Islamic Center holds open house to teach

The events of Sept. 11, 2001 served to both unite the people of our nation and tear them… The events of Sept. 11, 2001 served to both unite the people of our nation and tear them apart. While many people pulled together in a time of grieving, others lashed out at their fellow Americans.

In the following weeks and months, American Muslims became the targets of hate crimes across the nation.

In anniversary of Sept. 11, 2001, Donna Pople made the spontaneous decision, after seeing a flyer promoting the event, to attend the Islamic Center of Pittsburgh’s “Growing Stronger Through Understanding” program, held Thursday night.

“I couldn’t think of any better way to spend today,” she said.

By learning more about Islamic culture, people can make something positive come out of the deaths of Sept. 11, 2001, she said.

“People tend to think in stereotypes,” Pople said, explaining that they lump all Muslims into one category.

But the Muslim community has members of many different cultures and races, she said, including black and white people.

The Islamic Center set up “conversation stations,” where people could learn more about the Islamic religion. The stations covered issues such as basic Islamic religious beliefs, who Muhammad was and the role of women according to Islam.

Posters and brochures were set out as visuals to provide easy access to knowledge, and Muslims were available at the stations to answer any additional questions.

For example, one station contained information on the term “jihad.” The word translates from the Arabic language to mean “struggling” or “striving,” not, as is popular misconception, a “holy war.”

This struggling, according to the information provided, can pertain to an internal struggle within one’s self, concerning one’s own morals; a struggle to resist external pressure to conform to principles contrary to one’s own; or a defensive fight against others.

The term jihad, as well as many others, has taken on a different meaning after poor translations of the Koran, Omar Slater, president of the Islamic Council, said.

The Koran is the holy book of the Islamic religion, detailing what the angel Jabril – or Gabriel, in western tradition – said to Muhammad as a message from Allah, the Arabic term for the Judeo-Christian god.

Other cultures put their own meaning into translations of the Koran, Slater said. The word “kafir,” for example, is often translated to mean infidel, but it actually means “unbeliever,” Slater said.

The connotations of the two words are very different, he said.

“The words that people use carry images and meanings,” he said. “People take those words to push their agendas.”

To avoid this, Muslims are encouraged to know Arabic, in order to read the exact text of the Koran, which has not changed since its inception.

The Islamic Center holds Arabic language classes to teach both Muslims and non-Muslims.

“Arabic’s suddenly become popular,” Slater said, noting the increase in non-Muslims taking the classes.

“It’ll get you a good job with the FBI,” he joked.

“We as Muslims need to understand Christians,” he added. “It behooves us all to understand where people are coming from in their religions.”

The discussion session held in the basement of the Islamic Center yesterday night was designed to help people understand each other, Slater said.

There seems to have been an increase in understanding and knowledge of Islam, according to Donna Thomas, who helped explain Islam at the event. Thomas helped answer questions of attendees at one of the conversation stations.

But Pople, who was just visiting the center, said she did not have the same impression.

“I think the edge has been taken off the anger and hatred,” Pople said, adding, “I don’t think we’re that much farther in understanding.”

Thomas said that sales of the Koran, which jumped to the bestseller’s list after Sept. 11, 2001, signified that people wanted to learn more about the religion of Muslims.

Slater recommends that people who want to read the Koran to go to amazon.com, and not the Pitt Book Center.

The Book Center, he said, does not sell good translations of the Koran. Good translations include those done by Yusif Ali, Maulana Maududi and Muhammad Ali, Slater said.

Slater encouraged people of all religions to read the Koran in order to better understand the culture of others.

“It’s not about pointing fingers,” he said. “It’s about being part of the solution, and not part of the problem.”