Loyola's Week of Dialogue highlights issues of awareness: Muslim Christian relations
Carin Morrell
Issue date: 11/13/07 Section: News
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On November 7th, the Muslim Student Association (MSA) co-sponsored a panel discussion with the Student Government Association (SGA), entitled "Beyond Stereotypes: Moving Forward from 9/11." Featured during Loyola College's Week of Dialogue, the panel included Loyola students Soad Mahfouz, Asad Jabbar, AJ Olesh, Ashya Majied and MSA president and founder Iman Awad.
The first panelist, Mahfouz, discussed problems with the Arabic Koran's English translation. "With any translation, there is the problem of missing the full impact," Mahfouz said. She also discussed the similarities and differences between Christianity and the Islamic faith. In particular, she stated that the Koran views Allah, or God, as the all-powerful being, Jesus as the messenger from God, and "the Holy Spirit is the angel which brought revelation."
Jabbar focused on the political and social implications of Islam in the post-9/11 world. He defined martyrdom as the "ability and the willingness to sacrifice in the name of a greater cause." With suicide bombings depicted everywhere from CNN to the hit TV drama 24, "the implicit assumption is that this one act is more religious than political." However, Jabbar argues that this is not the case. The correlation between Islam and extreme violence is not one of causation, said Jabbar, and "Islam in itself is completely about supporting and sustaining life in itself and never about…aggression or denying and rejecting this life." Jabbar emphasized the importance of separating politics from religion in this era.
Olesh, who is not Muslim, discussed the controversial term "fundamentalism" and its semantics. The word connotes all fundamentalists as violent which is an unfair assumption, according to Olesh. "There are extremists who do extreme things and that's why we call them extremists," he said, "but a fundamentalist is not necessarily this person." There are also instances of extremists throughout history for many different religions, such as the self-proclaimed Christian Ku Klux Klan, Olesh pointed out.
The first panelist, Mahfouz, discussed problems with the Arabic Koran's English translation. "With any translation, there is the problem of missing the full impact," Mahfouz said. She also discussed the similarities and differences between Christianity and the Islamic faith. In particular, she stated that the Koran views Allah, or God, as the all-powerful being, Jesus as the messenger from God, and "the Holy Spirit is the angel which brought revelation."
Jabbar focused on the political and social implications of Islam in the post-9/11 world. He defined martyrdom as the "ability and the willingness to sacrifice in the name of a greater cause." With suicide bombings depicted everywhere from CNN to the hit TV drama 24, "the implicit assumption is that this one act is more religious than political." However, Jabbar argues that this is not the case. The correlation between Islam and extreme violence is not one of causation, said Jabbar, and "Islam in itself is completely about supporting and sustaining life in itself and never about…aggression or denying and rejecting this life." Jabbar emphasized the importance of separating politics from religion in this era.
Olesh, who is not Muslim, discussed the controversial term "fundamentalism" and its semantics. The word connotes all fundamentalists as violent which is an unfair assumption, according to Olesh. "There are extremists who do extreme things and that's why we call them extremists," he said, "but a fundamentalist is not necessarily this person." There are also instances of extremists throughout history for many different religions, such as the self-proclaimed Christian Ku Klux Klan, Olesh pointed out.
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