8 Mondav. May 5. 1980
University Daily Kansan
Moslems face misunderstanding, prejudice for faith
By JUDITHLYNN HOWARD
Staff Renorter
As the Iranian hostage crisis enters its seventh month, American reaction still strikes sour notes for some Moelm students at the University of Kansas.
Mahid Abdul-Samil Awa, Lawrence senior, is an unusual incident occur when he receives a ticket to the school license plates. Ali decided to take the matter to court and explain that he was unaware of the accident.
As it turned out,Ala paid a fine. But he was a legal adviser assisting the judge asked him to accept the adviser also asked him whether he was a member of either the Shir or Sunni
ALISAID HE told the adviser that he did not recognize the Shite sect. the sect to
which the Ayatollah Khomeini belongs, or the Sunni sect. Islam has no divisions, he said.
Ali said the adviser then told the judge,
"He is not one of them."
Hossein Roghani, Lawrence freshman, said he had experienced few incidents of prejudice.
"A lot of people are nice," he said, but there had been some who were not, whom he would not discuss.
"I'd rather not, because I did not have much of this," he said. "People are not bad. The government is bad."
In contrast, Mohammed Zikry, Muslim Student Association president, said he could not disclose the address of the Lawrence University students against reprisals from the community.
said she had encountered prejudice because of her religion, which had worsened since the crisis. Abdul-Wali said that as a result of his experience with the black experience in the United States.
Shaafia Abdul-Wali, Lawrence senior.
"I TMUST BE terrible to be Bilalian in this society," she said.
"Bitalian" is the descriptive term for blacks derived from the name of an Ethiopian companion to the proebot black and white" are racial descriptions.
Abdul-Wali said that before her conversion to Islam, she was ignorant about the religion. But as a Moslem, she said she understood it.
"People have such a bad opinion about Islam, which is that we serve some idol, Allah," she said.
THE IRANIAN CRISIS also has brought
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attention to Islam and how the religion functions in western society.
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A Moslem in American society has to make social adjustments in areas such as diet. Believers are forbidden from eating certain foods.
Dinner includes entree, garlic toast, crisp tossed green salad, coffee or tea
But Roghan said that some students were forced to eat meat such as beef.
Roghani said there was a method for killing the animals designated by Islamic law.
"It's kind of hard not to eat what they have (in the residence hall)." he said.
Another adjustment for the Moslem masters is to pray at least five times daily, in the morning, at noon, in the afternoon, at sunset and in the evening. Prayer allows the Moslem prays at least five times daily.
IN A UNIVERSITY setting, class scheduling can conflict with prayer periods. Abdul-Wala said if she couldn't pray at the evening, she would make up for it in the evening.
Gary Carr, Kansas City, Mo., said prayer was a pleasurable duty.
"I don't think of prayer as a chore, but as a duty and something I really enjoy," he呼.
"You have to have your mind on God five times in key terms of personal communication."
Through daily prayer, Carr said he had changed.
"It makes it easier for me to communicate with people," he said.
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Zikry said prayer also erased pride.
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"No matter how proud he is, he will see he is nothing but a speck in front of God," he said.
In Islam, there is not a sabbath day. Therefore, Friday services are special times when Moslems can gather as a community for praver and fellowship.
AT KU, Mostem students have converted a house into a mosque. The building was acquired through charity. Zikry said the mosque had an essential role for the Mostem students.
"The mosque is the center of our activity. It's not something you forget for the rest of the week."
In some parts of the Middle East, the mosque was still the place where schools, town meetings and other activities were held. Zikrv said.
During the masque's Friday services, few women attend. Zikry had one reason was that there were few devout Moslem women on campus.
Abdul-Wali said although she didn't attend the mosque for personal reasons, she attended services in Tonka.
AS A MOSLEM woman, she said American society belittled the role of a woman who wants to raise a family, which is the role Islam promoted.
"Influenced by society, a woman who wants to raise a family is somehow to be degraded. It's not degrading at all," she said. "Islam does not mean the woman is ignorant; she learns enough to teach her children an honorable role. I don't feel degraded."
Since her conversion, Abdul-Wali said she had to adjust to a new lifestyle. For example, she said she had to look for new scarves and long skirts and dresses.
People sometimes speculated that the mother, a woman lost her ears, she said. However, Abdul-Wahla said Moemen women were not forced to dress in a certain manner, and that she had been encouraged to do so.
ABDUL-WALI SAID that both Moslem
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Carr also said the practicany of Islam was another reason he converted, because it embraced all of a man's life.
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men and women should dress modestly. she said that she liked to swim and had solved the problem of public exposure by swimming in private areas and going to the YWC.
Her family initially did not like her conversion to Islam. She came from an atheist background, and her family was surprised she had chosen Islam.
Carr said his friends doubted his sincerity and expected him to act the same as he did before his conversion. He said his friends had converted and had not seen them changed.
This practically included not "turning the other cheek" and Carr questioned the motivation behind a person loving an enemy when that other person was the enemy.
"We treat others as well as they treat us," Roghani said. "And that's why a lot of Americans don't understand us."
The hypocrisy his friends saw in other Moslems Carr said he saw in Christianity.
"People talked about being Christian and didn't actually practice it," he said.
British band brings ska sound to town
The great ska revival of 1980 comes to the Lawrence Opera House tomorrow night in the form of a concert by the Selecter, a duo composed by Lawrence's own Pat'S Blue Ribbon DJ.
The two groups are quite different in origin, but both play the same kind of funky Jamaican music called ska. Ska is the term used to describe ska music from Jamaica and England in the mid-1980s. Many of today's popular reggae performers, including Bob Marley, started out as ska musicians.
The jerky rhythms of ska were blended with American soul music by such innovators as Marley to create the reggae sound of todav.
But it seems as though some folks never got the infectious sound of skau. A whole new genre, whose major stylistic influence is ska. The music has with stable-mates the Specials and its dependent Two-tone label last year and set the industry on its ear by producing him.
All of the two-tone bands (except Madness) are racially integrated and the only one that does not identify as vocalist. Racial harmony is one of the messages the two-tone band is one of big to feel.
Beyond that, the ska-revival bands are content to churn out the distinctive, chunky ska beat for their audience to dance to.
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