Grand Forks Panel, Discussion Night Encourages Interfaith Dialogue and Acceptance
As attendees walked into the church's Celebration Hall, they could peruse various books and pamphlets about Islam before filling out a name tag with both a name and religious identification, Grand Forks Herald reports.
"Meet Your Muslim Neighbor," organized by North Dakotans for Interfaith Acceptance, was organized to help the people from different faiths and cultures learn about Islam.
There was at least one Muslim at every table in the hall so that people of other faiths could meet and speak with at least one person from the faith.
John Schroeder, who is Lutheran, sat next to Mohamed Hersi, who is Muslim. The two talked prior to the beginning of the event.
"I want to learn more about him, that's why I sat by him," Schroeder said while joking with Hersi. "He's going to get tired of me asking him questions."
Hersi, who attends the Grand Forks Islamic Center, said he was interested in the dialogue at the event.
"I just want to have conversations with religious people and have a good time," he said.
The night's first event was a panel of six Muslims from various countries and cultures who took questions from the audience, which covered everything from what Islam says about women to how Islam views Jesus—a mighty prophet in Islam who has risen to heaven and will one day return.
Aliya Jabeen spoke about being a woman in Islam and wearing a hijab, or the scarf Muslim women commonly wear on their heads.
"It's a choice," Jabeen said. "You don't have to acknowledge me on the basis of my appearance or my structure but rather on my morality and knowledge. The hijab is not a barrier. It's a kind of protection."
One of the biggest questions revolved around what Islam says about violence, which was a major theme of anti-Islam Christian speaker Usama Dakdok's speech at the Empire Arts Center a few weeks ago.
While Dakdok spoke against Islam as a terrorist religion, Muslims on the panel were quick to denounce the accusations and explain how such views can come about.
Mehdi Ostadhassan, an associate professor at UND and faculty advisor for the Muslim Student Association, read a verse from the Quran that would appear to instruct Muslims to kill infidels before he explained how it is to be interpreted.
"Should we do that? (kill them)?" he asked. "Of course not!"
Ostadhassan went on to explain how specific verses in the Quran referred to specific situations in the past, and how radical groups such as ISIS have taken such verses out of context to accomplish their own ends.
Nabil Suleiman, president of the Grand Forks Islamic Center and also an associate professor at UND, expanded on Ostadhassan's points. He said any commands to go to war referred to the Muslim army of Quranic times fighting back in a specific way to not be eliminated, but the instructions also prohibited killing women or children or destroying or burning property.
"If you see something different today in other parts of the world, those people are not listening to what the Prophet preached," he said.
After the panel ended, Muslims participated in one of Islam's five daily prayers, and others were invited to observe them doing so.
Food was then served from the various cultures represented by Grand Forks' Muslims, such as Somali tea and sambusa.
