On Tuesday night Oct. 18 about 30 students gathered in the University Student Union to hear Sheikh Ramadan, leader of Masjid Fresno, speak about the importance of patience in Islam.
Ramadan, who was born in Egypt and memorized the Quran by the time he was 14, talked about why it is important for Muslims to be patient in all situations.
He also spoke about common misconceptions and stereotypes that Muslims often deal with.
“We need to learn how to become patient first, so that we can apply it in all areas of our lives,” Ramadan said.
In the religious text of Islam, the Quran, Ramadan said several types of patience are mentioned and referred to in many stories involving prophets.
Some of the types of patience include patience when facing dangerous enemies, when facing accusations from people, when separated from parents, family or loved ones and patience in accepting the fate of Allah, the God of Islam.
Walid Hamud, president of the Muslim Student Association, said that events like this one are important for Muslims and non-Muslims because they encourage mutual understanding.
“There’s a lot of prejudice and fear from us as a religion,” Hamud said. “When people see the repeated images on the news they are only hearing one side and so they tag us as violent and become ignorant. This ignorance breeds the conflicts and hate crimes that we see so often today.”
Hamud, a Fresno State biology major, thinks that the best way to put an end to this ignorance is events like this one.
“Events regarding our religion and increasing the awareness about Islam will only help people,” Hamud said. “Interfaith dialogues and student panels are also very helpful.”
A few weeks ago, Hamud attended an interfaith dialogue event at Fresno State.
“It was really helpful because I spoke for the Muslim Student Association and there were all of these other religions there as well,” Hamud said. “There were Jewish and Catholic students present and we all engaged in a healthy dialogue that helped us to put aside our differences.”
Michelle Marquez, a Fresno State undeclared major, did not attend the event but thinks that it is very important for people to be aware of other religious beliefs.
“If you don’t understand the way that somebody thinks, the best thing to do is learn about them,” Marquez said. “That’s really the only way that you can come to terms with your differences.”
Toward the end of his presentation, Ramadan briefly talked about the killing of Muammar Gadhafi.
“Gadhafi shouldn’t have been killed,” Ramadan said. “That’s not Islam to kill someone after they are captured. They should have presented him to a judge instead because that is what the religion calls for.”
Hamud said that the Muslim Student Association will continue hosting events like this throughout the semester in the hopes of increasing awareness about their religion, teaching of the importance of patience and what Islam really is versus what the media portrays it as.
Arafat • Oct 27, 2011 at 12:21 pm
Here is a recent statement from a group of Bangladeshi apostates living in the UK explaining the reasons why they have abandoned Islam:
“One who claims to be a messenger of God is expected to live a saintly life. He must not be given to lust, he must not be a sexual pervert, and he must not be a rapist, a highway robber, a war criminal, a mass murderer or an assassin. One who claims to be a messenger of God must have a superior character. He must stand above the vices of the people of his time. Yet Muhammad’s life is that of a gangster godfather. He raided merchant caravans, looted innocent people, massacred entire male populations and enslaved the women and children. He raped the women captured in war after killing their husbands and told his followers that it is okay to have sex with their captives (Qur’an 33:50). He assassinated those who criticized him and executed them when he came to power and became de facto despot of Arabia. Muhammad was bereft of human compassion. He was an obsessed man with his dreams of grandiosity and could not forgive those who stood in his way…
The statement continues,
Muhammad was a narcissist, like Hitler, Saddam or Stalin. He was astute and knew how to manipulate people, but his emotional intelligence was less evolved than that of a 6-year-old child. He simply could not feel the pain of others. He brutally massacred thousands of innocent people and pillaged their wealth. His ambitions were big and as a narcissist he honestly believed he is entitled to do as he pleased and commit all sorts of crimes and his evil deeds are justified.”