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NEWS THURSDAY, APRIL 22, 2010 THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN KANSAN.COM
RELIGION
Muslim students answer questions about traditions
BY ALISON CUMBOW alisonc@kansan.com
Sugar-drenched desserts, dates and coffee don the tables. Informational posters hang from all sides of the tent. Brochures that say women, God, hijab and Ramadan cover the desks.
The Muslim Student Association will host the second day of its Islam Awareness Day exhibition on the lawn of Staufer-Flint Hall today. The event showcases different foods, customs and traditions, such as the Hijab veil, the scarf that some Muslim women use to cover their hair. MSA initiated the event to allow students to ask questions and have conversations about Islam.
"It is an MSA activity that brings Muslims together to raise awareness about Islam," Bader Madoukh, a senior from Kansas City, Kan., said. "We have all these brochures about various aspects of Islam, about terrorism, about women and some translations of the Holy Book in English."
Tanseem Daud, a junior from Kansas City, Mo., and Reem Stewart, a freshman from Leavenworth, were at the front of the tent demonstrating how
women wrap the veil around their hair.
Also at the event was Islamic scholar Hassan Aly, an Imam of the Islamic Center of Kansas and teacher of Arabic language at Alrawdah Institute in Overland Park. In addition to answering questions students had about his religion, he advised people to clarify the truth through the news they listened to specifically that not all Muslims are extremists.
Muhammad Ibrahim Basit, a sophomore from Islamabad, Pakistan, said people commonly ask about marriage, divorce and money.
"This is just for the awareness of Islam in America," he said. "There are a lot of misconceptions about Islam."
Karim Farokhnia, a freshman from Shiraz, Iran said the event was designed to promote accurate information about Islam.
"We're trying to show the reality," Farokhnia said. "There is some propaganda especially after 9/11, which I'm sure that none of the Muslim people agree with. We're just trying to give them some sources, some differences."
Edited by Jesse Rangel
Adam Buhner
Brad Klee, a senior from Lenexa, discusses Islam with Muslim Students Association members Reem Stewart, a freshman from Leavenworth; Tasneem Daud, a junior from Kansas City, Mo.; and Eman Alghaifi, a sophomore from Alhasa, Saudi Arabia. The Muslim Students Association of KU set up a tent with information booths in front of Stauffer-Flint Wednesday afternoon to encourage students to inquire about Islam and its practices.
Learn how to put on a hijab at kansan.com/videos.
NATIONAL
Gay couple, wed in Massachusetts, asks Texas court for divorce
BY JAMIE STENGLE
Associated Press
DALLAS — A lawyer for a Dallas man trying to divorce the man he married in Massachusetts told a Texas appeals court Wednesday that his client is entitled to a divorce because he had a valid marriage.
But the Texas Attorney Generals' Office argued before the three-
judge panel that the marriage isn't recognized by Texas, so they cannot get a divorce. Jimmy Blacklock, an assistant Texas solicitor general, said the men's union can only be voided.
"The parties lack standing to file a divorce case because they're not married," he said.
The Dallas men wed in 2006 in Massachusetts, where gay marriage
is legal, and separated two years later.
Attorney General Greg Abbott appealed a Dallas state district judge's ruling in October that granted a divorce to the men and said the state's same-sex marriage ban violates equal rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.
Abbott is also appealing an Austin judge's ruling this spring
that granted a divorce to two women married in Massachusetts
"He is not seeking to enter into a same-sex marriage; he's seeking to end a marriage that was valid."
Jody Scheske, who represents the Dallas man listed in court records only as J.B., said his client doesn't want to overturn the state's marriage ban, but only wants to end his own marriage.
Scheske said.
"The trial courts have the right to hear divorce cases from people who have valid marriages," he said.
Blacklock told the judges that the state's ban on gay marriage doesn't violate the Constitution and asked them to confirm that voidance is the correct way to dissolve a same-sex union.
Scheske said voidance isn't applicable to his client because he has a valid marriage. And, he said, the constitutional issues only arose in the case after Abbott tried to intervene. The judge did not allow the intervention, so Abbott appealed.
In 2004, Massachusetts became the first state to let same-sex couples get married. Now four other states and the District of Columbia also allow them.