Muslim convention ends Sunday

INDIANAPOLIS – The first statewide convention of Indiana Muslims concluded Sunday.\nThe three-day event, which began Friday, is the product of a relatively new organization called the Muslim Alliance of Indiana. The group's greatest previous efforts were landing an invitation for Muslims to stage Ramadan suppers in the governor's mansion and starting "Muslim Days" with legislators in the Statehouse.\nFor a diverse community under great scrutiny since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, some Muslims say it represents a sign of staying power and their desire to become fuller participants in their state's future.\n"I would say this is a coming of age," Louay Safi, a staffer with the Plainfield-based Islamic Society of North America told the Indianapolis Star. "This is a very significant threshold."\nThe weekend's agenda includes serious discussions about the need for greater Muslim political activism. There will be sessions for Muslim youth, including one on how to balance the faith's strict rules on gender relations in a modern society.\nThe convention comes on the heels of the debut of a quarterly magazine, The Muslim Hoosier, and the establishment of a Muslim chamber of commerce.\n"It is the idea that Muslims are realizing themselves as being Hoosiers just like any other individual or group," said Shehzad Qazi, a 19-year-old Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis student who manages the magazine.