Boston College hosts first Islamic Awareness Week events

Thursday 17 Mar 2016 - 11:26 Makkah mean time-8-6-1437

Image from The Heights newspaper

Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, (IINA) - For the first time, Boston College’s Muslim Student Association (MSA) in USA is hosting Islamic Awareness Week. 
The event, which started on Monday and will last until Friday was sponsored by MSA, a group that aims to educate people about Islam while also bringing Muslim students together, The Heights newspaper (independent student newspaper of Boston College) reported.
The idea for Islamic Awareness Week came from researching other colleges’ MSAs, in which most chapters did either weeklong or month-long awareness events.
One of the greatest accomplishments of this week that it brings awareness to the MSA while also normalizing the idea of Islam and Islamic culture at BC.
Many students might not be aware of the association’s existence, and an increased awareness of the group as well as various programs they put on benefits both the association itself and the student body as a whole. This week includes many events that open up the Islamic community, allow other students to experience, and better understand their culture.
Events such as an invitation to attend the weekly Islamic prayer and listen to a sermon are good ways to educate students about the basic beliefs and experiences of a Muslim student at BC. This kind of cultural education is essential and extremely beneficial for all college students.
The week could benefit from an accessible lecture or event addressing the modern political climate in regards to Islam. These issues can be extremely controversial and a simple informative discussion surrounding them would benefit and inform BC students. In planning future events and programs such as this, the inclusion of this type of talk would be a useful and worthwhile addition to the schedule.
This week is an effective way of bringing Islamic culture at BC to the fore and increasing knowledge of the Muslim Student Association. In the future, the MSA should continue to promote and sponsor these kinds of events to educate and increase awareness.
On Friday at 1 p.m., MSA invites everyone to its weekly prayer in the Multi-Faith Center, which is attached to 66 Commonwealth Ave., to learn more about Islam, listen to a sermon, and hear its weekly congregational prayer. Lunch will be served.
“I hope people can start to see Islam as a religion of peace,” Ahad Arshad, president of MSA said. “I hope the week will educate people, unite people, build bridges, and also I just hope it’s fun for everyone.”
MSA began six years ago at BC with the goal of trying to educate people about Islam, as well as bringing together Muslims on campus. According to Arshad, most of the work that MSA has done has been in collaboration with Campus Ministry, as interfaith dialogue is important to both groups.
SM/IINA

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