Film promotes understanding, Islam awareness

In honor of Islam Awareness Week, the Muslim Student Union screened the documentary “Inside Islam: What a Billion Muslims Really Think.” This film tells the story of a Gallup Poll that was performed around the world asking Muslims their opinions about different topics.

Freshman Romaze Akram said this week helps students to learn what Muslims think about Islam, rather than just what is portrayed in the media.

“We target non-Muslims just so we can kill the stereotype the media has portrayed,” senior Amber Syed said.

The Muslim Student Union also had events Monday and Tuesday.

Sohaib Sultan, a 2002 IU alumnus and chaplain at Princeton University, spoke Monday.

The event was titled “Successes of a Muslim Hoosier.” Syed said Sultan spoke about his time at IU and said the University was successful at protecting Muslim students in the wake of Sept. 11.

The “Inside Islam” documentary begins with the quote, “Muslims come from every country in the world and speak every language in the world.”

Dalia Mogahed, one of the pollsters involved with the project, said she was in disbelief on the morning of Sept. 11.

“We had no idea what to think, what to expect,” she said. “We were afraid of what would happen.”

The pollsters spoke to a variety of Muslims — young, old, men and women — and actually spent time in their homes, rather than conducting the survey through the phone.

Questions ranged from marriage and divorce to what values parents teach their children.

“It’s the most comprehensive and complete poll of Muslim opinion ever done,” Mogahed said.

The poll presented an array of different statistics.

“The media in the U.S. has focused on a fringe minority,” Mogahed said. “Militants are over-represented in the news media. The majority of Muslims condemn the few involved in violence.”

She said Muslim women are often portrayed as submissive but that the results from the poll actually contradicted that notion.

Ninety-six percent of women and 92 percent of men from Lebanon said they believed women should be allowed to work at any job they are qualified for.

Malaysia has results of 92 percent and 90 percent, respectively, according to the same poll.

“The hijab has been used as a symbol of women’s oppression for hundreds of years,” Mogahed said.

Mogahed said many women like the hijab because it forces people to focus on a woman’s personality rather than her appearance.

The poll also asked Americans how much they knew about Islam.

In March 2002, 54 percent said they knew not much or nothing about Islam. In January 2007, that figure rose to 57 percent.

Former CIA intelligence analyst and Middle East politics and military affairs expert Kenneth Pollack said he believes America has not helped democracy form in the Arab world.

“Their problems are our problems,” Pollack said.

Throughout the event, audience members came and went, with about 11 showing up all together.

On Friday, the group will bring in an imam at 3:30 p.m. in the Hoosier Room of the Indiana Memorial Union to speak about Islam and Muslims in today’s society.

“I think it’s pretty important we’re having this and trying to spread our religion to other people,” Akram said.