The Muslim Students Association will begin hosting Islamic Awareness Week today with a mission to teach students about Islamic faith, traditions and misconceptions.
Ameara Elyazgi, vice president of MSA and elementary education junior, said MSA will hold educational events each night this week in an effort to inform students about the Islamic faith.
Islamic Awareness Week"s events will kick off tonight with the Mosque Open House at 7:30 today at the Islamic Society of Norman.
'This week"s events are to inform those who are unfamiliar with the Islamic faith and tradition,' Elyazgi said.
Adeel Khan, president of MSA and psychology sophomore, said the purpose of this week"s events is not only to teach about what Islam is, but also to show what Islam is not.
'The most important thing to learn about Islam is that it is not what you see in the news,' Khan said. 'What you see is a minority"s actions that are then generalized to a broader population.'
Elyazgi said she hopes this week"s events will help break down those generalizations.
'There are a lot of misconceptions and stereotypes out there,' she said. 'That"s what we are trying to undo.'
At tonight"s open house, MSA will have tables focusing on different aspects of the Islamic faith and various practices, including women in Islam, the Quran, mosques, calligraphy, prayers and more, Elyazgi said.
'It"s strange that Islam is the second largest religion in the world and yet people know so little about it,' she said.
Nick Harsanyi, University College freshman, said he thinks Islamic awareness week is important, especially because there are so many similarities between Christianity and Islam.
'It"s important for not only Islamic awareness week but for religion awareness in general because one can"t make presumptions about a religious culture without a true understanding of the religion itself,' Harsanyi said.
Other events include a movie night, a panel discussion and a campus prayer, Elyazgi said.
MSA will also show a movie by an Iranian director. 'Children of Heaven' will play at 7 p.m. Tuesday in 359 Physical Science Center .
On Wednesday MSA will focus on different cultures in Islam at 5:30 p.m. in the Henderson-Tolson Cultural Center. Elyazgi said MSA is planning to set up tables focusing on different cultural backgrounds including artifacts, clothing and food.
'It"s important to see how Islam has many different cultural backgrounds,' she said.
MSA will host a panel discussion at 7 p.m. Thursday in the Scholar"s Room of Oklahoma Memorial Union. The panel, comprised of several Muslim students, will discuss women in Islam. Houda Elyazgi, public relations sophomore, will moderate the discussion.
MSA will then hold a campus congregational prayer at 1:30 p.m. Friday in Burr Park.
Ameara Elyazgi said that besides educating students about Islam, Islamic Awareness Week also helps to bring together the Muslim community at OU.
'All of us putting our heads together and working together helps us to become more unified,' she said.
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