrorists?" Faraaq said. "No. You could say Tim McVeigh was a bad person, but not his faith. We have to be clear to everyone what the correct Muslim is like. Killing is forbidden, it's one of the greatest sins in our religion to kill someone."

Also, Faraaq said, jihad is self defense and an inner battle between good and evil, not a justification for acts of terrorism.

"There is a misinterpretation of jihad," Faraaq said. "If you're going to defend your wife, that's called jihad. If your going to defend your children, that's called jihad.

"Jihad is the same war that is in every one of us. America has the right to defend its civilians, which is jihad. Jihad is one of our commitments to God because you are going to fight every single second with yourself to not do something bad, which is natural, and you're going to find the response to fight it with your religion, your faith. This is spiritual jihad. If your going to defend your wife, soul, child, to get a job to sponsor your family, this is jihad.""

Faraaq said he was happy to see more guests attending this picnic than the last few. Only two guests attended the last picnic. This time there were 12 guests, he said.

More open events are being planned by the MSA, Faraaq said. A weekly lecture is slated to begin next week, which will feature both Muslim and non-Muslim speakers, though Faraaq said the details have not been completely worked out.
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